This is work in progress. Please add comments - I want to make this the launch pad for as many bike-related entries as possible.

What is the most efficient form of transport on the planet? The humble bicycle. A bicycle can do around 1,600 miles on the energy equivalent of one gallon of petrol.

Bicycles are good for leisure and for transport. Regular cardiovascular exercise of exactly the sort cycling provides has been shown to increase life expectancy - someone who cycles regularly will live, on average, ten years longer than a couch potato. On club runs it is common for seventy-year-olds to shame men half their age, and many cyclists are still riding well into their nineties.

The really good news is that cycling is the fastest growing sport in the UK, and every year sees more people using bikes for everyday transport.

Types of cycling

You can categorise cycling in many ways, but the most significant division is between functionsl cycling (using a bicycle as transport) and leisure cycling. These two types of cycling need very different types of facilities. Unfortunately many local authorities fail to appreciate this, and under-deliver for one group or the other.

Functional cycling

Functional cycling is growing less strongly than leisure cycling, but is a vital part of any strategy for managing the appalling traffic congestion which most Western cicites now have. Put simply, a bicycle takes up vastly less road space than a car. Estimates vary but it is pretty clear that a given stretch of road can carry between forty and two hundred times the number of people on bicycles than in cars - even assuming a generous average 1.5 people per car (a figure not even approached in most urban settings).

Although some motorists - and even local authorities - perceive cyclists as a problem, demanding special facilities and "slowing down" the traffic (which is already moving on average slower than it did in the days of the horse and cart), there is no possible doubt that people who use bikes for their daily journeys are part of the solution, not the problem.

The facilities required are:

• Safe road space - ideally separate cycle lanes at least 2m wide, but at the least advanced stop lines at tricky junctions and clearly defined bike lanes on the run-up to them.
• Secure parking. Some firms such as Oracle recognise the benefits of cycling (on average cyclists have fewer sick days and are more productive) and provide excellent facilities. Other places, like Oxford, are a Mecca for bike thieves and you would be well advised not to take any bike there about which you give a damn.

And that, in essence, is it. Showers and changing facilities at work are a nice-to-have; even people who ride to work fast and furious can manage without, though.

Leisure cycling

Gary Fisher really started something with his Repack Hill downhill races. Mountain bikes are now the biggest selling bikes in almost every market.

Types of bike

The distinctions are becoming blurred, the main difference these days between a weekend racer, a full-on downhill competiton bike and a long-distance tourer is in the components fitted to the frame. Most bikes have sloping downtubes, oversize frame tubes, are made of aluminium or lightweight steel, and run on 26" wheels.