Might have to write the photo off as a 'looked-more-interesting-when-I-was-there' kind of job, but what we have here is three rented 'Ucycle' bikes locked up in an accidental row.
The Ucycle scheme is something that runs here in the city of Nottingham, in which students at the local universities are offered to rent a bicycle for the year for £50. When I first heard of the scheme I was a little sceptical about it, thinking that they'd suffer from neglect and abuse very quickly, or just fail to catch on. But the proof really is in the numbers of them you see locked up everywhere! Perhaps not so many now in the middle of winter, but even now you can see them filling the racks as above.
Bike wise, they're pretty smart choices. Sensible solid steel bikes with the mudguards, lights, reflectors and initial assembly completed, factors which are often disregarded on other students' bikes.
Perhaps ironic that Nottingham, once the centre of bicycle manufacture in the UK, now needs schemes like this to get people cycling again. But whatever it takes! The more ways and routes people can take to getting back on a bicycle the better!
ah right, at first seeing one of the ucycle bikes, i thought it was a bicycle manufacturer, makes sense why i started seeing them when i moved to Nottingham :-), they look pretty smart bikes up close too
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