Local Food, Local Delivery Service

After launching our e-cargo bike delivery service last year, Russell and team have carried medical supplies, computer equipment, documents, children’s bikes, parcels and foodstuffs, and Russell says he’s increasingly hearing from businesses, like Zed’s Wholefoods in Nether Edge, concluding that bike deliveries are likely to save them money.

“Van deliveries are getting more expensive, but a bicycle is not effected by the cost of petrol or diesel in addition to the driver, a bike delivery is just the cost of a person, so it’s by far the most financially efficient form of delivery service, particularly for short journeys,” he said.

Nicola Newman of Zed’s made a similar conclusion

“We want to do things as eco as possible, and doing deliveries by bike looks like a great way to do that. Fuel prices are rising and I’m concerned about having to pass that cost on to the customers, so we’re trying out bike deliveries on some of our routes to see if it can provide a solution that doesn’t cost the customer any more,” she said. “It may even become cheaper in future as fuel costs go up, so it’s a win win situation.”

Delivery customers are looking at the time and cost involved in taking goods by van through congested city streets as well as fuel costs, and recognise that their customers will value their goods arriving in a way that doesn’t add to Sheffield’s congestion and air pollution.  Some businesses are looking into electric vehicles as next spring’s Clean Air Zone approaches in Sheffield city centre. But urban transport experts note that e-vans do nothing to tackle congestion, and their heavier weight often increase pollution from particulates from brakes and tires.

Also, the lack of charging infrastructure and the high cost of e-vans may well lead to savvier businesses weighing up the costs and benefits and choosing bikes instead for their last mile or smaller loads. (An e-cargo bike currently costs around 10p to charge up for a day or two’s riding, whereas an e-vehicle can cost up to £20 or more for a single charge).

Nicola Newman says she sells general groceries ‘with a health food, ethical or ecological twist’, and believes customers will appreciate how bike deliveries can help support local shops at a time when they’re under threat from huge national supermarkets.

“We know people like to see their neighbourhoods bustling, with independent shops, and supporting local businesses like ours, and Russell's bike service is one way of ensuring our local neighbourhoods thrive.”    

“The bike is a local form of transport,” said Russell. “People might be surprised when I turn up with their stuff on a bike, but at least they know it’s not coming from a warehouse somewhere on the M1.” “

Find out about our delivery service here.

Delivering for Doctors

“Inactivity is a feature in almost every long term condition we deal with,” says Dr Ollie Hart.

Ollie and his medical colleagues have been banging on about this for years, and setting an example by cycling all the time and generally breezing into their surgeries looking like athletes.

Dr Ollie Hart

“But the way you promote exercise matters,” he says. “It doesn’t work by just wagging your finger at someone and saying; ‘You should do something!’”

This spring, the Russell’s Bicycle Shed delivery service pedalled the launch pack of the city’s Move More Active Practice network to the first 10 Sheffield GP centres to join the network. Move More GP Jo Maher hopes many more city GP centres will ask about joining the Active Practice network soon.

“We have some brilliant local advocates for leading active lifestyles in the health area already, and we want to grow that influence, because we know the value that health practitioners can have on the communities they see and support,” said Tom Hughes of scheme partners Yorkshire Sport. 

“We also know that we are facing a climate emergency and the role that travelling short journeys in vehicles can contribute to this, so using the e-cargo bike from Russell’s is a brilliant way of delivering materials to our surgeries and setting an example for others to follow.” 

Russell delivering Active Practice packs to Birley Health Centre

The idea of the Active Practice network, says Jo Maher, is twofold.

“We want to reemphasise the importance of physical activity and exercise in keeping people physically and mentally well,” she says, “and also signpost people to all the many free resources we have in Sheffield that anybody can use.”

Jo cites Active Practices setting up health walks in the Shire Brook Valley Nature Reserve, links between her own surgery in Wincobank, the Ingle Runners group and the SOAR community regeneration charity, a local physical health and wellbeing activities digital resource set up by Kira Watson at the Porter Valley primary care network, along with the ‘health coaching’ initiative used in Heeley by Ollie Hart and his colleagues.

