We live in challenging times, but during this pandemic cycling offers a huge number of benefits. It’s a way to get around whilst staying socially-distant, it frees up space on the roads for those who need to drive or used public transport, it doesn’t contribute to pollution in our urban areas, it’s healthy, during a time many of us are spending a lot of time indoors, and of course, it saves money.
Cycling is incredibly popular at the moment, which is brilliant, and let’s hope it continues. It does however, present some slight cycling-on-a-budget challenges, in that a lot of people are buying new bikes and equipment. Many moneysaving options are no longer, for the time being at least, as easy to find.
Much of the content on this site was originally written before the current pandemic, and things are changing rapidly. In particular:
Difficulty in buying bikes. For the time being many of the new entry-level bikes that we’d be recommending simply aren’t available in the places we’d normally suggest. Buying secondhand is probably the best option, but even then prices are often high, and bargains sell quickly.
Exercise restrictions. Different activities are allowed in different parts of the country, and even different areas of the UK. At the time of writing exercise restrictions have eased, but the situation could still change. You’ll no doubt be aware where you’re allowed to cycle, and who you’re allowed to cycle with where you live, but if things change some pages on this site may not reflect the current situation.
Traffic on the roads. During lockdown many roads have been relatively quiet, and it has been a great time to get out on your bike. As traffic begins to return to our roads we really hope local authorities make space for people to cycle. Now is a great time to support a national campaigning organisation, such as Cycling UK, or join your local cycle-campaigning group.
We hope the advice on this site is still useful, even if you discover some dead ends along the way. Please do send us feedback.
Happy cycling!
