A big welcome to hundreds of new subscribers this month, and particularly to our 2,000th victim. If you’re new to A to B, our speciality is transport, primarily pedal power and pedal/electric power. Not leisure cycling, but real A to B stuff. Our aim, if you haven’t already guessed, is to tackle the frightening trends of recent years and bring a little sanity back into transport. So how are we doing? Well, 2,000 of you are clearly heading our way – just another 50 million to go… Actually, you’re an influential lot: many local authorities and transport professionals subscribe (although, strangely, not the Department of Transport), so our influence is greater than you might expect.
The ‘retention toilets’ on Virgin’s new Cross- Country Voyagers not only shut down and lock themselves when the water runs out, or the tanks fill up with effluent, but there is no facility to top up with water en route.The good old ‘dump on the track’ loos were often given a quick top-up, and High Speed Train sets were given water bowsers at all major stations.
Many thanks for all the words of elegance, wit and wisdom I glean from your matchless pages every issue. Could I seek direct enlightenment about two matters, please? I’m about to fit a Zap motor (probably the SX model from a UK supplier) to my conventional roadster to coset a grumbling knee on my daily, far- from-flat, six mile commute.
“At present I carry two children to school by car, often picking up shopping on the way home. But the traffic is dreadful and I’m embarrassed to sit fuming in the car when alternatives exist. I saw the ‘Family’ bike at CYCLE 2002 – would this be a suitable bike for my regular school run?”
Safety could hardly be improved upon – the cyclist has excellent all- round visibility and the children are positioned centrally in an effective steel cage.When stationary, the wide stand (again, centrally positioned) provides great stability, enabling the children to hop in and out unaided.The stand is apparently automatic too, descending with the aid of gas-filled struts.
Our star buy in the front light department. Although boasting only three LEDs, the EL200 scored ten out of ten for long-distance visibility, giving an even more intense beam than its larger more powerful stablemate, the EL300. It also did better at 45 degrees, with a reasonable score of 3/10.This lamp was rated best on the road too, producing a tunnel of intense light, but with enough scatter to illuminate hedges and verges close by, giving information on road position that some of the others lacked.
This, we’re told, is a revised version of the LD250 – a single LED handlebar- mounted front light. Problems with lack of endurance have resulted in an unusual three-battery design, giving a claimed run time of 100 hours in continuous mode, or 200 hours flashing. As usual, our experience is rather different – up to 30 hours with good conventional batteries, but just six to 15 hours with rechargeables.
This is the one that’s making all the headlines. The EL300 is the only LED lamp specifically designed to replace a conventional filament lamp, but it remains technically illegal on its own. Power comes from four AA cells, and light is generated by an array of five LEDs, each with its own powerful lens. Welcome to the future – the EL300 makes all current cycle lights look like Edwardian acetylene lanterns.
This light makes no pretence of being a sole light source, but it’s often used this way, so we decided to test it anyway.Three LEDs are mounted within a British Standard reflector (this doesn’t make it a British Standard light though), and power comes from a pair of AAA batteries. Long distance light output is poor, at 4/10, but there’s a great deal of scattered light, so the brightness at 45 degrees is a reasonable 3/10.
This long, thin lamp contains five LEDs and is arguably the brightest on the market, scoring a full ten brightness points viewed head on, but a slightly disappointing 3/10 at an angle of 45 degrees.As well as constant illumination, the light can be set to one of three flashing modes if you like that sort of thing.
The Basta is one of the best British Standard approved LED rear lamps, and available in battery, dynamo, or dynamo/standlight variants. It’s also worth checking out this helpful site 
This is another rare LED light certified to British Standard, so you can use it as your sole source of light, but only if you purchase a BS approved bracket.Yes, this lamp comes with the same diabolical mounting supplied with the LD600, which – needless to say – is neither British Standard (nor A to B) approved.
