Thetownend.com

I have started cycling to work and it's great! Saving about £35 and 125 miles a month on the motor, as well as getting exercise. I might look into this cycle to work scheme, has anyone used this?

Works for a lot of people...but be safe!  Horrific story on a cycling forum this morning about a cyclist killed last night by a bus just outside the Olympic Park.  I used to do a lot of cycling, but I'd really think twice now about doing it regularly in a big city like London.  We're just not set up for it in the same way as a lot of other countries.

Thinking about doing the same now that I work 3 miles from home rather than 23. Got to get a bike first though.

You're going to pour fuel on the motorist v cyclist debate again.....stand back!

With regards to the cycle to work scheme, it depends whether your employer supports it. Assuming they do, ask them first as they may impose restrictive t&c as to what sort of bike you can purchase, where you can buy it from etc. That said, I think you can save up to 42% (or some figure like that) off a new bike and get some accessories (clothing, helmets, locks etc.) too.

Bristol is being promoted as the most cyclist friendly city in the UK, so where there is a will, there is a way.

(No, I haven't bought my new bike yet. I'm waiting for the sales to start circa September when all the new 2013 models are released)

There needs to be a change in attitudes with both Cyclists and Motorists. I would never contemplate cycling in London. I use the roads in Bath from the Hospital to the Tow Path, and biggest issue I've encountered is bus drivers, they pass very close.

I also think that crash helmets should be a legal requirement and that a road awareness course or cycling profiecny (sorry if spelt wrong) should be taught to school kids.

I cycle to work when the weather is nice and do a lot of road and MTB cycling in my spare time, but I am down on the south coast and there are a lot of cycling clubs and good, quiet roads. There is also a good cycle path network. 

However recent stuides have shown that motorists give less room to cyclist in cycle lanes than they do without. The biggest issue for me is cars pulling out of side roads and the fear that the car near me may be texting or tuning his radio and not see me.

The CTW scheme is a good way to save money on a bike, but not as good as it used to be.

 Swindon, has got quite a decent network of cylcle paths, and think I read recently that something was being done to link to Wootton Bassett, which is the worst bit.

 

Anyone know where I could pick up a map of cycle paths/routes in and around Swindon?

http://www.swindontravelchoices.co.uk/assets/CycleLeaflet_SwindonTown.pdf

Swindon's cycle network is very good.

From my place in West Swindon, I can get to Coate in around 20 minutes without having to use main roads. Or, going the other way, I can get out to Purton in the same time.

SBC used to do a decent map, with all the cycle routes on, which you could pick up form the Information Centre.

The Information Centre is now closed due to Tory cuts, and I'm unsure if they still produce the map. You'd have thought so mind...

Cheers Samdy

Here you go, Reg.

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/leisureandrecreation/walkingandcycling/towncyclenetworks/royalwoottonbassetttoswindoncycleroute.htm

Used to love cycling from my house in Toothill to my cousins place in Lawn when i was a kid. Great path from there past the old hospital and brings you out in old town opposite the lawns. Only had to cross 2 roads. Must admit I have not taken that path in full for around 18 years now and will have to do it again.

I also cycle to work. Croft trails track has been extended recently. Some decent technical bits and it's about 5.5km long now. Me and a few mates go down a do a couple of laps every saturday. Great fun.

I used to work in the cafe at Coate Water for a while as a teenager, and used that path to get there from home in West Swindon.  It's brilliant.  You can get right across the southern side of Swindon in 15 or 20 mins.  Glad to hear it's still there, with all the development that's taking place that way now.

Lovely walk that, I often take my dogs down there. The only problem now is the eyesore that is Wichelstowe being built.

Used to ride from Park South to Dorcan.

Don't remember the name of the estates now, but the cycle path goes past the Crumpled Horn?

I often had arguments with mothers taking their kids to school about using the cycle path. One would think the term 'cycle path' was quite self explanatory.

Her's hoping something decent happens then....shame that the old canal link was ruled out, as that could have been quality. I once walked it, although much of it is a trespass. The line is basically intact, the sole serious obstacle to the walk being where the Studley landfill site, had chopped away a scrub filled chunk, necessitating a traverse along a mesh fence left hanging, high and dry, Indiana Jones style

Where's this Jayo ?

