I always love to combine two of my biggest passions, namely football and cycling. Back in Germany, I usually cycle the 28 km / 17.5 miles from my dad’s place toSchalke home games in Gelsenkirchen, the town of my birth in the old, struggeling industrial heart of Germany.
Leaving the Emirates….
It’s quicker than public transport, you don’t have any parking issues and you can have a beer or two. In early November, my journey to Schalke happened to be slightly longer. On 6 November, Schalke was playing Arsenal in the Championsleague. Shortly after I moved to Highbury two years ago, I also became a staunch Arsenal supporter and was completely thrilled by the prospect that “my” German team was playing “my” English team. Since I happened to be in between jobs in early November I decided to cycle from the Emirates in Highbury to the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen to see the match. Continue reading “Arsenal, Schalke and a bike – cycling from London to Gelsenkirchen”→
Having been a CTC member for more than a year, I’ve recently also joined London’s Cycling campaign (LCC) which boasts to be “largest urban cycling organisation in the world”. I hugely admire their work.
A few days ago, my first issue of the LCC magazine “London Cyclist” arrived (issue February/March 2011 – not to be confused with the great “London Cyclist” blog) In general, it’s really an impressive, professionally made product.
However, the bike review on page 42/43 really is a shame. My dear colleagues are discussing “‘urban cross’ bikes”. I don’t have a clue what “urban cross” stands for and “London Cyclist” doesn’t bother to explain it to me.
The teaser of the article says:
“Taking elements from both cyclocross and mountain biking, the new breed of ‘urban cross’ bikes are ideal for commuting, touring, and light off-roading”
Basically, “London Cyclist” seems to talk about bikes for urban use. Commuting, shopping, going to the pub. They’re featuring four different bikes:
When I was searching for the bikes on the internet, I was a little bit surprised. For the first three bikes, the Evans bike online shop is among the top search results on Google, and for “Marin Toscana cycle” Cycle Surgery is ranked very high. Pure chance, certainly. Important advertisers like leading national bike retailers don’t have any influence on the contents of a non for profit magazine run by a cyclists organisation, do they?
But let’s look at the bikes themselves. All of them have drop bars. Two (the Bosanova and the Honky) come with very small tyres (28 mm). The tyres of the Toscana are 4mm wider, while the Day01 has 35mm. Only one of the bikes comes with mudgards. None has rack or a hub-dynamo and lights.
Apparently, “urban cross” bikes are road bikes with disk brakes.
So according to “London Cyclist”, what kind of bikes do you need for getting around in London? Apparently you need a bike that
rides very fast (drop bar)
needs very good roads without potholes (small tyres)
isn’t prepared for rainy days (no mudguards)
isn’t prepared for carrying any luggage on their bike (no rack)
doesn’t need a reliable, always ready-to-use lighting (no hub dynamo)
Cycling Intelligence 