London Offers 21st Century Bike Share with Barclay's Cycle Hire

Not to be outdone by Paris with its Velib bike share program, London Transport opened up an automated bike share program on July 30, 2010 with 5,000 bicycles at 315 docking stations.  Like most modern bike share programs, the "scheme" (as the Brits call it) is designed for short hops in the City of London.

According to Wikipedia, the bikes are called "Boris bikes" for Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London at the time.

The sponsor of the program is Barclay's financial services who put up something on the order of 25 million UK pounds to finance the program.   

Even more interestingly, on February 27, 2011 Boris Johnson is quoted in the Bloombergnews.com as saying that Barclay's should contribute another 25 million pounds to double their investment.  According to Bloomberg Johnson said he wants to see more of the money being paid in bonuses in the financial sector shared with other Londoners, both through donations from highly paid employees and corporate sponsorship for programs such as this.  As Johnson noted, "these people have received substantial sums of money from the tax payer to keep the whole banking industry afloat.”

Now that's a new spin on financing public bike share programs!

Barclay's Cycle Hire works like the Paris program.  You can buy a one day, one week or annual membership.  Using the bike is free for the first 30 minutes then costs 1 pound for an hour, 4 pounds for 90 minutes and so on. 

For complete details of Barclay's Cycle Hire visit their web site. 

Rent a Bicycle in Germany

Here are two great resources for renting bicycles in Germany and for general information about bike touring in Germany.

Before you start looking around, however, note the two photos. Very few companies in Germany offer lightweight touring bicycles. Most are fully equipped city or hybrid bikes complete with fenders, lights, racks, and more. They are pretty substantial bikes. So keep that in mind as you explore your options. Bike Rentals Plus has actually shipped lightweight touring bikes from Italy to customers in Austria for rides down the Danube to Budapest. (One fellow bought one of our used bikes in perfectly good shape. We shipped it to him in Vienna and he sold it in Budapest for 60% of what he paid for it. Everyone was happy!

Bicycle Germany is a web site by Tim and Maxa Burleigh, avid touring cyclists. There may be more information than you want, here, but at least they've done a lot of research for you. If you looking to rent a bike in Germany, start on this page.

Here's another blog with fairly recent bike rental options in major German cities.

For more photos of Germans and Austrians cycling the Danube Bikeway visit our Flickr site.

Bikes on Trains in Europe with the Example of Italy

There are normally two occasions when you might need to take your bike on the train:
1) You've just arrived at the airport and need to get to your first hotel or other lodging;
2) You're out on the road with your bike and you need to cover some ground quickly. (Alternatively, you’ve finished your tour, arrived in Sicily and need to jump on the train to return to Rome, for example).

Regulations vary from country to country and train to train but we'll talk about bikes on Italian trains in this post. Later we'll send you to resources in other countries.

Italian trains are pretty bike friendly after years of lobbying by the Federazione Italiana Amici della Bicicletta.

Getting your Bike from the Airport by Train

Let’s say you are headed from the Rome airport to your rental villa in Umbria or Tuscany. If your bike is in a box or bag you can take it on most trains as accompanied baggage. It’s just a question as to whether or not there is baggage
in your train car. (Most Italian trains do NOT have separate luggage cars). Fast trains, tagged ES*, ES* Fast, AV e AV Fast, in the train scheudule normally do not allow large packages such as a bike in a box (ES means EuroStar, the long-distance fast trains).

Getting your bike on the train is the least of your problems. Think, instead, about the logistics in moving your bike in a bike case or box, your luggage, and your family or traveling companions. In Rome you first have to get from luggage claim to the metro train to get into Rome, then change metros to get to the train station, then to your train. Once you arrive at destination you need to get from the local train station to your villa or rental apartment. A better option might be to rent a van or even hire a van to shuttle you to your destination.

Taking your Bike on the Train without a Box or Case

So you’re out on the road, pedaling furiously but need to jump ahead a couple hundred kilometers. Or, you want to pedal from Venice to Florence but the only bike rental supplier is near Bologna (LINK). So pick up your rental bike near Bologna, take the train to Venice, do your bike tour from Venice to Florence, then catch the train back from Florence to Bologna with your bike and drop it off at the rental supplier.

MOST local and regional Italian trains will allow you to just wheel your bike aboard. You need a ticket and your bike needs a 3.50 euro ticket. (Be sure to validate that ticket before you board).

This is actually a great way to travel throughout Europe as long as there aren't too many travelers. Up to four bikes with panniers can usually fit on a train pretty easily. A larger group is much more difficult.

For more information on bikes on trains in Italy and Europe here are a few resources:

TrenItalia, the old Ferrovie dello Stato web site has a pretty good English explanation here.

The Italian train schedule online is actually very good and indicates which trains take bikes with a small bicycle icon and note: "Bicycle transportation service."

Other good resources in Italy are the Federazione Italiana Amici della Bicicletta (FIAB)
Their English web site is a little outdated but may be useful.

For information about bikes on trains in other European countries start with the European Cycling Federation.

