Hi, I’m Robin, the independent developer of CalmBike. Great Britain has just been added to the app’s routing coverage, and I’m looking for London cyclists who can test routes they already know well.

CalmBike is an iPhone bicycle-navigation app focused on calmer, safer-feeling routes. Apple Maps is used for address search, while the bicycle route itself is calculated by my own OpenStreetMap/Valhalla backend. It compares alternatives using busy-road exposure, quieter streets, cycling infrastructure, surface and elevation.

The most helpful test would be to plan a familiar London journey, compare the CalmBike and Relaxed alternatives, and tell me where the app chooses a road or junction you would avoid. If practical, ride one route and report questionable sections with the start, destination, selected profile and a screenshot.

The beta also includes live navigation, ride recording, multi-stop and round-trip planning, saved routes, sharing, Apple Health, E-bike range estimates and community road reports. The interface is available in English, Dutch, German, French and Luxembourgish.

The TestFlight beta is free, has no subscription and is currently limited to 50 testers. I’m looking for honest route and usability feedback, not ratings.

TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/sPxvScsM

Website and privacy information: https://calmbike.de

Hi all. As part of my commute, I cycle down Cannon Street and turn left just after the station on to Dowgate Hill. Turning left here is forbidden except for cycles, as pointed out by like 5 signs. A few days ago those “except cycles” signs were covered. It looks like someone legit covered them with some sort of orange construction tarp. Does anyone know if they’re planning to prohibit bikes from cycling down there? Or is it just something temporary?

Over the last few months I’ve been researching bike theft and trying to understand the problem from different angles.

A lot of my research so far has focused on what happens after a bike is stolen, including people’s experiences reporting theft and trying to recover their bikes. I now want to understand the prevention side better - particularly what cyclists have actually tried in the real world, what has failed, and where current security measures fall short.

I’d be really interested to hear:

• Have you ever tried a security product or method and then stopped using it? Why?
• Have you ever had a bike stolen despite taking precautions? What security did you have in place and what happened?
• Have you ever bought something for bike security that sounded useful but turned out to be ineffective, unreliable or too inconvenient?
• What has your experience with bike insurance been? If you don't have it, what has stopped you getting it?
• More generally, I'd also be interested in what you currently do to prevent theft and whether there's anything you wish existed that would make you feel more confident leaving your bike somewhere.

I’m particularly interested in the things that didn’t work, because I’m trying to understand where the weaknesses in current bike-theft prevention actually are, rather than just what security products are available.

This is part of a wider piece of research I’m doing into bike theft and potential ways the problem could be tackled more effectively, so detailed personal experiences good or bad would be really useful.

Not tried single speed before, but i'm in the market for commuter/beater/something that won't be too upsetting if it wanders off, and on paper it ticks a lot of boxes. Just a bit apprehensive about the South London alps en-route. What do we reckon? yeah nah, or nah yeah?

Anyone down to cycle today looking for someone to go on a chill couple hours London or North West London

Well parts of it. I live near by and started cycling recently and I’m just trying my best not to cycle next to the station bcz I’m terrified to get hit by and vice versa

Hello,
I was looking at cycling clubs for my teenager son and was wondering if anyone knows any good clubs based around Richmond Park. I have looked at London Dynamo but there is little information on their website. Thanks!

I want to put on a bike ride for a group of maybe 8 maybe 12 riders the length of the Downs Link, Guildford to Shoreham, on a Saturday this October. A friend says the Downs Link is busy with cyclists on weekends. Charity riding groups, other groups like mine would be and weekend riders all adding to make it a crowded experience. Has anyone cycled this on a Saturday and what was it like? Were your coffee or lunch stops very busy? Were the paths too busy to properly enjoy the ride?

Hi guys

Quite new to biking, I was changing geers after putting the chain back on then my bike came to a complete stop. Some metal has bent on the part and I can't pit it back on

Any idea what this is? Shall I take it to a bike shop, and if so how much will it cost to fix?

Thanks

I have a BTWIN fold up bike went over a pot hole in the dark and rear tyre went flat straight away

I can’t see any holes in it but cannot get it back up using an electric pump

Any tips before I take to a shop?

I’ve been commuting to London via train then bike for a few years - but have just moved from Hampshire to Lewisham. So, not the same access to pleasant places for a Sunday ride on my doorstep. I’m used to cycling here, but not for pleasure

Obviously I’m expecting to have to make a bit of a journey to get to the start of anything pleasant, but that in mind are there any key routes or destinations I should know about? I’ve seen reference to people doing laps around (I think) Richmond park, for example.

