Tag: Cheap

The bicycle was introduced in the 19th century in Europe by German Inventor Karl von Drais. He is credited with developing the first bicycle. He introduced it to the people in Paris in 1818. It is supposed to originate from the human-powered vehicle called Draisines. Drais invented a walking machine that would help him get around the royal gardens faster. It was known by many names, including the “velocipede,” “dandy horse,” “hobby-horse,” “draisine” and “running machine. It had no pedals and its frame was a wooden beam. It had two same-size in-line wheels with the front one steerable and mounted in a frame which was straddled. In 1839, Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith, allegedly completed construction of a pedal driven…

Electric bikes, or e-bikes, are now established in the commuting world and can be regularly seen on our streets. If you are a newcomer to cycling or more experienced, the chances are you will have been tempted by pedalling with electrical assistance. In the UK, sales of electric bikes have maintained a steady growth since 2020. The Bicycle Association, the national trade body for the UK cycle industry, predicts the e-bike share of total bike sales will triple by the end of 2023. Electric bikes are manufactured both by legacy companies and specialist providers. You can search for e-bikes alongside analogue bikes at most of the well known retailers like Trek, Giant, Raleigh and Specialized or look into the independent…

In 2003 I went to cover my first Tour de France as part of the press. PEZ had almost no readers and even less money, so I rented the cheapest car I could find. I drove it for 2 weeks and 2500km across France from Lyon east to the Alps, across the south and into the Pyrenees via Andorra, dodging and weaving as far west as Lourdes, and then all the way back to Lyon. It was one of the hottest summers on record in France – when the mercury tickled 40C degrees every day for weeks.Click the video to watch, and see more at the PEZ Youtube channel here.The car was tiny and had no a/c, but I managed…