Tag: bike

March 15th – With the good weather comes the rash of new bike commuters. Spotted in the shed at Telford, this curious, new looking steed: a Dawes Haarlem commuter bike. Aimed at the female market, huge front basket, step through frame, chain guard, carrier and three speed Sturmey Archer hub gears. It weighs quite a bit, and the frame welds are hideous. Also surprised at the rim brakes rather than disc or hub roller ones.

The outward curve of the carrier stays bothers me: stop sharp with a heavy load on and they’re pre-shaped to bend unpleasantly.

An odd bike, but someone loves it.

October 21st – A free afternoon in Birmingham was fun, rooting around the markets for fruit, veg, shellfish and other treats. On the fruit market itself, one stallholder only selling melons stored his rather lovely Orbea road bike in an innovative way I had to admire.

Also admiring was the young musician, guitar case in hand, photographing the wonderful Bowie artwork by Anna Tomix near the Smallbrook Queensway bridge. I think David Jones would approve of that imagery.

An afternoon in Brum is never wasted. And the shellfish was superb.

June 28th – Oh dear. A short train journey mid-afternoon, and I found myself sharing the bike space with this nice, well engineered Specialized hybrid commuter bike.

Nothing wrong with it, and it looks like a nice ride – decent tyres, nice wheels and gears – but oh my, those mudguards are annoying my snobby sense of order.

Clearly fitted as an aftermarket add-on, the spacing between the guards and wheels is… all over the place. Also, the carrier tilts up to the back of the bike, and I notice another of my pet hates: seat post mounted rear lights – easily obscured by closing or objects on the rack.

Sometimes when you see other people’s bikes, it’s hard not to whip out the tools and start fixing them up…

June 20th – One for the occasional series on the silliness of advertising billboards.

I find myself paying more attention to roadside ads when cycling, as they take me longer to pass than if driving and some, after a few weeks, really begin to irritate. This one is a particularly fine example of the Photoshop failure art form – this example is on the Walsall Road in Darlaston.

This is an advert for the BMW Mini Cooper. Nothing wrong with that (unless you can remember how much character the original had…) but this ad exists in several forms for different length billboards. Notice the bike in the background? In all but it’s longest format, the lamppost is slightly behind the car, and you can only see the rear of the bike, a steel 1980s racing bike. 

In common with most 80s bikes, it has a self-added prop stand, mounted off the rear wheel nut, and an aluminium circular spoke guard between the gears and wheel on the back axle.

Quite what’s passing through the wheel at ground level I have no idea.

Now look at the front wheel. It has the ghost of the propstand mount, rotated around 105 degrees. The aluminium spoke guard is on the front too. The end of the front fork is straight, with no dropout.

The forks and position of the wheel suggest the top tube (between handlebar quill and saddle) is unfeasibly huge.

The front of the bike is not real. It’s been created in photoshop, by someone unfamiliar with bikes, purely to fill space when the ad was stretched.

What a load of old tut. This has been rubbing me up the wrong way for a week now.

June 13th – At my destination, a very unusual steed was parked in their shed: an Elegance electric bike. It has a 3 speed Shimano Inter-M rear hub, driven by a shaft drive (yes, shaft drive, so no chain), rear roller brake, front disc brake, a large battery on the back and a motor in the front hub. 

It was a heavy beast, and seemed to have both electric pedal assist, full motor drive and pedal only options. It’s a nice looking thing, but it was very heavy, and I wouldn’t want to pedal that far without electric drive…

The shaft drive is clever, but it’s a lot of faith to put into small gears with high efficiency losses and worrying wear rate.

Having said that, it’s a lot of innovative design for a shade off £700.

I don’t like e-bikes, but I can see the utility of this. Find out more about it here.

May 20th – Last week, at the floating market, I moaned to my old friend about the p*nct*re palaver I’d had the day before. I arrived home this evening to find a small box sent by my friend, containing a couple of repair kits, some cement, and about 50 extra patches – all my favourite brand – Rema.

It’s a lovely, funny thought. And I’m sure they’ll save my ride many times. Just hopefully not for a while yet…

April 27th – I keep noticing this Giant bike at Telford; I don’t know who it belongs to, but it annoys me irrationally every time I study it. Giant are an American brand whose bikes I’m not a huge fan of; like fellow US companies Cannonade and GT they often have a non-standard, peculiar approach to design resulting in bikes with odd features or incompatibilities, usually only noticed after purchase when something goes wrong.

This one annoys me for two reasons: one is design, the other is just happenstance. The rear seat-stay seems to be 2 parts, a U formed tube for the stays and a curious, welded linkage interpenetrating between the U form and seat tube. The weld, being aluminium, is rough, not square and looks absolutely awful. What on earth was the designer thinking?

The other thing is that rear quick release. Who would leave it closed facing backwards in such a vulnerable position? I want to sort it but would never touch another’s steed.

A mystery are the two M6 tapped holes on the non-drive side dropout; they aren’t present on the opposite side, and serve no apparent function, but designing them, machining them and fabricating the form they’re in was clearly serious effort. What are they for, does anyone know?

An odd bike. Never been fond of US designs.

December 24th – An unusual if not unique thing for 365daysofbiking – a photo taken when I wasn’t on my bike; but it’s about cycling, so I figure it’s OK just this once.

I was in Derby for the day, and for once, it was better I was without the bike. I didn’t know what cycle security would be like, and needed to visit lots of places where it would have been parked in the open for long periods. On Christmas Eve, that’s not a good idea as someone unscrupulous may be looking for that last minute cycling gift..

As it happened, I needn’t have worried; in Derby they’re taking cycling seriously; outside the rail station astounding, secure double-deck weatherproof bike park. Dotted about the city, good quality Sheffield stands and even free to use bike pumps.

We need some of this love in Birmingham – I’ll be back, and next time, with the bike!

November 26th – Spotted in a works bike rack, this fine steed. A very decent bike, with very curious panniers on the front of the crossbar. They seem to be holding cells for the front light, but I must confess I don’t understand how they’re comfortable to ride with. If those were on my bike, I’d keep banging them with my knees.

Still, bikes are very individual and we all have different solutions for luggage and general carrying needs. Studying other people’s bikes is endlessly fascinating.

November 5th – At Telford, two mysteries, one easily solved. On my journey I often pass a budget hotel, the rear of which is visible from the cycleway. On top of a cage surrounding what looks like air conditioning and refrigeration plant, a bicycle. It hasn’t moved for a year or more, or at least, it’s been there every day I’ve passed by. I’m wondering if anybody has actually noticed it from the hotel, or if it’s just a really secure locking space?

And then, the bike shed at the place I was visiting. Normally I have a job finding a space on sunny days. Today, only the hardcore mountain biker guy has rode in. And it looks like he got a wet arse doing so.

No mystery about fair-weather cyclists…