At the start of the second week of this year's Giro d'Italia, we take the long view of cycle sport in Italy with John Foot, professor of modern Italian history at University College London. His book Pedalare! Pedalare! tells the fascinating story of how Italy fell in love with the bicycle and how cycle sport took a central role in national life.

Cross Elvis Presley with Muhammad Ali, raise him in a grocery shop in post-war Belgium, put him on a bicycle and what do you get? The greatest cyclist of all time: Eddy Merckx. Cycling journalists Daniel Friebe and William Fotheringham have both treated us to new books about Eddy Merckx, the Cannibal, winner of 525 professional races, five Tours de France, five Giri d'Italia and countless Classics. He was world champion and broke the hour record. We talk about his career, his motivations and the challenges of telling the story of the greatest racing cyclist who ever lived.

Bike blogger Mark Ames (ibikelondon.blogspot.com) joins Jack and Jen to talk about this week's elections for London Mayor. Is there a cycling vote? Which candidate is best? Views from blogger Danny Williams, journalist Sonia Purnell, Julian Sayerer of Londoners on Bikes and Mustafa Arif of the London Cycling Campaign

In the concluding half of an extended interview with engineer and bicycle inventor Mike Burrows, we talk about Mike's biggest passion: laid back bicycles. He explains how these human powered vehicles came about and where he hopes they're going. Plus Simon Nurse discusses the possibility of a cycling equivalent of the London Marathon.

Mike Burrows is probably best known for his design of the Lotus 108 pursuit bike that Chris Boardman rode in the Barcelona Olympics, winning the first gold medal for a British cyclist in over 70 years. But Mike has made a huge contribution to pedal powered machines more widely. His compact road frame first developed for Giant is now a design standard and his designs have moved the world of laid back or recumbent bicycles on from the early, pioneering days in 1970s California. Burrows remains inventive, opinionated and passionate about bicycles.

This is the first of a two part extended interview.

For a second year, the Bespoked show in Bristol has provided a platform for a new generation of British bicycle framebuilders to showcase their work. Featured in this episode: Paul Villiers, Tom Donhou, Ted James, Ricky Feather and Jonathan Paulus. In a podcast-only extra, cycle sport journalist Lionel Birnie gives his take on the spring classics thus far and a look ahead to this weekend's Paris Roubaix.

With the start of British Summer Time we profile two upcoming mass rides: Velonotte London and the Edinburgh Pedal on Parliament. On the night of Saturday 23rd June, Sergey Nikitin's Velonotte (pictured in Rome, above) will come to London as part of the 2012 London Festival of Architecture. A night ride starting at St Paul's cathedral, traversing the East End to the Olympic Park and finishing with a live orchestra welcoming the dawn at the London Pleasure Gardens. The ride will feature a simultaneous broadcast on Resonance FM of soundscapes and Velonotte's expert guides including Peter Ackroyd, Ricky Burdett, David Adjaye, Sergey Romanyuk and Peter Murray.

A rolling interview with Christian Wolmar, journalist, cyclist and Britain’s leading transport commentator. We ride from Tufnell Park to St Pancras and encounter a flood, demon drivers and Camden Council’s contraflow cycle track. Christian explains where it went wrong with London transport and what’s needed to get things back on track. He also offers his [...]

To mark International Women's Day, a discussion of women in cycling, from bygone days of the Rational Dress Society of the late Victorian era to Britain's twenty-first century successes in competition on the track and on the road. We ask why women are still three times less likely to ride bikes than men. Jen Kerrison and Jack Thurston are joined by Ann Kenrick, a trustee of the London Cycling Campaign and Natalie Justice of the Breeze Network at British Cycling.

As governments around the world seek to improve conditions for cyclists, we take a look at France, a country synonymous with cycle sport but that has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to everyday cycling. From Paris, Kieron Yates talks about cycling in the French capital and the new measures being introduced by the national government to improve conditions for cycling. And Gregory Bossuyt tells of leaving Paris behind him and taking to his bicycle in search of a new life in a new town.

is a radio journalist working for the French national broadcaster who for the past ten years has been finding his stories by bicycle. Krafft’s two wheeled reportage has taken him around Latin America, the Middle East, the French West Indies and on several occasions his own country, which he has toured during presidential election years, to find out what France really thinks. Kieron Yates visited Raphaël Krafft in Paris for this extended profile, which features audio material from his radio broadcasts.

