Hilton London Bankside is offering guests a bike ride with a twist. The hotel has teamed up with local business, Bamboo Bicycle Club, to create its own unique set of bikes for guests to hire.

The six custom built bicycles have been made from scratch by Hilton Hotel staff. Using their bare hands and with some helpful guidance from the bamboo experts at Bamboo Bicycle Club, the team have created a beautifully designed set of bikes.

James Clarke, General Manager, Hilton London Bankside said:

“We are delighted to partner with Bamboo Bicycle Club to create these brilliant bespoke bicycles for our guests to enjoy…Hilton London Bankside constantly invests in team member development and this shows clearly in our consistent positive staff feedback and job satisfaction. Each of the bicycles will be named after the team member that built it, with a message to let the rider know who hand-built their bicycle”.

The Hilton London Bankside’s dream-bike-building-team consisted of Phoebe Zachariaki, Waitress at OXBO Bankside; Milan Pun, Gym Leisure Assistant; Liz Thompson, PA to General Manager; Andrew Evans, Security Manager, Liana Nastase, PR and Marketing Executive and Georgina Morgan, PR and Marketing Manager.

The Bamboo Bicycle Club was set up by cycling enthusiasts James and Ian who wanted to create a community of bike builders and creative thinkers. They have conducted research with Portsmouth University and worked closely with Oxford Brooks University and UCL to advance the development of bamboo bikes.

In order to make the Hilton London Bankside bicycles, they designed the bikes digitally first to test the build. Once this was decided the frame was built based on the design. The bamboo tube was then cut to size and the tubes joined together using a hemp composite wrap. The frame was then finished and waterproofed and finally, the components including the wheel and handlebars were fitted.

Not only do the bikes look good, they have also been tested by bike-riding engineers who have confirmed that the bikes are robust and ready to ride. On top of this, the bikes are more environmentally friendly than regular bicycles because they are made from bamboo.

The Bicycles will be available outside Hilton London Bankside for guests to enjoy from this week onwards. The best part about the whole thing is that they are completely free.

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