Shrinking Wheels - Experiences with a Brompton

Ever since my move to an upstairs flat with no external storage space
for so much as a dustbin, let alone a bicycle, I had been conscious that
when my twenty-year-old bike finally finished wearing out - a process
accelerated by having to stand outside in all weathers - the replacement
would need to be a folding bicycle. Probably a Brompton, despite the
price tag, because for me cycling is a primary means of transport rather
than a leisure pursuit, and they were the most 'serious' small-wheeled
machines on the market.

I even went to the lengths some years ago of borrowing a Brompton from a
fellow-member of MCC to gain experience of how they handled
(surprisingly well once you overcome the tendency to wobble due to a
long handlebar stem), and practiced carrying it up and down the steps at
South Merton tramstop (very hard work).  The main motivation for
continuing to keep my old bicycle going was the fact that it wouldn't be
possible to transfer the rear-axle trailer hitch for my very expensive
imported Swiss trailer.  However, as I was using the trailer less and
less --not least because keeping it in a small upstairs flat involved
disassembling and reassembling the whole thing every time I wanted to
get it out-- I eventually decided to give up on it when I needed to take
off the rear wheel to fit a new inner tube.

Having duly sold off the trailer for a tenth of its purchase price, I
failed repeatedly to get the bike working again properly despite
expenditure on a series of new parts, and the question of buying a
replacement became urgent.  It was clear that a basic Brompton was going
to be lacking in most of the features that I was used to relying upon,
such as dynamo lighting and cargo carrying capacity; the new models no
longer came with 3-speed gears, which was what I favoured for ease of
use and maintenance, so this meant that I needed to look through the
second-hand machines on offer to try to see what spec I could get within
a reasonable budget.

I spent a week scouring eBay to get an idea of the going rates, and
decided on a private ceiling of £650.  Being located within London was
an advantage, as it meant that there were far more machines available to
collect within an accessible radius. I definitely needed some kind of
carrying capacity large enough to store my leather shoulder bag, and
though I had given up on the idea of getting a dynamo I needed some kind
of lights if at all possible.

That narrowed it down to just three possibilities, of which one was
actually a 5-speed derailleur model.  One of the others sold
unexpectedly overnight before the end of the auction, so I hastily
increased my bid on the final option and was very relieved to secure a
grey 3-speed Brompton from East London for a total sum of £620. This
included a maximum-size front luggage bag -- my trial had taught me
that, unlike most bikes, Bromptons actually ride better with the main
weight over the rather skittish front wheel -- a set of LED lights, and
an extraordinarily heavy D-lock, plus the spare standard-length seatpost
which the previous owner, who was over six feet, had replaced with an
extra-long one.

It took me an hour and a half to get over to Peckham by train.  It took
rather less than that to cycle all the way home again, including a
certain amount of getting lost.  The vendor very kindly swapped out the
seatpost for me on the spot and had the lights charged and ready to use,
which was just as well since by the time we had finished with the
seatpost it was already dark; mercifully the front bag proved to be big
enough to hold my large and heavy leather satchel as I had hoped.

He assured me that I would find the bike very fast off the mark at
traffic lights, but in fact that hasn't been my experience at all --
doubtless because I am far smaller and less muscular than he was!  The
Brompton is definitely not a lightweight machine: 'luggable' rather than
'portable', never mind the considerable weight of the lock and bag.
However, I've always been used to riding a heavy bike, and it's nothing
I can't handle on the road. Lifting it up stairs, on the other hand, is
a definite challenge.

On the other hand, even if it doesn't accelerate notably fast, I get the
general impression that the Brompton is quite a nippy little beast, and
it seems to handle hills perfectly well.  I was assuming I would need to
swap out the unisex saddle, but while the lack of springs is
disconcerting (every bump in the road feels like an incipient puncture),
the narrower seat is actually perfectly comfortable for a female rider.

Having the front bag as the widest part of the bike is an improvement on
panniers, because you can easily see whether you can fit through gaps or
not.  However it does carry quite a bit less than my old bike, and next
to nothing if the bag is being occupied by my satchel.  I invested in a
rear rack as an upgrade (and one of the new roller wheels lost its tyre
within a few weeks of use, but that's another story) simply so that I
could strap the satchel to that and bring home more than a couple of
tins at a time.

