Combing my hair….

The Planet Bike front mudguard that comes as standard on the Tikit is fixed to the bike in only one place, on the fork crown. The short forks combined with small wheels send shocks to the fork crown and the mudguard has a tendency to vibrate. In my experience this has led to two mudguards dropping off while riding along. Without a front mudguard spray hits the bottom bracket area (and the lower half of the rider). So I took the bike Chris at Tony Butterworths and asked him to do his best. And his best turns out to be pretty damn fantastic. Using a standard SKS mudguard, the fixing point on the right hand side is the only fixing which is standard. At the crown he fixed the new mudguard to the remaining tab of the Planet Bike mount. This has the advantage of ensuring that the mudguard can be fitted and removed without risking the need to reset the headset.

On the left hand side he shaped the stay so it clears the disk mechanism.

Nice! I’m pretty confident this set up should last.

I believe that cycling safely in traffic means being part of the traffic. This includes occupying the lane rather than hugging the kerb and asserting your right to be there. This isn’t always easy and in hilly Sheffield you do have to recognise that climbing some of the hills requires a measure of defensive positioning – if you are moving at 7 mph and cars are passing you at 30mph there is little choice.

Descending fast needs good brakes. Initially my first Tikit caused me some concern in this respect, but with advice from the Bike Friday Yak group I swapped out the pads for some Kool Stop Salmons. Highly effective, but tough on the rims. The disc brakes on my Alfine Tikit are just the business, enabling me to confidently descend at speed. The importance of this is illustrated in the video where you see I need to leave a bus lane on the left, occupy the main traffic lane and then rapidly turn right.

The video was recorded at 8am on 29 January before it was fully light – a first test of the GoPro HD Hero mounted on my helmet. Quite impressed. It captures what you can see looking forward, but the vertical range of your eyes is far wider than the camera and when you look to the side your eyes swivel but the camera doesn’t!

…it’s where the rain gets in. With apologies to Leonard Cohen a short video about keeping the rain out of your frame.

Weatherproofing the Tikit Seatpost from Gareth Dent on Vimeo.

Tikit in hotel bedroom

…Tikit securely folded at the end of the bed. This is when having a folding bike really comes into it’s own. No worrying about is the bike still locked to the post in the deserted car park.  This is also about the third time I have rolled up to hotel reception in helmet, hi-viz jacket and wheeling my Tikit and been asked my car registration number. Automotive hegemony or wot?

Incidentally the flash from the cameraphone really shows off the reflective walls of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres and the Scotchlite tape I fixed to the rear mudguard.

Alfine Tikit waiting for Sheffield Supertram

Following my post about the issues I was experiencing with my Alfine Tikit, Jordan Bishko, Bike Friday’s Head of Customer Service rang me on Friday evening. He accepted that the bike could go to the local bike shop and Bike Friday would pick up the bill. I am pleased that Bike Friday have accepted my suggestion on this.

So this morning, I wheeled it (somewhat noisily) to the tram stop and delivered it to Tony Butterworths. Chris took a look and is confident the wheel can be trued. The issue with brake calliper will take some investigation.

The trip to the shop allowed me to try out the new handle for pushing the bike. It is a clever design, neatly executed and Read the rest of this entry »

On 9 September, my Seasons Tikit deposited me on the road. Following emergency braking, the left fork blade snapped, the front wheel twisted until the tyre jammed against the right fork blade and I went flying over the handlebars. This is what the bike looked like after the incident.

Front view after the fork failure

Luckily because I was on an organised ride I was quickly attended to by a doctor who treated my injuries. If you really want to see them, there is a photograph here.

When I returned home I emailed a set of photos with a description of the incident to Rob English at Bike Friday. Read the rest of this entry »

Over at Bike Friday they have been working on an electrically assisted Tikit according to employee Walter. More details on his blog

Andy and Daphne ready to go

Day one was to prove eventful. The slogan for the Folding Bike Challenge was ’400 kilometres, 4 days, 1 bike’ By the time I had covered the route from the London Eye to Portsmouth I was on bike number 3. Read the rest of this entry »

At the top of Hollow Meadows

Three days to go and a short (15 mile) ride to check everything is working OK and calm my nerves. Two small tweaks followed. Read the rest of this entry »

So here’s a thing. A few days ago a college asked if she could borrow a bike. She was thinking of buying a bike to ride to work and wanted to borrow one to try it out.

Now this prompted a mix of emotions. I think the world would be a far better place if more people cycled to work (and fewer people got in their cars) so I was delighted she was prepared to give it a go. But did I want to lend one of my bikes, particularly as the loan request was specifically for the Tikit. The honest answer was no. It was a treasure, my precious and I wasn’t minded to lend it to someone who by her own admission was not used to riding a bike. What would I do if she damaged it….

After a bit of agonising I lent it …and she is riding it, loving it. Which is good. Am I just selfish?

With this question in mind I emailed the Bike Friday Yak Group (a mailing list).  The answers spread over a range from ‘yes, of course’ to ‘No’ with a cluster around ‘Yes, but I would be hesitant’

As a hesitant lender, it makes me feel better to part of the cluster