John

London Borough of Sutton

Tell us a little about yourself

I'm a primary school teacher, working in Thornton Heath, south London. I commute every day from Carshalton to work by bicycle. I have a fantastic, mostly road-free journey, through parks and along the river Wandle.

What do you use your bike for?

Mainly for my commute and for exploring London or the Surrey Hills at the weekends. In the holidays, I enjoy riding downhill mountain bikes and touring cities by bicycle.

What do you love about cycling?

The exercise, the social aspect, discovering places and seeing things that you would probably miss if you were travelling by car or on public transport.

Where did you store your bicycle before you had a Bikehangar?

I live on a second floor one bedroom flat that I share with my wife and we have white walls and carpets. The bikes were stored vertically in the hall cupboard hanging precariously from the ceiling. Every day, keeping the bike away from the walls and carpet was a nightmare and of course, we had no storage space left for anything else.

Tell us why you love your Bikehangar?

It's safe, it's cheap when you consider the amount of storage space you save and it looks good. Even the sceptics when we initially suggested the project, were won over in the end.

What is your top tip for getting one on your street?

Get involved with others who are like-minded, show pictures of other successful implementations and win over you local community. Listen to the sceptics and explain why bike storage is a good thing - car drivers and cyclists are often the same people. Also look at your council's cycling strategy, most will have a vehicle hierarchy and bicycles are above cars. The excuse that "we need the space for car parking" simply is not good enough these days.