My old bike was supremely un-theftworthy, and indeed had been
accidentally left unlocked in public on several occasions. Meanwhile
Brompton lore is that "you never let the bike out of your sight" but
fold it up and trundle it with you everywhere... which is all very well
if 'everywhere' is limited to the supermarket or your office commute,
but rather impractical if your bicycle is your sole means of access to
the cinema, swimming pool or museum.  Hence the need for the massive
lock.

After a month I still struggle with the fold/unfold mechanism, and have
so far discovered multiple ways to get it wrong and mash up the
paintwork or drop the chain in the process.  A '3-speed' Brompton with
its tensioner cog might as well have a derailleur from the point of view
of extra noise, cleaning and friction, and the process of lugging the
bike downstairs, laboriously assembling it, fitting the lights, and
packing the bag adds five minutes or so to every journey -- the main
selling point of a Brompton is the ability to take it on a train and
into the office with you, and I never do either. But of course the other
selling point is the ability to take it indoors up a narrow staircase
and store it in a confined space, and that was the bottom line so far as
I was concerned.

In terms of price I think I got a good bargain, given that lock, lights
and bag probably amounted to around £200 of extras and it was extremely
useful to have them all from the start. I was told that the bike was
five years old when I got it, and expect to be riding it for another
fifteen or so on past precedent; by that point I may no longer be strong
enough to lift it!

 - Harriet Bazley

Dockless Hire Bikes (Lime, Forest)

 

The massive growth of dockless hire bikes in London can't have escaped many people's notice. The proliferation of these bikes is testament to their usefulness and popularity as a transport mode!

Hire bikes have opened up cycling to new demographics - to people who don't have space to store their own bike, or don't want to risk theft of their own bike when it's parked in a public place. They are very useful for people who live in areas with poor public transport, who would otherwise have a long walk to a train station or a slow bus journey. As cyclists, we know that cycling is usually the fastest way to get around London.

The hire-bike user demographic appears younger and more ethnically-diverse than the general cycling population.

As with any innovation, as well as benefits there have been some teething problems. There is no shortage of opponents citing stories of badly-parked and inconsiderately ridden bikes.

Badly-parked bikes can be a problem. They can obstruct pavements and clutter public areas. To some extent these issues are historic: operators now require users to take a photo of their parked bike at the end of the hire; bad parking will attract a surcharge and persistent bad behaviour may lead to a user being banned. At popular destinations such as stations, the number of parked bikes can be a problem, but this is largely because the Council has failed to provide parking bays to accomodate them. We've found Merton Council documents going back to 2018 that recognised the need to provide for dockless bike parking. Yet in 6 years there's been almost no progress. (To be fair, some other boroughs are no better, and there really needs to be a pan-London approach, rather than a patchwork of different rules for each borough.) 

A further issue for which the Council bears responsibility is the failure to reach agrement with Lime. Other boroughs were quicker off the mark. Because Lime bikes are geo-fenced to certain areas of the borough, this results in bikes being abandoned by users at the geo-fence (i.e. boundary) who can't go any further towards their destination. This situation is really in no-one's interest.

We certainly need the Council to step up and address the need for parking. Generally, the most sensible location for parking is on-carriageway. Indications are that the Council is aiming to implement 300 marked bays, and 150 or so should be funded next year. However, marked bays are expensive to plan and install, 300 seems nowhere near enough - there are around 1400 streets in Merton - and the rollout will take years. Convenience is a key benefit of hire bikes, and taking away convenience and usability is not likely to improve the actual parking situation. A pragmatic, mixed approach of formal bays where needed and  less formal on-highway parking seems a more cost-effective and timely approach. Such an approach can be incremental and evolve over time.

Thinking about inconsiderate riding - the evidence is mainly anecdotal, and we have not seen reports of a significant uptick in pedestrian collisions involving hire bikes. There's little doubt that the lack of good cycle infrastructure doesn't help matters and users may be taking to pavements at times out of fear of road danger. And we should not forget that motor traffic is the major danger to all, evidenced by the tragic death of a Lime bike rider in Wandsworth recently.

