Bristol is the UK's most bike-friendly big city, while London is one of the least hospitable to cyclists, according to a survey.
The study by
Cycling Plus magazine took the country's 20 biggest cities and towns by population – thus excluding traditional bike centres such as Cambridge and York – and ranked them using a series of factors including cycle commuter numbers, levels of bike theft, the number of traffic-free bike lanes, casualties, pollution and even rainfall.
Bristol edged out Nottingham and Leicester, while London was rated 17th, above only Glasgow, Birmingham and bottom-placed Bradford.
The accolade for Bristol comes two years after it was
named the country's first "cycling city" by the Department for Transport, giving it access to around £20m in extra funding for bike-related schemes. The city is also the birthplace of
Sustrans, the green cycle route charity which began 30 years ago when volunteers converted an old rail line between Bristol and Bath into a dedicated bike route.
Bristol was "leading the way after significant government investment", said the editor of Cycling Plus, Rob Spedding. He added: "Local cyclists still feel that progress isn't being made quickly enough, but the UK holds up Bristol as a shining example when it comes to the number of riders, bike shops, traffic free routes and low pollution levels."
Jeff Fry, a member of the Bristol South Cycling Club for half a century and still a keen rider aged 70 despite a recent hip operation, said he was "a little surprised" at his home city's new accolade.
"There's some good parts to cycling here, but I don't see how we're much better than most places. Cars do tend to cut you up. I don't like to complain too much about motorists as I'm one myself, but it can be dangerous."
The investment had brought new infrastructure such as a dedicated bike path attached to Bristol's outer ringroad, but progress overall remained "patchy", he said.
"On a main road near where I live they've just put up some shiny new signs indicating a bike lane, but I can't see any signs of the lane yet," he said. "I don't know if it's ever going to happen."
On one cycling internet forum some were more blunt. "Bristol? They must not have stayed overnight or they wouldn't have had a bike come morning," one reader noted.
While the government and local councils have invested millions in cycling infrastructure in recent years, bike campaign groups complain that the results tend to be mixed and that the UK remains decades behind countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark.
As another cycling forum commenter argued: "Deciding which UK city is best for cycling is a bit like deciding which one of Jedward is the more talented."
Taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk
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