N-1ws #20: Attainable boutique Ti, tube-type tires FTW, and square tapered cranks are back
What year is this again?
Featured in this week’s tech round-up:
Stinner Frameworks expands its stock range with two titanium models.
Yeti Cycles parties like it’s 1985.
Vision moves upscale with new carbon-spoked road wheels.
Inner tube fans: Pirelli hasn’t forgotten about you.
Paul Components brings back square-tapered cranks!
More colorful widgets from Chris King (that you can actually afford).
Even James May thinks driving sucks.
Giro Gritter gravel shoe review.
Your spare inner tube is dying a slow and painful death.
(Quick note: Consider reading this post in a web browser instead of your email app. Trust me; it’ll look better.)
I’ve learned an awful lot over the past two decades in this gig. Among the most poignant lessons? Make sure to pay attention to time zones before figuring out when you have to leave for the airport. Don’t rely on a stick to prop up a top contender’s bike for a photo shoot at the Tour de France (particularly when the team mechanic is watching). Look before you leap when following a former World Champion downhiller in Moab. Don’t get sucked into a drinking contest with the neighboring table when you’re in Japan. Always be self-sufficient.
Do I have actual stories to go along with all of those lessons? Of course not. They’re all purely hypothetical, obviously ;)
One lesson in particular stands out to me this week, and it’s about perspective.
I’ve ridden all sorts of bikes and gear over the years, much of it ludicrously expensive and well outside of my price range. Spoiler: most of it is pretty damned good. But when it’s not your own money on the line, it’s all too easy to forget what these costs mean to real people.
In the United States, the median income is somewhere around US$60k, and by the time you account for stuff like rent (or if you’re lucky or just had good timing, a mortgage), car payments, health insurance, utility bills, food, and other necessities, there usually isn’t much left. Especially if you’ve been riding long enough to remember when a Shimano XT-equipped full-suspension bike didn’t cost the equivalent of a months’ salary, it sure is easy to feel outraged at some of the prices of nice bikes and gear these days.
Fifteen grand for a flagship bike from a mainstream brand? A thousand bucks for a nice suspension fork? Five hundred dollars for a cassette? You’re seriously trying to convince me that spending several hundred dollars just to save two or three watts on your drivetrain constitutes good value? Go pound sand, right?
The sad reality is that wealth inequality is one of the biggest issues facing modern society. The people who have money are somehow always able to turn it into even more money; the people who don’t have any money at all seemingly never will, and everyone in the middle feels like they’re not just barely keeping their heads above water, but rather slowly sinking.
Yet if I put myself in the position of some folks in the bike industry looking at demographic data, I’m looking at a subset of the buying public that might be shrinking in number, but has a progressively growing pool of disposable income. Does that suck from a societal standpoint? Absolutely. But wouldn’t I be foolish not to try and capture those consumers with ultra-premium product that caters to their wants and needs? Given those realities – whether we like it or not – you can almost hardly blame the industry for continuing to raise the price ceiling and constantly pushing for more advanced (and more expensive) technologies.
Not only that, but engineers are hardwired to continually push the envelope of what can be done, and if they can now do that without having to worry too much that no one can afford whatever it is they’re making, is it an entirely bad thing that the rest of us might have to wait a bit before it trickles down to more sane price points? After all, the 10%ers don’t care if it costs $300 to replace a headset bearing; they’re got the money to spare, plus they probably deem their time more valuable, anyway.
There’s another side to that perspective thing. I constantly have to remind myself that I am not always the target customer for the things I’m writing about, and just because I can’t afford something doesn’t mean that someone else can’t, either (or that people don’t want to read about it). It’s not particularly fun being reminded of what I can’t afford, yet that’s the reality nonetheless, and that’s ok. And that doesn’t mean the fancy expensive stuff shouldn’t exist.
For example, I’d love to own a 621 hp Audi RS6 Avant GT (come on, it’s an AWD wagon – it’s practical!), but I have a used Ford Fiesta ST instead. My iPhone is three generations out of date with a battery that now barely lasts half a day. My family would be more comfortable in a three-bedroom house, but we make do with two.
Point being, instead of fixating on what I can’t have, I’d remind myself that I absolutely love my cheap little go-kart of a car and don’t have a car payment. My phone still does everything I want it to and I can drop a new battery into it for less than a hundred bucks (and unlike newer ones, my iPhone 13 Mini still fits comfortably in my pocket). And who the hell am I to complain about my house being too small when I have a house at all?