One thing is certain: it would be wrong to take access to hire bikes away from people who have few alternatives: who don't have access to a car, have nowhere to safely store their own bike, and who have poor public transport options. We hope the Council takes an enlightened approach and embraces hire bikes as a high-value, low-carbon addition to the transport mix.

General Election Candidates' Statements on Active Travel

 

In partnership with Merton Active Travel, we've reached out to local candidates for statements on their active travel policies. Read them here:  

Mitcham and Morden Candidates' Statements  

Wimbledon Candidates' Statements

 

Candidates wishing to add a statement please contact us.

Equinox Ride Report

 What better way to celebrate the victory of day over night than to head over to East London
for a survey of cycle infrastructure? We may be lean, green, pedalling machines, but we are
also never boring. But how to get there?
All rides (except the Summer Solstice Ride) start at The Sultan for the simple expediency of
providing a destination to return to, and the further necessity of gathering thoughts and
reflections over a few jars of suds. So, 10am on Sunday 24 th March saw us head to the
Wandle Trail and thereon up to the mighty Thames. We had a headwind.
Mingling with joggers (many) and dog walkers (few) along the Thames Path to Battersea
Park was straightforward enough, apart from the headwind. Battersea Park deserves a
special note for urban cyclists. There’s a water fountain from which it’s possible to refill a
water bottle near the steps with the red handrails, and there are loos just to the west of the
coffee caravan. Very nice.
We crossed Chelsea Bridge and took CS8 to Parliament Square, then on to CS1 (highly
controversial when proposed, highly popular once installed) to Tower Bridge. All into a
headwind. We saluted the mural to the Battle Of Cable Street and eventually arrived at
Limehouse Basin where our survey begins.
The path alongside the Limehouse Cut is narrow and well-used by pedestrians. We dinged
our bells, smiled, nodded and thanked our fellow path users and were saluted in kind. The
track’s in great condition and suitable for everything down to a 25mm tyre. There are a
couple of heavily cobbled sections under bridges where riders have to dismount or face
death by vibration. A section suspended over the water concludes path. Take note of the
latter Merton and Wandsworth Councils: this is what’s possible for the missing part of the
Wandle Trail at Earlsfield.
And then it’s The Greenway! Exactly four miles of perfectly smooth, super-wide, shared use
tarmac connecting Stratford to Barking. Somehow the headwind disappeared and we purred
along past the architecturally interesting pump house (did I mention that The Greenway is
built on top of a giant sewage pipe?) and spectacular views of the Beckton Alps. Nothing to
report other than the pleasure of what’s possible and a recommendation that you get
yourself over there to experience this Wonder Of The Modern World for yourself. There are
a few police posters at the beginning of the ride demanding caution and vigilance due to the
activities of thieves. This is sad to have to pass on, but forewarned is forearmed, I suppose.
The passage to Greenwich through the Isle Of Dogs started on the lovely Beckton Corridor
which threads a green ribbon through new housing and industrial units. Cycling provision
becomes rather chaotic before breaking down altogether north of Royal Victoria Dock. The
headwind returned. We made sacrifice to the elevator gods and were blessed with working
lifts at both ends of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.
Our pulses quickened as our tyres rolled onto the newly completed Cycleway 4 (Greenwich
to Tower Bridge). Fully segregated, two-way cycle path with clearly marked priority over
turning traffic. Proper little cycle traffic lights kept us respectable. We could have been in
Holland. Well, OK, maybe not Holland. Belgium then. But it was really easy to use and
didn’t send us off on wild diversions to avoid inconveniencing cars. We kept the headwind.
Then it was over Tower Bridge and joining up with the outbound route for our return to
Wimbledon where we pooled our thoughts in The Sultan.

Forty five miles taken over four and a half hours including plenty of stops to look at this and
that and a longer break for lunch. The four major cycle facilities we inspected set a high
mark for other boroughs, but one couldn’t help the feeling that once off those tracks we’d be
back to the same difficulties we see elsewhere. Very enjoyable nonetheless and well worth
the mileage out there and back. If you’re keen to have a look for yourself, either drop us a
line or pop along to our next meeting and we’ll send you the gpx file to load into your gps.

