Got Me A Brommie!

So, got me a Brompton folding bike. Another off the shopping list.

Free standing - useful for parking

Fully folded with the seatpost locking the fold - a compactness unmatched
by other folders - well, those with 16 inc or greater, diametre wheels anyway.

In the opinion of many, the best folding bike - the Brompton has a cult following. Nothing else compares for compactness; there are others matching the quality and even a lot more expensive - the Moultons especially and some of the German folders, but the ingenuity of the Brompton puts it into a class of its own. The company has won numerous awards for export etc. Also, I think a bike that folds is likely to have an added level of complexity for this, so will be more expensive.

It's currently my most expensive bike - £890; for some reason, stockists don't sell them at a discount, so you cannot shop around. Mine is a basic M3L, a 3-speed, and probably the cheapest - they go up to about £1500 if you add some of the options available, like 6 speed derailleur gears, dynamo lighting etc.  There are a huge number of options: I plan on purchasing the following in the near future: a Brooks saddle (it's a scaled down one for the Brompton), Eazy Wheels for towing - the ones that come with the bike are OK for flat, indoor floors but not very good outside, and some luggage - probably the A-Bag which fits on the front. 

Other premium brand companies like and the German luggage company, Ortlieb, make products especially scaled down for this bike.

I consider it a public transport bike - I can ride to the train station, fold it up, get on the train, get off at my destination, unfold it and ride it about at wherever I've stopped off. I think this is one of its key strengths. You can enjoy days out without having to walk, use a bus or find somewhere to park if you have a car. Some people take this further and take them touring say, around Europe and this appeals so it's something I might do in the near future.

Some question the price, which does seem pretty expensive and the accessories certainly are - even I have to wonder at the prices charged. You are looking at another £400 if you want titanium bits which shaves a grand total of about 1 kg off the weight. Maybe for the man/woman who has everything including £400 in the bank they cannot think what to do with? Then again, it's evident from mine that everything is built up to a standard and specific to it - the bike itself has no generic parts - everything is scaled down to keep the bike compact - even the 3-speed hubgear, a Sturmey Archer is of modified design. This combined with what is probably low volume production goes some way to explaining the price...

Many buyers pay nearly £200 less - the 20% VAT (sales tax). This is because they buy the bike through the UK's Cycle To Work scheme whereby they can purchase any bike up to £1000 through their employer tax free and pay it off in instalments over 12 months. An incentive to get more people cycling to work, it's also an opportunity for many to indulge...and I don't blame them. I would if my employer was a member of the scheme. I believe the Brompton is a very popular purchase for those who have access to this scheme.

Mine weighs between 12-13kg as opposed to about 18-20kg+  for my Kettler full sized bikes; yet the steel frame and the bike's design give a similar ride of bikes nearly twice the weight. It rides like a full size bike. This is surprising - you may expect something so small and light to wobble all over the place, but it doesn't. Another thing I've noticed, it seems to be nippy, quite fast. I think this is down to the 50 tooth chain ring - 12 more than on my full sized bikes.

The 50 tooth chain ring - probably why the bike accelerates quickly, plus its size.

This black rubber bung thingy is a form of  suspension - acting as a
buffer between the rear of the frame and the front.

The pedals stand out as little masterpieces - they look like they've been
machined from solid blocks of aluminium and the left hand one folds
upward to reduce the width of the bike when folded - another thoughtful touch.

A chain tensioner is fitted

The standard wheels the bike comes with so you can tow
it along folded. These work OK particularly indoors on nice
flat floors, but less so outside. Brompton do the Eazi-wheels
option to make this easier. I think these should fitted as standard

The modified Stumey Archer 3 speed hubgear made by Brompton themselves.
My first 3 speed. OK, but would prefer more gears. Brompton do a 6 speed
which uses the same gear plus an extra cog/derailleur.

The two-tone colour plus the obvious quality makes it quite a looker attracting a few looks and compliments. I find this a bit surprising given that in my town, there's quite a few about - must be because the others tend to be filthy...

A coupla niggles: the tyres have to be pumped to 100psi pressure - it says on the side and they seem to lose this pressure pretty quickly, dropping to 80psi or so within a couple of days, meaning you have to pump them up more frequently. I can't help but feel that the frame's paint finish is a little delicate, picking up dings and scratches a little easier than on my other bikes. Also, not really a niggle, it's just that I'm used to my Kettlers and Gazelle which have racks and chainguards, my Brompton has neither, although a luggage rack is available as another option. So I can't carry anything and on one or two occasions, my trousers got caught in the chain. That will be the same with any bike without a rack or chainguard though.

