SoloBay
Christmas Toy Run 2026
Two rides in December. You bring a new toy, we ride it over together, and the people who know what to do with it take it from there. Both legs are free to join, both are open to any road legal bike, and you do not need to be anybody's idea of a proper biker to come.
London Chinatown
Friday 11 December 2026
- Start
- Dumplings' Legend, W1D 6JE
- Finish
- Great Ormond Street Hospital
- Distance
- 1.75km, 15 to 20 minutes for a group
- Places
- 12 riders, we pick
- Gifts by
- Thursday 10 December
Oxfordshire and Cotswolds
Wednesday 16 December 2026
- Start
- Kingsley Café, OX29 4EF
- Drop-offs
- Oxford Children's Hospital
Oxfordshire Toy Bank - Timings
- Meet 11.30am, away 12.30pm
- Places
- No cap, bring who you like
- Gifts by
- Monday 14 December
Sign up to ride
One form, about two minutes, no account needed. Pick your leg and we will email you the briefing before the day: where to be, what time, and what the venue needs from you.
Sign up to rideFollow Instagram and TikTok for anything that changes before the day.
Riding both legs? Fill it in twice, once each, so both venues get the right head count. Everyone who signs up agrees to the terms of attendance, which is the short version of "this is a ride out in normal traffic and you are responsible for your own riding".
What to bring
A new toy, in its original packaging, and please leave it unwrapped. That last part catches people out every year: a wrapped present cannot be checked or matched to a child, so it cannot be accepted.
The two legs have different rules, because the two charities have different rules. Great Ormond Street will not take button batteries, magnets, homemade items or second-hand items at all. The Oxfordshire Toy Bank has a list of what it actually needs, and pyjamas are top of it. Both are on the leg pages.
Three ways to give
Carry it on the ride, or drop it at the collection point beforehand. Kingsley Café takes them from mid-November.
Give it to the venue staff at the start. It goes in with the toys and the charity spends it on what is short.
Through the charity's own JustGiving page. Each leg has its own, and both are right here.
Each leg has its own JustGiving page and the money goes straight to that charity. Pick whichever you would rather support, or do both.
Solo Bay does not handle any money. There are no collection tins and nothing goes through us. Donations go straight to the charity through its own JustGiving page, and the toys go straight to the people handing them out.
What it is, and what it is not
It is a ride out. A group of riders, in normal traffic, going from a café to a place that is expecting them. There are no road closures, no marshals standing in the road and no police escort. Nobody is going to hold a junction for you, and you ride to your own ability and leave your own gap the whole way.
If the group splits at a set of lights, it splits, and we regroup at the other end. That is the deal, and it is in the terms of attendance in plainer words than most terms manage.
Parking, since that is our actual job
Both starts have somewhere to put the bike, and both finishes are in places where a bike needs thinking about. SoloBay is free to use for exactly this: finding the bay before you set off rather than circling the block with a top box full of toys.
Open the free web appSolo Bay Ltd organises and sponsors both rides. Solo Bay does not collect or hold donations. Details correct at the time of writing, and anything still being confirmed says so on its leg page. Questions to hello@solobay.co.uk.