Keep It Clean - Why Do I See So Many Dirty Bromptons?

Why do clean bikes seem to be such a rarity, even quite expensive ones? I mean, when I'm on the train, I frequently see Brompton folding bikes that couldn't have been cleaned since the day the owner bought it. The Brompton, a premium product and the one to have when it comes to folders, isn't, never has been and I hope it never will be, inexpensive - a new 3 speed starts from £865. You would have thought the owner would take better care of it. Especially as they seem to typically be middle management professionals and enthusiasts willing to pay sums for something many find prohibitively expensive.

Can't say I've noticed that much about the state of other expensive bikes, although I did see a Rohloff geared bike once (I haven't seen many Rohloffs, admittedly) and that could have done with a bit of TLC (tender loving care). And with a starting price of nearly £900 for these engineering masterpieces, should have...

I've found that cleaning a little, often - really doesn't take much time or effort - neglecting a bike like this is sacrilege...in my opinion of course. Some might say these owners see their bikes as purely a functional object to get about on. And they are. And so are mine when it comes down to it, but these functional objects function better and for longer if you look after them, starting with a clean. They don't just look better with a clean...and not only that, a Brompton given its size & the fold up feature should be that much easier to clean.

Was going to add some pictures of dirty Bromptons and looked on Flickr, but found it difficult - suspect most people won't take pictures of their dirty bikes. Also, having found one, it would be a bit cheeky to use their image in this blog and then criticise them with it...

Blogging For Six Months

So, I published the first post on 17th February 2013, which means I've been blogging for six months. Along the way, I've learnt & practiced a few things and I've listed them below:

Better picture taking - trying to be a bit more selective in how it looks, and use the light available effectively. But I still don't know how to upload photos from my phone...don't even know how to fully utilise all the feature on my camera come to think...:o

Also, not that good at using the pictures facility on Blogger: inserting a pic is easy enough, it's when you want to arrange them in a certain layout. The layout might work if they're small or medium sized, but if large or extra large, what gets published looks a lot different from when you're editing. I've learnt to use the preview facility. Also the text jumps about when you try and rearrange them. Will have to experiment, read up and enquire. Might try Yahoo! Answers.

Easier to write a post bit by bit over a period of time instead of all at once. Draw out the subject as and when you think of something to add. I've thus been able to write 2+ posts at once - improving my multi tasking...pacing, I think it's called.

Little, often = amounts to lots over time - kinda works for anything really eg bicycle maintenance.

Just doing it - writing, pictures, knowledge without waiting for it to be perfect, it's a blog, not an auditor's report...You can refine it as and when, just like writing it.

Consistency - published weekly on a Thursday, then twice weekly, Monday & Thursday - so long as I can think of things to write...combo of planned posts and spontaneous posts. Get your ideas down in some form or other as soon as you think of them. Then you can work on expanding the content - bit of time management in there somewhere...

A blog can be a vehicle for you to exercise your creative side in especially in writing and photography - this I knew, so this comes into the "practiced" category. These are activities I really enjoy doing, but have no formal training.

On the whole, quite enjoyable and - involving.