Andrew Sykes tells of his six week summer journey from his home in Reading to the southern tip of Puglia, in Italy, along the Eurovelo 5 long-distance cycle route, and reads from Good Vibrations, the book he's written about the trip. Jen and Jack talk about the horror of the Waterloo bridge roundabout and the Mayor's plans to remake it (again). Finally, a tribute to Henry Warwick, a veteran London bicycle messenger who was killed in a crash with a coach while working earlier this month.

In the studio with Stephen Taylor and Katherine Hibbert of Londoners On Bikes a new group of London cyclists who want to put cycling front and centre in the London Mayoral elections this May. Plus we hear about Ellie Carey, the 22 year old woman who was the 16th person to be killed while riding a bike on the streets of London last year. Her father talks about his family's loss. Jen Kerrison reports from the latest Bikes Alive protest - spiky or fluffy?

Earlier this month, Graeme Obree was at Look Mum No Hands! for the London launch of The Obree Way, a training manual for cyclists. Obree is a two time individual pursuit world champion, has twice broken the world hour record and is multiple winner of British national time trial championships. He is renowned not just [...]

Jack goes down to the London Bike Show, an annual fair of bicycles and cycling paraphernalia. He eschews the latest electronic gear systems in search of novel products made by interesting people. The following products are featured on the show: Georgia in Dublin: Stylish and waterproof clothing for women and men. Respro: High viz gear [...]

In 1892 a young accountant from t, USA, quit his job and set off to cycle solo around the world. Frank Lenz rode a Rover Safety Bicycle, a revolutionary new design that would soon consign the traditional high wheeler – or penny farthing – to obscurity. It was the birth of the bicycle as we [...]

Listeners write in with recollections of their favourite ride of 2011 and most exciting plans for riding in 2012. Plus clothing designer Amy Fleuriot tells of her new Cyclodelic boutique on Columbia Road and shows a few of the her new lines. Jack, Jen and Amy offer a few of their own style pointers for [...]

A pre-Christmas books special is now a firmly entrenched tradition on The Bike Show. This year’s edition covers more literary ground than ever before. Amateur bicycle librarians Tim Dawson of The Sunday Times and Carlton Reid of Bike Hub join Jack and Jen in the studio. Tim Dawson’s excellent Cycling Books website is well worth [...]

Jack travels over the Yorkshire moors to Nelson, Lancashire to visit one of the oldest and most venerable companies in British cycling. Cotton mill worker Wilf Carradice began producing his indestructible canvas saddlebags in the 1930s and in 2011 sales are booming. Owner and MD David Chadwick tells the story of a family business and [...]

Jen Kerrison takes over the show for a week while Jack is away in Yorkshire, riding up hill and down dale. Jen asks if cycle training is necessary for adult cyclists. Or is riding a bike just like riding a bike? speak with three cyclists who have returned to cycling after years out of the [...]

In the studio is Mustafa Arif, Chair of Campaigns at the 11,000 strong London Cycling Campaign. We look back at the weekend’s Tour Du Danger, a bicycle ride around ten of the most hazardous junctions for cyclists in London and hear how politicians Simon Hughes MP and London Mayor Boris Johnson plan to make London [...]

Some people say that air pollution in big cities like London is a public health emergency, contributing to 4,300 premature deaths a year. But nobody seems to talk about it. Is the Government doing anything to deal with it? Are cyclists at risk more than other people? Is the Mayor of London more concerned about [...]

Why do some people like to race their bicycles? We discuss the world of amateur bicycle racing with Ian Cleverly, deputy editor of Rouleur magazine and Lydia Boylan (pictured, above) of the Look Mum No Hands! race team and current Irish national track sprint champion. We also hear from Dr Jo Corbett of Portsmouth University [...]

In this week’s show, Jack attempts to feign interest in the European track cycling championships and Jen gets her geography all confused. Patrick Field saves the day with an inspirational talk at the Intelligence Squared cycling festival (view more here). Plus details of the next Friends of the Bike Show ride on Sunday 6 November.

Following on from last week’s documentary feature by Kieron Yates is a studio discussion of Paris-Brest-Paris, the world’s most venerable long distance bicycle race. In the studio are PBP veterans Judith Swallow and Dave Minter, and PBP debutant Pete Kelsey. Chris Ragsdale, one of this year’s stars, clocking in an exceptionally impressive sub-45 hour time, [...]