Resources for Designing Your European Bicycle Tour Route #2 - Maps

Our first post introduced the Eurovelo long distance bicycle touring network in Europe. Click on "route design" in the margin and you'll get all the posts relative to designing your route.

This post talks a little about basic maps for your trip: which maps to use and which to avoid, where to find the right maps, specialty maps, and so on. Later I'll talk about your basic bicycle touring books and why they aren't all that good. Then we'll begin to steer you toward two really valuable resources: 1) interactive online resources for bike route design; and, 2) newer edition publications that combine route notes and maps (available only in very popular bike touring areas).

We often see cyclists pedaling down a busy highway in Italy with a 1:1,000,000 Michelin map of Italy. No wonder that cyclist is on the wrong road. Michelin is French and their Italian maps aren't very good. Plus, the scale of one to a million is way too small (small scale, small detail; large scale, large detail).

For Europe, generally speaking, you want a map at about a 1:200,000 scale. You can get larger scale maps (1:100,000 or even 1:25,000) but to go anywhere on a bike you'd need a pannier full of these maps.

With that scale map you can cover most of a region and with two or three you can get across France, most of Italy, and so on.

Key Maps in A Few Countries of Europe

France: Michelin; regional maps at a scale of 1:200,000
Germany: The German Bicycle Touring Club (ADFC : Allgemeiner Deutsche Fahrrad Club) produces an excellent series of bicycle maps at 1:150,000
Italy: Italian Touring Club (Touring Club Italiano, TCI); regional at 1:200,000 (shown on this post)
(Michelin makes maps of Italy at 1:400,000 but they aren't detailed enough)
Ireland: Ordinance Survey Maps (Irish Government); 1:250,000 (you can cover the whole Republic in three maps; add Northern Ireland with a fourth
Spain: Instituto Geografico Nacional (Spanish Government mapping office) makes a great series by Province (Mapa Provincial) at 1:200,000 (find them in local bookstores or tobacconist shops)
Greece: Greece is tough but DON'T rely on foreign maps; I like Road Editions, 1:250,000 covering the entire country in 6 maps.
England, Scotland, Wales: Ordinance Survey 1:250,000 maps cover the entire United Kingdom (these are the maps generally recommended by the premier British bicycle touring organization, the Cyclists Tour Club - the CTC)

In the USA, of course, you'll be looking at the materials produced by the Adventure Cycling Association.

Later we'll talk about even more valuable resources and other maps. But don't forget the fun part of getting a paper map and poring over it to design your route!

Hotels that Include Bicycles - What Bicycle Would you Like with that Room?

Here's an update from the NY Times on hotels in Europe that offer bikes. The article, by Jane Margolies was published May 3, 2009 in the electronic edition.

Remember that innovative hotel that offered you a non-smoking room years ago? Well, now you can ask for a bicycle with your room!

Hilary Howard reported in the NY Times Dec. 21, 2008 that some hotels and hotel chains now offer the option of a bicycle along with the room.

Here are just a few (please let us know if you find others!)

The Bowery in NY City
The Gansevoort South in Miami
The James in Chicago
The Element in Lexington, MA
And according to Howard, all future Element Hotels will include free bikes!

Of course, this is nothing new for us here in Fort Collins, Colorado as the Armstrong Hotel has been offering crusier bikes to its guests for several years now.

The Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs doesn't provide free bikes but you can rent them.

In Portland, OR: Hotel Jupiter will rent you a bike for a nominal $10 for 4 hours and $20 for 12 hours. Just give them a call: 503-230-9200 or drop in to their web site at www.jupiterhotel.com.

Near Atlanta, GA: Callaway Gardens offers bicycles for rent on their grounds.

In Europe:

Germany: Berlin - Hotel Gates
Belgium: Brugges - several hotels offer bicycles

We're working on building this list so please post a comment if you find hotels that provide free bikes or rental bikes at a nominal cost.

Why this blog

We know you. You would like to take a European bicycle tour without the huge cost of an escorted tour. You'd like to:
- design your own route;
- find your own lodging;
- use your own bike.

Problem is:
- you're not familiar with the territory;
- you'd like suggestions on lodging;
- taking your bike can be a real pain.

So you've found us and we can help.
We can:
- help you plan your route because we know the territory (or can find someone who does);
- we know the hotels, B&Bs, and agritourist lodgings;
- tell you where to find rental bikes (all types of bikes from the lightest and fastest to the most sophisticated mountain bikes to simple, quality touring bikes to take you down the road.)

For most of the above services you should visit www.BikeRentalsPlus.com.

But check with us regularly or sign up for our e-mail newsletter to get all the latest hints and comments on bicycle touring.

On this blog you'll find:
1) Comments and thoughts from people who've already done it themselves.
2) Ideas on where to rent a bike for a quick and easy day tour or half day tour on your own.
3) Suggestions for tour operators who offer escorted day or half-day tours in wonderful places like Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome, Florence and the Chianti Hills.

And a lot more! So let's get mowing, moving, pedaling. . . . whatever!