The entrance is on the roundabout opposite Nationwide on Pipers Way. It's in Croft Woods.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&safe=off&q=Croft+Trail+Swindon&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Swindon,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ll=51.537754,-1.777618&spn=0.010891,0.017982&t=h&z=16&vpsrc=6&iwloc=A&cid=13840134406526239070

Better link here:

http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/croft-trail/croft-trail-maps/

Cheers

I do this every day, it's not far, couple of miles tops.
Although, I tend to cut through Eldene and under Dorcan Way and down dog shit alley by Dorcan School.

The valve on my inner tube is leaking and making my tyre flat, is this an easy fix or does it require a new inner tube?

Hope you have mudguards ginge.  :D

Replace - buy a big box of 5 or so from Halfords.

Cheers

This is a grim eye-witness account of the accident last night.

http://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/comments/xiud7/just_sat_down_with_some_poor_bloke_for_his_last/

Ride safely please.

Don't get the ones that claim to be self fixing as they normally aren't. If they puncture repair if small if not replace. Valve trouble is usually game over.

That was the page I read just before my first post on here this morning.  Still feel sick in my stomach after reading it.  Poor bastard.  A split second decision was all it took.  This time yesterday, he still had his whole life ahead of him.

See Bradley Wiggins wants the law changing about helmets for cyclists. I agree, it should be the law that anyone who rides a bicycle should wear a helmet.

agreed, I do get some funny from people when I'm riding on the cycle paths. But I don't care I enjoy living.

I've got a mate who refuses to ware one because it would "make him look a bellend". I'd rather be a live bellend than a dead one myself, each to their own.

Beside which, an overweight 30something struggling up a small hill on a bike will never look anything other than a bellend.

Tragic death but the cyclist's fault. I won't ride on busy roads and seeing people in london and other towns cities doing that think is very risky.
I'd rather break the law and ride on a path than die on a road cause some cock in a rush knocked me off.

Infuriates me to see cylists riding on roads when there is a cycle path right there. Ditto those who ride at night with no lights on their bikes.

If there is a cycle path option I'll use it.

Thanks for reminding me Arriba I need to get some lights on my bike, for the winter.

Cyclepaths I'll use, cycle lanes not always - depends on what bike I'm on as they tend to full of drains, pot holes etc.

I cycle every day, never worn a helmet.Would a helmet of saved Olympic Bus man yesterday?

nope.common senSe would have

Judging by that reddit post - no.

I've never worn a helmet either. Man up you bunch of poofs.

I've never worn a helmet either.
Not because i'm some kind of daredevil rebel, but because they look stupid.

Those who know me, know I don't give a fuck what I look like. I just find helmets bloody uncomfortable.

I'm 30 years old and I've never hit my head while cycling, don't see the point.

A good friend of mine was hit a couple of years ago.  Thankfully, there was no long term damage.  But the paramedics who arrived on the scene told him that, had it not been for his cycle helmet, he would almost certainly have died.  No guarantees in life, but you take your choices and live (or die) with them, I guess.

With your lack of hair it would make you look like a knob if you wore one antway

Hehe. I did have one, but my "commute" to work is only a couple of miles and is mostly paths/cycle paths, so don't feel it's necessary to wear one. If I ever plan to do any serious cycling, then i'd wear one.

I cycle to work every day and although it's only a couple of miles there and back it has made a difference to my overall fitness and I can now walk round the the golf course and play 18 holes without feeling like a fucking leper by the time I have finished.
I also used to wear a helmet all the time but found that car/bus/van/taxi drivers saw it as an open invite to cut you up, ignore you or basically just try to kill you.
Now I have stopped wearing one people do seem to be less intent on knocking me off for some strange reason. You do still get the odd silly Cunt (usually in a BMW) who thinks that because you are on a bike you are fair game, but a well aimed kick at an expensive wing mirror or threatening to rip the twats fucking arms off usually works a treat.

How the fuck do you read that Reddit page? All I see is comments in what appears to be a random order. No idea where the first post is.

Ah, helps if I had read the comments at the top. It's been taken down out of respect to the poor bloke's family.

Fact is it dosnt need an idiot in a car for you to fall or get knocked off....most deaths and injuries are a result of the cyclist falling off due to speed or loss of concentration.....GET YOU HELMET BACK ON STEPTOE.

The sense of wearing a helmet is obvious.....same for you Ginghino,you fall and hit your head its goodnight......manic drivers or no manic drivers.

I that really a fact Leefer?

You want one of these

 http://www.eta.co.uk/2011/04/01/safest-bicycle-helmet-has-built-wig

[url width=624 height=468]http://www.hotlikesauce.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Hair-Helmet.png[/url]

you beat me to it Dave

Actually, check out the link at the end of that page. i like the flame thrower idea!