The 1200km Paris-Brest et retour was first raced in 1891 and is the oldest bicycle race still in existence, currently held as a brevet de randonneur every four years. Kieron Yates shares the agony and ecstasy of his second outing in an event that is only for the toughest of the tough. Next week we’ll [...]

Jen meets Tim Jacques, one of the film-makers at this year’s Bicycle Film Festival, whose film “Peace and Lovely Tailoring” combines Rastafari, cycling and tweed clothing – a surefire winner here at The Bike Show. And we hear from Patrick Morgan, a Kiwi over in Europe on a fact-finding mission about cycle training and campaigning. [...]

As Mark Cavendish wins the world championship road race for Britain for the first time since 1965, we’re back in the saddle for a new season. On this week’s show, a trip back in time. Blue Door Bicycles is a new bike shop in south London with a long history. Owner David Hibbs has been [...]

The ‘Battle for Blackfriars’ has united London cyclists and pedestrians in opposition to plans by the Mayor of London for an ‘urban motorway’ on a London bridge that is heavily used by cyclists yet has seen two fatalities in the past decade. Discussing the campaign for a better Blackfriars is blogger Mark Ames and Charlie [...]

Looking back at the this year’s thrilling Tour de France are Lionel Birnie of Cycle Sport magazine and Alex Murray, London cyclist, amateur road racer and blogger at chasingwheels.com. Image by Neil Stevens, part of a series of illustrations for this year’s Tour, available to buy at Crayon Fire

From here: …to here: The 2011 edition of the Dunwich Dynamo, the cult mass participation night ride from London to the Suffolk Coast, as experienced by listeners of The Bike Show. Thanks to everyone who recorded their audio snippets. Put the 2012 Dynamo in your diaries now: 30 June / 1 July 2012.

In its 19th edition this year, the Dunwich Dynamo is London’s greatest mass participation ride – bar none. In the studio are Patrick Field, who first conceived the ride and two London cyclists planning to do just a little bit more than the usual Dun Run. Rosie Downes is planning to ride to Dunwich and [...]

Each year on the roads of this country upwards of 2,000 people are killed and many tens of thousands more are injured in road crashes. The perception of danger is one of the most common reasons people have for not riding a bicycle. Why do we, as a society, tolerate this level of carnage? What [...]

On Midsummer’s Night Dixe Wills, travel writer and author of a new book on Britain’s tiny campsites, guides us on a ride from central London up the Lea Valley to a wild camping spot. Various pitfalls ensure that little goes to plan. The new Bike Show jersey is unveiled and – in a podcast only [...]

In the studio is Bike Show regular ‘Buffalo’ Bill Chidley, who brings news of London’s burgeoning bicycle polo scene (note imminent rebranding as ‘urban bike hammer ball’). The London Open 2011 is on 30-31st July. Steve Evans, a bicycling paramedic from the Liverpool Century RC, gives some excellent practical advice on how to provide immediate [...]

Community bike workshops are a beautiful idea. A place where anyone can learn the basics of bicycle repair by doing it for themselves with the help of volunteer mechanics – and have access to specialist bicycle tools. A stone’s throw from the Elephant and Castle, the venerable 56a food coop and radical infoshop has its [...]

David Millar, the British road racer, one of the best riders in his generation, had it all. His first day of racing in the Tour De France brought him an impressive stage victory over Lance Armstrong and he was instantly a celebrated figure in the professional peloton. But a few years later, it all fell [...]

Cyclist, journalist and author Rob Penn travelled the world to put together his perfect bicycle. We talk about how his journey of discovery sheds light on the history of the bicycle and the contribution of bicycle technology to modern life. Rob is speaking at the Hay Literary Festival on 3rd June and is organising a [...]

Jenny Jones is a member of the London Assembly and is standing as the Green Party’s candidate in the 2012 London Mayoral elections. We ride from her home in Walworth/Peckham borders to City Hall and discuss cycling, liveable cities and the future of the Green Party.

The summer season kicks of with an entertaining and borderline nerdy discussion of the past, present and future of the cycling jersey. From Bianchi’s 1950s classic celeste blue to Mapei pushed the dye sublimation process to its limits and divided fans in equal measure. We take the story as far as today’s trend for any [...]