One thing I noticed with the seatpost fully extended, is that it's just right for me, but I'm below average height/inside leg measurement (5' 7", 30"). This suggests that it would be too short for the majority of males at least, thus necessitating the purchase of the extended seatpost options, and thus extra expense - from Brompton. However, I haven't read or heard any criticisms regarding this, so maybe it's just me.

To conclude, a great little bike, amongst the best, certainly the most compact and it's popularity is no surprise. Some people have more than one. The company is also continually improving it. 

See more on the Brompton site:

Brompton

Geraldine And A Massive Sense Of Relief...

Wow - over 3 months since my last post! Well overdue for another...meaning TBM has been going for over a year.

Now, I'm not blase about bike security; but I do match the precautions taken with the length of time the bike is going to be left unattended, using the wheellock for short periods outside shops, cafes etc(which is what it's meant for) and adding a security cord for longer periods. I plan to get a D-lock in the near future too. I wouldn't leave any of my bikes anywhere overnight unless it was a purpose built area with CCTV. So, recently, I had parked the Gazelle outside a supermarket and locked it using the wheel lock attached to the bike. The location is pretty central with plenty of security and CCTV. So, I was quite comfortable leaving it where it was freestanding with just the wheel lock on whilst I did some grocery shopping.

Anyways, I do my groceries and walk back to where I parked it outside the library opposite the supermarket, and...it's gone!!! Feelings of shock and to be honest, embarrassment came over me. Now, looking for reassurance, I told myself, whomever took it would have had to carry 23kg of bike around with them because of the lock so, not exactly worth the effort. Plus, I've yet to see a bike of that type in my area, unlike say, London, and they're rare there too, not exactly the most opportune target for a bike thief. So, I go walkabout around the shopping centre and car park, expecting to see it somewhere after the thief decided it wasn't worth the effort...nothing!

Now, noting the CCTV overlooking the place I'd parked it, I go into the supermarket and ask the security guard who watches the screen/console whatever it's called if he'd seen anyone take a large black bike, and yes he had, it was someone in a bright yellow jacket; he picked it up and took it round the corner - which I took to be the back of the library/service area at the back of the shops. I go back there and cannot see anything! Intriguing...but where's my bike???

Asking about, it turns out the man in the yellow jacket (like a hi-viz vest) is another security guard/caretaker and he has some sort of shed/lockup next to the library where he's put the Gazelle. He put it there because I'd left a little black bag (nothing valuable - it cost £1, but he wasn't to know) in the basket and he feared it would be a target for thieves. Which was nice of him, but it did give me a nasty shock...

So what's Geraldine all about then?

Well, some people give their bikes a name - especially bikes like this and the security guard, full of praise for the Gazelle and reckoning it cost £2000 (it cost less than half that actually) bet that I'd christened it Geraldine; I hadn't, but I have now.

So, Geraldine it is; what's yours called?

Weather Proactive...

Although I can drive, I don't currently have a car so my bike is my only transport, although on occasion, I use public transport which can be expensive and inflexible. Naturally, I have to conform to their timings and the buses/trains don't always go where I want to.

It's winter here and in recent years, we've had more severe winters than usual. This year we've got floods, others years the snow played its part in causing chaos in the UK, a country which seems to be easy for the weather to surprise. So this means I have to fit my transport round the weather - I'm finding I have to be a bit proactive because I've been caught by surprise...

Thinking that we were going to have snow and ice like last year, I decided that I was going to just put the bike away until said ice and snow had gone. In the near future, I'll buy some studded tyres, I'll also buy a car, come to think. Well, we haven't had really cold weather this year...yet...but we have had lots of wind and rain, which I hadn't expected and I neglected to buy some cheap wet weather gear from Lidl's during their "Cycling Week". Tell a lie, I have a £3 black poncho from Tiger made from plastic - a bit like a bin liner shaped like a cloak, which does the job when walking, but less so on the bike as the wind tries to take it off me, blowing it everywhere and sometimes obstructing my vision. I could buy more expensive wet weather gear from a bike shop but don't see the point as I rarely need it.

So, I find myself paying close attention to internet weather forecasts and looking for the time window predicted to be not raining - which has sometimes been only a couple of hours...Then planning my day accordingly.

