Combing my hair….

Have got my Brompton up and running and am now officially in training for the World Championships. I am riding for the Barnsley Hospice A Team. It has not been explained to me whether the ‘A’ stands for Ancient or Ace. If you feel so inclined you can find more about the team and sponsor us here

One of the things I so like about riding a bike is that it is a personal experience but at the same time inherently sociable in a way that driving a car never could be. Arriving at Sheffield Station yesterday morning I was asked by another cyclist what I thought about the Brompton. Tim, a fellow member of Cycle Sheffield, told me he was thinking about getting a folding bike and had narrowed it down to a Brompton or a Bike Friday Tikit and what did I think?

Now given I have two and a half years of riding Tikits and over 2000 miles in the legs and one afternoon (25 miles) and yesterday (8 miles) on the Brompton there is no way I could make an even handed comparison, but I have already spotted a number of differences, advantages and disadvantages.

Focusing on the positives:

The Brompton

Folds smaller and the head tube feels more secure than the hyperfold Tikit
Is potentially lighter than the lightest Tikit
Is less expensive than the Tikit (in the UK at least)

The Tikit

Folds faster (but there is not a lot in it) and doesn’t move the saddle height or alignment when it folds
Rides better – in part this is down to the fact it is available 3 sizes and the fact that you can adjust handlebar height and stem length to get an optimal position
Uses more standard components, so is more readily upgradable – the Tikit’s choice of 8 speed Alfine hub and 8 speed derailleur are markedly better than the Brompton 6 speed set up

Are these differences significant? On balance I favour the Tikit and if buying new today would probably go for the impulse fold (which uses a twiddly knob to secure the headtube) rather than the hyperfold. However if space was at a premium I could see a strong argument for the Brompton and if I lived somewhere flat(ish) I could understand the attractions of the Brompton 2 speed model. In the end however, if you are using a folding bike as a means of commuting, I believe it is reliability which trumps all other measures. And there, I cannot make direct comparisons at this stage.

The trusty Tifosi (bike not my hoards of Italian fans) has seen me through the worst winter in years and was looking ready for some TLC. On the evening of Saturday 24 April I decided to renew most of the drive chain and the tyres. Now I am a big fan of my LBC but I do like to do some maintenance myself and was tempted by an email from Wiggle promising a big discount. I checked carefully that everything was in stock and promptly ordered:

2 x Vredestein Fortezza TriComp Road Tyre 700 x 23 Black/Black
1 x White Lightning Clean Ride Lubricant 240ml Bottle (recommended by Steve – many thanks)
1 x KMC X10-L Silver 10 Speed Chain (recommended by Andy – many thanks)
1 x Campagnolo Centaur 10 Speed Cassette 12-25
1 x Park Tools Campag Cassette Lockring Tool
1 x Campagnolo 12T Lockring

Now most people will recognise this as a drive chain plus lube and a pair of tyres.  I naively thought that since everything was listed as in stock it would be delivered to work during the week and I could set to the following Saturday. As it turns out events got in the way and it was hardly a priority. However two weeks later, lets review what I have:

I have the chain, the lockring, the lockring tool and the lube, but Wiggle tell me:

‘We’re sorry but we’ve just been informed that our suppliers are currently out of stock of Campagnolo Centaur Ultra Drive 10 Speed Cassette (12/13T Up) 12-25. Our suppliers have told us that more stock is due into the UK in Late May Your order will be despatched as soon as the goods arrive.’

Since this part renders all the other parts useless until I have it I cancelled, but in doing so I decided to ask about the ETA of the tyres, to which I got the following reply:

‘Thanks for your email. The cassette has now been removed. I’m afraid the Vittorias (sic) will not be with us until Late June, let me know if you’d like these removed also. ‘

Late June? All very polite, but a pretty poor show. When I emailed to this effect, they did not reply. Meanwhile I notice that the tyres are still listed on their site as ’10+ in stock’

So it does seem like the best thing to do is go to the shop, see what they have and make your choice. At least that way you can see if they have it in stock or are just pretending.

When I am putting in a lot of miles I think that Torq recovery really makes a difference to how you feel the next day. I think the chocolate orange flavour tastes revolting and gritty , but the strawberry and cream flavour is actually quite pleasant.

But…I find there is a side effect which if it could be captured and channeled into forward motion could be rather helpful.

Today’s ride was to a new cafe, the Tea Junction in Hulme End. Door to door it was 64 miles, but that gives no sense of the difficulty as it was a windy, windy day. One minute you are flying along, the next struggling to make any forward progress. It is on days like this that riding with a group makes all the difference. Frankly if I was on my own I would have given up and returned home.

Anyway the Tea Junction scores full marks for food and service. Excellent soup, great cakes and massive portions. All served in a former engine shed, but not without controversy.

An interesting find in the search for the ultimate utility/commuting bike is the Renovo Panda Urban. With SRAM iMotion 9 speed hub gears, disc brakes and a hub dynamo it ticks the three pre-requisite boxes. The novel dimension is alluded to in the name, the frame is made of bamboo. Not seen it in real life, the photos on the website give the impression of a bike that is seriously well made.

