Why cycle?

Save time * Save money * Get fit * Smile! * Save space

Do your bit for climate * Cleaner air * Less noise * Save energy

Freedom of the city * Get social! * Touch grass * Flexibility!

Save time!

Here are some sample journey times to or from Croydon town centre, at average cycling pace (expect to be a bit slower the first few goes – and yes, we’re sure people have posted much quicker than this on Strava).

Remember – these are door-to-door: no need to add time on to walk to the station, wait for connections or find (and perhaps pay for) a parking space. And cycle journey times are (almost) 100% reliable: you’re not at the mercy of road works, or strikes. (Just invest in a good set of puncture-proof tyres – we promise you, it’s a worthwhile investment. Ask the shop to fit them if you’re not sure how.)

Save money!

Cycling is one of the least expensive ways to get around – and over time, the savings can really add up.

Running a car can easily cost upwards of £3000 a year: monthly finance payments, insurance, fuel, parking, congestion charges, MOT and maintenance. A young driver running a £35k car on PCP finance will end up paying as much as £7000 per year in total.

The trains aren’t much better: the annual cost of a travel card to zone 1 is £2500 (from Zone 4), or almost £3000 (from zone 5).

Meanwhile, a good quality bike suitable for long commutes will cost around £800 new, or £400 second hand. A basic model suitable for local trips, less than half that. Allow £100-200 for accessories: lights, lock, helmet, perhaps some cycling clothing and panniers. ALDI often have some excellent bargains on basic, serviceable cycling gear.

All in all, you’ll have the freedom of the city from around £500 up-front, and £100-200/year on maintenance and replacements after that.

Burn fat (not oil)!

Getting on a bike counts as low-impact, moderate intensity* exercise. The British Medical Association recommends that everyone get 150 minutes of this kind of exercise a week – half an hour per working day – and most people with sedentary jobs don’t get anywhere near that much. The “low-impact” bit means that it’s easier on your joints and muscles than “higher impact” sports like running, contact sports or strength training.

Per mile, cycling will burn around 40 calories – or approximately 400 per hour – that’s a lot less than walking or running, but because it’s low-impact, you can do many more sessions a week than is possible for running. And by incorporating it into your commute and routine, it’s not something you have to make “extra” time for (that gym or pool session that always falls by the wayside when life gets busy).

So an easy three- or four-mile journey, twice a day, will burn around 250-300kcal/day. Over a week, that’ll comfortably meet the BMA recommended level of physical activity – and longer term, it’s enough to lose weight at around 0.5kg/1lb per month, a healthy and sustainable rate.

And being more active helps convert fat to muscle and improve tone – so even if you don’t lose (much) weight, you’ll look and feel fitter and healthier.

*Intensive cycling can meet the criteria for high-intensity exercise – but in London you’re only likely to hit that either cycling up steep hills, on a heavier-than-normal bike or in a spin class.

Smile!

It’s not just your physical health that will benefit from being more active – research published by Edinburgh University (UK), the National Institute of Health (US) and the British Journal of Sports Medicine (UK) shows that regular cycling helps to reduce the occurrence and severity of conditions like anxiety and depression.

One research study found that 75% of cyclists noticed an improvement in their mental health since getting on the saddle; another found a 15 per cent reduction in prescriptions for depression or anxiety medication amongst cycle commuters compared with non-cyclists.

(We don’t know if these figures are due to them being richer and slimmer than before – see above – but that surely can’t have hurt.)

Save space!

We all know traffic’s a problem – but there’s a saying that goes, when you drive – you’re not stuck in traffic, you are traffic.

Bikes take up less than 1/6th as much road space per person as single-occupant cars – and at junctions (where London’s road capacity is most at a premium) it’s even less than that. The only form of transport that’s more space-efficient is buses – and then, only when they’re full.

So when you go by bike, you’re leaving more space on the roads for essential vehicles like freight and emergency services, and you’re not contributing to the jams everyone loves to hate.

Do your bit for climate!

The climate emergency isn’t getting any less urgent, and everyone needs to do their bit to reduce impact on the planet. Short city journeys are some of the least efficient for traditional (petrol or diesel) cars because of all the stopping and starting.

A gallon of petrol – which is roughly what a five-mile (each way) car commute will use over a week – is equivalent to about 9kg CO2. (That’s about four Big Macs, or a whole roast chicken).

