On Two Wheels

“On Two Wheels” by Ian Bax (pictured) of Roy Jervis, Ripley.

By the time you read this Christmas will be well and truly over, apart from, for a lot of us, the “did I really spend that much” credit card bill and the extra inches and pounds we seem to have received from 

Santa’s festive treats! Unfortunately I can’t help with the credit card bill (well yours anyway!) but maybe we can do something to help shed the unwanted pounds. GET ON YA BIKE!

As I sit and write this article with just 10 days to go till Christmas we are busy at the shop building, preparing and storing bicycles and scooters of all shapes and sizes ready for Santa to collect and deliver to kids of all ages and cycling abilities. I love seeing kids out on the street on Christmas morning riding their new bikes, especially when we’ve sold them!

Cycling is life enhancing, not only is it a mode of transport but it’s a balancing act, a tool for exploratory play and a form of exercise all wrapped up in an eco-friendly package. Did you know that cycling is by far the most popular sport related exercise among children?

For kids, learning to ride a bike is a key rite of passage giving them a great sense of independence, enabling them to undertake journeys that were too boring or too far to walk previously and making them fun and exciting. Cycling enables children to explore new places, meet up with friends and make new friends that were out of their reach before.

Obviously there are risks with cycling; bicycles can be fast, a lot faster than running which, in itself, is an attraction for many children. I’m sure many of us used to build ramps and tracks to see how far we could push ourselves and our trusty steeds! Children do hurt themselves on bikes; I did, but most injuries are slight and every knock is a learning experience and that is no reason to limit their rides to weekends with adult supervision.

As a kid I would spend most summer days during the school holidays with my best mate Chris out on our bikes going for miles with only a water bottle, some sandwiches and a few pennies for sweets! For those of you who have read my previous articles and have some idea of my age you will know that we didn’t have mobile phones either! We loved it, regularly clocking up 50 miles or more and discovering places we didn’t know existed, our favourite being “Stone Rocks” at Weirwood Reservoir in Sussex (I’m a Southerner, don’t hold it against me!) where we would climb the rocks and meet up with like-minded kids.

We didn’t even have cycle helmets in those days something which should be a must today and as familiar to kids as putting their seat belt on in a car.

Well 500 words is fast approaching, so let me just end by saying that not only is cycling fantastic for children’s development and general health, but it is also something that we can all get a massive benefit from, keeping us healthy in body and mind and giving us an activity that we can do as a family.

Good luck with the diet and I look forward to seeing you all soon.

This article appears in our Feb/Mar 2012 issues - click here to read the All Things Local issue of your choice.

“On Two Wheels” By Ian Bax of Roy Jervis, Ripley

Motorcycling – The Benefits

I make no secret of the fact - I love motorbikes! I have loved them since I saw my first one as a toddler and, as soon as me and a couple of mates could raise the required £5 (a lot to a 12-year-old in 1972), we bought a very used Raleigh Runabout, painted it white and proceeded to thrash it round the woods!

Various bikes followed, ex GPO Bantams, stripped down Vespas and such like until the magic day arrived; my sixteenth birthday. My parents had relented and bought me my first road bike, a PUCH M50 Sport, the first in a long line of bikes that I have owned and ridden on and off road, in fact I still have four motorbikes and my son’s scooter in my garage at present.

To me, riding a motorbike is pure joy and I have never really given any conscious thought to the real benefits of owning and riding one, even though I travelled to work for years on bikes - mainly because I enjoyed it but also because I knew I would get to work in less time than in a car and parking was a doddle.

Congestion is a major problem in many of the UK’s towns and cities with the number of cars increasing annually. London’s Congestion Charge has, depending on where you are sitting, proved a success and now the charge looks set to be rolled out to other major cities. Motorcycles and scooters are exempt from congestion charges and often parking for bikes is free so straight away the cost savings are quite substantial.

Not only will you save money but, because bikes can filter through traffic queues, you will get to work a lot quicker and probably be able to park a lot closer to work as well.

With fuel costs at well over £5 per gallon never has motoring been so expensive and many people are swapping to motorcycles and scooters purely for the savings to be made in fuel costs. Modern 125cc motorcycles and scooters cost a lot less than 10 pence per mile to run and some can achieve 100 mpg!

In addition, a 125cc powered two wheeler (PTW) costs just £16 per year in Road Tax, even the largest bikes only attract a tax duty of £74 per annum. Savings will also be made on insurance, running and servicing costs over cars. Also, don’t forget that bikes are substantially cheaper to buy than cars.

Despite manufacturers’ claims, electric cars have a long way to go before they are a viable alternative to the internal combustion engine, whereas electric two wheelers are lighter and therefore don’t need the plethora of batteries and large motors to keep them going. OK the range is still not fantastic - up to 50 miles - but to get into work they are ideal and again parking is a doddle and it’s a lot easier to get close to a plug socket to recharge.

Not only will you enjoy the cost saving benefits of owning a bike you will also be benefitting the environment by reducing your carbon footprint and on a nice sunny weekend, you will have a vehicle that you can go for a ride on purely for the fun of it and hopefully you will come to love bikes as much as I do.

Interested? Then come and see me for a chat and we’ll see just how much you can save by joining the biking community, I’ll look forward to meeting you.