Away from ultra light carbon fibre bikes, I enjoy the aesthetic beauty of an old fashioned traditional bike. Typically, they are one colour (the modern mountain bike often seems to be garishly painted) These bikes are solid, reliable and built for comfort rather than speed. You see quite a lot around Oxford.
I think this is another Pashley. Note: chain guard, dress guard, front basket, rear basket.
A Classic Pashley, with Rolls saddle, pointing to the sky.
In an age of £40 D Locks, I like this flimsy chain and Sturmey Archer 3 speed. Great Colour. Hope it doesn’t get stolen though.
A single speed Raleigh with springy saddle.
Nice assortment of silver, blue and black. Even has a matching lock.
Whenever I buy a new bike, I always promise myself that I will always keep it spotlessly clean. In practise, my good intentions last for a few weeks. After a hard 3 hour training ride, giving your bike a proper clean never seems that appealing.
Nevertheless, since I keep one bike in my dining room, there is a good incentive to try and keep the bike clean. What I try and do is always give it a quick wipe to get the worst off. The problem is once you start, you want to get every bit of dirt off. Then it can become quite time consuming because it is really difficult to access all parts. But, you never regret cleaning a bike.
Some Tips for Cleaning the bike
Use muguards on winter bike, to reduce the amount of mud to clean.
Washing up liquid is great for removing oil.
Don’t use a brush which is too harsh, as it may damage paintwork, especially on racing bikes with thin paint.
For an impressive display, use a bit of WD-40 spray and then wipe with paper towel. This will help give it an impressive polish / finish.
The best time to clean the bike is as soon as you return and in are in your cycling gear. Otherwise, it takes more effort to go back to the bike.
I always clean a bike before taking it into a shop for repairs. I think shops dislike having to mend dirty bikes. If you clean it you are more likely to get a better service. It is also more respectful.
You never regret cleaning your bike, because it does look good and will inspire you to go riding. A clean bike makes it easier to spot problems such as cracks in a frame, worn bolts e.t.c.
Use special brushes for getting to awkward places.
Turning the bike upside down, helps reach inaccessible places.
If you have to hose down the bike, you will need to re lubricate the bike afterwards.
At various times, you want to clean the chain with a degreaser machine.
A cheap alternative to the car. Cycling may do well in a recession.
As well as being a cyclist, I also work as a part time Economics teacher. I write an Economics Blog for anyone who might be interested.
Talking to some friends who work in local bikes shops, the economic downturn seems not to have affected business so far. In a way, cycling is fairly immune from an economic dowturn, at least at the cheaper end of the market.
It is possible falling incomes may encourage people to buy a bike and cycle rather than pay for a bus pass or petrol for a car.
Rising petrol prices have also helped increase demand for bikes. Unfortunately, oil prices are now falling so this price incentive may prove to be temporary.
If the recession turns out to be serious, it will affect sales of top end bikes, but for most cycle shops, I would anticipate the recession would not be too damaging. If nothing else those working in bike shops can be grateful they are not estate agents.
P.S. I am taking part in a sponsored cycle ride to try and raise $700bn for ‘rich people on wall street’. Please give generously. If you have no spare cash, you could always consider remortgaging your house.
$100 - could buy a round of drinks in a manhattan bar!
£1,000 - could buy an assortment of junk bonds, previously with a value of $100,000!
$10,000 could buy 0.1% of a top executives redundnacy payout!
Waiting for the Off. The racers in suits, get ready. You don’t start on your bike, but have to run to your bike and unfold it. It reminds of the old GP races when you had to run to your car.
UPDATE: Robert Heras (the former Tour de France rider) finished 2nd!. I think he was hoping to win! The winner was Alastair Kay, who is an elite Cat roadie riding for York Cycleworks.
The First Corner. One or two came off. It was certainly entertaining to watch!
Lady in Red
Serious Racing. I love the fact they wear suits, although the aesthetic effect is somewhat compromised by shorts.
Enjoying the Race. I’ve never seen so many people smiling in a cycling race before. People came from all over the world to enjoy the world championships.
I wanted to make a short video, to introduce myself to readers, and also show how to put a new tyre on a wheel.
I was trying to show a technique to make it easier to roll a tyre on by squeezing it down and then pushing it on. Trying to concentrate on this and look at the camera at the same time, caused by thumb to get caught between the tyre and wheel - I have a small scar to prove it! so the video wasn’t very successful.
By the way, one of the great advantages of living on your own, is that no one minds if you keep your best bike in the dining room….
Anyway, one very useful tip for putting on a tyre. Always check to see whether the inner tube has got caught between tyre and wheel. One way to do this is to blow it up. If, in some places, the tyre wall is higher on the rim, it is a sign the inner tube has got caught. Deflate the wheel get rid of the nip and blow up again.