I've found other things need to be taken into account. On one of my routes, the cyclepath is next to a road. Some of the path and road is old uneven/potholed tarmac where huge puddles bordering on flooding form. So when I'm riding along, and a car drives past, I get some of that puddle all over me, quite a lot of it actually...so I've learnt to look out for any traffic coming when I can see massive puddles and before I ride past. It works. Quite pleased with myself actually, I used to just get soaked and throw a tantrum...

I've also improved my ability to relax, be patient and just let the weather take it's course if I can, then ride when it has. By the time winter comes around again, I'll have more appropriate clothing, might even have a car.

2014

So, we're into 2014 and Happy New Year to you all; the blog's been going since February last year, I'm quite pleased with my efforts and so's just about everybody else if the feedback is anything to go by.

2013 was a good year for me, the blog, cycling and other stuff; I've bought and enjoyed the use of 2 new bikes, but didn't get round to overhauling my other one. Hopefully I'll do that this year, although to be honest, I don't have the enthusiasm...

Sometimes I'll start a post and get so far, but then can't quite generate ideas to finish it off: I've got several drafts prepared and had them for several months during which time I've started and posted several more, sometimes in the space of only a day or two. This one was quite easy - started and finished today. I'm also toying with the idea of renaming the blog - will look into how to do this.

I've also learnt something about...spam referral sites...On the dashboard (this control panel screen on Blogger) it shows internet traffic sources. Most say TownBikeMark/Blogger/Google as I would expect it to, but sometimes you get this strange name that doesn't seem to relate to anything.

 Doing a google search and you get other blogs where the writer's complaining about the number of page views where the internet source has this name. Not quite sure how it works: apparently the views from this source aren't "real" views; that is to say nobody has looked at the blog. The "real" views are shown alongside individual posts and the number of views per the posts during a given period do not add up to the single total for the day, month etc. I understand that I can either ignore (clicking on the source link shows and interest that encourages them to return) these spam referral sites and they'll go away or I can email the site and ask them to stop using my blog to gain internet traffic which can include porn...so if you've been getting some strange sites when you read this blog, that'll be why...I've chosen to ignore them.

I've drawn up a shopping list; hopefully I'll be able to treat myself this year to at least one extra bike which I plan to be a Brompton...

I'm hoping for a bit of travel that includes cycling especially using using the Brompton on public transport.

So, I plan for this year to be better than the last and 2015 to be even better. Hope yours is too.

Time To Change The Chain And Sprocket

Bought the Kettler Spirit in July and not long after, a Park Tool Chain Checker. Have been regularly cleaning and oiling it and now and again checking it for stretch.Well, bit of a surprise, the smaller part of the Chain Checker went fully through, indicating I need a new chain. The larger part didn't, so I don't need a new chainwheel thankfully...

Chainwear, "stretch" and replacement frequency seems to come into the "how long is a piece of string"  category and you'll likely get a different answer from whomever you ask. I've decided to use the Chain Checker indicator to warn me when to change the chain and leave it at that. Keep things simple. Quite cheap and gives me a bit of practice in maintenance too. It's quite easy to forget when you only do these things occasionally.

You should also change the sprocket at the same time as the chain as an old sprocket can wear out a new chain fairly quickly. So I did. This entails removing the cassette joint first - the parts that connect the gear cable to the hub so you can change gear. Thought I would photo this for this post.

Incidentally, the bike was running fine - no skipping or anything, I just like to be proactive with bike maintenance to minimise nasty surprises and expense...I've learnt from experience...

I decided to follow the instructions from The Total Bike Maintenance Book, but there are more than a few Youtube videos as well as the Shimano Technical documents that you'll find elsewhere in this blog and the internet.

I must have done around 1200-1500 miles on it, riding it most days; I didn't use the computer for the first few months because the instructions looked complicated. Once I'd figured them out and got it working, I've since done 449.65 miles. So maybe it was to be expected that a new chain was due. I shall pay more attention to the mileage this time.

First you need one of these to split the chain...

My new circlip pliers from Robert Dyas - make short work of removing circlips that some hubgears (like the Nexus) come with; better than messing about with screwdrivers

first line up the yellow dots to remove the first part of the cassette joint...

...and then the red...

Lay the parts of the cassett joint out in the sequence you took them off like the book sez...

The Nexus sans cassette joint

The shiny new 19 tooth sprocket fitted - you can get ones with less or more if you want different gearing.

Cassette joint refitted...

Sorted...you're supposed to fit the new chain as well by the way, not just the new sprocket, otherwise you won't be able to ride the bike...

