The UK’s Best Cities For Cycling?

The increase in cycling in the UK over recent years has come as no surprise. Whether it is the eco-friendly aspect of it or the growth in popularity of the sport as Britons have piled up Olympic golds and yellow jerseys, there are many more folk on their bike these days.

Of course, not everyone is super fit and sometimes a little help is needed, which is where a bike conversion kit to give you the power of an electric bike will offer that bit of extra energy needed.

However, some people are put off by the vexed question of whether the place they live in is a ‘good’ location for cyclists. Although, there appears to be good reasons to ignore any ‘research’ you may encounter on this topic.

Quite simply, surveys vary enormously in their assessments of what the best cities are to cycle in. For example, last year The Compensation Experts listed Cambridge as the best and Oxford second, with medieval cityscapes better suited to two wheels than four.  

The other high-ranked places may be less expected. Wigan came third, Stockport fourth and Bolton fifth, whereas neighbouring Manchester with its larger student population and flatter topography did not make the top 15. At the same time, London was ranked last.

However, it should be noted this research based its rankings on metrics like road safety, traffic levels and bike theft numbers, which mitigates against bigger cities.

By contrast, Sustain Health Magazine listed a top five by the number and length of cycle routes, based on research from Leisure Lakes. This statistic is more favourable to larger population centres as by definition they will have more space for routes as well as high demand. Thus Edinburgh came out top, followed by London, with Bristol third, Glasgow fourth and York fifth.

All this means that perhaps the definition of a town or city as being good or bad for cycling is not what one might term an exact science.

Therefore, the simple conclusion is this: if you want to get pedalling and fancy some electric power to help you along, where you live is no reason not to.