Hire Schemes
13 August 2026
What Dockless Actually Changed
The docking station was never the hard part. Finding a bike within two minutes of where you are standing was.
Hire Bikes and City Riding
Notes on getting round British cities on a bike you do not own — how the hire schemes actually work, where they fall over, and how to ride a city you have never been to before.
City Riding
9 August 2026
Riding a City You Do Not Know
The first twenty minutes in an unfamiliar city are the worst of any ride. Here is how to shorten them.
Hire Schemes
5 August 2026
The App Is the Product
The bike is a commodity. Whether you can get one, unlock it and end the hire cleanly is not.
City Riding
31 July 2026
Hills and the Single-Speed Problem
Most hire bikes have three gears at best. Some British cities were not built with that in mind.
Kit & Repairs
26 July 2026
What to Carry, and What Not To
On a hire bike you fix nothing. That changes the list considerably.
Hire Schemes
20 July 2026
Why Schemes Collapse
Britain has a long list of hire schemes that launched loudly and closed quietly. The reasons repeat.
Kit & Repairs
14 July 2026
Locking a Bike You Do Not Own
Scheme bikes have their own locks and their own rules, and getting it wrong costs you rather than them.
Trips
8 July 2026
A Weekend Without a Car
Train to the city, hire at the station, and see what a place feels like at fifteen miles an hour.
Trips
2 July 2026
The Year Ten of Us Went Somewhere Warm
A riding group that had done the same wet British weekend for years, and the winter it did not.
Kit & Repairs
26 June 2026
Punctures Are Not Your Problem
One of the quiet pleasures of hired bikes: the mechanical failure is somebody else's to fix.