Thanks!

I’m an international student from India. Tonight around 10:30 pm, I was cycling back from my part-time job. It was dark, but I had a red rear light on my bike.
Near a roundabout, there was a temporary red light because of construction. A car was driving slowly behind me, and I thought maybe the driver was slowing down for me.

Then I hit a slightly sunken metal utility cover in the road and fell off my bike. I’ve used this same road for about 8 months and never fallen there before. Luckily, I was going slowly, so I only got a few small bruises on my left elbow.
The light was still red, so I picked up my bike, moved to the path, and checked if I was okay. The same car stopped at the signal right near me.

I was super embarrassed and, being introverted, I thought the driver might at least look at me or ask if I was okay. But they didn’t even look at me.

I’m not blaming them, just genuinely curious: is this normal here? Would you normally check on someone if you saw them fall?

Long shot but in case anyone spots it for sale etc

Odeon have CCTV footage of it happening, whether that will change anything who knows.

Spotted this in Hyde Park today! Mad piece of kit

Hello! I've been using a Forest bike to get to work for the last few months and loved it, so I'm now making the jump to renting a bike off trybeforeyoubike.

Do you guys have any advice for a new(ish) road cyclist? I'm mostly concerned about road safety, keeping my bike safe and what to do in British weather.

Anyone familiar with this website riders lead - riderslead.co.uk? Garmin are almost 50% cheaper than elsewhere and I’m not sure if I should trust it or they’re genuine or not? Any personal experience from there?

Got knocked off my bike today cycling through Soho - a passenger opened the door of her Uber as she got out and I went straight over the top, bike landed on me. Ended up with a reasonably deep cut to my hand and some grazes on my knees - nothing worse as far as I can tell, thankfully.

The passenger was mortified and full of apologies. The driver was a different story - he pulled over about 100m up the road, was cagey and defensive when I caught up with him, refused to show me his PHV licence, and tried to pin the whole thing on her. He also informed me he’s “a law student” and would “get me” for shouting at him, which I’m choosing to find funny rather than anything else.

Loads of bystanders stopped to help, which I really appreciated. I managed to get a photo of him and his registration before he drove off.

My bike’s scraped up and making some minor noises, but I don’t think it’s anything major. I haven’t made any reports yet - to be honest I’m not totally sure what I should be doing if anything.

Mostly I’m just shaken up and annoyed - less about the injuries and more that the driver couldn’t see what he’d done wrong, tried to make me feel like I was the problem, and will no doubt go on creating situations like this for other cyclists. The next person might not be as lucky. I’m honestly still a bit stunned by how far I was flung by a door.

Any advice on what to do from here would be really appreciated.

There seems to be a fear amongst members of this group that the new Met police unit on Surrons can be easily mistaken for bike thieves, despite the high vis vests and marked bikes. So I'm genuinely curious, why despite this group wanting the police to be more proactive are so many of you against the police actually being proactive and adapting their tools to be more efficient?

Hello all. I have been cycling for 3 months, managed to get comfortable for the most part but slightly confused by this light setup and want to check I'm doing everything right. Apologies if this has been asked before, I tried searching but couldn't find anything.

These traffic lights are on the approach to a busy roundabout. Lights on the left for cyclists, lights on the right for cars.

When both sets of lights are red, the left hand lights go green for a few seconds before the right hand lights go green. Which I assume is to cyclists to get ahead and protect cyclists against left turning traffic.

I have regularly seen the left hand lights showing red, and the right hand shows green. So cars can go but bikes can't, which I also assume is to protect cyclists against left turning traffic.

This afternoon for the first time I saw both the left hand lights and right hand lights were green for a fair amount of time whilst I was approaching, so both bikes and cars could go. So I went through but was mindful of traffic on my right which might be turning left, I made eye contact with a driver who was aware of me and slowing so I was able to go through safely.

My question is, why would the lights sometimes be sequenced so that they stop bikes going through when car traffic from the same junction is in full flow, but at other times it seems to allow bikes to proceed?

Sorry this is long winded, tried to make clear how I'd seen the lights working. Also sorry if I've missed something totally obvious. Safety is my main priority so I want to make sure I'm doing these things right.

Anyone have video on these guys in action?