Women's Freedom Ride - Report

 We were incredibly lucky with the weather for the Women's Freedom Ride
on March 3rd;  after a succession of rainy days Sunday dawned bright and
sunny, even if it was still a little cold!

It had been arranged for the 'feeder ride' heading into Central London
from Kingston to pick up the Merton contingent as it passed through our
borough, and the meeting place was the corner of Garfield Recreation
Ground, just across the river from the Wandle Nature Park.  A couple of
people had registered interest via the website ahead of time, and a few
more had originally planned to go in to New Malden to travel with the
Kingston ride, but changed their plans once the official pick-up point
was arranged - so we were expecting maybe four or five riders in total
to turn up.

But to general surprise, in the morning sunshine more and more people
kept arriving.  By the time the Kingston contingent finally swept in,
about fifteen minutes late, we were beginning to wonder if we would
actually outnumber them!  But there was no chance of that; as they filed
into the park, we couldn't believe that they just kept coming and kept
coming....  I didn't do a head count, but I would guess that including
the marshals our combined groups must have consisted of about forty or
fifty people, which made for a very impressive convoy.

I soon lost track of the route we were following as we left the Wandle
and headed off towards Central London, although at one point we did
pause on Clapham Common for a photo stop - having some difficulty
getting everybody into shot!  Eventually we headed north over
Blackfriars Bridge and into the City of London proper.  Since it was a
Sunday the streets were pleasantly clear of traffic.

On arrival at the rendezvous point for the Women's Ride at Lincoln's Inn
Fields, a square that at least one of our members recognised due to the
headquarters of her profession being located there, the ride leaders
opted to refresh themselves at a nearby pub.  We arranged to meet them
outside the London School of Economics building for the return journey
once the main protest ride - a relatively short distance compared to the
distance everyone had cycled already to get there - was over, then the
rest of us entered Lincoln's Inn Fields itself to join up with the vast
number of other cyclists who were assembling there.  The London Brompton
Club were present in strong numbers with their bicycles all folded in a
row, and there were a number of other unusual machines, including
longtail bikes, various child-carrying vehicles with their young
occupants remarkably well-behaved, and a selection of hand-cycles,
disabled trikes, and other specially adapted bicycles.  It was also nice
for once not to be the only rider with a U-tube frame, or to be the only
one actually wearing a skirt!

Brief but rousing speeches were made from in front of the central
bandstand, applauded by the ringing of massed bicycle bells, and Will
Norman accepted a petition of five thousand signatures on behalf of the
Mayor of London.  In his speech he warned us that much cycle provision
in practice is out of the hands of Transport for London, and urged us to
go home after the ride and help put pressure on our local councils to
show that there is a huge amount of suppressed demand.  Then we set out
on the protest itself - very slowly.

It took a vast amount of time for a thousand or so cyclists to exit the
square through a relatively narrow gate and to form up all around the
outside.  Halfway round we discovered a convenient public toilet, but of
course everyone else had discovered it too, so it was touch and go as to
whether it was possible to nip in before the 'queue' moved on without
you; in fact it was going so slowly that this was just about
possible....   

We had been told before the start of the ride that 'this time' the
protest would be observing red lights, but in practice this meant that
only a small number of riders were able to exit the side-street during
the brief timed period allowed, where the traffic light timings had of
course been planned to accommodate two or three cars rather than a huge
mass of cyclists with correspondingly slow acceleration. As a result, an
excited ritual developed where, every time the lights began to go green,
a great chorus of "Go! Go! Go!" went up from behind, while the lucky few
at the front started off as fast as they could to the accompaniment of
cheers.

This did at least mean that when we hit the next set of lights (which
tended to be only about fifty yards down the road) it was in relatively
small bunches, but it also meant that the ride wasn't a single moving
mass and it wasn't always obvious where the people ahead had got to.
Fortunately things had been very well organised and there were always
people in tabards positioned at junctions signalling where we were to
turn off.