Those who’ve followed the electric bike story in these pages, will probably have noticed the genre evolving into two distinct families – the cheap and cheerful, usually Chinese, hub motor machines, and the more sophisticated crank motors, primarily Yamaha or Panasonic based.The latter tend to be lighter, quieter and more like conventional machines to ride.They used to cost more too, but with the crank-drive Giant Lafree E- Trans now reduced to £650, and a few Chinese jobs bolstered with knobs and whistles, and put back in the window for £900+, the price distinction is becoming increasingly blurred.
Most of the electronics are housed in the front of the left pannier, with two of the four batteries.This is a vulnerable position at the best of times, particularly as you have to reach in and unplug the motor cable from the circuit board to plug the charger in.The delicate bits and pieces are only protected from prying fingers and the ravages of fresh, muddy or salt water spray by the canvas pannier.
Pedal reflectors are a legal requirement in most western countries and the majority of pedals are fitted with them.These little yellow reflectors are extremely effective when caught in the lights of a car – the rhythmic motion catching the eye and transmitting the unmistakable signature of a bicycle. Unfortunately, on most roads under most lighting conditions, the reflectors do very little.
Sound good doesn’t it? A torch and/or bicycle light that recharges itself for free from the sun – no more batteries, no more dynamos, no more fuss.You get to save lots of lovely money while saving the planet. Unfortunately, the reality is a little more prosaic, and it’s worth explaining why.
Even the Brompton’s worst enemies have to agree that it does a good job of folding. It’s also pretty nippy on the road.Where it’s not so hot is in those tricky off-road situations – loose rocky surfaces and mud in particular. As anyone will know who’s tried to haul one along the wrong sort of track, mud soon builds into a sticky poultice between the tyre and mudguard, and it can take weeks to shake out the last remnants.
At first glance, the Aardman office looks like that of any other medium-sized company – perhaps a high-tech engineering works of some kind. But inside, things are a little different.Well, for a start, the staff are predominantly young, they’re all terribly nice, and they’re also terribly busy. In this factory, the staff are clearly on a mission.The canteen is different too…Where your average engineering company might have picked up the odd award for widget-fettling, Aardman has an impressive array of gongs, including a small group of Oscars, all displayed with delightful nonchalance across from the baked spuds and soup de la jour.
This lecture was originally presented by author Tony Hadland at the CYCLE 2002 show in London, September 2002.The emphasis is on British- designed machines and on foreign portables that had a significant impact in the UK. ‘Portable’ is used inclusively to represent folding, separable and demountable cycles.
About this time, tricycles were set to eclipse the High Bicycle in popularity, being easier and safer to ride. But the problem with tricycles was getting them through doorways.Therefore many were made to reduce in width.The axle on which the two wheels were mounted might be constructed on a folding system, so that all three wheels could be swung into line. Alternatively, the axle might be made to telescope to a reduced width.The modern ‘safety’ bicycle soon saw off the penny-farthings and greatly reduced the popularity of trikes. Nonetheless, compressible tricycles were available for well over twenty years.
Forty years ago, in November 1962, the Moulton was launched, and saved the British cycle industry, whose sales had been plummeting for years. Although most Moultons were not portables, the Stowaway models were and proved a milestone in portable cycle design. Before the Stowaway, portable cycles only occasionally came onto the UK market and there had never been a successful small-wheeled portable. Since the Stowaway, there have always been small-wheeled portables on sale in the UK.Through licensing deals, the Moulton Stowaway was sold by Huffman in the USA, Raleigh in South Africa, Malvern Star in Australia and Jonas Oglaend in Norway. Alex Moulton worked with the Dunlop tyre and rim company, pioneering the adaptation and development of existing juvenile wheel formats (most notably the traditional 16×13/8″ British format) for adult use, using specially made rims and tyres.This ISO 349mm size went on to be used by Bickerton, Brompton, Airframe, Micro and others, and remains a key tyre size today.You can now buy high performance 16″ tyres from Primo, Schwalbe and Brompton – before the Moulton, all you could buy in this size were tyres designed for use on toy bicycles.