Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => On The Road => Topic started by: andrewc on 08 May, 2014, 08:54:11 pm
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We've got a fleet of shiny new GREEN bikes for hire in Liverpool :D
I've not seen anyone riding them yet, I suppose I should sign up and have a go.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/watch-liverpools-new-bike-hire-7083454 (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/watch-liverpools-new-bike-hire-7083454)
http://www.hourbike.com/mysitecaddy/site3/locukliverpoolhome.htm (http://www.hourbike.com/mysitecaddy/site3/locukliverpoolhome.htm)
(http://i3.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/article7083259.ece/alternates/s2197/GAV070514CITYBIKE-6.jpg)
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http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/joe-anderson-hails-tremendous-success-7567265
"Since the project launched in May almost 9,000 journeys have been made by shoppers, tourists and commuters on the bikes." :thumbsup:
Still haven't tried one....
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Is this the same as the NextBike scheme in Glasgow? If so then you sign up for one and you have an account on them all. Including many European cities.
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Is this the same as the NextBike scheme in Glasgow? If so then you sign up for one and you have an account on them all. Including many European cities.
Looking at their website they run schemes in several UK locations. The nearest one to you is Dumfries.
The council had tenders from several vendors, all of whom ran schemes elsewhere.
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This is the Glasgow one.. http://www.nextbike.co.uk/en/glasgow/
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There are actually 2 schemes in Liverpool. Bike & Go have bikes for hire at many local train stations in Liverpool & elsewhere http://www.bikeandgo.co.uk/locations.php
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I'm not sure the cycle path in the picture above looks very safe :o
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I signed up for this last night. £60 for a year, and any journey under 30 minutes is free.
This morning I walked 5 minutes from my flat & punched my code & pin no into the terminal & undocked one from the station.
They have a shaft drive with a 3 speed Nexus hub at the rear, hub brakes & a dynamo powered lighting system with what looks like a B&M light mounted on the front carrier. Not light...
Adjusted the saddle & onto the road. A very upright riding position & I don't like the gear change much, I've been spoiled by my Rohloff!
Down Mount Pleasant, the brakes work well enough, onto Ranelagh St and then through the Church St pedestrian area dodging delivery lorries.....
Stopped off to grab a bacon butty then onto the busy Dale St & across Tithebarn St. The bottom end of Old Hall St is one way (I'd forgotten about that!) so some careful pavement cycling was done until it became 2 way again, by which time I was at the docking station outside the Passport office where I locked it in with a clunk, getting lube all over my hand from the seat tube.
It normally takes me 30-40 minutes to walk to the office. This cut it down to about 15, including the bacon butty shop.
I don't intend to make it a regular habit, but I'm crap at getting out of bed in the winter & this could save me time when I'm late.
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I signed up for this intending it to be an occasional thing, but I've used them 5 times in the last week! 4 rides to work & 1 ride back.
Only problem so far has been a couple of loose seatposts, leading to the saddle swiveling mid ride :o
Trip details from my account on their website, last figure is duration.
3/10/2014 16:45 Old Hall Street - The Capital Building 03/10/2014 16:59 City of Liverpool College – Myrtle Street 0.00:14
03/10/2014 08:10 City of Liverpool College – Myrtle Street 03/10/2014 08:21 HM Passport Office 0.00:10
02/10/2014 08:18 Everyman Theatre 02/10/2014 08:29 HM Passport Office 0.00:11
30/09/2014 08:11 University of Liverpool - Abercromby Square 30/09/2014 08:26 HM Passport Office 0.00:14
26/09/2014 08:04 University of Liverpool - Abercromby Square 26/09/2014 08:20 HM Passport Office 0.00:15
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How does the shaft drive feel?
I suppose it's to reduce maintenance. The London bikes don't have it.
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The shaft drive seems to work well, I've not noticed any noise from the drivetrain, though each bike I've used has had a bit of a rattle!
The twistgrip gearchange isn't very precise , bottom gear was adequate to get me up Leece St & Hardman St without honking, though I think an infrequent cyclist might struggle with that....
I signed up purely for the occasional trip to work, but I'm now rather taken with the idea :D Looking at the map I can see that there are docking stations close to several destinations I'd usually walk to.
http://frontend.citybikeliverpool.co.uk/LocationsMap.aspx (http://frontend.citybikeliverpool.co.uk/LocationsMap.aspx)
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5599/15437185492_ae74cb0948_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/pw8Bqy)
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42 rentals since I signed up at the end of September. I've reported 2 bikes for maintenance as the drivetrain kept slipping in top gear. I've had 2 issues where the docking terminal hasn't registered me returning the bike and I've been charged! Full refund in both cases.
I'm pleased that I've seen no vandalism of the bikes in the city centre area, though I heard of 1 stand being removed from Anfield for this reason.
There isn't a stand at or near Liverpool John Lennon airport, it would be nice to be able to ride there for a weekend getaway with just hand luggage.
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There isn't a stand at or near Liverpool John Lennon airport, it would be nice to be able to ride there for a weekend getaway with just hand luggage.
That would make an airport accessible by bike, which is clearly against the rules...
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There isn't a stand at or near Liverpool John Lennon airport, it would be nice to be able to ride there for a weekend getaway with just hand luggage.
That would make an airport accessible by bike, which is clearly against the rules...
