On the advice of friends, I got a bike from Kickstand Vancouver, I think on 3 or 4 April. I wasn’t too sure what to expect but I knew I was really sick of waiting for the bus and wanted the freedom to scoot around places like I was used to. Yes, I could use Facebook Marketplace (the Vancouverite’s favourite) or eBay but to be honest I just wanted to go somewhere, try a bike out, be fairly sure it was mechanically all there and just bring it home, especially bearing in mind as an immigrant with one suitcase, I had no tools. I found the opening times for Kickstand Vancouver and turned up. I really like Kickstand and think it’s a precious resource, but there’s no two ways about it, it is a matter of just turning up and seeing what there is. It isn’t a big name bike shop, you aren’t going to get to stroll down lines of bikes your size and luxuriate over what you’d like to ride away on. And to be honest, this wasn’t a big problem. I had in mind getting some kind of steel-framed, fendered commuter bike, and instead rolled away with an alloy Giant OCR in a pleasing cherry red, which has been an absolute blast to ride around on.
Category Archives: DIY
What I learned from riding an Urban Arrow XL cargo bike for work for over 2 years, and how it could help you
It was February 2022. Chris Whitty had just been knighted, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had published an official statement about ‘how we will live with COVID,’ relaxing practically all the restrictions concerning meeting and travel, and I was cooked. I’d been working for the London Cycling Campaign for approximately two years, overwhelmingly indoors, and not really doing much cycling, and I was really not in a good way at all. My sleep cycle was all over the place and the only in-person communication I was getting was with a very occasional couple of laps of Regents Park with friends I really treasure. But this occasional relief wasn’t enough; I needed to go and figuratively touch grass. My chosen way of doing this was to quit my white collar job and become a cargo bike courier with an employer of cargo bike pilots. I did this for just over 2 years. This is a blog post about what I learned about Urban Arrow cargo bikes and how what I’ve learned might help you going forward.
My top 3 ways to ruin your bike and get an expensive repair bill
As a teacher at London Bike Kitchen, and doing my own bike maintenance work, one of the first things I talk to people about is how much money maintenance can save you. It’s tempting to tell people that cycling is ‘free once you buy the bike,’ but this quickly becomes untrue if you let maintenance problems build up, and let your more expensive components become unduly damaged and worn ahead of time. This is a short blog about the best ways to ruin your bike through lack of maintenance, which hopefully you’d use more in a what not to do sense. But it’s more fun to talk about it this way!
Calum On Wheels 