Ever wish you could knock ten years off your age? Become a cyclist. Seriously,
regular cyclists are as ?t as someone ten years their junior. It's one of the best all round sports you can do, along with swimming. But you can't swim to work.

A friend of mine calculated that ditching the tube for the bike would save the average London commuter ten days a year. Doesn't it seem ludicrous to head home on a stop-start bus, only to fork out hundreds of pounds a year to pedal on the spot inside a gym?

Up on the saddle, the day's stress has practically evaporated by the time you get home. Especially if you choose the quirky side streets, the 'Where's Wally?' parks or the calming canal.

Believe me, you'll learn more about London on your bike than on the top of a bus. Two wheels are the gateway to the great outdoors, too. If that 'gotta get outa here' feeling hits, pedalling up to the Lea Valley makes you feel like you've been deep into the countryside - without setting foot on a train. Or take the Parkland Walk from Finsbury Park to Hampstead Heath, along an old, blackberry-lined railway track. And revel in the silence as you think of how it narrowly escaped becoming a four-lane motorway.

'Ooh, but I wouldn't cycle in London itself', people say to me, put off by visions of ruthless bus drivers, bike thieves and choking exhaust fumes. Surely, though, a city with a congestion charge, miles of cycle lanes and even dedicated cyclists' traffic lights is the best place to do it.  Here's how:

Get the Knowledge. Secret shortcuts and quieter, fume-free streets are marked on London's free cycling maps.

Be conspicuous. So, fluorescent yellow isn't hip, but it's kept me out of trouble. Make up for this by getting a trendy bell and feeling the part as you cycle along Regents Canal.

Don't be a bike bandit. There are already too many pavement hopping, light-dodging cyclists.

Don't overtake a bendy bus. They're eighteen metres long. And very unpredictable. 

Buy peace of mind. Get either an undesirable, old machine or sign up for specialised bike insurance.

Choose where to park. Most railings are okay, but not those opposite the Houses of Parliament, as I found when I retrieved the supposed 'terrorist threat' from the police station. The good news is there's a secure cycle park planned for Finsbury Park station next March. Roll on 'integrated transport'. 

So, for bicycle, read bus, exercise machine, tour guide and horse rolled into one. 

The Hackney Cyclists hold bike repair workshops, supply free cycling maps and advise on insurance.

www.hackney-cyclists.org.uk 

Jon is the owner of Two Wheels Good, the bicycle emporium which opened on Church Street some two and a half years ago, and which is the sister shop of Jon's other business of the same name in Crouch End. (The shops' name is a reference to the pig Snowball's dictum 'Two legs bad, four legs good' in George Orwell's Animal Farm.)

Growing up in South London, Jon caught the two-wheel bug from his father, who used to race the machines and who taught Jon bicycle repair and maintenance. He moved to Crouch End as a 21-year old and had aspirations of making it as a bass player in various rock bands, paying for his muso lifestyle with various odd jobs, including messenger for the infamous bank BCCI. Impressed by his fluency in the English language, the bank offerred him a job in its credit control department, and this was the springboard for a fifteen-year career in international banking. 

Throughout these years, however, Jon was quietly dreaming about turning his hobby into a business. He used to cycle round London spying on bike shops and spend his evenings drawing up spreadsheets for a bike business (his wife Catherine described his spreadsheets as 'Jon's fantasy bike shop'). His banking experience provided him with the ability to write .and you'll feel fitter, happier and sexier efficient and plausible business plans and, having secured the necessary money and re-mortgaged his house, he opened up shop in Crouch End in 1998.

With Jon working seven days a week (he still does), the business took off and they outgrew their premises within nine months. Ever the businessman, he soon considered expansion. Why Stoke Newington? 'I always liked it round here', says Jon. 'My wife lived in Hawksley Road and we used to drink in the Rose and Crown years ago. There was also an opening here, with lots of cyclists.' He cycled up and down Church Street for six months until, one Sunday morning, he saw a 'To Let' sign outside what was Jose's Hairdresser. Jon moved in.

His business now consists of workshop repairs, retailing bikes (his most expensive is a carbon-fibre racing bike, retailing at over £2000) and selling accessories, which roughly contribute one-third each to turnover. After a 'bumpy start', business grew and he now turns over nearly as much here as in Crouch End.

How do the two areas compare? 'At first I didn't appreciate the differentness. There is a different demographic in Stoke Newington to Crouch End - it's more mixed, with more of an edge. It's more leftleaning here, reflected in people's attitudes to buying. There is much less conspicuous consumption in Stoke Newington than in Crouch End'. He cited the case of Trek cycling clothing, manufactured by Nike. 'I had no problem selling the range in Crouch End. Over here, there was marked resistance to the clothes from people who had an ideological problem with the multinational's "swoosh" emblem. He sells fewer 'high-end' bikes here, but there is a greater footfall in his Church Street premises, with more people browsing (so much 'browsing', in fact, that he has had to install an anti-shoplifting, tagging system).

He is optimistic, but not complacent, about the future of his Stoke Newington business. Although there is a definite upward trend in cycling, both for commuting and as a hobby, he admits to some concern about the future of Church Street. 'If rents get any sillier, it won't be sustainable', he says. 'It's not quite the goldmine some people think it is.' But I suspect that Two Wheels Good will be around for some time yet.

Two Wheels Good, 165 Church
Street, N16 OUL. 020 7249 2200.
www.twowheelsgood.co.uk