Boris Bikes

[twitchboy]

Has anyone here ridden one? Exactly how awful are they to ride? I am thinking of signing up for the scheme for when my own bike is out of action, just as temporary measure when desperate.

 

[ianrauk]

@rb58

 

[rb58]

They're brilliant. Built like a tank - scares the black cabbies away nicely. Heavy, but very low geared and comfortable. Like riding a sofa. You won't get any Strava segments though.

I use them all the time around London, but not that often it's worth my while getting an annual key. Remember, dock it within half an hour, wait 10 minutes, then off you go again. All for the £2 per day access fee. There're not many places you can't get to within the free half an hour. And you're never far from a docking station.

I don't think you need to be desperate to ride one. But equally, I wouldn't like it if they were my only option.

Go for it.

 

[buggi]

I haven't ridden a Boris but I've ridden others, low geared easy to ride even though they are a tank

 

[jonny jeez]

I find them easy to ride but the gear ratio is a bit duff, which seems set up to limit people riding too fast.

Used to use them a lot last summer.

 

[Drago]

They recall to my mind pedalling a broken down Honda Camino.

 

[twitchboy]

I use them all the time around London, but not that often it's worth my while getting an annual key. Remember, dock it within half an hour, wait 10 minutes, then off you go again.

I was thinking of getting the annual key for £90. I knew that you had to dock it within half an hour to avoid a charge but I didn't know you had to wait 10 mins to take another bike out though. That's annoying.

 

[mjr]

I find them easy to ride but the gear ratio is a bit duff, which seems set up to limit people riding too fast.

The three gears are 32", 44" and 60", which I think is so the lowest gear is not much different to bottom gear on a typical hybrid and will get up most hills... but yes, the consequence is that the top gear is only two-thirds of what you might be used to. Few people would run their own three-speed with that gearing but the hire bikes are heavy and users would probably complain if they had to push them too much.

The main annoying quirks I've noticed are that a few bikes slip from 3 to 2 (like on recent Sturmey-Archers, there's no neutral) if you don't hold the shifter; and that if you use a south-facing dock on a sunny day, you sometimes can't see whether the green light flashed and London's docks have no audible confirmation of successful docking.

 

[jay clock]

Fantastic... Yes geared a bit easy but hey relax..... I have the non annual key and use them often when I leave the Brompton at home