Bike Heroes was an initiative we ran in 2011 in which we offered 23 local residents, business owners, workers and celebrities the chance to become bike heroes for the summer. We teamed up with three prestigious and sought after bike brands; Moulton, Electra and Brompton who kindly agreed to lend their bikes to the heroes in support of the Council’s Bikeminded campaign. Each hero received a stylish, high performance and functional bike chosen to match their lifestyle and cycling needs. Find out more about what happened to our heroes at the blog posts below.

Our Brompton riders
Our heroes in 2011 included David Higgins (owner of Ten Pilates), George Clarke (architect and presenter), Kell Skott (owner of Kell Skott haircare), David Lewis (head gardener at Kensington Roof Gardens), Jonathan Newby (Director of NMSI Enterprises at the Science Museum), as well as a number of local bloggers and journalists.
Each hero had their bike for two months and wrote about it on our blog, as well as a couple of blogs that sprung up from the Bike Heroes project. These include Being Bikeminded, and Kell Skott’s brompton blog.

Our Electra Group
Councillor Paget-Brown, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, who was also a bike hero, said:
“We were delighted to launch our Bike Heroes initiative as part of our three year Bikeminded campaign and in particular for the generosity of the bike manufacturers who donated bikes. We hope that through the stories, photos and blogs our heroes share on the website other residents and workers will be inspired to get cycling too. We have set ourselves a challenging target to increase the number of people cycling in the borough over the next three years and this initiative, along with some other exciting events and activities coming up, will provide great opportunities for people to get involved in our campaign.”

www.moultonbicycles.co.uk
www.brompton.co.uk
www.electrabike.com
BIKEHEROES BLOG
A Danish Summer
23/08/2012
With this lovely sunny weather continuing, and half the office seemingly on holiday at the moment, we’re gazing out the window and day dreaming of trips to sunny beaches. Our friends Kell and Jacqueline Skott from Kell Skott Haircare in Notting Hill are just back from their holidays in Denmark, and have sent us some...
The Bicycle Theives
18/10/2011
So, what happens when you leave a shiny new Moulton in the back seat of your car? David Higgins from TenPilates finds out… “Disaster strikes. My new Moulton TRS 9 has been stolen from my car! As I try to remain calm, I am so frustrated not just at the copious damage to my...
Bike Heroes Finissage
13/10/2011
We can’t believe how quickly the past two months has gone. It seems like only yesterday we were handing over shiny new Bromptons, Moultons and Electras to our Bike Heroes. But all good things unfortunately come to an end, and yesterday we held our Bike Heroes Finissage. We had the pleasure of working...
Golf clubs and umbrellas… what do you carry on your bike?
11/10/2011
Our Bike Heroes project is now coming to and end so we are checking in with our heroes to see how they got on this past couple of months. So first up, how has Cheyne Voss, top physio at TenPhysio got on with his Electra. “I have treated my Electra to some...
Dez O’Neill’s cultural journey
06/10/2011
My daily cycles are mainly local around Portobello where I live. So I decided on a cultural trip to Tate Britain for a long cycle to catch the Miro exhibition as it was coming to an end. A cycle from Notting Hill to Tate Britain is mostly through trees and grass and by...
A cycling history
05/10/2011
Sometimes I think I have the best job in the world; working at the Science Museum feels more like a privilege that an occupation. Not only is it a great building crammed with the most amazing objects but it is an amazing encyclopaedia of British invention and ingenuity spanning hundreds of years recorded not just...
Being Bikeminded
03/10/2011
Our hero Nielsen Cerbolles has been very busy indeed. He keeps the terrific tumblr site Being Bikeminded, as well as his own blog. He’s also made a film for us of our recent Cake and Coffee Cruise. Have you booked your place yet? http://vimeo.com/29809716
Best place for a cocktail in Chelsea?
29/09/2011
The gorgeous Mina Zaher is behind the terrific blog www.kingsroadrocks.com. She also writes for The Notebook magazine and, most happily for us, is one of our bike heroes. She chose a gorgeous pink and turquoise Brompton, which we at Bikeminded HQ have been rather jealous of. Mina grew up in Chelsea and has an incredible...
Could you do an Ikea shop by bike?
27/09/2011
Our guest post today comes from Bike Hero Lee Mannion, who you can read about here. We were rather inspired by his journey, and love your quote at the end Lee! Going by bike can make the most ordinary of journeys more interesting. When I started cycling in London, it opened the city up for...
How to prevent injury
23/09/2011
We’re super lucky this Friday as we hear back from Cheyne Voss, our bike hero and expert physio from Ten Physio, about how to prevent cycling injuries. Thanks for the advice Cheyne! I am a big fan of the bike both as a Physiotherapist and a keen cyclist. There are extensive benefits of cycling...
A hero tries out not one, but two Electras!
22/09/2011
We managed to find ourselves a Bikehero, who really is called Hero. She spent a bit of time testing Electras before deciding which one to get. We can assure you they’re all easy to ride and they look amazing. But its definitely best to take your time to figure out which one is perfect for...
Guest post: riding through the road works
21/09/2011
This week Jonathan Newby lets us know how it’s been dodging the road works near his office… “Having survived another week on the roads, I’m trying to make sense of why some days the traffic on roads is relatively quiet and benign and on others it’s like riding through a war-zone. There are obvious...