The final show of the winter season is a pleasurable romp through some of the best bits of the last three years of bicycle broadcasting. Featuring, in no particular order: Alistair Humphreys, Mark Miodownik, Cynthia Barlow, Klaus Bondam, Daniel Start, Rob Ainsley, Alex Moulton, Paul Staines (Guido Fawkes), Val Shawcross AM, Leslie Wacker, David Evans, [...]

Crusading, anti-doping sports journalist Lionel Birnie of Cycling Weekly gives his views on the latest revelations about professional cycling. You can read the 30,000-word transcript of Paul Kimmage’s interview with Floyd Landis at the NY Velocity blog. Mr NikBagTV presents the Lance Armstrong defence over on YouTube. Plus an appeal to listeners in the European [...]

Kieron Yates‘s documentary feature on the countryside huts of the 32nd Association of North London cycle clubs sparks a discussion on the demise of the traditional cycling club and the possibilities for renaissance. With Nigel Wood, Chairman of the Dulwich Paragon club, who tells the story of how this 75 year old south London club’s [...]

Mark Ames writes ibikelondon, one of the best of London’s blossoming bike blogs. We discuss the city planning ideas of Jan Gehl, the intellectual godfather of Copenhagenization. We hear what British Cabinet minister Eric Pickles MP has to say about cycling and Mark (pictured, above, with two devoted readers) gives his top tips for aspiring [...]

On the day before the completion of the construction phase of London’s new 6,000-seat velodrome on the 2012 Olympic site, we are treated to a sneak peek. Mike Taylor of Hopkins Architects presents the design vision and explains how he hopes it will not only be fast but environmentally sustainable and a great place to [...]

The messenger bag is one of the defining elements of the “new urban bike culture” and Bart Kyzar has been making bombproof bags for bicyclists since the mid-1990s, first with Chrome and now with Mission Workshop, based in San Francisco. Last summer Mission Workshop opened a new store at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. While [...]

In the last show before Christmas, Jacqui Shannon reports on new opportunities for paid bike mechanic apprenticeships and Matt Sparkes files a report from Italy on L’Eroica, the annual vintage cyclosportive (pictured, left). Civic hackers Greg Whalin and Richard Pope talk about MyBikeLane.com, Greg’s website for crowd-sourcing bicycle lane violations.

Studio discussion of four great lives in cycling: Kuklos, the prolific journalist who documented British cycling scene in the first half of the twentieth century; Brian Robinson (pictured, above), the first Brit to win stages in the Tour de France; intrepid cycle tourist Anne Mustoe; and Laurent Fignon, perhaps the last truly great French professional [...]

Window shopping at the Cycle Show 2010 taking in the latest offerings from Brooks (saddles), Bisignals (lights), Bike Dock (storage), Carradice (bags), Schmidt Maschinenbau (dynamo lights) and the Moulton Bicycle Company. Matt Sparkes reports from the once-a-decade Knutsford Great Race, where upwards of 80 competitors raced their ‘ordinaries’ (penny farthings or high-wheelers) in a deadly [...]

Ron Cooper is a legend in frame-building. He started as a fifteen-year-old apprentice with A.S. Gillott, and his frames have come to define the very best of the British lightweight style. He talks about the early days learning from master frame-builders like Jim Collier and Bill Philbrook, his own racing career and his commercial success [...]

Lionel Birnie of Cycling Weekly shares his best moments of this year’s sensational Tour De France. Plus we look ahead to Bicycle Thieves, which combines theatre and BMXing on the streets of London, as part of the InTransit festival. Book tickets for just £4 here or by calling 0845 230 9769.

An extended, hour long edition of the show featuring French writer, poet, cyclist and cultural ambassador Paul Fournel (pictured). We stroll from the French House in Soho to the Rapha Cycle Club in Clerkenwell, to visit an exhibition of a hundred years of racing bicycles. The exhibition runs for two more weeks and is well [...]

Tim Dawson joins artist Gavin Turk on the first of two rides in the East Anglian countryside. Plus a detailed look at the Mayor of London’s new cycle hire bikes, with Transport for London’s Gary McGowan, technical adviser to the special projects team. To join the second of Gavin Turk’s rides, starting in Ipswich, on [...]

As part of this year’s London Festival of Architecture, Stephen Bayley leads a ride around the best of French architecture, art and design to be found on the streets of London. Stephen Bayley is the Observer’s architecture and design critic, the founding director of the Design Museum and in 1989 was a made a Chevalier [...]

