News

Hi-tech tomatoes: Food miles iPhone app launched

July 8, 2011

A new app allows users to enter their garden size and calculate how much food they could grow themselves and the food miles they could avoid. Food miles are the measure of the distance a food travels from the land to your plate. The Get Growing app from environmental charity BTCV also includes growing tips and recipes from Hugh...

General News

World’s largest bicycle weighs over 150 tonnes

July 7, 2011

Next time you are at the bike shop and longingly pick up a feather-light frame, don’t be the too quick to bemoan the weight of your own bike – instead spare a thought for 150-tonne creation built by farmers in honour of the Tour de France. Farmers in the Loire region built the bicycle, which is over 40m tall and 100m long from cylindrical...

General News

Will electric cars end up niche super or city cars?

July 1, 2011

At present, there are so few electric cars available to buy that you are more likely to spot a £250,000 Rolls Royce Phantom on the road than a battery-powered family car. The recent launch of an electric version of the world’s most luxurious car begs the question: Is the electric car destined to amount to little more than an expensive...

General News

Pedal-powered ragtop: A roof for your bicycle

June 30, 2011

What better time than Wimbledon fortnight to invest in a roof for your bicycle? The annual tennis championships are widely acknowledged to be a thinly-disguised rain dance that brings wet weather to all parts of the country, but cyclists who invest in a Veltop need not fear the inevitable downpours. The Veltop bicycle roof system promises...

General News

Towing with a bicycle: Boats, caravans and cars

June 30, 2011

Tweet Our own successful attempt last week to pull a caravan with a bicycle prompted us to ponder the limits of what a bicycle is capable of towing. The QTvan is a miniature caravan designed specifically to be towed by a bicycle, but many other heavy objects such as jet skis, sailing dinghies and even cars have been pulled by bicycles with...

General News

More MPs on bikes would boost bicycle culture

June 24, 2011

If a greater number of MPs and other opinion formers used bicycles it would boost cycling by encouraging others to follow suit, according to the organisers of this year’s All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group bike ride. The ride started at the London Eye and took a group of 120 riders on a trip around Westminster before finishing at the...

General News

The caravan designed to be towed behind a bicycle

June 23, 2011

It’s the ideal accessory for cyclists who demand the height of luxury on their camping trips – a fully-equipped, single-berth caravan designed to be towed by a bicycle. The caravan boasts a full-sized single bed, 19” TV, drinks cabinet and tea-making facilities. The ETA commissioned the bicycle caravan during Green Transport Week to...

Cycling

Tube 50% dearer than Rolls Royce trip

June 17, 2011

Celebrity owners of the £250,000 Rolls Royce Phantom such as David Beckham, Simon Cowell and Alan Sugar pay less to travel through central London than users of London transport; tube fares can be 50 per cent more expensive than being chauffeured by Phantom over the same distance, according to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA)....

General News

Cyclist fined for using road fights back on Youtube

June 15, 2011

When New York cyclist, Casey Neistat was (wrongfully) ticketed for being on the road rather than a bike lane, he dutifully paid his fine, but then posted a film of his reaction to the injustice – picking up three million views on Youtube in the process. Cycling on the road is not a crime A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport...

General News

The bicycle with a handlebar-mounted laser

June 15, 2011

The idea of using a powerful handlebar-mounted laser to keep inattentive motorists on their toes will appeal to many cyclists, but the design by Emily Brooke of Brighton University is not intended to leave a trail of smouldering vehicle in its wake – rather it projects an image onto the road to increase the cyclist’s visibility to...

General News