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Cycling revolution on the streets of London

HJ Fantaskis | 02.11.12

Founder of the Eden Project, Sir Tim Smit, cut the ribbon to open London’s newest electric bicycle store on Portobello Road earlier this month.

The store is the first London branch of Justebikes, a Suffolk-based company, which has been selling and servicing quality electrically-assisted bicycles in the UK since 2005. 

Justebikes specialises in selling high-quality, European-made electrically assisted bicycles – or e-bikes – in the UK. 

James FitzGerald, founder of Justebikes said, "Across Europe, people are embracing e-bikes as alternatives to cars for short journeys... We believe our London store could be the catalyst to a wholesale change in the way Londoners choose to travel."

A very exciting prospect. It's also great news for those of us who aren't yet the next Victoria Pendleton and Daley Thompson. 

James says, "Electrically assisted cycling gives the benefit of exercise without getting hot and sweaty on the way to work. The added acceleration you get from pressing down on the pedals means e-bike riders can move away from traffic lights and amongst moving traffic much more quickly than on a manual bike, making them much safer for city cycling.”

Crucially for Londoners, the e-bikes sold by Justebikes come with state-of-the art electronic security technology, making the bikes virtually theft-proof.

A full range of e-bikes is now available in the new flagship West London shop at 318 Portobello Road. It was officially opened by Sir Tim Smit - a long time supporter of the work Justebikes are doing to encourage people to be proactively reducing their carbon footprint.

Address: 318 Portobello Road, London, W10 5RU

More about Justebikes

With a background in transport engineering James’ objective is to help develop a realistic low cost, low emission transport solution built around these proven 21st century products.

Electric bikes look similar to conventional bicycles but incorporate a rechargeable battery, an electric motor and control system, and importantly for Londoners, electronic immobilisers for extra security.

Two of the key brands that James stocks at Justebikes are SPARTA and KOGA (a brand widely regarded as the Bentley of e-bikes).

Back in 2005, when James was first looking at what was available in the e-bikes market - and having been completely uninspired by the Chinese offering - he visited Holland to see what the Dutch were up to. He was immediately impressed with SPARTA's vision, ethos and the quality of their e-bikes, and the staff that build them. Fantastic.

You can read more on Justebikes in the Guardian's On your e-bike: European craze powers into UK and were recently featured in Lucy Siegle's Green Crush.

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