“We talk to people about what matters to them, what’s most likely to attain a life they value,” says Ollie. “They might say they want to have more energy to keep up with the kids, to concentrate better at work, to sleep well or to have good relationships. And being physically fit makes a difference to all of that, along with things people know about like cancer, inflammation, mental health and cardiovascular health.”

He adds: “Everyone knows that physically activity is good for you, the question is, how are you going to prioritise it in the hectic craziness of your life?”

So the next step is to help that particular person find their equivalent of Ollie’s fell running or cycle commuting, which could be a gardening group, a nearby social group, the local parkrun or getting hold of a bike and exploring the local parks and trails - and then keeping their bike going to ensure the exercise becomes regular.

Jo Maher hopes all local GP centres can find a way to become Active Practices, choosing programmes to suit them, their staff and their patients, and she’s delighted the NHS is now actively supporting the idea of exercise ‘on prescription.’ Not least because a healthier and happier population will reduce the workload of NHS staff, she says.

“We’d love to reduce people’s reliance on health professionals. I think it makes people feel more in control of things.”

For more info: https://www.movemoresheffield.com/move-more-active-practice

Meet our Delivery Team

We’ve built a team of delivery bikes perfect for moving your goods around Sheffield. It’s efficient, environmentally sound, low noise, zero emission and first and foremost we can definitely get door to door.

Our team consists of 3 bikes all with their own special traits and skills designed to make deliveries efficient.

First we have our ‘Small’ bike suitable for secure transfer of documents, small items such as phones, tablets and laptops or with the combination of the trailer it can carry another 30kg easily, so we can shift a few cases of beer.

Now we have our ‘Medium’ bike, it may be called medium but it has the ability to go for miles without charging, it is the most adaptable of our bikes and we can create special carriers for your precious goods. We just wish it was available in pink.

Now we have the big boy the true beast of a bike our ‘Large’ bike is one of the largest 2 wheel cargo bikes on the market and is great for doing multiple drops in one trip. It can carry 130kg and is surprisingly agile.

This is our team, want to know more then get in touch delivery@russellsbicycleshed.co.uk

Pumping Schools to Cycle Safely

Last year we were asked to carry out some Dr Bike sessions at 3 schools in Sheffield, specifically Manor Lodge School, Norfolk Community School and Arbourthorne School. We were more than happy to help, after all part of our mission statement is to get more children cycling and keep them cycling by providing support throughout school life and then beyond.

During these session there were many problems, some we could fix, a few were beyond repair and some needed more attention in our shop but one thing that struck us about all the kids bikes bar a few was that all needed their tyres pumping up. Keeping your tyres inflated is critical not only to safety and control of the bike but it makes riding so much easier. We asked if the schools had bicycle pumps and none of them did, we asked the kids if they had access to a bicycle pump, some did most didn’t and some told us their dad would take it to the petrol station to pump up the tyres. So when we reported back we suggested that the schools should be supplied with a bicycle pump each.

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On this suggestion in stepped Sheffield City Trust with a grant to supply a bicycle pump to 40 schools across the city. We ordered the pumps, branded them and delivered them, by cargo bike of course, to all the schools across the city. The whole process taking a couple of weeks.

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We believe these pumps are vital to providing a sustainable infrastructure to allow everyone to cycle safely. We hope that we can supply a pump to every school in the city over the coming years.

Ticket or Ride

Let’s imagine you still have to go into work, whatever the current Covid status. Many people do: care workers, cleaners, retail staff, frontline key workers of all descriptions.

If you’re on the minimum wage, the cost of that journey is a very large part of your ‘how do I make ends meet?’ calculations.

Quite often, whether you’ve found a job cleaning trams or stacking Christmas puddings in a supermarket, your accommodation won’t be just round the corner. And if you can’t afford a car (a third of South Yorkshire households are carless) you’ll have to weigh up the cost of public transport.

