Hello! Nice to meet you! I would like to introduce to....my bike!

An essential part of developing a cycling passion is of course a bike! And its at this point I want to speak a little about my own.

Its certainly not flashy but we’ve been through a lot together so its pretty dear to me:

The Mongrel

As with a lot of positive things that have happened to me recently it was all down to my girlfriend. Orsi came across the bike one day in a one of those so-called "vintage/alternative" shops in Nottingham.

After a little haggling it was mine

From that day on through numerous bangs, crashes and skids a number of prangs, slips and smashes we have managed to stay in one piece (just about) and stay together. 

The pig!

That said (and reflects how savvy a consumer I am!!) the bike was and still is a real mongrel, I think it was basically put together from bits and pieces that were lying aroun someone's shed, the old mountain bike stem that you can see being the best example of this! As a result early on the bike moved like a real pig.

  Dodgy, shuddering brakes, gears that didn't change properly, especially when trying to find the "granny" gear on big hills and continually and most infuriatingly... punctures (oh no sorry... that was my fault!!!)

Illustration reflecting my mechanic skills!

But over time and much money spent the bike now looks and moves a lot better much of it has of course changed and its an ongoing process so far:

• The saddle
• Rear wheel
• Set of tyres *3
• Chain *3
• Brake and gear cables
• Brakes
• Pedals
• Mudguards

I still want to get rid of that ugly stem but that would prove to be a bit more pricey and problematic, but soon..

Its interesting, comparing the differences between the two pictures: the whole bike now looks much more aggressive. I played around a lot with the position of the seat last year trying to find the best seating position, and this now makes the best use of my legs. 

 The images remind when you notice the difference in someone that has recently taken up running, before everything was a little baggy but now after their first half marathon everything is much sleek and sculpted. In my case also much more dirty too! Some advice for anyone who plan to use a bike for the daily communte.. don't choose white!!

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has similar stories of "ongoing projects" and how they are getting on!


Bye for now 


David