Would I like to comfortably afford top-end bike gear? Of course. But should that stuff be priced such that I can afford it? Are bike brands artificially making things more expensive just because they can? Is a $100 tire blatantly offensive or is the price an actual reflection of what goes into it these days?
I don’t have the answers to those questions, but I do know when I truly stop to think about it, I’m not sure it matters. When all is said and done, my bike doesn’t have to be ludicrously expensive for me to enjoy it, and I take the wins (i.e. the deals) when I can.
My first “good” bike was a $300 Schwinn Traveler – a lugged steel frame with crappy components, steel-beaded tires, galvanized steel spokes, and crummy bearings that practically came from the factory with pitted races. But I rode all over the north shore of Long Island in my teens, and it’s what made me fall in love with riding bikes.
I thought about those early years of riding a lot when I was testing that Eaglebear Black over the last few weeks. It was nothing special on paper – a flat-bar gravel bike with a welded aluminum frame and a US$1,300 price tag that wouldn’t get you even one premium carbon fiber wheel. But someone put a lot of thought into the thing while other product managers might just phone it in. It’s easy to make an expensive bike really good; it’s a lot harder to do the same with an inexpensive one when you’ve got much tighter budget constraints.
That humble little bike made me feel like a kid again because it nailed the fundamentals and was just plain fun to ride. So what if it had Deore instead of XTR, or that the rims were aluminum instead of carbon fiber, or that it wasn’t tested in a wind tunnel. The giant grin on my face clearly didn’t give a damn about any of that.
So yeah, yell and shout and scream about how expensive everything is. You’re not wrong. But let’s also not forget about the Eaglebears and the States and the Canyons and the Decathlons and so on. Bikes don’t need to be crazy expensive to be good or to make people happy, and sometimes when I’m feeling despondent about the state of the world (and maybe my position in it), that’s not a bad thing to remember.
In the news
Stinner adds to stock collection with new Podium series of titanium bikes
The spiel: Stinner Frameworks has been busy! Just a few weeks after launching stock versions of three of its popular fully custom steel models – the Carrizo Select all-road bike (which I reviewed in January), the Refugio Select gravel bike, and the Tunnel Select mountain bike hardtail – the California builder has now announced a parallel collection of stock bikes called Podium. These are still made from start to finish in Stinner’s Santa Barbara workshop, but from US-sourced straight-gauge titanium.
Stinner is debuting the new stock titanium series with two models to start – the Carrizo Podium and the Refugio Podium – both with similar features to the steel versions such as 700x40 mm tire clearance on the former and a more generous 700x50 mm clearance on the latter, and a wealth of accessory mounts (including for dynamo lighting). Fitments are standard throughout, including 27.2 mm round seatposts and English-threaded bottom brackets, Stinner’s own UDH-compatible CNC-machined dropouts, full-carbon forks, and partially external routing for easier service and maintenance.
As on the Select range, the Podium bikes will be offered in pre-set geometries with six sizes in each model plus a choice of two different build kits, both with SRAM wireless groupsets and DT Swiss or Astral wheels. But instead of paint, Stinner is producing the Podium models with bead-blasted finishes. Retail prices for complete bikes start at US$5,600, and framesets will also be offered for US$2,900.
My take: After my very positive experience on Stinner’s Carrizo Select steel gravel bike, I’m all-in on this one. Stinner has been a highly coveted builder in the custom scene, but the cost has put them out of reach for many. The reality is that most buyers don’t actually need a custom geometry, bespoke tubesets, or custom fitments – and so the idea that you could get the same build quality and similar features as the flagship models but at a much lower price and with a far shorter lead time seems like a good thing all around.
Yeti goes big for its 40th
The spiel: Who doesn’t like celebrating big milestones, right? Yeti Cycles turns 40 this year, and it’s marking the occasion with a very special edition of its ASR cross-country bike. This one isn’t functionally different from the production edition, but it could hardly be more different in terms of aesthetics with a truly fantastic 90s-inspired look with a whole bunch of custom parts.
The Fox Factory 34 SL sports special turquoise paint on the lowers and crown to match the throwback turquoise-and-grey finish on the ASR carbon frame (plus silver control knobs), there’s a whole bunch of bespoke purple accented and/or anodized bits from Chris King, SRAM, and DT Swiss (those hubs!), and Maxxis gets into the game with made-for-Yeti Forecaster tires featuring turquoise hot patches.