It’s time to blow out the candles on The Bike Show’s great big carbo-loaded birthday cake. 6 years old! To mark the occasion this week’s show features some of the more memorable moments from the first three years of experimental two wheeled art radio. Years four to six in due course. In this mix you’ll [...]

Talking bicycle security with author and blogger Rob Ainsley and Anthony Lau, architect and designer of the excellent Cycle Hoop that cheaply converts street furniture into cycle racks. Anthony is also soon to unveil a new car-shaped bicycle storage rack (pictured, above) at the London Festival of Architecture. Rob gives his verdict on the new [...]

Sustrans is the sustainable transportation charity and lobby group that pioneered the national cycle network. It is also one of the UK’s biggest commissioners of public art. Today’s show is devoted to one of Sustrans’s new Prospectives series, a handful of deliberately experimental projects that are more conceptual and investigative in nature than the more [...]

This week, a guest production by Stuart Watt. Life’s race from childhood to old age, as told by those who live it on two wheels. Original music by Chris Annetts. If you’d like to contribute material to The Bike Show, please get in touch bikeshow@resonancefm.com

As the Giro d’Italia enters its third week, we discuss Italy’s great stage race with Lionel Birnie of Cycling Weekly, in an experimental live broadcast from Look Mum No Hands, London’s newest and best cycle-cafe. Sam Humpheson shows us around the premises. The show also features a look back at Fausto Coppi, one of the [...]

A long, hard look at the Mayor of London’s plans for 12 cycle superhighways – bike routes from the outer boroughs along London’s main arterial roads. With Kulveer Ranger, Boris Johnson’s top transport adviser, Rob Ainsley of the Real Cycling blog, and Charlie Lloyd of the London Cycling Campaign.

Can London ever be as good a cycling city as Berlin? Helen Pidd of the Guardian and Matt Tempest give their views. Artist Mila Lipowicz talks about East London Local(Eyes): an interactive video installation that recreates the feeling of riding a bike around East London. Katy Hallett of Sustrans on commissioning public art for the [...]

Last Thursday, on what felt like a warm, sunny first day of Spring, I was witness to the immediate aftermath of a collision involving a cyclist and a 32 tonne articulated lorry. It was a truly horrible, chilling sight. The lorry was stopped in the middle of the road and the crushed remains of a [...]

In an off-season podcast-only extended episode, Lionel Birnie of Cycling Weekly joins me to talk about the year ahead in professional road racing. We talk about the season-openers in the Gulf, the Monuments and Cobbled Classics and of course the Grand Tours, where Britain’s Team Sky is hoping to make a big impact in its [...]

David Kitchen, aka Velocio, set up the London Fixed Gear and Single Speed Forum almost three years ago. In a short time it has spawned an active and inventive cycling community and in the process the forum has grown to become the world’s eleventh most visited cycling website. David talks about the success of the [...]

Following on from last week’s show on well-being, we look at the importance of getting a good fit between rider and machine. Scherritt Knoesen of The Bike Whisperer, is a leading London-based bike fitter. We talk geometry, contact points and pedaling action. Read Grant Peterson’sPetersen’s article The Shoes Ruse on the folly of clip-in pedals [...]

January is the perfect month to take a closer look at how to stay feeling good on the bike. In the studio to share their expertise are Michael Crebbin, a sports physio specialising in cycling-related problems, and Rebecca Bogue who teaches a yoga class designed especially for cyclists. Contact Rebecca via the Bodywise studio in [...]

It’s the tenth day of Christmas and this week’s show is like a Christmas stocking with bulges in all the right places. Dr Steve Fabes is about to set off on a four and a half year cycle ride around the world, crossing six continents. He talks about his route, preparations and apprehensions. Any lover [...]

Should cyclists stop at red lights? Why do we feel such a strong urge to keep rolling? Should our behavior be guided by the law of the land or the laws of common courtesy? What would Isaac Newton and Thomas Aquinas have to say about the matter? Bringing their expertise to a discussion of the [...]

Tim Dawson, cycling columnist for the Sunday Times, runs the Cycling Books website, the most compendious review website for cycling books. He joins me in the studio to discuss the literature of cycling, from Tour de France to cycle touring. Paul Fournel reads another extract from Need for the Bike. Below is a list of [...]

