Why campus bike hire won't work

Campus bike hire wouldn't be popular as most people already own bicycles so would bring their own if they thought cycling between sites was a good idea.

But

What about people who think they live too far to commute to campus by bicycle or think the roads are too unpleasant (e.g. from Leamington)? They might have a bike at home but won't want to take it to campus and leave it there, as then they won't have the use of it at home. Unless they commuted by bicycle which they don't want to do. Two bikes, one for campus and another for home is out of the question for most students as they are too poor.

: 10 Aug 2005 11:48 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Thefts

Over the past couple of weeks, I've heard that there have been some thefts from the bike sheds outside the maths department. Today, I had my speedometer stolen and an attempt at my mirror, which has prompted me to wonder about the security of the bike sheds.

How would it be possible to campaign for more secure bike sheds in campus. Would the university be willing to fix a CCTV cameras where bikes are locked up?

As it stands at the moment, next year, when I live on campus, my bike will be left in my room even though this is against "campus regulations".

: 16 May 2005 21:07 |  Tags: Cycle Thefts |  Comments (11) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A452: Between Kenilworth & Leamington

K2L is a campaign for improved facilities for cyclists on the A452 between Kenilworth and Leamington. The campaign group would welcome more involvement from cyclists at the University (staff and students).

If you would like to get involved, the next meeting of the campaign group is on Thursday 26th May, at 7:30pm at the Baptist Church in Chandos Street, Leamington.

Alternatively, you may like to join the ride in support of the campaign, from Kenilworth to Leamington on Saturday 18th June. The ride will leave Abbey End in Kenilworth at 11:00am, heading for the Leamington Peace Festival, which starts that day. The ride is being organised as part of "Bike Week" and sponsorship forms are available for any riders who would like to combine supporting K2L and raising money for a cancer charity.

More details from Richard Hicks, extension 74153 or R.C.Hicks@warwick.ac.uk

: 16 May 2005 09:41 |  Tags: Routes From Leamington |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Cycle Training Instructors

Likely to be around Coventry over the next few years?

Looking for a bit of extra money by having an interesting, fun and rewarding casual job in the outdoors?

One way to "put something back" into cycling and at the same time have an interesting, fun and rewarding casual job is to become a Cycle Training Instructor.

Tony Benn the Cycle Training Co-ordinator for Coventry City Council is always looking to increase the size of his team. So many cycling events these days have so few young people involved says Tony. "Our training is designed to provide a positive cycling experience for children and to make them more familiar with their bicycle and road situations. We want to encourage more journeys by bicycle or to quote my favourite catch phrase More Cycling, More Safely, More Often".

The team of cycle training instructors offers cyclist training for groups of children and adults encouraging safe and confident riders. Tony is looking to enlarge the team to cope with an ever increasing demand for cycle training courses. He needs to expand the bank of people willing to work a variety of hours depending on when courses are required. Most of the training takes place within schools so applicants will need some availability between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm on at least some weekdays. The number of hours will vary and can be tailored to fit around existing commitments. The ability to travel to various sites throughout Coventry is needed in order to undertake these duties. What better way to get a few cycling miles in!

Salary: £7.03 per hour to £7.53 per hour (pay award pending) If you are interested in becoming an instructor or even arranging some training contact Tony on 024 7683 2032 or e-mail tony.benn@coventry.gov.uk

: 07 May 2005 11:35 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

CTC AGM

Writing about web page http://www.ctc.org.uk/

For those who are CTC members, the national organisation is having its AGM on Saturday 23rd April at 2.00pm in The Rootes Social Building. Please remember that you will need your CTC membership card, or other proof of current membership.

Also on Saturday morning there is an opportunity to visit the National Cycle Archive from 10.00am in the Modern Records Centre at the back of the library. A coffee run from The Arts Centre at 10.00am, returning at 1.00pm in time for lunch before the AGM.

For those who aren't CTC members, I'd like to give it a plug: link

If you peruse the National Cycle Archive you'd realise that there used to be loads of cycle clubs, but almost all have fallen by the wayside. A long time has passed since the days of the Starley family when Coventry was proud to be described as "the Bicycle Capital of the World"

On Sunday I've been roped in to leading a 60 mile tour of some Warwickshire lanes leaving from the Arts Centre at 9:15 am. On-road, 11–12 m.p.h. average when in the saddle, three stops for refreshments, back by 5 pm. Non-members can come along to see what we do. We normally leave from Coventry railway station for 60–70 mile rides every Sunday.

: 20 Apr 2005 22:06 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Drive Train

Writing about web page http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/stevencarpenter/entry/new_bike_bits/

There's some text about bicycle drive chains here (Chain rings, chains, back sprockets "cassettes").

: 18 Apr 2005 11:58 |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Getting started

I started cycling about 3.5 years ago, after over 20 years without owning a bike. It was quite a shock in lots of different ways:

• I knew nothing about maintaining a bike. The last time I had a bike, the way to get it fixed was to say, "Daaaad, it's broken…"
• I knew nothing about cycling technique. The last time I had a bike it had three gears (it was a Chopper:-), and suddenly I had 21 to figure out. Then there's the "front brake or rear brake" question, and lots of others.
• I knew nothing about cycling in traffic. My route to work is all road, and most of it quite busy. I've been driving for a long time, but driving techniques don't always translate to cycling.

I've figured much of this out now, through reading books, suggestions from friends, helpful discussions on my blog, and experience.

I wonder if concerns about this sort of thing contribute to people's reluctance to start cycling, and that maybe it would be helpful to build up a body of advice for people who are just starting out, so that the learning curve isn't so steep.

Steve Rumsby : 22 Mar 2005 09:49 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Bournemouth shows the way forward

Newspapers this week carried stories about some universities offering free bikes as incentives for students. All students at the Arts Institute of Bournemouth who are in receipt of a maintenance grant of over £1,000 will be offered vouchers to the value of £150 which can be spent on bicycles and cycling accessories. Having purchased a bicycle, students will be offered vouchers to the value of £50 on accessories in subsequent years. Read the coverage in The Times (link) and The Guardian (link)

: 20 Mar 2005 14:06 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Bike pool suggestions….?

You may remember that I was until recently on the University Environment committee as the Bicycle User's group representative. This has now been restructured, and we now have a 'cycling working group', for want of a better name for it, which reports to the Environment Committee.

We've been asked for suggestions as to how to set up a bicycle pool for use by University staff/students.

After some discussion of this we came to the conclusion that several variations on this proposal could be sensible, depending on the precise aims of such a scheme.

Some possible aims could be:

1) reduce intra-University car travel
2) reduce extra-University car travel
3) improved the general health of members

So: this is a request for proposals as to how such a scheme might be organised, and/or aims which would be met by various features of the proposal.

It would be helpful, I think, if you would post your suggestions to this blog, to allow other BUG members to consider and comment on them.

This would also give me a better idea of what is most popular (at least amongst current cyclists, anyway!) The next meeting of this group is 27th April so there is a bit of time for you to think.

Cheers!

Jen Marsh

: 18 Mar 2005 18:20 |  Comments (15) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Pictures

In case you wondering why the "galleries" section is a bit of a mess…....

I wanted to use pictures to illustrate a route from Coventry city centre to Campus. Each picture having a dozen or so accompanying words.

I tried using "gallery" technology. But you can't even delete your mistakes. As bloggs admin wrote (08-Mar-05) "I'm (sorry) there is no edit gallery screen right now. We will be adding this feature in the future, so for now, you're stuck with your gallery"

Some time over the next few weeks I'll try direct input of html.

: 12 Mar 2005 09:37 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem