Great Western Coffee Shop

With restrictions newly imposed at my local station (short term spaces changed from "Rail Use Only" to "Pick up and Drop off" so no longer available to volunteers not travelling, and charges introduced in the longer term car park), I am considering a return to cycling.  Good motivation to make me a bit greener and fitter.    But it is many years since I cycled.  Questions / advise welcome.  Please bear in mind that my sense of balance is poor these days (only one working ear / balance organ) and my energy gets soak up quickly - so I think I need electric. And I would like to be able to travel easily with the cycle, including on a bus - so looking at folding.  Amongst my questions to myself (many can be answered online, but I would love views ...):
* How good are folding electric bikes and do people find them impractically heavy on public transport?
* What about security for such cycles on days that I really don't need the bike at the far end - cycle to station and park it there?
* How much energy would I need to ride such a bike?
* If I have luggage / stuff to take, how heavy a backpack can I realistically ride with?
* Wet weather and protective clothing?

Stick my neck out time!

Caveats:
1.  I have no experience of electric bikes.

2.  I am a Brompton owner, and fan.

First consideration is that there is apparently a shortage of new bikes on the market. Lots of people like yourself Graham.

Read the reviews, and canvas opinion (which is what you are doing).

Whatever it is, try and get a decent test drive/cycle.

Decide your budget? After you have had a test drive/cycle, after all those years you wouldn't want to splash the cash and then find it is not really for you.

My first (expected) suggestion is hire a Brompton. There are two Brompton docks in Bristol:
https://www.bromptonbikehire.com/docks/2623-bristol:--temple-meads (https://www.bromptonbikehire.com/docks/2623-bristol:--temple-meads)
https://www.bromptonbikehire.com/docks/3156-bristol:-bristol-assembly (https://www.bromptonbikehire.com/docks/3156-bristol:-bristol-assembly)
and one at Parkway:
https://www.bromptonbikehire.com/docks/3132-bristol:-parkway (https://www.bromptonbikehire.com/docks/3132-bristol:-parkway)
Hire for a day, or two and see how your balance etc is feeling. Bromptons are a bit light on the controls, but not so light to carry (save gym fees?).

The Brompton electric adds a ?1000 to the price, and a fair bit of weight.

My personal problem with the electric is the lack of load capacity. I am impressed with the Brompton luggage system, and have the largest bag that was available, with the electric there is one size with part of the space taken up by the battery.

I have always been agin backpacks on bikes, raises the centre of gravity? and makes you less stable? So panniers of something like the Brompton system is my preference.

I never let the Brompton out of my sight, it is currently sitting under the desk.

Wet weather, I have a decent jacket and got some cheap overtrousers from Decathlon. More to the point don't ave money on lights.

Your post hugely appreciated ... and I'll almost certainly take a trip to Bristol over coming days, and be following up with experiences.  I took a look online at the end of last week, and have seen a massive variety of options; for sure many of the sales site are saying "out of stock" but others are claiming stock. 

I even walked in to the cycle store in our town. Promptly chucked out again to wait in the rain because they already had a customer in the shop.  And when I got back in and I enquired, they told me that they don't do electric foldable - helpfully gave me a place in Malmesbury to try; so much for trying to encourage local business - either 100% right of them to know their limits, or not clever turning business away.  But, yes, I would certainly have wanted to try a cycle ride before buying. 

Brompton Dock - excellent idea.   

Lights - noted / I had wondered.

I will take a look / think on both backpack and pannier - I'm unlikely to have heavy weights apart from the bike itself, as travelling with substantive stuff - if I do again - I'll get a lift to the station and if need be bus or taxi at far end.

Further reports to follow.    Further thoughts / comments in the meantime most welcomed!

Brompton is the cannonical folding bike. Nothing else folds as small, though there are some which are lighter to carry. But they're unobtainable at the moment unless you get lucky on ebay; the factory isn't even taking new orders, they're so busy. Other decent brands of folding bike include Dahon and Tern. Tern are certainly available with electric assist, I don't know about Dahon. There's a Tern dealer in Bath literally right by the station, Avon Valley Cyclery, and they're the kind of shop that's very much into bikes for transport rather than sport. But I think Brompton is the only one that strictly speaking folds up small enough to meet most TOCs' rules as luggage rather than a bike.

If you were thinking of a non-electric bike I'd definitely say buy secondhand to avoid an expensive wrong commitment and for speed of delivery etc. But I'm not too sure about a used e-bike. There are lots of dodgy home conversions out there as well as official products which are in various ways substandard.

Whatever you get, put mudguards on it if it hasn't got them already. It will rain and while rain from above is just wet, spray off your tyres is mixed in with all sorts of oil and dirt on the road. Also, it creates a stripe up your back that looks even more unfortunate than it feels.

Security is certainly an issue. If you are going to leave a bike anywhere that you can't see it, you need to be prepared to lose it or anything attached to it (lights, luggage etc).

As to lights: I'm in the market for a set of 'commuter lights' for my daughter, who now cycles to school every day - I will probably go for a Cateye Volt XC set, which is USB chargeable and costs around ?30 at Wiggle.

I subscribed to the Brompton Dock system a couple of years ago for the very reasons CyclingSid gives, but I haven't got round to actually taking one out! In theory, the combination of Brompton and public transport seems like a marriage made in heaven. Conventional Bromptons have a bewildering choice of gears, combining derailleur and Sturmey-Archer. I'm tempted to go for the Sturmey-Archer as it's simpler to maintain and I'm not planning to cover great distances or attack any Cat 1 hills. You can always get off and push it!

As to whether to go electric: If you think you might end up cycling home from Chippenham, it's probably worth it. But for trips from (say) your house to Melksham Station, or Swindon Station to the GWR offices, it would be very hard to justify.

Oh and it's not just Bromptons that are selling like hot cakes. My daughter is on the waiting list for a Nukeproof Scout. Hopefully we'll get it by springtime!

I registered .. or rather tried to register a few minutes ago, and found buttons on my screen that would not work ... switched around and fought for a while before deciding I needed to do it from a phone ... came to try to download and got a screen of reviews, so bad like I have never seen before with everyone reporting problems. Well - actually - I've seen worse reviews once ... that was my wife's ex's sea fishing trip company in Florida, but we had better not go there.

I do need to try ... will find another way.

I hired a cycle for a few hours from Bath Narrowboats yesterday ... tried it out along the tow path. Glad to report I did not come off an end up either stung (left hand fall) or wet (right hand fall).   Stopped and took a few pictures which are to follow, as is the next chapter of the story.

Excellent news! Looking forward to the next chapter!

There's a bloke I know in Birmingham who has several times ended up in the canals. It's worth pointing out this has almost always been on a Friday or Saturday night around about 11:30...

Coincidently (and off course unrelated to Grahame's tow path excursion) the Canal and River Trust are launching a campaign to make everyone do what the rest of us do when cycling canalside.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/our-campaigns/stay-kind-slow-down

Shared use paths are, as discussed elsewhere (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10506.msg108619#msg108619), particularly hazardous. As Dave's cautionary tale (https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/our-campaigns/stay-kind-slow-down/read-daves-story) shows, even when everyone is doing their best to be considerate collisions will occur.

From last Tuesday:
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/rtcycle_01.jpg)

Bringing the story forward ... after my Bath Narrowboats try-out, I popped into the cycle store under the arches at Bath Spa Station, briefly tried out an EZEGO Fold 2020 (folding electric bike) and arranged to pick one up at the end of the week.   Friday, you may recall, was nice weather for ducks; Lisa and I took the c-a-r down into Bath, had an early lunch at Five Guys (our first eat-out since March, so budget was allowed to go by the wayside) and picked up the bike - which I confirm folds and fits in the small car boot and came on home.