A monthly ticket will knock you back £54 if you restrict yourself to one bus company in Sheffield, £65 if you need to use several bus operators and the tram, or £88 if you need to cross into Rotherham, Barnsley or Doncaster.

Mechanic explaining problems to a bike commuter

We know what you’re thinking: why not use the Cycle to Work scheme? Instead of paying £54 (or more) for a boring bus journey, you could ask your employer for a really nice £800 bike, £100 worth of kit and end up paying £51 a month instead, and after a year, nothing! A no-brainer, surely?

Except, like many care workers, cleaners, and retail staff, you can’t.

That’s because you can only get the the advertised 25-39% discounts of the Cycle to Work scheme if you earn more than the minimum wage. The low paid are effectively excluded from a national scheme that allows someone on a salary of £50,000 to save £2,500 on the cost of the Pinarello road bike they’ve picked up to nip in to the office for a sales meeting.

Many low paid workers have made those calculations about bus tickets and bikes in Sheffield, and fully understand the health and environmental benefits of cycling to work, just like everyone else. But they can’t access that handy discount many of us get for ouir commuter bikes, so they usually get something cheap, which is hard to ride, and breaks down all the time. And then maybe they’ll just go back to paying 20% of their monthly income on a bus ticket.

We think it’s time for some levelling up in cycle commuting too.

Securing Your Precious Two Wheels

Your bike is precious to you. Just like jewels and diamonds, maybe, but whatever investment you made when you bought it, you and your bike surely have an emotional connection. Your bike has got you to here, there, and everywhere, it's got you up the steepest hill and along the longest valley, you’ve been to work on it, you've done the pub run on it, and some of you have even been joined by the family on their own precious bikes, on their own special journeys.

So it's quite important that you don't let some nasty creep steal away those memories.

Bike locked with cable and D lock

Now we're not going to say that by implementing the advice that follows your bike will never get stolen, but if you do take our advice, and make stealing your bike as difficult as possible, then you can at least take comfort that if it does get stolen that nasty creep must have really wanted it.

Of course the first thing you can do to protect your bike is not take it outside at all. But it’s not much fun just looking at it hanging on the wall or stood on the TV stand in the living room.

So do take it out for a ride, but get yourself a ‘Sold Secure’ Gold rated lock to put off the opportunist and slow down the professionals. They are generally considered the most difficult to break. Maybe add a chain or decent cable lock too, so any thief has to use more than one set of tools to get their job done.

Now you've got your locks, but what about all the unlocked bits on your bike? A good quality cable through the wheels can help stop them being stolen, or you can get locking skewers for Quick Release wheels that need a tool to release them (of course you'll need to carry the tool with you in case you get a puncture.) It's the same for the seatpost too, or swap a Quick Release seat clamp for a bolted one. 

Always lock your bike to something immovable, like a decent bike stand. A thief in a van is entirely happy to pick up a bike just locked to itself, throw it in the van and get rid of the locks back home later. And locking it down a dark alley, or round a quiet corner of the office or supermarket will also give a thief time to chop off the locks undisturbed - lock it in public view instead.

And if it’s an e-bike, remove the battery if you’re away for some time, and the control panel if you can, and if it’s a heavy cargo bike, maybe even think about quick release pedals to thwart a quick getaway.

Finally, if you’re bike commuting, or bike retailing, or bike recreating, ask your employer, supermarket or leisure centre to think about how many more people will get there by bike if they spend a few quid on secure parking. And then think about what they could do with the land where those car parking spaces used to be that they don’t need any more…

 We stock a range of locks, and we’re full of good ideas. Come and see us or give us a call if you’d like a chat about keeping your precious bike safe and sound.

Is Time On Your Side?

How would you feel about a calm Christmas and a peaceful New Year?

Here at Russell’s Bicycle Shed, we’ve been thinking a lot about how time, hassle, and stress are related over the last year. We’ve been working flat out to keep the city moving through the twists and turns of the Pandemic, and we know thousands of other key workers have too. (And hats off to them all).