There is a temptation to buy a bike second hand because it could save you a lot of money. However, it is also more risky as the bike will come without guarantees. Another concern is whether the bike is stolen. If you do decide to buy second hand these are some tips to make sure you don’t end up with a lemon.
Ride the Bike.
Any genuine seller would be willing to let you test ride the bike. Test riding in a variety of gears. Also try riding the bike uphill in a big gear with lots of pressure. Listen for signs of creaking and clicking - which could be any number of things. Offer to leave a deposit, equal to half the price of the bike.
Ride with hands off Handlebars.
Ride without hands off handlebars, if you cannot maintain the bike in a straight line, this is a signal that something is wrong with the frame and not worth buying
Check wheel alignment
With the bike held vertical. Look along the wheels from front to back. If they are out of alignment this is a bad sign.
The recent Irish holiday was the first time I too a bike on a plane. I had always been nervous about taking a road bike. But, I knew that renting a bike would be a disaster. The more cycling you do, the more important it is to ride a bike with the same set up as your own. If you switch to different sized bike, you can cause yourself an injury. Also when you are used to riding a top of the range bike, there is no joy in reverting to a heavy mountain bike with fat tyres. My friends were amazed at how quickly I could cycle; but, alot of the difference is the speed of our bikes. When I tried their bikes it was torture - so slow!
Bike Bag.
I choose this Pro Race bike bag from Probike kit. It cost £90. I was tempted to get a hardshell bike box, to give complete protection. In the end I choose the cheaper option. However, I added extra protection to the bag.
Several layers of bubble rap.
Some clothes padded between bike and bag.
The effect was that the bike was well protected and I didn’t notice any scratch.
I took my winter training bike, as I didn’t want to risk my racing bike; but, next time I would probably be happy to take any bike.
If you buy a bog standard aluminium road bike for under £500, what are the best upgrades that you can add to the bike to improve performance?
Best Tyres - Continental Grand Prix 4000.
When your tyres wear out, buy the best tyres you can. There is no sense in economising on tyres. It is definitely worth spending £40 to get a top of the range set of tyres such as Continental Grand Prix or similar quality; they will help improve performance and prevent punctures. If you use the bike only for commuting and your highest priority is avoiding punctures get the Armadillo’s which I find to be nearly puncture proof.
Carbon Fork.
A carbon fork will help reduce weight but also increase the comfort of the ride by absorbing alot of the shock. A good carbon fork is relatively cheap and will make a noticeable improvement to performance.
Carbon Seatpost
A carbon seatpost is one of the most efficient ways to save weight with minimal cost. A carbon seat post can be half the weight from only £30. Carbon Seat posts at Wiggle
Carbon / Titanium Saddle
Another good way to save weight is to buy a carbon / titanium saddle. I like the USE carbon model. It might look uncomfortable but I don’t mind. It is more comfortable than it looks.
If you do choose clipless pedals, especially Look or Time, it is important that you fix the cleats to your shoe, so that you get the correct position for cyclist. If the angle of your pedal stroke is wrong you can easily become injured - especially around the knees. What I would suggest is this.
Pedal on ordinary pedals and let you feet find their natural position and angle. Get used to this angle and position before affixing the cleats.
Note: your feet don’t necessarily have to be parallel to your bike. (My feet tend to point away from the bike at an angle of 7 degrees. When I got my position checked by cycle fit in London, they said this was fine.)
Attach the cleats in a fairly central position and test to see whether that position is correct. After testing with cleats go back to ordinary pedals to check there is no discrepancy.
If it is your first time using clipless pedals then it will feel a little different, but that is just the pedals. The important thing is to get the angle correct.
Don’t Lose Your Cleat Position.
Note: When you have worked out your cleat position it is important that you don’t lose it. When replacing your cleats, take a piece of paper or suitable material and cut out a shape of the cleat, highlighting where the 3 screws are. In this way you can have a seamless transition and avoid all that time consuming trial and error.
Cleats May Alter your saddle height.
If you affix cleats to the bottom of your shoes it effectively makes you 1-2cm taller. Therefore, you may need to adjust your saddle height to take this into account.
For a town bike a bell is an essential accessory. Although, I’m not keen on cycling bells being made a legal requirement for all bikes. I think any commuter should look upon a bell as an indispensable part of commuting.
Benefits of Bells.
Pedestrians get used to hearing car noise. They forget that cyclists may come upon them quietly.
Warn potential cyclists / pedestrians on a blind corner.
Use a bell to warn pedestrians who may come from behind parked cars.
Warn other cyclists who may turn without looking behind.
Useful for when cycling on a narrow cycling path and requesting people move to the side. If you shout at people, they will get offended. A gentle ringing of the bell will make them more receptive to moving out of the way. I commute to work on a bike path by the River Thames in Oxford and it would be impossible without having a bell.
Note: I prefer the metal bells, plastic bells often sound a bit feeble. Cycling Bells at Probike Kit