Two thoughts put me off. The excessive import taxes which would result from importing the bike from the US and the use of a chain tensioner rather than an eccentric bottom bracket to maintain chain tension. The latter point is a small one but the simpler the chain line the easier it is keep running cleanly.

To date the Tout Terrain is looking to be the favourite.

Awoke to discover Sheffield covered in snow, so no riding today. This is getting rather too common.

Have been thinking a lot about mudguards. Normally one might think this a sign of insanity, and it may well be. However the thought was prompted by a comment on a post on Vik’s Lazy Randonneur site. You can see the post here. Essentially my comment was that a road bike with close clearance aluminium mudguards would be safer with some form of quick release on the guards. Well the debate that followed got me thinking about my set-up which I am very pleased with but have had precious little chance to use because I don’t want to take my audax/light touring bike out in the salt.

The general set-up is illustrated above: Proline DLX reflex mudguards with short drop Centaur brakes and 23mm Continental Four Seasons tyres. The guards are full-length and have flaps. Built into the material is a 3M reflective strip which is a barely visible dark grey during the day and reflects headlights at night.

Neat, I like it. The guards have snap-off stays:

I don’t know how effective the snap-off stays are and I am not in a hurry to find out, but it is a reassurance to know that they are there.

I’ve been using the Assos winter gloves kit since early in December when the weather turned nasty. Too early to say about durability, but they certain work well to keep your fingers warm – I used them on day long rides with the CTC when the temperature has been around freezing. Expensive though, certainly not something you want to leave on the train by mistake.

Value:                ♥♥♥

Usefulness: ♥♥♥♥♥

Just under a year since I got it, I’ve reached a 1000 miles on my Alfine Tikit. It has been a cold, icy winter and at times it has felt like you were cycling along the beach with the amount of grit and salt that has been spread on the roads. The bike has been out in the salt spray then back into a warm office and then back in the spray and back into a warm house on a daily basis since mid December. Ideal conditions for corrosion. Let’s start from the road up. Read the rest of this entry »

Tout Terrain Boulevard, front wheel detail

I was in Tony Butterworths last week and Max showed me a Tout Terrain Boulevard which had been on trial with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. Currently the bike paramedics in Sheffield are riding Marin Point Reyes. This bike is seriously impressive, available with a Rohloff or Alfine hub, it is the attention to detail which struck me. The bike has an integrated rear rack and the rear light is dynamo driven with the cable routed through the rack. Similar attention to detail is in evidence at the front, with a small brazing for the cable guide on the back of the fork and mudguard eyes up the fork to avoid the disc mechanism. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately for the family budget) the bike wasn’t for sale. Apparently a belt drive version will be available from next month, needing even less maintenance. Could this be the future of commuting?

Freewheel and cassette tools through the ages

I’m starting to wonder if Campagnolo have lost the plot. I should declare an interest. I am a lifelong fan – well so far anyway.

William Morris said: have nothing in your house you know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. A Campag equipped bike seem to tick both boxes. Twenty years ago I found I could afford a bike in Columbus SLX tubing with a full Campag Chorus groupset. Actually I couldn’t really afford it, but that’s another story. I got it anyway and it was a thing of beauty. The bike has now gone, rust never sleeps. But many of the Chorus parts were still in beautiful condition and made me quite a few quid on eBay. 18 months ago I bought a bike with the 2008 Chorus group. Still beautiful, still worked beautifully. However, it didn’t take long to see that some changes in the equipment market over the period are not necessarily for the better.

Firstly, as anyone who puts the miles in knows, taking care of and replacing the chain regularly is essential to protect the rest of the drivetrain. The Campag ten speed chain needs a special chain link extractor. List price £103. Ker-ching. Second, the original Chorus bottom bracket was effectively fit and forget – certainly I put thousands of miles in before it needed new bearings. The modern Ultra Toque bottom bracket unit may be lighter but certainly wasn’t as well weatherproofed and lasted less than one full season. I was rapidly gaining the impression that the needs of the professional rider was driving everything and the keen amateur was just expected to go with kit which was difficult to service and lacked the earlier robustness.

However the best was yet to come. In a move which was redolent of software industry practice, the 2009 innovation was 11 speeds. A narrower chain, a new chain tool (list price an even more eye watering £137) and no backwards compatibility. I have met no one who wanted this innovation. It might be age, maybe if I hung out with young roadies I would get a different impression, but I rather doubt it.

What Campag have now done, according to their director for the French market Christophe Soenen quoted in Le Cycle, is to stop production of their mid-range 10 speed chains – no Chorus, no Centaur – just a choice between the high end Record and the entry level Veloce. They’ve stopped making the 10 speed Chorus cassette, for the moment they have retained Centaur cassettes – which is good news given a Record 10 speed cassette will set you back two hundred quid.

Oh dear, maybe it is time to consider the rather less beautiful alternatives. That’s me in the corner, losing my religion.