What about EVs? They’re much cleaner, but unless you’re charging on 100% renewables, there is still CO2 produced by electricity generation – and because they’re so much lighter, e-assisted cycles offer more than 10x, sometimes up to 30x, the energy efficiency of a full-sized EV or PHEV. And that’ll save you a lot of money on charging, as well as being kinder to the planet.

Cleaner air!

It’s common to get mixed up over climate change and air pollution – the two are often talked about together, when they’re not really the same thing. Despite the introduction of ULEZ, much of London still suffers from less-than-ideal air quality (PM10s, PM2.5s and Nitrogen Oxides being the main culprits) and this contributes to asthma and other breathing problems.

Lowering your own emissions helps reduce the scale of the problem – and it’s worth being aware that pollution inside vehicles – whether that’s cars, buses or deep-line Tube trains – is often many times higher than on the outside.

EVs and PHEVs aren’t blameless here either: brake and tyre wear are significant contributors to those “PM” – short for Particulate Matter, meaning very fine toxic dust and soot – nasties. Once again, while bikes of course have brakes and tyres, their lower speed and weight means 1/10th or less the emissions per mile, comparing with even a “clean” EV.

And that means a cleaner, healthier city for everyone.

Shh! Less noise pollution.

Do you remember lockdown? It certainly had its down sides, but one big plus was being able to hear the birds singing. Motor traffic is up there with air traffic as one of the biggest contributors to urban noise pollution. Cycling cities are quieter cities, with just the whirr of spokes and the occasional ring of a bell. And if you follow one of our quieter routes through parks and along rivers (did you know Croydon has not one but two distinct rivers flowing all the way to the Thames, each with a signposted cycle route along its length?), you’ll be able to hear the birds again on your way to and from work.

Save energy!

Bikes are efficient. Remarkably so: a human on a bicycle is more energy-efficient – in terms of miles travelled per unit of energy used – than any similarly sized mammal.

But really this is about the energy grid and our planet’s finite resources – both to generate it (as electricity or fossil fuels), and the rare-earth minerals needed to store it in batteries.

A high-spec eBike has a battery of around 500 Watt-hours, weighing a few kg, whereas a full EV car requires a battery one hundred times larger and heavier. And because it’s so much lighter, it needs vastly less energy to move: an EV will travel roughly 5km one 1kWh of energy, an eBike can cover ten or twenty times that distance on the same amount of electricity.

Which will save you money, and leave more energy for other things.

Freedom of the city!

This one is hard to explain, but if you know: you know.

There is something exhilarating, liberating even, about having the freedom to explore the whole of one of the world’s greatest cities, without having to pay a penny; without the challenge of finding parking or paying fines; with the flexibility to hop off whenever you feel like and check out that new shop, park or café you’ve just spotted; to stop and talk to friends without clogging up the road. No tickets, no cameras, no B.S. – just the freedom to explore at leisure, without being at the mercy of the train timetables, railway unreliability or traffic jams; no partner or parent on your case about when you’re going to bring the car back. And it’s all powered by YOU.

Social rides & clubs!

London can be a lonely city. But it doesn’t have to be. Join one of our Social Rides – good conversation guaranteed! – or sign up for a Cycle Buddies scheme, or if you’re looking for a slightly more athletic challenge, try one of the area’s local cycling clubs: De Ver CC, Addiscombe Wheelers, Old Portlians CC, Penge Cycle Club, Dulwich Paragon or Brixton Cycles.

Touch grass – smell flowers!

Another one that’s easier to experience than to explain: when you travel by bike, you experience your surroundings in a way that’s not possible by car or public transport. You’ll feel the seasons, hear the birds, and feel the ups, downs and contours of London’s topography and river valleys. It’s like walking – but five times faster. And when you get to the inevitable boring bits (unless suburban residential architecture’s your thing…) you can always hit the Fast Forward button.

Flexibility!

Cycling is the most flexible way to get from A to B: as fast as driving (at least in London, where the average traffic speed is 12mph), there’s no delays or timetables, you can go almost everywhere pedestrians can (and even if you have to dismount, you can walk your bike along). You can stop wherever and whenever you like, without having to worry about parking – as a result, delivery firms using cargo bikes for small/light parcels can make 50% more drops per hour than those using vans – and enjoy a much wider choice of routes. Plus, if you end up in the pub, then provided it’s after rush hour you can always bring your bike home on the train. And if you get a fold-up bike – Brompton or similar – you can even take it on the trams and buses as well.