Meanwhile, the rocker link gets a bright silver finish and purple anodized hardware instead of the usual black, there’s a silver Bike Yoke Barkeeper stem with special engraving, and ODI has even cracked out the old molds for its original Yeti grips, wired-on moto-style since lock-on collars hadn’t yet been invented back then.
Yeti is only making 200 of these things, complete with a numbered down tube plate and special etching on those DT Swiss hubs. Given pretty much no expense was spared anywhere, it’ll be no surprise to hear these are outrageously expensive at a whopping US$13,900 each.
My take: Be still my beating heart.
Vision moves upscale with new Metron RS carbon-spoked road wheels
The spiel: Vision is looking to make a bigger dent in the high-performance end of the road market with the release of its new Metron RS wheelsets. They’re the first wheelsets from Vision to use carbon fiber spokes, and with claimed benefits over steel spokes similar to other brands that have adopted the technology: lower weights (to the tune of 108 g per pair, though Vision doesn’t specify which spokes), greater torsional and lateral stiffness, and increased strength. Vision also says its new carbon fiber spokes sport a custom shape with more rounded edges than usual for better aerodynamic efficiency.
Going along with those fancy spokes are 45 or 60 mm-deep carbon fiber rims with the latest blunt-nosed and relatively wide (31-33 mm external) shapes, 23 mm-wide (internal width) hooked profiles, molded (not drilled) spoke holes, and tubeless compatibility with wider center channels for easier tire installation and removal. Vision has also added a more pronounced ridge to help physically lock the tire bead in place – even when flat.
The new V-1000 hubs feature an updated 72-tooth helical ratchet design with 5° engagement speed, an easier-to-service layout that doesn’t require any proprietary tools, more aggressively machined aluminum freehub bodies, hybrid ceramic bearings, and a handy laser-etched QR code that pulls up an exploded diagram and complete small parts list so you don’t have to go hunting around online.
Spokes are arranged in a 2-to-1 configuration for more even tensions from left to right, and while the lengths aren’t entirely unified, Vision at least keeps the total number of different lengths to just two per wheelset to make things a bit easier if you do eventually break one.
Claimed weight is 1,290 g per pair for the Metron 45 RS and 1,390 g for the Metron 60 RS, and retail price is US$3,290 / £3,110 / €3,110 and US$3,390 / £3,180 / €3,180, respectively.
My take: Vision has long has a perception problem on its hands in that it just isn’t widely considered to be a frontrunner when it comes to high-performance road wheelsets. These new Metron RS appear to tick a lot of boxes functionally, aesthetic updates help them look more premium, and bravo to Vision for placing an emphasis on tire security with those newly raised ridges to help lock the beads in place. Maybe moving upscale will help its image in the marketplace? Some wins with its sponsored EF Education-EasyPost team wouldn’t hurt with more racing-focused buyers, either (and as luck would have it, Neilson Powless has already delivered at Dwars door Vlaanderen on the new Metron RS 45s).
I honestly can’t remember the last time I rode a set of Vision wheels at all, let alone reviewed a set. Maybe it’s time to turn the page.
Pirelli announces P Zero Race RS road racing tires – for use with inner tubes
The spiel: Still not convinced tubeless makes sense for road riding? You’re not alone. In fact, Pirelli says it sees about a 50/50 split among its customers, and that’s more than enough to justify the continued development of high-end tires that’ll never see a drop of sealant.
The new tube-type version of the flagship P Zero Race RS features the same FSC-certified natural rubber SmartEvo2 rubber compound as the tubeless version, but with a dedicated 120 TPI casing and lighter-weight folding beads that – when paired with a TPU inner tube – will supposedly save 50-60 g per wheel. Pirelli is offering the tube-type P Zero Race RS in 26, 28, and 30 mm widths, and in three different sidewall colors. Claimed weights range from 210-245 g, and retail price is US$85 / £70 / €75 / AU$120.
My take: The arguments in favor of tubeless are pretty strong for mountain and gravel bikes, but unless your roads are littered with sharp debris, they’re not as convincing on the road, especially since the majority of sealants aren’t as effective at higher inflation pressures. I’d always figured the adoption rate wasn’t nearly as high on the road, and it was good to hear Pirelli confirming my suspicions with that 50/50 claim.