The cycle camping tour continues into the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, through Vermont and into Massachusetts. Struggles with thunderstorms and flying insects and a visit to the Crane paper mill where US dollar bills are made. Picture above shows the view back down the road from the summit of Whiteface Mountain. Play on [...]

The first of two features on a north American cycle tour undertaken over the summer. Starting in cycle-friendly Montreal and Quebec’s routes vertes and camping on the shores of Lake Champlain, this episode ends with a mildly disturbing encounter with an over-talkative former NYPD officer and child abuse investigator. Plus more from Paul Fournel’s Need [...]

This week’s show looks at the chronic lack of bicycle mechanics with the Ninon Asuni of Bicycle Workshop. Ninon founded Bicycle Workshop nearly thirty years ago after deciding she’d had enough of working as a librarian. She’s now among Britain’s most highly regarded bicycle mechanics with a devoted following in London and the rest of [...]

The Bike Show moves into advocacy mode this week with guest in the studio Debra Rolfe, Campaigns Director of the Cyclists’ Touring Club (CTC), Britain’s largest cycling organisation with 60,000+ members. Debra is spearheading the CTC’s new campaign against bad driving by motorists called Stop SMIDSY. The aim is to draw attention to the dangers [...]

A youthful feel to this season opener with a visit to Lockleaze Primary School in Bristol, one of an number of Sustrans ‘Bike It’ schools acros the country. Plus childhood memories from Paul Fournel, reading from Need for the Bike* in person at the Calder Bookshop. We get the inside scoop on the much-awaited Sturmey [...]

Riding with Amy Fleuriot, a young British fashion designer who’s Cyclodelic range of clothing and accessories is offering women a more stylish alternative to the typically drab clothing sold to cyclists. This is the final show in the current season. Thanks for listening!

Joining me in the studio is Graeme Fife, author of the definitive account of Le Tour de France, updated each year. He’s also author of the beautiful Rapha Guide to the Great Road Climbs of the Pyrenees. We discuss this year’s Tour de France, the most spectacular for some time, featuring the drama over the [...]

Copenhagen is widely regarded as the world’s most cycle-friendly city. I ask Copenhagen’s Mayor Klaus Bondam what advice he gives to other city leaders in how to emulate the Danish capital. Multitalented musician, songwriter and cartoonist Peter Blegvad reads Alfred Jarry’s proto-absurdist short story “The Crucifixion Considered as an Uphill Bicycle Race”. Jarry (pictured, above) [...]

Pedal Pusher is a play that follows three professional cyclists, Jan Ullrich, Marco Pantani and Lance Armstrong, in the most dramatic recent era of professional cycle sport. From the young prodigy Jan Ullrich winning the Tour in 1997, the doping scandals of 1998, Armstrong’s conquest of cancer and ending with Pantani’s exile from the sport [...]

For long-distance cycling they’re a must and they’ll improve the look of any bicycle. Brooks leather saddles date back to the 1870s and are still made in Birmingham where they were first invented. Steve Green of Brooks talks about the history and the craft of the most venerable and most comfortable bicycle saddle there is. [...]

A long, hard look at doping in professional cycling, with journalist Lionel Birnie of Cycling Weekly and theatre director Roland Smith, whose play Pedal Pusher, opens in London on 7th July. Play on links below.

In an extended podcast edition of this week’s show, the journey from London to Bristol continues along the Ridgeway (pictured, left) to Avebury, one of the largest prehistoric stone circles in Europe. After a night by Lacock Abbey the route follows the Avon to Bath and the old railway track to Bristol. Featuring David Evans [...]

Part one of a ride from London to Bristol, in which presenter Jack Thurston is guided by listeners to the show. First stop is St Giles’ Church in Stoke Poges, home to the ‘bicycle window’ (pictured behind Jack and Denis Hartley, the Verger of the Church). One element of the window dates from 1642 and [...]

A report on No Bike Week, in which a handful of courageous cyclists agree to abstain from two wheels for seven days. Find out what happened. And to read how the No Bike Week meme is evolving into something more akin to a direct action protest, check out No Cycle Day over at Crap Walking [...]

The Bike Show emerges from its late spring hibernation into the bright sunlight of the summer season. This week’s show features a ride south from the Resonance FM studio to the southern limit of the station’s 5km FM broadcast signal at the Herne Hill Velodrome. With guests James Wilson, lecturer in radio at Glasgow Metropolitan [...]

