From Boris Bikes to Sadiq Cycles Londons flagship cycle rental scheme turns 10 on Thursday. In the past decade the bikes have made cycling more accessible and changed the way city-dwellers travel around the capital especially in the past few months, as many avoid public transport in the pandemic.

In January 2017 my friend Alex and I decided to take a London Boris Bike around the world to seven cities outside of London. Our aim was to make a video that would get media attention for an English Channel swim I was attempting that summer to raise money for Dreams Come True childrens charity. It certainly got a lot of attention once it went live, and once the swim was completed, 23,500 was raised for the charity.

The rules of renting a bike, now dubbed Santander Cycles after its sponsor, are as follows. It costs 2 for unlimited journeys up to 30 minutes within a 24 hour period. Extra 30 minutes are charged at 2. So, how did we take it around the world?

Boris Bikes are really bulky, heavy and certainly not designed to be smuggled across the world in oversized luggage. Firstly we had to plan our destinations to find the most cost effective flights, while visiting some iconic landmarks. We then had to check with each airline their maximum weight and dimensions for oversized luggage. Once we figured that all out, the Boris Bike still would be too bulky to fit in a box and go in oversized luggage on a plane. Some dismantling was in order

We examined the bikes and could see that the nuts and fixtures could not be removed with traditional tools. I asked my older brother, who has an engineering degree and milled his own parts for a car he was rebuilding. He couldnt find any of the tools needed to take it apart online so he milled me some custom tools. This way we were able to take off the handlebars and the front wheel in order to fit it in the large bike box.

I was a bit worried about racking up a really large bill when we docked it back in the UK after its around the world trip, but we could see that the maximum fine wed encounter is 300. For the video, and in the hope to raise a lot more, I decided to take the hit.

We undocked the bike in Westminster, then took it to Heathrow to board a flight to New York. This was one of the most nerve-wracking parts of the trip as we thought Heathrow is the only place out of all the airports that anyone would question the bike.

After landing in New York we got questioned at immigration about the bike and my heart was racing. They were asking things like what are we doing with the bike?, what kind of bike is it?, but eventually they let us through border control.

We travelled around the US filming ourselves riding it at some of the top landmarks in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and then went on to Paris, Rome, Dubai and Delhi.

We were pretty disappointed when we arrived in San Francisco, as there was a huge storm. We had to sit in the motel for two days. Thankfully on the third day just before our flight the storm passed and we were able to rush over to the Golden Gate Bridge.

We had a few issues entering Dubai as Alex put the detached metal Boris Bike basket in his luggage. It had some electrical wires hanging off it and probably looked a bit suspicious. After being pulled into customs and having explained that it was part of his bike they let him in to the country.

Our final international destination was India. This was definitely one of the highlights. We had some problems trying to get footage of the Taj Mahal though. The security was so high they wouldnt let us bring the bike inside. We had to find another area to get some footage but it was all government owned land. In the end we bribed some officials the equivalent of 5 to let us in for five minutes to get the shots we needed. I also found it funny how all the locals took to the bike as if it was some sort of Ferrari. They all wanted to buy it.

Overall the trip was such an adventure. It took us 2.5 weeks and would do it again in a heartbeat! When we returned, we docked the bike and it locked as usual. Santander even donated to the charity.

I still love using the Boris Bikes to get around London. Theyre definitely comfortable but not built for worldwide travel. I think the scheme has been a brilliant addition to Londoners and tourists alike and thoroughly encourage everyone to use them. I do wonder though if TfL will introduce a similar scheme for electric scooters, like other European countries? Sadiqs Scooters?

Chris Astill-Smith is the co-founder of the nutritional supplement brand Nutristrength

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What happened when I took a 'Boris bike' from London to Delhi - iNews