Although it’s always been possible to run a tubeless-ready tire with an inner tube if you didn’t want to deal with the hassle, that approach left you with a casing and bead that were thicker and beefier than you needed them to be – not to mention slower. TPU (and latex) inner tubes dramatically narrow the gap in rolling resistance between tubeless and tube-type setups, and I’m glad to see major brands continuing to offer both options instead of forcing people into one or the other.
Paul Components reintroduces square-taper cranks
The spiel: Paul Components announced these cranks on April 1, but it was no joke; the company really has introduced a set of square-tapered cranks. The new (and cheekily named) 100% Pure Cranks feature elegant-looking arms machined from US-sourced 2024 aluminum alloy, self-extracting crank bolts, and a three-bolt SRAM-style direct-mount interface so you have lots of choices in chainrings.
In fact, Paul Components says choice is the major draw here, as the square-taper format will allow riders to fine-tune the Q-factor to suit their preferences and frame clearance, and the use of three-bolt direct-mount chainrings will offer multiple options for chainline dimensions depending on what offset you use.
Paul Components is selling the 100% Pure cranks in four different anodized colors and six different arm lengths, ranging from 155-180 mm in 5 mm increments. Claimed weight is 516 g for the longest 180 mm size (including chainring bolts and self-extracting crank bolts), and retail price is US$308 without bottom bracket or chainring.
My take: Nope, I sure didn’t expect to see these! Multiple chainring offsets weren’t really a thing when I was still running square-tapered cranks, but I certainly spent way too much time playing with different bottom bracket spindles to get things as narrow as I could back in the day. The appeal to these in my eye isn’t in being able to tinker like that, though.
Modern cranksets use oversized spindles because they’re stiffer, stronger, and lighter than square-tapered ones. However, the associated bottom brackets aren’t as tolerant of frame misalignment (and general abuse) as classic cartridge-style square-tapered ones, which are often superior in terms of bearing durability and friction – plus, a lot of folks just prefer the more classic aesthetic of square-tapered stuff.
Are these “better” than a modern crankset? In terms of numbers, almost certainly no. But then again, we don’t always make our equipment decisions based on numbers, and I’ve no doubt a lot of eyes are going to light up when they hear about these.
Chris King continues to expand its parts portfolio with Center Lock rotor lockrings
The spiel: Chris King hasn’t historically been a brand to offer a ton of different products, but those CNC machines in Portland, Oregon, have clearly been working overtime lately. Following closely behind the release of its aluminum-rimmed mountain bike wheels last week (and its own seatpost collars not that long before that), Chris King has now added Center Lock-compatible rotor lockrings to the mix.
The lockrings will be offered in Chris King’s full suite of 11 different matte and shiny anodized colors, all with stainless steel washers, discreet laser-etched logos, and standard Shimano-compatible external tool splines. Retail price is US$25 each, and claimed weight is 9 g.
My take: Chris King isn’t doing anything revolutionary here, though the brand’s reputation for quality at least suggests you won’t have to deal with any unforeseen headaches like sloppy threads that you might find in some no-name offerings. Perhaps more importantly for folks who already have some Chris King stuff on their bike, the company has long been focused on ensuring consistent colors for its anodized products so if you’re hoping to match a particular hue just right, the best way to do it is to stick with the same brand throughout.
Even if you’re not already on the Chris King bandwagon, something like this is a fun and relatively inexpensive way to add some visual flair to your bike, all while supporting a company with a proven track record of making good decisions in how it conducts its business.
James May says we should ditch our cars – sort of
The spiel: James May is an automotive icon having been one of the three original hosts for the hit UK show, Top Gear. But while he loves cars just as you’d expect, he doesn’t necessarily love driving, particularly in cities as he recently revealed in an interview with the London Cycling Campaign.
“I hate driving in London,” he told LCC. “I always have. I avoid it. It feels like a totally pointless activity. And it spoils cars for me. It makes them boring and annoying. Obviously I’ve spent a lot of time over the years writing about cars and making TV about them, and I love cars, but I do think in my bones they don’t really belong in towns. Cars are great for going between places, like from London to my pub in Wiltshire. But within London I don’t want to drive the car, and when I’m down in the village in Wiltshire I don’t want to drive around, either.”