From Friday:
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/rtcycle_02.jpg)

Saturday was also nice weather for ducks.  During a brief slackening of the rain, I headed on the cycle for the station. Truly the slackening was brief, and followed by a soaking - but cycle proven for the trip, with a journey time of just under ten minutes, and a try-out of the locking system so that I can lock the cycle and helmet in the roofed area on the platform.

From Saturday:
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/rtcycle_03.jpg)

Sunday and I suspect the ducks are getting very tired of "nice weather".  Pouring with rain.  But a Wiltshire Council consultation including the sentence "However, Melksham is not well connected to Trowbridge with limited rail services and no cycle facility" struck me as rather odd.  Prior knowledge and reminder online research suggested that the National Cycle Route 403 from Melksham to Semington followed by the National Cycle Route 4 along the canal is a broadly traffic free and reasonably direct, and I have been out to check my facts on the ground. Always sensible to include practical experience when making consultation inputs, especially when you feel that practical "on the ground" knowledge is thin in the team that's put the consultation together.

Just under 45 minutes from home to Trowbridge Station. I now have trousers and coat dripping in the bathroom ...

From Sunday - a couple of hours ago:
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/rtcycle_04.jpg)

It might be worth obtaining two cycles.
A lightweight, pedal power only machine for taking onto trains.
And an electric one for cycling longer distances, extra weight is of little importance with electric power, and you wont be lifting it onto trains.

A number of options were considered.  I live far enough from any station, with limited physical energy, to be able to get there and back pedal power only and leave me with energy to whatever else I'm going to the station to do.  Full reports to come. 

Great stuff! How did the small wheels of the folder ride compared to the more standard sized ones, especially on the gravel and stones of the towpath?

Also, I see that EZEGO has a sort of protective guard on the front chainring but if you find your trousers getting oily, you've got a number of options. You've probably worked them out by now anyway but in addition to trousers in socks, there are a variety of devices such as snap wraps, velcro bands and even bespoke leather bands designed to keep your trousers unsmirched. Though in this weather it might not make any difference...

Welcome (back?) to the small two-wheeled world. Not the best season to start, but at least you shouldn't be a fair weather cyclist (unlike the motorcyclists at work who appear on large flash machines about two sunny days a year).

Most canal towpaths are reasonable if narrow (especially the Basingstoke, but not really your area). As always consideration and politeness go a long way, although there are always those who don't (want to) understand the concept of sharing. Did contemplate https://hornit.com/collections/horns-lights/products/hornit-db140 (https://hornit.com/collections/horns-lights/products/hornit-db140) for those with "hearing problems" but have resisted so far.

That might depend on how you define reasonable!

The K&A is excellent for cycling between Bath and Devizes, through Newbury and Theale to Reading, short sectopns around locks and a few other reasonably-surfaced sections. But much of it is grass; just a narrow section of grassland between the water and the hedge. These can be very variable depending on weather conditions and usage.

If there are any cycling masochits reading this, try the section between Froxfield at Marlborough, especially at the moment after its been bucketing down for a few days. The path runs alongside the canal of course but it is at the edge of a field which usually contains cattle, and when they want a drink they use the canal as their boozer.

The soil has a high clay content and, given the location, probably chalk as well

Heavy things cattle...  ;)

Robin you are quite correct, it is the usual problem with all generalisations. My knowledge of the K&A goes as far as Bedwyn and a bit round Bath.

But this end I have obviously been spoilt by the Grand Union Canal, and the Slough and Paddington Arms, and the Regents Canal. Very different beasts to the more "rural" canals.

Thank you for the welcome back - yes, it is back but from a very long time ago; my Mum had a Moulton that was kept at the front of the garage and used for short trips.  That's perhaps the original small wheeled design, and from Dr Alex Moulton of Moulton Engineering of Bradford-on-Avon who (a few years later) were a customer of mine when selling computer graphics products. I probably should not disclose I recall a very long sales cycle for a Tektronix 4662 plotter ... and I suspect I'm drifting off topic.