LJL is easily reached by bike. I've usually had to argue about the CTC plastic bag though...
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Gah! Went to rent a bike tonight & it wouldn't come out of the docking station. I then noticed the seat clamp bolt was missing....
Walked to the next station & tried to rent another, it took my details but again wouldn't let me remove it!
I had to get a taxi & was nearly late for the Pacifica Quartet!
The support desk says my account doesn't have any active rentals and that the network may be playing up.
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http://www.liverpoolexpress.co.uk/citybike-triumphs-awards/ (http://www.liverpoolexpress.co.uk/citybike-triumphs-awards/)
A claimed 35,000 hires since they started the scheme in May. 94 of which are me.
A few more instances of seat clamps bolts being pinched, but I think they've now fitted tamper proof ones.
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The scallies will nick them
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Record numbers of people used the bikes in October this year, with 10,851 rentals during the month. (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-citybike-rentals-quadruple-scheme-10654591)
I'm still using these every weekday, the bikes are generally in good nick & still no major vandalism to the bikes I've seen in the city centre :thumbsup:
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I wonder what the factors are determining vulnerability of hire bikes to vandalism. The scheme introduced in Bristol a few years ago seemed to suffer a lot of vandalism and theft and failed partly because of that.
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http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/drunk-young-men-filmed-citybikes-10660045 (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/drunk-young-men-filmed-citybikes-10660045) :facepalm:
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When I saw that article I had a horrible feeling that the councillor was going to suggest banning bikes from the tunnel* but it looks like he just wants to publicise the existing rules. Being drunk and swapping lanes in there is not a good idea whatever you're driving.
* 45 odd years ago there used to be a regular stream of clubs going through on sunday mornings. The toll used to be 2d ;D
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I wonder what action was taken against the motorist using their phone ?
Just sayin'
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When I saw that article I had a horrible feeling that the councillor was going to suggest banning bikes from the tunnel* but it looks like he just wants to publicise the existing rules. Being drunk and swapping lanes in there is not a good idea whatever you're driving.
* 45 odd years ago there used to be a regular stream of clubs going through on sunday mornings. The toll used to be 2d ;D
When I was a student, my housemate rode through the Mersey tunnel. He started at the uncontrolled end and got a bollocking at the end with the toll booths (I can't remember which is which). I do remember he used an army respirator throughout the trip which probably scared people more than anything else.
I decided not to accompany him on that trip :)
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When I saw that article I had a horrible feeling that the councillor was going to suggest banning bikes from the tunnel* but it looks like he just wants to publicise the existing rules. Being drunk and swapping lanes in there is not a good idea whatever you're driving.
* 45 odd years ago there used to be a regular stream of clubs going through on sunday mornings. The toll used to be 2d ;D
When I was a student, my housemate rode through the Mersey tunnel.
He started at the uncontrolled end and got a bollocking at the end with the toll booths (I can't remember which is which).
Probably outside the permitted times. Used to be allowed between 8pm and 8am. Not sure what it is now but it will be on their website somwhere.
Toll booths are at the Birkenhead end
I do remember he used an army respirator throughout the trip which probably scared people more than anything else.
Unnecessary - the air quality is ok in there unless the traffic stops for some reason. It's not a long tunnel and has a pretty hefty forced draught ventilation system. Good enough to give you a nice tail wind up the hills at either end.
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http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/amateur-cyclist-sets-new-world-11784683
http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/09/can-you-beat-the-boris-bike-challenge-5237164/
:-D
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Grrrr......
Q. What’s happening ? For the last week or so there appear to have been very few bikes available around the university area. In particular the Crown St & Myrtle St stations
A. Yes, unfortunately our fleet is significantly reduced at the moment - over the last five weeks we have had between 15 and 20 bikes stolen every week - some of them are being reported as abandoned so our team are collecting them but in the majority of cases they have been badly damaged so cannot go back into circulation straight aware and unsurprisingly there is a back log at the workshop.
On this Sunday just gone we had 9 bikes stolen after being secured with the padlock by customers who on return to the bike have found the combination lock but no bike as someone has been unscrewing the combination locks.
We are working with the police to try to prevent these crimes and our team are working around the clock to try to collect bikes, repair vandalised stands and get bikes back into the system as quickly as possible - the whole situation is beyond frustrating for us and our customers
The police charged a few people last week so hopefully word will get out and theft and vandalism will return to more manageable levels
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Similarly, the Yo bikes in Bristol are now to be retrofitted with cable locks in addition to their built in horseshoe locks (which open when you scan them with an app).
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They have cable locks, which you are supposed to use if you are not securing them to one of the docking stations. However they are pretty crap & it's when these are used that the bikes are being stolen.
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http://confidentials.com/liverpool/council-set-to-seize-control-of-joes-popular-citybikes?id=59834c24d50e3
City council taking control does not enthuse me. :(
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I went to the nearest docking station to my house this morning. No bikes & the station had been comprehensively wrecked. Several of the docking points had been smashed open & had the electronics ripped out >:(
This is right next to a block of student accomodation & there's an obvious CCTV camera outside.
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I went to the nearest docking station to my house this morning. No bikes & the station had been comprehensively wrecked. Several of the docking points had been smashed open & had the electronics ripped out >:(
This is right next to a block of student accomodation & there's an obvious CCTV camera outside.
This still hasn't been fixed, so I'm guessing its going to be removed >:( >:(