So what does he like to use instead? Does he jump into a taxi? Public transportation? Surely he doesn’t rent one of those deathtrap scooters, right???
Nope. His preferred way to get around is a bike.
“Bicycles are a genuine door-to-door transport solution. Cycling is fantastic in cities. Even Google Maps will acknowledge that a bicycle is quicker for some journeys than a car. It amazes me that people go to the shops a mile away in the car. The world has proved that bicycles make immense sense in densely populated areas. I used to ride a bicycle massively when I was young. Me and my mates would cycle to Paris, or cycle across the Norfolk Broads, hundreds of miles. And then later in life, you rediscover it. I’m almost loathe to admit it because I used to mock Richard Hammond, but it turns out that exercise is good for you and cycling is a fantastic way to do it.”
Not only that, but he even reminded people of the immense responsibilities drivers have when they’re behind the wheel to not only get where they’re going safely, but to not do any harm to those around them.
“People get very complacent driving cars because it’s easy and you are very protected and you’re very isolated inside your car. It’s easy to forget that there’s a huge amount of energy inside a car, even when it’s only going 20 or 30 mph. I saw a bloke the other day driving a Ferrari around town very aggressively, and I wanted to say, ‘You’re going to ruin cars (and especially Ferraris) for the rest of us’. It’s a massive privilege having a car and you have to take it seriously. That’s why my only remaining ambition, apart from not falling off my bike again, is to get to the end of my life without running anybody over.”
My take: We’re not going to get rid of cars entirely any time soon – nor do I think we should – but if everyone at least had a similar attitude about what they’re good for, what they’re not, and most importantly, how they should be driven, we’d all be much better off.
May was always my favorite of the three Top Gear hosts. Bravo to see him using his platform for good.
TL;DR review: Giro Gritter gravel shoes
Giro is getting serious about the gravel footwear market if its new Gritter flagship model is anything to go by.
Built with the brand’s latest-and-greatest, it features an airy one-piece laminated mesh upper, dual quick-release Boa Li2 aluminum dials with bi-directional micro-adjustment, sleek TPU reinforcements at both the toe and heel for durability, and the same Supernatural Fit Kit insoles Giro has used for years with its interchangeable foam arches for tunable support. Anchoring all of this is a “long-fiber carbon composite plate," co-molded with a pared-down rubber tread that covers the plate almost entirely from heel to toe for secure traction while walking.
A pair of toe spikes (included) can be added for more traction in soft conditions, too – a nice bonus if you want to use the Gritters for ‘cross season.
Giro is offering the Gritter in three muted colors – black, light grey, and light green – in sizes 36-48, including a rather limited range of half-sizes from 42-46. Retail price is a heady US$400 (a paltry sum compared to Specialized’s new S-Works Ares 2!), and actual weight for my pair of size 43 testers is 717 g. For now, the Gritters are only seem to be offered in the United States, but other markets will likely get it sooner than later.
While some shoe brands go for a leather-like feel with its man-made uppers, Giro fully embraces the synthetic nature of the Synchwire laminated uppers. The web-like lamination pattern offers good support throughout the upper without a hint of stretch to speak of – either initially or after a few hours in the saddle – bolstered by the secure hold of those dual Boa dials. There are more crossings in the Boa wires across the top of the foot than usual, and pressure is nicely distributed as a result despite there being almost no padding in the tongue, almost like a more traditional lace-up.
Giro seems has added more arch support directly into the fiber-reinforced plate than older models, too – a most welcome change, and something I’d often complained about in the past. Whereas I’d almost always have to resort to aftermarket insoles to keep from feet from pronating on older Giro shoes I’ve tested, the stock medium-level arch cookies on the insoles felt just right.
There’s also ample ventilation through the multitude of windows running down either side as well as through the tongue. The Gritters aren’t quite as insanely breezy as Giro’s Imperial road shoes or Fizik’s Vento Powerstrap Aeroweaves), but I’d still refrain from using them when it gets chilly outside.
Not surprisingly, the Gritters are impressively stout under power, with excellent bending stiffness and torsional rigidity that isn’t too far behind. They’re not as stiff as a high-end road shoe built with more of a proper unidirectional carbon fiber plate, but if you often find gravel-focused shoes to be a little too soft, these might suit you better. Overall, I get the sense that Giro is clearly prioritizing pedaling efficiency here over ease of walking.
