After a week of searing
heat and serious fun on the Holdsworth, thundery skies and gusty winds saw a
return to the Ilpompino. In my haste to repair a flat, I remounted its Vittoria
Voyager hyper in reverse direction, inducing some mild, though tangible skittishness
through waterlogged corners. High time I reinstated that front mudguard too…
While out running some
errands, my eye was immediately drawn to a long row of club bikes shackled to
café’ railings while their owners tucked in to hearty lunches. A flat bar build
with discs stood out on account of its full length SKS guards with neatly
angled stays.
These stays look an
excellent option should my stay bending prowess prove lacking, so I’ve dropped
their UK importer a quick email. Elsewhere in this line up, some cut down drops
had me fishing for my Samsung CSC (Compact Systems Camera) However, I was
conscious that loitering with intent ran the risk of inducing suspicion, so took
a single shot and turned on my heels.
The popularity of
complete bike builds has mushroomed in recent years thanks t the economies of
scale-purchase power and falling prices (a full carbon build with Dura Ace
groupset at £1300 is very hard to resist!!). However, that tradition of
“recycling”; upgrading tired framesets and swapping the components over,
or building a machine that stops and
goes in excellent proportion using “what you’ve got” remains in rude health.
Juniors are better
catered for in this new wave of complete packages too, although choice still
remains comparatively limited. Many long serving enthusiasts are raiding their
overstocked spares bins, giving once forgotten wheels and part worn groupsets
new leases of life on 14 inch 6061 framesets.
Joshua’s rekindled
interest in two wheels has seen me pondering such a project, which would also
bolster the father/son bond. Not that this has become particularly strained, although
that quest for increased autonomy and evolving sense of values can induce
friction.
At the other extreme, I’m
fast assuming MAMIL status (Middle Aged Man in Lycra) and while confident it
would, was pleased to discover this Motorola team replica Jersey (Bought for my
eighteenth birthday in um, 1991) fitted perfectly-phew!
Despite leaving team
jerseys and mass start racing pretentions behind in my twenties, I retain a
soft spot for this one. Sentiment aside, the shallow zipper and waffle weave
polyester mean climate and odour control lags behind contemporary designs with
3/4length zippers and faster wicking polyester blends.
Nonetheless, despite countless
thrills and numerous spills it remains in remarkably rude health. Pockets are
deep enough for trade bottles, tubes and longer mini pumps too.
After a few failed
missions, I’ve managed to catch up with John and his fantastic Peugeot tandem
trike. He’d been having some trouble with the rear hub, which offers an
infinite range of gears-possibly the Holy Grail for slogging up a really long
climb with proverbial kitchen sink en tow.
With three (sometimes,
five when their trailer’s added to the equation) wheels on his wagon, John
reckons he can drop the speed to two mph without any adverse effect. However,
while handling is generally pretty civilised, there are some limitations to the
build. Potholes being the most obvious and some would argue, daunting examples.
As he puts it:
“Even at a very modest
speed, say 15mph you become very aware of it tipping, which is extremely
disconcerting-especially for the stoker and with trailer following behind!”
Talking of which, there’s rather a lot going on up front too. Alongside the
usual suspects, I spot a sizeable set of Winkku mirrors with integral
indicators and dipped “daylight” beams.
Aside from the obvious
observations, these also allow him to keep a watchful eye on their trailer,
which can slide out when tackling tighter turns given the wheelbase.
Then I spotted an old
thumb shifter resides on Jane’s stoker bars.
This commands a Deore XT
linear pull, allowing her to gently scrub off some speed without any risk of it
locking the rear wheel. It also doubles as a very convenient parking brake. We
weren’t the only admirers, one of John’s cats decided he fancied some worship,
swiftly followed by their neighbour’s Akita! Thankfully, Mr Singh was close by
and his dog is uncharacteristically indifferent to the feline community.
We’ve a full interview
with John and the fascinating story behind his special build shortly in Seven
Day Cyclist (www.sevendaycyclist.co.uk). He’s also talking in terms of buying a
fully faired Mango recumbent with electric assist for long solo efforts-watch
this space…
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