Inside London’s unlikely love affair with Lime bike jousting

When two knights charged at each other on hire bikes in a Hackney park, Lime found itself issuing a clarification few press officers could have anticipated.

“Lime bikes are designed for getting around the city, not for jousting.”

By Halloween, the knights were back for round two and British GQ was covering what the spectators wore.

The first duel drew hundreds to London Fields to watch artist Jack Carden take on actor Cameron Carnegie-Brown, better known on the field of battle as Camtholomew the First. The crowd chanted “joust, joust, joust”, one knight came off his bike and a clip on Carden’s Instagram passed four million views.

Why Lime bikes? “Horses are quite hard to source in London,” Tommy Moore, one of those involved, told BBC London.

Now a behind-the-scenes documentary film has been released.

The man behind it is Tyler Palmer, who works under the name Tales by Tyler.

After around 17 years making everything from music videos to commercials, Palmer wanted to get back to something he’d loved since he was young. A Knight’s Tale is one of his favourite films. In December 2025, he launched Tales by Tyler to spend more time filming the medieval and fantasy world. Less than a year later, he found himself helping bring a joust to life in Hackney.

Tyler wanted the action to look cinematic. What he hoped people would take away from his behind-the-scenes film, though, was a feeling he recognised from the crowd. “There’s a version of London I think a lot of us miss,” he wrote when he shared it.

“The one where someone has a ridiculous idea, their mates help make it happen, and strangers turn up and cheer like they’ve known each other for years.”

By the Halloween rematch, some of those strangers had their own armour. The organisers capped online RSVPs at 5,000, released the location two hours beforehand and raised money for five charities.

Carnegie-Brown described the joust to BBC London as performance art. The idea was to give people a free afternoon out.

Then there was Lime. Imagine seeing your brand name become the name of a sport, your product in every shot and millions of views on Instagram. Under most circumstances, the legal team would be straight on it. Here, the footage ended with a customer being unseated by a lance.

Lime’s statement after the first duel got the tone about right. It welcomed the sight of Londoners coming together, acknowledged the “medieval spirit” and asked people to avoid staging similar events for the safety of riders and bystanders.

Its admirably straight-faced explanation and gave the story its headline.

“I can appreciate why Lime would say that,” Palmer told Famous Campaigns.

As for what drew people to the park in the first place “From my perspective, though, what made this resonate was the imagination behind it and the joy it brought people. My films were about capturing that sense of adventure, community and whimsy.”

Films by Tales by Tyler · @talesby.tyler

Cinematographers
@jasper_pagan
@theoo_jp

Photographer/artists
@elizabethmccaff
@stefanthephotographer

Music by @alottmusic