Raleigh’s Big Birmingham
Bikes take over the
city centre

If you follow us on social media, you may have noticed that over the weekend we were in Birmingham for the a "Let’s Ride event" The streets of Birmingham were closed off to traffic and a cycling street festival took over. This free event offered a short family ride around the city, stalls, competitions and cycling celebs for them to meet.

Supporting Cycling in Birmingham

As part of the event, ourselves and Birmingham Cycle Revolution partnered up to create the Big Birmingham Bikes. These bright orange bikes are supplied by us and are used to encourage adults and children of Birmingham to get out on their bikes. Whether it’s cycling to the park, to the shops or work or purely for fitness and pleasure – every little ride counts! The bikes are part of an exciting 20-year initiative encouraging more people to cycle in and around the city to make Birmingham healthier, greener, safer and less congested.

Part of the scheme includes bike pump and repair stands scattered across Birmingham, so people are able to maintain their bike on the go! They’re free for anyone to use, whether they have an orange bike or not. Hopefully in the near future, this kind of scheme will roll out across the UK, so we can encourage everyone to get out on their bike.

If you’d like to find out more about this initiative, head over to the Birmingham Cycle Revolution Facebook page.

At the event we helped give away 30 of these orange bikes to people that perhaps couldn’t afford these bikes or simply needed them to help get around. We also had reconditioned orange bikes for children too as part of the giveaway. To help us out Helen Scott MBE and Sir Chris Hoy were at the event, they inspired the crowds with encouraging words and even took part in the family race themselves.

The event was just one of fourteen across the UK! You can get involved at a city near you, just take a look at the Lets Ride website to find out more information.

Big Birmingham Bikes by Raleigh