That said, the Gritters aren’t bad to amble around in for a while. The plates may not bend much at all (unlike some of the latest Specialized Recon series, which are super flexible at the toes), but there’s enough curvature in the Gritter’s tread to provide a reasonably natural-feeling gait. The rubber compound is a little hard for my liking when walking on stuff like hardwood floors or ceramic tiles, but still feel plenty secure on more natural surfaces like rocks and roots. Bonus points to Giro for leaving only minimal parts of the plate exposed instead of chasing every last possible gram.
While I’m happy to see Giro adding a little more arch support, the Gritter carries on with the company’s very traditional last shape – for better or worse. The toe box is narrow with a lot of taper on both the medial and lateral sides, the heel cup is a tad roomy, and there’s a medium volume through the mid foot. At least for my feet, the Gritters are too constrictive up front and the heel cups too loose, and while the wholly non-stretch upper materials are generally good for security, it’s hard to go back to something so unyielding from shoes that have strategically placed stretch zones like Specialized, Trek, and others.
And oddly enough, for whatever reason these Boa dials clogged up with dust a lot faster than others I’ve used. After just the first few rides, the wires wouldn’t release as easily as they did when new.
The Gritter’s more traditional shape obviously won’t be an issue if Giro shoes have always worked for you. However, if you’ve been excited about how some other brands have introduced shoes with more generous proportions, these might feel like they’re a step or two behind.
Tech tip of the week
Carrying a spare inner tube is still common practice these days, even for riders that have long ago converted to tubeless setups. Better safe than sorry, as the saying goes. But especially for riders that haven’t needed to use that spare tube for a long time – many years, perhaps – has the thought ever crossed your mind that it might not do the job when you finally need it to?
The issue isn’t shelf life – even in dry climates, rubber and plastic inner tubes can easily last a decade or more. Nope, the problem is abrasion.
Think about how you store that spare inner tube on your bike. On a road or gravel bike, it’s probably stuffed inside a saddle pack of some sort, of if you have a newer bike, perhaps it’s inside of an internal frame compartment. If you’re a mountain biker, that tube has likely been swimming inside your hydration pack for as long as you can remember, or strapped on to your bike somewhere.
Either way, my guess is the tube has just been floating around in there – unused, unprotected, and neglected. Over time, the exposed edges of that inner tube will repeatedly rub against not only whatever else it’s sharing space with, but also the inside of the bag or pack that’s holding it, and that repeated rubbing will eventually wear a hole in it.
This isn’t some theoretical thing, either; I’ve lost count of how many of my riding buddies over the years have fallen victim to this.
The solution is thankfully super easy and cheap: just store the tube in a plastic bag, with the whole thing wrapped tightly with a rubber band so there’s no chance it can rub around on something. You can also use a recycled Tyvek envelope like what you’ve likely received at some point from the post office or FedEx, but just about anything will work; a friend uses an old coffee bean bag. Whatever you decide on, just use something.
Before you toss that old inner tube in a bag, though, you might want to go ahead and test it first. How’s that saying go about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure? Better to find out that it’s dead now than later (and even if it is, please consider patching it instead of tossing it away).
Holy crap, I made it to twenty of these newsletters! Fingers crossed, maybe I can make it to twenty-one.
Speaking of which, the Sea Otter Classic kicks off next week, so there won’t be a newsletter next week. Instead, I’ll have a whole bunch of coverage from the show starting Thursday evening US-time, and most likely lasting well into the following week. After that, I might even give myself a couple of days off.
I’ve got one more post on the calendar for early next week, though – and another podcast! – so it’s not like I’m leaving you high and dry. Have a great weekend, everyone.
Read this on a 13 mini as well….small phone fan club!
Thanks. Really enjoy your posts.
One thing re cycling in London: I started working in the UK in 1999, and was there for at least a few weeks every year for just about 10 years. While I was based in Oxford, where during school term there was an estimated 20k bike trips made per day, I spent a good amount of time in London over the years. By my observation, biking there as a means of transport – i.e., not club cycling that went out of the city – didn't really happen much until the congestion charging began. It's been expensive for a long time for a London resident to own a car, but that clearly pushed many Londoners to either ride or buy a scooter of one sort or another.
I'm not anti-car, far from it, but urban cycling and humanity both profit from charging cars for the toll they take, on city life especially.