Scattered throughout the ride were various bikes towing sound systems,
pumping out enthusing numbers such as "I Want to Ride My Bicycle (I Want
to Ride It Where I Like)" and other dominant beats.  When two or more of
these bikes got themselves into close proximity the mixed results were
indescribable - and loud enough to be painful to the ears, at least to
me, though they made for handy rendezvous points at which you could try
to regain contact with neighbouring members of the group.  It was very
hard to avoid being split up in the constant stop-start progress, where
we were constantly being urged to pack ourselves in as tightly as
possible in order to get as many bikes into the road space as possible;
I did pity the unfortunate drivers who found themselves surrounded by
crowds of women cyclists accidentally occupying the turning lanes and
progressing at dead slow speed.

To be honest I think we spent more time stationary and waiting for the
road to clear ahead than we did actually cycling, and I can see where
there would have been a temptation to simply ignore the traffic signals
and use the sheer mass of riders to carry out the protest.  At the
entrance onto the Mall there was the most tremendous hold-up of about
fifteen minutes before we were finally sent through the red lights en
masse down towards Buckingham Palace (I eventually heard rumours that we
were being deliberately held at this point in order to allow the tail of
the ride to catch up), and by the time any of us made it back to
Lincoln's Inn Fields it was long after the agreed start of the Kingston
group's ride home.  We were rather dismayed to find that our guides,
having spent the time waiting patiently in the pub with no idea of what
was happening, had apparently given up and gone off without us!

Some very belated lunches were eaten and shared around - with hindsight,
we should have had lunch while listening to the speeches at the start -
while, thanks to the magic of mobile phones, the missing marshals were
located and summoned back.  We were told the rest of the group was
waiting for us at the Ritz, but to our mock disillusionment it turned
out to be outside the entrance to the Savoy instead....  The Kingston
ride set off up towards Hyde Park for a scenic ride home via Richmond
Park, but as this was rather a long way round for the Merton contingent
three of us peeled off at the Houses of Parliament and went on down the
Embankment to cross the river at Vauxhall Bridge and take the quick and
grimy route home along the familiar territory of 'Cycle Superhighway 7'
via Clapham and Colliers Wood.

The total mileage for the day was about 26 miles:  well short of the 38
miles clocked up by the Kingston contingent with their longer journey,
but quite enough to be exhausting for an inexperienced rider, and enough
to make me start to feel sore.  We were impressed by the organisation
(and turnout!) of the Kingston Cycle Campaign, and it was suggested that
maybe Christine would like to arrange for some shorter local
recreational rides in Merton, as judging by the number who turned up for
this one there is evidently pent-up demand.

The general verdict among the people I spoke to seemed to be that the
expedition into London on a Sunday was enjoyable in itself, but that the
grand protest ride wasn't much fun - it was basically hours of non-stop
traffic jam on a bicycle.  (It has been years since I did one of these
mass London rides, but I seem to remember that my one and only previous
experience was much the same, which was why I haven't been on any
since...)  But the weather was lovely, and it was a great relief not to
be constantly looking behind me all the time to check that none of the
group were dropping behind or getting lost, since there were people
officially in charge of that.

Women's Freedom Ride - Feeder Ride from Merton

 The Women's Freedom Ride is on March 3rd 2024. The ride starts at Lincoln’s Inn Fields  at 12.30.

From Merton, you can join a "feeder" ride to the start, marshalled by Kingston Cycling Campaign :

https://lcc.org.uk/events/merton-cc-join-kingston-cc-feeder-ride-to-the-lcc-womens-ride/

St Helier Avenue

St Helier Avenue (A297) is an SRN (TfL-maintained) road between Rose Hill Roundabout (in Sutton borough) and the Central Road roundabout (in Merton borough). It is a mainly 4-lane configuration with a central reservation and a 40mph speed limit, which will be reduced to 30mph. We welcome the reduction in speed limit, but this needs to be the first step in developing the road from a hostile, motor-centric location into an environment that is more people-centred.

St Helier Avenue is a good example of how a major road can blight an area and negatively impact a community.

• It is difficult to cross, dividing the community in two, and lengthening journeys that cross the road. There are distantly-spaced crossing points and long wait-times at crossings.
• It has an extremely poor safety record, with 2 fatal collisions in the last 2 years, with clusters of collisions at both roundabouts and at the Middleton Road junction.
• It has a high speed limit (40MPH), which worsens road danger, and increases noise and pollution.
• It blights the green space that borders the road on both sides.
• It brings an unloved, grubby and industrial feel to the area. Fly tipping is endemic.
• It reduces house values.

