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'Electric vs. Fixie' Ride in support of Bespoke, for Barts Charity
All 32 London Boroughs in a day? Let's roll!
London's Spiral Ride crosses all 32 of London's Boroughs without
entering the same one twice. In support of The Bespoke Project, which aims to work with London’s cyclists to make our roads safer, we wondered whether we could beat the fastest time set by LFGSS when they launched the route on the 19th of October 2013.
Which bikes to choose?
The S3 FC can manage 1.6 Km less than the total route on a charge before regenerative braking is used, so it's about as close a match as we can deliver!
London Spiral Ride, Route Data:
Distance: 181.6 Km
Elevation: 952 m
Estimated Average Power Output: 80 W |
Rider+Fixie 2013, Record Time:
Moving Time: 9:32:30
Average Speed: 19.0 Kph
Energy Output: 2,754 kJ
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Start location:
Sidcup Place Garden carpark
(200m North of Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, DA14 6LT)
End location:
Trafalgar Square
How can you help?
- Donate to Bespoke here, to help improve understanding and prevention of cycle-trauma through new and better data
- Join us along the route
If you'd like to ride with us, get in touch. We would prefer that people who ride bikes in London on a daily basis takes on the challenge on our behalf, so that we can help to reinforce the fact that cyclists come in all shapes, sizes, ages and outfits. If you would like to tackle the route in your best suit, that would be superb!
The Bespoke App's interface displays detailed incidents reports
The goal is to beat LFGSS's time whilst raising awareness for Bespoke and their recently launched Collideoscope cycling app, in addition to showing that electric bikes are compatible with all of London's Boroughs and generally promote cycling!
"The innovative Bespoke data project lead by researchers in London's biggest Emergency Department is key to unlocking data which is currently lacking from the debate about cycle safety in London. I urge all London cyclists to get involved!"
Jon Snow, presenter, journalist and cycling champion.
Essential URL's:
The Bespoke injury prevention project is entirely reliant on charitable funds: 100% of all donations to Bespoke via Barts Charity (registered charity no. 212563) will be allocated directly to the project.
Note: Electrolyte will be releasing the world's first hydrogen fuel cell powered bike next year and we'll be taking on the route as soon as it's here. It can cover a staggering 482.8 Km on a single charge, so we may try to do the route twice!
The Spiral Ride 2014: The Day In Review!
The skyline and Crystal Palace transmission mast (look closely, it's in the centre of the photo)
We arrived on a cold and wet Sunday morning fresh for an 9am start, filled with nerves and energy in equal measure! The sun was hidden behind the clouds and although it wasn't raining yet, it was sure to before long.
Zeroed clocks
Nic Fripp and Kevin Fallon both arrived exactly on cue, dressed ready for all seasons. As the bikes had their final pre-ride checks (including pumping up the tyres to exactly 60psi), we added the lights and mudguards to both of the electric bikes. The onboard computers were reset so that the ride distance was at zero and power levels were dialed-in at +1, which the engineers assured us was optimum for the route we'd selected.
Hope LED Lights
With photographs ready to be taken, the wind began to pick up and in an effort to look a little less luminous, the yellow bibs were removed... a precautionary bit of kit given the weather, which we then completely forgot to put on and sent the support van into traffic to return... but to no avail: the bikes were too quick for four separate attempts to catch them up!
Electrolyte logo
Now at this point you may be asking yourself what happened to the Fixies? Well, such is the nature of riding in our glorious city, that our Team Leader from London Bike Cartel was hospitalised with a fractured hip in a hit and run accident on Wednesday evening on his way home from work.
The road ahead, headwinds and rain
A driver pulled out at a junction without looking and after smashing into him with his car (and breaking the windscreen in the process), then fled the scene, leaving him bruised, bleeding and battered on the road. Whilst the bike was fitted with an onboard camera, it was separated from the bike during the impact and crushed by a passing vehicle. Fortunately the sd card was protected by the casing so the footage will be released shortly so that the driver can be traced. Perhaps you could help?
The two Electrolyte Vorradler S3 FC's
So as you've probably already worked out, 'Team Fixie' were unable to attend and we wish D' the very best with a speedy recovery! He has promised to lead the way and log the full details with the Bespoke App too, so we will publish the workflow in due course.
As excited as we all were to see the two teams ride head to head, the original London Spiral Ride time remained the time to beat... or does it?
The team arrive at Trafalgar Square!
We made it! Following several hours of riding through the rain, with a bitter headwind and pretty miserable weather throughout the day, the team rolled into Trafalgar Square. We didn't beat the Fixies record this time, however we'll be back to tackle it again soon!!!
A huge thank you to everyone involved for contributing so much time and energy to get our challenge up and running for Barts Charity and Bespoke, particularly to Nic and Kevin for a spectacular effort!
So how did the electric bikes fare? Well, the great news is that they exceeded the London to Brighton distance on a single charge, even with the headwind they endured for the first quarter of the route. That is further than most production electric motorcycles can manage.
All in all, it was a great achievement for electric bicycles. The team travelled more than twice the distance ever covered on an electric bike (on a single charge), in the UK too.
Interested in supporting The Bespoke Project and us? Ask our team for more details via:
Support Barts Charity
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