Moving!

Over the weekend UK Cycle Rules is moving across to its new home at ukcyclerules.com!

Once the site is over there and all settled in you shouldn’t notice any difference. But if you’re a subscriber, or use an RSS feed, you’ll need to renew your subscription at the new site. Please do! The new site would be a lonely place without you.

The idea behind the move is to gain a bit more flexibility in the appearance of the site and the way it’s organised. It might also look for sponsors in the future, which is something it’s not allowed to do at its current location. But don’t worry – it will keep providing independent information on road rules for cyclists, and it will never charge you for reading.

Comments on the old site have been disabled while the move is finalised. But all previous comments have been taken across to the new site, which is up and running now – so you can head over there and continue the debate.

If you have any problems using the new site, please let me know via the contact form, or by email at  jorren[at]ukcyclerules[dot]com.

Hope to see you over there soon.

The cycle helmets debate – legal aspects

Helmets are probably the most controversial part of cycling law.

They’re not compulsory for cyclists in the UK, although attempts have been made quite recently to bring in legislation requiring them (and a Bill to make helmets compulsory in Northern Ireland is still before the legislative assembly there).

But that’s not fully the end of the matter. The Highway Code recommends that cyclists should wear helmets, and the courts have found cyclists who haven’t worn helmets to be at fault in certain respects.

Buying an e-bike

An e-bike, or electric bike, is a bike with an electric motor. Basically, the motor is there to help you with the burden of pedalling. This can, I’m sure, be very comforting, especially if you live in south Bristol.

If you’re thinking of buying an e-bike, there’s one very important thing to bear in mind: you’ll want to make sure that it actually is an e-bike.

If you buy the wrong thing, you could end up with something which, legally speaking, is a motorbike.  In which case you could need a licence and insurance, a vehicle excise duty (or “road tax”) disc and a motorbike-grade helmet in order to use the thing.

You’ll also want to make sure, whether you’re buying or selling, that your e-bike is sold with the necessary kit.

Buying and selling bikes, part 2 – kit requirements for new bikes

Last week I wrote about the basic kit rules which apply to sales of all bikes – new and second-hand.

In addition to the basic rules, there are more detailed kit rules which apply to sales of new bikes. So if you’re selling a new bike, you’ll need to comply with the basic rules, and also provide the extra kit required by the detailed rules.

And if you’re buying a new bike, the additional rules tell you what kit you can expect to receive.

The rules are quite complicated. I’ve summarised them as best I can.

Buying and selling bikes, part 1 – basic kit requirements

I’ve been promising for a while now to write about the rules on buying and selling bikes.

There are quite a few rules in this context, so I’ll take it in stages over the next couple of weeks.

This post looks at the basic kit that has to be provided with a pedal cycle whenever it is sold. As far as I can see, the rules apply to both new and second-hand sales.

Once again the rules are different for e-bikes. So this post deals only with non-electric bikes. I’ll post separately on buying and selling e-bikes.

Rules applying to all sales

If you sell a bike, whether new or second-hand, you have to comply with certain basic rules about the brakes.