A little history. The original St Helier Avenue cycle lanes have a claim to being the first in London. Leslie Belisha, Minister of Transport in the 1930s is claimed to have opened his first crossing on St Helier Ave.

Cycling

On the southbound side:

There is off-carriageway provision that is actually not bad by Merton standards, but is below modern LTN1-20 standards.The track is separated from general traffic and this is of great benefit.

On the negative: The cycle track gives way to side-roads, which increases danger and increases journey times by slowing users down unnecessarily.

The separate cycle track gives way to shared-use in quite a few places, and signage is inconsistent or missing, which is confusing and potentially-dangerous as different road users are not aware of what to expect.

Sight-lines are poor, which creates danger.

Width is inconsistent. Given there is no cycle provision on the northbound side, width should be sufficient for 2-way cycling, which it isn’t in places.

There is a section south of Bristol Rd that has a significant camber and no drainage, which is likely a problem in winter and during heavy rain.

At the Rose Hill end, there is a “Cyclists Dismount” sign for a short section, which is very unhelpful, confusing to people on tricycles, adapted and cargo cycles, and also unnecessary. Signage here is also confusing and inconsistent.

Rose Hill Roundabout itself is very dangerous and poorly thought-out for cycling. There is liberal use of guard-rail and large corner radiuses that encourage high motor traffic speeds. (This is in Sutton borough).

On the northbound side:

Cycling appears not to be permitted, although there is plenty of space and there are two separate paths. Signage is poor; at the Rose Hill end, there is a shared-space sign but it is unclear where the shared space ends.

The lack of provision on this side means that cyclists must cross to the southbound side, and then cross back again, which increases danger and considerably increases journey times/distances, considering the distantly-spaced crossing points.

At the signal-controlled crossing at Leominster Walk, the central island is very narrow - not wide enough to accommodate a standard cycle, let alone a non-standard cycle. A cyclist crossing will have one wheel sticking out into a live traffic lane. The light cycle time should prioritize pedestrians/cyclists crossing; the actual time is unknown as the crossing wasn’t working at all when we visited.

General Observations.

A 4-lane dual-carriageway results in increased speeds and increased road danger for all road users. This is the case regardless of speed limit. If the limit were reduced to 30mph or 20mph, vehicles would still be free to overtake others who observe the speed limit. Even with a reduced speed limit, the road would still be very difficult and dangerous to cross.

Are 4 lanes necessary to support existing traffic volumes? We would argue that they are not. There is a 24/7 bus lane at the Morden end that narrows the general traffic carriageway to a single lane, which is the bottleneck. Having additional lanes before this point simply enables speeding drivers to jump the queue and does not increase capacity.

The central reservation also adds to the “motorway” feel of the road and encourages speeding. The central reservation is “dead” space that is of little to no value.

As noted previously, the road width and 4-lane architecture makes the road an overbearing, noisy, polluting presence and blights the surrounding area unnecessarily.

Alternatives would be a 2 lane boulevard, or to turn one general-traffic lane into a 24/7 bus lane. The latter would move the general traffic (and noise and pollution) away from the communities, reduce traffic speeds, road danger, noise and pollution, and improve bus journey times.

A 2-lane boulevard would really transform the area, reducing the road to a more human scale, and freeing up space for other uses. With a little imagination, new linear parks could be created, there could be business opportunities as well.

Additionally, there is an opportunity to make active travel much more attractive, particularly to under-represented groups including children, women and elderly people, who are currently put off cycling by fear of traffic. Routes that are obviously and continuously safe would for example enable children to cycle to school, and reduce school-run traffic.

Lastly, it is worth remembering that we are in a climate emergency. Motor traffic must be reduced if we are to have a chance of meeting Paris climate goals. Regarding existing motor traffic levels as fixed and immutable is a dangerous mistake; fewer motor journeys and more journeys switching to active travel are necessary steps to ensure the planet remains habitable for future generations.