Five bicycles, three skaters and my Brox Compact was a rather small group for the last critical mass of the year. Let's hope we can build the ride back to the sort of numbers we had in the 1990s when we founded the ride in Bristol.
There was one loud trailer sound system playing punk versions of christmas songs and a variety of coloured lights. Unlike the traffic jam last month, the ride through Broadmead was unhindered by cars and was enjoyed by many of the shoppers.
After a diversion through Castle Park and across the bridge to the Left Handed Giant we pedaled back over Bristol Bridge,
and finished in Queens Square with mince pies and mulled wine.
So, I'm aiming to rebuild the Brox sound system in the new year and increase the numbers on critical mass and other rides through my Bristol Cycle Diary project.
Following on from Delivery quad bikes in Bristol, I've been looking for cargo cycles with one fewer wheel. I've been somewhat surprised at the lack of cargo trikes in Bristol, but much of that is down to the collapse of Zedify which was operating with several trikes in the city. These machines were somewhat unwieldy with wide rear tires and a differential sharing drive between the two rear wheels. Unlike most of the quad cycles they had no suspension and could be quite unstable under braking as the rear wheels locked up. Some of the former Zedify employees have now set up their own cargo bike delivery company, Pedal Collective, a non-profit worker-owned cooperative.
The only other cargo trike I have managed to photograph in use in Bristol is the Urban Arrow Tender Pickup belonging to Emmaus Bristol. Like the Zedify trike this machine has two wide wheels to carry to load, but is more stable because the single wheel is at the back putting all the braking onto the pair of wheels at the front that steer independently from the load platform which is fixed to the rear frame. These machines are far too wide for many cycle tracks and so can often get held up in traffic.
One trike I was expecting to see in Bristol is the Christiania. A much lighter trike with a front load box with two fixed wheels. The steering is achieved by rotating the whole of the front of the trike. However, these machines are often used for static display, rather than as delivery cycles.
I have seen quite a number of 4-wheeled cargo cycles in Bristol and managed to photograph a few of them as they are ridden around the city. The most recent addition is the VOK U four-wheeled electric cargo bike operated by Priority Express which was reviewed by Global Cycling Network. The interesting thing about it is that there is no chain connecting the pedals to the drive wheels. All the rider has to do is rotate the pedals and the electric motor drives it forwards. I chatted to this rider who said it was very easy to ride compared to the others, especially when climbing Park Street.
By contrast the EAV has a chain and the rider has to contribute to the effort to move the machine forwards. There are many of these being used around the city.
Used by a variety of companies, from coffee suppliers,
All these vehicles feature electric motors to assist the rider. By contrast my Brox Compact comes from an earlier generation of work cycles which are entirely leg powered. This machine is around 20 years old and has been used for various events like Critical Mass and carnival parades. I have yet to attempt to ride up Park Street on it...
I joined November's Critical Mass bike ride and was disappointed that there were only seven of us. Bristol's first Critical Mass, back in February 1994, had around fifty people on the ride, and other rides have many more, most notably Dom Whiting's Drum & Bass On The Bike events which have attracted thousands of people.
However, D&B On The Bike didn't start out like that. I recently came across the video of the first Bristol ride in 2021 and that had fewer than twenty riders. It is interesting to see how much of the route was on cycle tracks and pavements rather than roads.
Only a year later in 2022 the ride had grown to several hundred people, almost all on bikes and the riders were able to dominate the road space quite comfortably.
By 2023 the smoke canisters had appeared and people were starting to join on scooters and even on foot. By now the ride is well over a thousand strong, as can be seen from the drone footage at 58:40, and moves far more slowly through the city.
The 2004 ride is much more like an organised music event with many more people on foot and several sound systems throughout the ride relaying the music via a Facebook Live feed.
The most recent ride in 2005 was of a similar scale, but opting for wider roads and a more level route, rather than blocking Park Street.
Drum & Bass On The Bike will probably be back in Bristol in the spring of 2026, so watch out for news of the date and route.
Meantime, the scale of the D&B rides shows that there is the potential grow the monthly Critical Mass rides and perhaps even put on regular music rides.
Given the popularity of Drum and Bass in the city I was wondering if anyone knows whether Roni Size rides a bike?
Today was the first day in around 25 years since I last cycled around Bristol and despite all the new cycle facilities, there is little respect from motorists and film crews.
My first ride was up to Clifton Down Shopping Centre and it wasn't long before I hit trouble, just before the centre, in the form of a truck and scaffolding obstructing the pavement and cycle track.
Then on Whiteladies Road, two vehicles parked on double yellow lines, partially on the pavement and the rest blocking the cycle lane.
Finally on the return journey it was a film crew completely blocking the pavement and cycle track in Queens Square.
What is the use of bike routes if they are blocked by motor vehicles?
I have no idea when this pavement was legally designated as a segregated, shared use pavement cycle track, but it is probably over 30 years old, dating back to the old Avon Cycle Project Team.
This image from 2001 demonstrates the problem.
While this one from 2021 shows that nothing much has changed, apart from the (very) odd parked car.
So, unless there is are radical changes at Bristol City Council like nuclear fusion and flying cars, improvements to the cycle lane on Coronation Road will always be 30 years in the future...