Sunday ... Melksham to Trowbridge ... I set out to try it, having been copied for comment on a Wiltshire council document that looks like it's based on incomplete research and has come to wrong conclusions.

I didn't photograph the suburban roads out to the bypass, nor the former A350 Semington Road which has been well repurposed since the bypass extended around Semington. A right turn onto the canal towpath - fairly narrow, fairly rough and very wet.  I worry - perhaps unneccesarily - about punctures. And off the towpath at the Whaddon Lane bridge - a country cul-de-sac into Hilperton, from where I joined the main road into Trowbridge - which the council have (! - I question) cycle friendly.  Through the town and around to the station.

My biggest concern was in from Hilperton ... the consultation I'm answering suggests that "Melksham is not well connected to Trowbridge with ?. no cycle facility" and looks at plugging the "gap" from the A350 Semington Road to Hilperton.   Readers may ask "what gap" ... and indeed there is a gap in council provided facilities - it would appear that they've failed to notice the canal towpath - National Route 4 in the cycle network - and are proposing to bid for funding to upgrade a parallel country path to "remove the need for existing cyclists to cycle on a busy derestricted section of the A361" ... when the need is already removed by the canal path.  Think I'm off topic again

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/mkm2tro_20201004_01.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/mkm2tro_20201004_02.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/mkm2tro_20201004_03.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/mkm2tro_20201004_04.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/mkm2tro_20201004_05.jpg)

Don't forget that the Council route would most likley be usable after dark. Canals and towpaths after dark are best left to old time boatmen who knew the canals like the back of their hand.
Muddy water grass and muddy towpaths all look the same when lighted by a boat headlight or cycle lamp. As anyone who has tried to take a narrowboat along an unfamiliar canal after dark will testify.

It is a justfiable concern, but the main issue is with thorns from adjacent hedging after t has been cut.

I speak from experience! I was riding the Staffs and Worcs canal near Penkridge a few years ago, when I got a puncure as a result of hedge trimming. I stopped at repaired it, and got another puncture about 400 yards later.

On the way back I took my chances on the A449 dual carriageway back to Wolverhampton...

"We've painted some friendly bicycle symbols on the busy road to make friends with all the cars and lorries."
It looks like the the type of road that's annoyingly in between; not so busy you'd never consider it but not so quiet it's no problem, not so narrow that no one can overtake you until there's a decent gap in the traffic but not so wide they can just drive by ? leading to lots of irritating but not quite dangerous close passes and lots of frustrated bus and lorry drivers.

Decades ago I was riding a road bike with 23mm tyres near Honeystreet (south of Alton Barnes and where the "crop circles" pub (https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/18614529.publican-turned-barge-honeystreet-crop-circle-hub-dies/) is) when I punctured.I upended the bike (not good practice) and missed by two inches putting the handlebars into a giant dog turd.

Other hazards of towpath cycling include fishermen casting their rods or leaving them across the path. Nowadays I only walk the paths, and usually hog the side away from the water to encourage cyclists to use the other.

If and when you do end up with a puncture I recommend replacement with Schwalbe Marathon, reinforced with kevlar (as used in body armour).

I am sure the Canal and Rivers Trust would be delighted to work with some council money!

Trimming of vegetation, possibly not so bad for spectacle wearers, but being face swiped by low branches that haven't been trimmed tends to put you off your stroke.

After canals, I am sure you will soon have a list of former railway lines to investigate.

On the subject of dog shit. Cycling in Surrey I regret that it is unlikely they will introduce "poop and scoop" for horses.

I think there's a general aspiration to upgrade the narrower/rougher parts of the Kennet & Avon towpath (apart from the "unmanicured" Devizes pound, that is).

For Melksham, the Wilts & Berks Canal project offers a potentially interesting connection, opening up the prospect of a traffic-free ride all the way to Trowbridge.

And yes, Marathon Plus tyres are indestructible, which is just as well considering how hard they can be to get on and off!