Woman fixing a bike

If you work for a living, you can calculate how much your time fixing up your commuter bike is worth. And how much time you save for your employer by riding in to work rather than waiting in a queue for half your commute. And evidence shows that cycle commuters are more alert and ready to get started once they arrive, unlike stressed out rush hour drivers. That’s more productive time for your employer, in addition to the fewer days off sick you take because you ride a bike.

We’d like to spend more of our time talking to friends and customers about how the city can come out of all this as a better place for cyclists, with better active travel routes like Grey to Green, and more enlightened employers providing secure parking and other essentials for the commuters who save them time and money by riding to work.

But we’re often too busy replacing hundreds of rusted chains and worn out wheelsets.

We want to keep the city (and you) moving, and we’ve seen how much stress is involved when you decide to ride to work one Spring day only to discover the bike you last used in October has seized up. Or how it feels to miss an important meeting one morning because a wheel rim or a tyre fails halfway there.

So, there’s the setup, here’s the sell: if you and your family cyclists love playing with oil, grease and spanners, read no more.

But if you’d rather spend your time watching a film with your partner of an evening, or meeting your mates at the weekend instead of spending the afternoon trying to make your gears work, ask yourself, how much is that time worth? More than £11 a month?

That’s how much it costs to join our Club, with the two annual services, emergency fixes and free loan bike required to keep you moving, without hassle or stress.

And when everyone is saying ‘buy less stuff to help the climate’, and ‘spend more time on yourself and your loved ones’, maybe spending some festive funds to have a peaceful, hassle and grease free New Year is worth thinking about. Yes? Join the Club.

The Cost of Commuting Part 2

What is the actual cost of driving into town, or making a diesel delivery within the new Clean Air Zone? And how does that compare to making the same trip, or the same delivery, by bike?

One of our cargo bike s heading to Sheffield Station

Motoring organisations often quote about 40p / mile as the actual cost of driving, when insurance, depreciation, repairs etc. are considered, whereas most drivers tend to just consider their direct costs, mainly petrol and parking, which might be 14p/ mile for petrol plus a few quid for parking. Even with electric vehicles those fixed costs don't disappear.

But nearly every driver ignores two very important costs: Time and Trouble. Navigating city centre roads, then finding somewhere to park, then thinking about how far you have to travel to your destination if you’re making a delivery are very real costs in Time (and stress). And Time for an employee costs quite a bit.

It’s tempting to park your van or car near where you’re going, and risk the Trouble of a fine, and maybe even put other people in Trouble (and danger) by parking inconsiderately. And when the CAZ arrives, navigating the fees, and routes, will probably be quite a bit of Trouble for someone in your organisation too.

It takes us about 12 minutes each way to ride (and park) our e-cargo bike from our delivery base at Neepsend to our shop at Sheffield Station, ​about the same time it takes to drive - if you make the journey at 4am on a Tuesday morning, say. And it’s no trouble, because we have no traffic jams to contend with, and no one way systems, on our commute route along the developing traffic free city centre active travel networks. And no parking fees, or potential fines. And no stress.

So, commuting or making a delivery by car or van to the city centre costs at least 40p / mile plus quite a bit of stress and quite a lot of time. Cycling, or e-cycling, as mentioned in an earlier blog, is a few pence a ride, or around £1 a day if you regularly make a return trip to town.

​If your business needs items delivering, we can be very competitive on price. A typical single drop into the City Centre may cost £5, multiple drops could be as low as £1.50. When you compare that just to the cost in time for your driver you are saving money. Why not make better use of your vans and drivers on longer distance deliveries instead of wasting their time sat in inner city congestion?

So don’t forget, while cycling into town is a fraction of the cost of driving there, just as importantly it takes almost no time, and if you’re lucky enough to have routes like we have from Neepsend, it’s no trouble at all, thankyou.

​Contact us to find out more, or visit our Neepsend shop.