Attach gear cable to cassette joint...

The job went smoothly first time - and the bike's been fine touch my head, I mean wood...probably a first, I've had enough cans of worms when it comes to bike maintenance, you think it's going to be a simple job but...

With the wheel off, thought I'd clean inside the mudguard - was very easy and came up like new, think I'll do the front one next.

Shopping List...

I love buying stuff when I can afford it and when it's for me. Certainly used to be the case that men weren't supposed to enjoy shopping; well I'm one of the exceptions. Buying stuff for myself tends to make me feel good. I could spend all day in a city or town with lots of shops that have what I want...

Especially cycling related stuff in which case I might consider myself a shopaholic...

I have a wishlist of bikes and accessories, which might change by the time I can afford them, which I can't right now, although some I've always wanted like my Dutch was. On the wishlist at time of writing:

Must-have category:

Brompton - public transport bike - next on the list.

Velorbis - comfort and style - a real looker

Fast commuter: The model can vary because of the availability. For example, I did want a silver Charge Mixer 11, but they're discontinued I believe, although Evans told me they might be able to get hold of one.

German Trekking bike with Rohloff hub and Gates carbon drive (maybe), loaded with equipment. My long distance tourer.

Nice-to-have-just-cos-they-make-them category:

A shaft drive - probably a Biomega, although I would like a Viva Mille Miglia, I mean those looks...Trouble is, they don't make them anymore, although you can find them on the internet for sale, in a different country...then again, I quite like the Beixo...

A Pederson - a masterpiece copy of an 1893 bike with modern componentry. Charming, quaint, and surprisingly practical...put it this way: you don't see many of these around...

A Pashley - everyone should have a Pashley...

A Schwinn - classic American 50s style cruiser with a mock petrol tank like that of a motorbike...don't think it's made anymore.

Pilen - nice & stylish Swedish utility bike - nice to have, just because they make them

Retrovelo - like the Pilen but German (and half as much again expensive), another nice to have just because they make them

Something with a wooden frame - this one made for the car company Audi.

Something with a bamboo frame

Something with a titanium frame

Something with a stainless steel frame

A Schindlehauer

A Pinion geared - aha - you probably haven't heard of that one...5 grand the price...think I like the colour, brown in any shade is not usually my thing, but it's a nice match with the silver. Would prefer midnight blue though.

So that's another 16 to buy...Excessive? Some would say, but I recently met Bill who told me he has 26 in his garage and invited me over to view them, which I must get round to soon. I don't have a garage, but I do have some space in the back garden that I could build some kind of shed/store cum conservatory thingy...nice little project to practice my creativity and DIY skills come to think...

The Appeal Of Cycling - Part 2 - The Hardware

Whatever sport or hobby I've had, it was never solely about the activity; it was complemented by an interest in the actual hardware, and so it is with cycling.

I like good bicycles and accessories; this is one of the ingredients that make cycling enjoyable for me; I like to be riding a good quality bike - it simply wouldn't be the same riding junk...I have to say, I'm a little disappointed to see cheap bikes appearing in UK bikeshops styled like the more expensive quality items to cash in on a trend.

One of the great things about cycling for me at least, is that it's cheap enough to be able to afford the best stuff without being wealthy, in the same way as, cars or boats for example. OK, occasionally you get these £100,000 one offs with gold and diamonds on it, but by and large, anything practical is within reach of anyone with disposable income, either to save for or borrow with a small personal loan. Not only that, but currently in the UK there are government incentives eg the cycle to work scheme where you can save 20% sales tax and pay the remainder in instalments.

I don't think it's ever been a better time to  be a cyclist, and I plan to indulge as much as my finances will allow.

Some of these can be pretty expensive - are they worth the money? Well, being worth the price charged is a subjective thing. If I'm using something regularly with no problems, that's a good guide as to whether I'm getting my money's worth. With utility/town bikes, it's easy to get your money's worth by riding them regularly - you just get on them and ride, so there's less likely to be a feeling that it was an indulgent waste of money because you don't get the chance to use it or you cannot afford the running costs...

Contrast this with a boat, where the best times have been stated as the day you buy it, and the day you sell it...

Not only are manufacturers, particularly in Germany and Switzerland producing mouthwatering hardware, the internet makes these goods more accessible than they would have been in the past, when you would have had to rely on traditional retail methods. I keep getting pleasantly surprised by all the good quality stuff out there.