The Bike Show may be off air, but come with us on a trip to Belgium, home of the Flemish hard men and De Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders). Along the way I get a surprise tour of the legendary showers at the Roubaix velodrome (pictured left). Photo credit: Garmin Slipstream Play on links [...]

It’s the end of the road for The Bike Show. Find out why in this special podcast only final edition featuring many Bike Show favourites including Buffalo Bill, editor of Moving Target, cycle sport correspondent William Greswell, London bike messenger Nhatt Attack, Barry Mason of Southwark Cyclists, and Joe and Wes from the London Bicycle [...]

In the last of the current season we drop in on a police bicycle auction to pick up a bargain. Plus a bike pop epic from the Grave Architects (pictured above) and we hear from Jo Upton, presenter of Bike Love, a bicycling radio show in Sydney, Australia. Play on links below. Other file formats [...]

The Rás Tailteann is an 8 day stage race in the Republic of Ireland held each May since 1953. A particularly gruelling race, some say it is Ireland’s ‘Tour de France’ and it is a much cherished tradition, far more so than the Tour of Ireland. John Herety, Directeur Sportif of the Rapha-Condor road racing [...]

The Ride Journal was launched last year to widespread acclaim. Issue two is at the printers. Philip and Andrew Diprose, editor and art director, explain how they came to start a journal of personal stories about how bikes have changed people’s lives. Among the articles in Issue 2 of The Ride Journal is Rediscovered by [...]

Bicycle polo. It’s the latest sensation that’s sweeping the nation. After an account of bicycle polo played with Hungarian counts in 1934 from Patrick Leigh Fermour’s classic Between the Woods and the Water, we travel to De Beauvoir Town to find out how the game is being played in 2009. The European Hard Court Bicycle [...]

With the UK mired deep in recession, unemployment on the rise, the value of the pound going down and consumer confidence at an all time low, we ask what effect this is having on the cycling business. We hear from the owners of two of London’s new breed of bicycle boutiques (Tour de Ville and [...]

This week’s show features Dave Brailsford, Performance Director of British Cycling, explaining how his team achieved a record medal haul at the Beijing Olympics. We also discover that Shanaze Reade (pictured left, racing in the team sprint with Victoria Pendleton) has never heard of fixed gear freestyling despite being a world champion cyclist in both [...]

Riding the Northumberland coast from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Newcastle-upon-Tyne with Daniel Start, author of the best-selling Wild Swimming, a guide to natural swimming spots in Britain. Wild Swimming Coast (the salt-water version) will be published in the late spring. To enter the competition to win a signed copy, send an email detailing your favourite wild swimming [...]

The latest on moves by the London Assembly to reduce the dangers posed by lorries to cyclists. Plus an extended talk by Andrew Ritchey, inventor of the Brompton, the folding miracle that is the toast of London’s bicycle-train commuters. The talk was given over the summer at the iFest 08 in Barcelona. It tells the [...]

After a summer of fun on two wheels, we turn to more serious matters. The entire show this week is devoted to the problem of lorries killing cyclists in London. With Barry Mason of Southwark Cyclists and Cynthia Barlow, chairwoman of RoadPeace, the national campaign against deaths on Britain’s roads. We also hear from London [...]

The concluding episode of a two-part feature on the story of Dr Alex Moulton and the reinvention of the bicycle. We pick up the story with the launch of the Moulton space frame design (pictured left) in the early eighties. Featuring interviews with eaturing interviews with Dr Alex Moulton, Shaun Moulton, Tony Hadland, Michael Woolf, [...]

The first of a two-parter telling the story of Moulton bicycles: the radical reinvention of the bicycle by Dr Alex Moulton that, despite some commercial setbacks along the way, continues to push the boundaries of cutting edge engineering. Moultons have been feted by architects and designers, won races and broken speed records, and are taken [...]

The Bicycle Film Festival comes to London from 1-5 October. Laura Fletcher is the BFF’s London ambassador and she previews a handful of highlights from the seven screenings at the Barbican Cinema plus all the parties, art shows, polo matches and roller-racing that make the Festival a veritable jamboree of bicycle culture. Plus a very [...]

Do the rising oil price, the growing concern about man-made climate change and breakthroughs in cycle design mean we’re on the verge of a pedal-powered cargo revolution? Discussing the past, present and future of cargo bikes and pedicabs is Leslie Wacker, a Chicago native who placed second in the cargo bike race at this year’s [...]