Bike ramps and re-branded Boris Bikes: weekly round-up #17

In this week’s round-up we look at cycling tech, both real and fictional, as well as looking at some more good news for cyclists in London!

This week’s image comes from a post by user usd on Reddit. Commentators on the post were mainly telling the guy in the photo to be more careful next time, and not take the risk. Luckily you won’t need to traverse any raging streams on a Ride 25 holiday!

Leg&Go

Last week we opened with Leg&Go’s Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their cool 8-in-1 bike design. Since then the project has been successfully funded: 217 backers pledged $76,268, meaning that the bike will enter proper production.

Very exciting
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Where are Europe’s best trails?

We also wrote last week about the opening of EuroVelo8, a new cycle path connecting Spain to Cyprus that is part of the European Cyclists’ Federation’s ambitious project to build more than 70,000km of bike paths in Europe. Following this, it was with interest that we read GoEuro’s post about ‘Brilliant European Bike Trails’:

Click to read the full post!
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This post by GoEuro got our attention as it covers some great routes. Number 4 gets a special mention from us, as Rome is the ending point for leg 4 of Ride25 (and starting point for leg 5, coming soon!).

The summer of cycling

Cyclists in London will benefit from free journeys on Boris Bikes this summer. Lorna wrote about the bikes’ facelift – where they transitioned from Barclay’s Blue to Santander Red – back in March, and they’re in the news again this week as part of Santander Cycles’ Summer of Cycling.

Jenson Button launches the scheme (linked to source)
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As well as free bike rental, the scheme also offers “money can’t buy” cycling experiences such as guided cycle tours through some of the Science Museum’s most popular exhibits, and a Sunrise Cycle Tour through London Zoo.

Toyota ramping up their car design

Our favourite story this week was from Clickhole, and featured the headline Innovative: Toyota Is Saving Cyclists’ Lives By Adding Ramps To Their Car Doors:

That’s one way of doing it! (linked to source)
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For those of you who are unfamiliar, Clickhole is a satirical site parodying Buzzfeed and its ilk (in much the same way as The Onion parodies traditional news outlets). The story is completely untrue, but it highlights an important cycling safety issue in a way that facilitates sharing:

The numbers, from Sharetally.co, speak for themselves
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Click here to tweet our story of the week!