A new steed for the hard stuff

Of late my cycling adventures have been few and far between as have my blog posts. On the cycling front I mean to put this right. As far as blogging is concerned, we shall have to see.

I own three bicycles. My Condor Fratello road bike which has been a revelation. My trusty P6L Brompton which is my commuter hack and a super light S6L which I rarely use. Do I need another bicycle? Probably not but I have been itching for a very specific type of bicycle for very specific adventures for ages.

I have written before that I would never spend another Orange pound on another Brompton. I have to say that I stick by this for several reasons.

First of all, Brompton in their wisdom have halted orange as a colour option. Mentioning colours, I have been very underwhelmed by the copious 'special edition' colours which seem to be released at an alarming rate.

Colour is one thing but with regards the components of the bike itself there just doesn't seem to be a huge advance. Now I know that there are new shifters, M-type bar, new grips and a wider saddle but I cannot help but recall seeing a blank wall at the last Brompton World Championships I attended where participants could write up suggestions of what they would like to see on Brompton bikes in the future. It just seems that many of the better ones are unlikely to see the light of day anytime soon. Companies like 'Kinetics' appear more innovative with options for disc brakes, twist-shift gearing and greater range of gear options.

This all probably reads as though I am bashing Brompton. I am not. The truth is, when I took my Condor road bike out for its first long distant ride I could sadly see the shortcomings of my humble Brompton. Gearing, brakes, ride comfort, speed and maintaining that speed on my road bike wasn't just better, it was a lot better. I could also add quick release wheels and a lighter package to this as well.

Of course it would be foolish to compare them. I still love my Brompton bicycles and nothing out there is as user friendly with their ability to fold and go anywhere, however  for longer rides I now relish the chance to use my road bike over my Brompton any day.

Owning a Brompton has been nothing but a positive experience and laid the foundations for adventures I had not thought possible let alone contemplated. In addition I have met and made friends with some wonderful people - some of whom are like me spreading their wings as far as cycling options go.

Isn't it lovely!

So, my new steed is a mountain bike by the British company, 'Whyte.' Lots of research went into what bike I was going to get and what I wanted to use it for. When I started looking one thing that shocked me was that the prices of the higher end mountain bike was equal to and in many instances exceeded its road bike equivalent.

Essentially I wanted a mountain bike capable of confident riding over the rough stuff - canal paths, riverside paths, bridal ways, trails and Sustrans routes which can turn out to be navigating through an open field with lions, tigers and bears, oh my! I also wanted it to have good brakes and gearing that made ascending hills easy. It also needed to allow me to participate in light cross country / off road events in the future.

The bike I eventually went for ticked all those boxes and more.  The fact that it had lots of orange elements was - ahem - coincidental.

The brakes are certainly impressive. Hydraulic with 180mm discs on the front and 160mm on the rear, it certainly stops!

The front shock absorbers- a RockShox Recon Silver -  are excellent and like most mountain bikes can be dialled to different degrees of travel which makes things firm or more absorbent. I took my new steed for a ride along the Grand Union Canal with some awful surfaces at various sections but all felt as though I were riding on a pretty good road surface.

Beefy brakes

The quick release on the front fork has a through axle rather that a standard quick release skewer. This adds a big of extra beef to proceedings and also means that alining the wheel first time is all but guaranteed.

The gearing was a concern. It has a SRAM NX 1 x 11 groupset so there is only one chainring and no derailleur to worry about. Very much in vogue in the past few years. The cassette at the rear is 11-42t and the 42t is bigger than the 160mm brake disc.

I write worry as my concern was whether I could live with a 32t chainring and whether I was just going to spin out on the open road? Well the good news was I didn't have to worry. Now this bike is not going to compete with my road bike in terms of acceleration/speed but I could quite happily cruise along at 20mph on the flats without turning the pedals like a maniac. I suspect that I would spin out at not much more, perhaps 22mph but so far road conditions have not allowed me to put this to the test.

For the last two days I have cycled quite a bit on the Grand Union Canal. Yesterday saw me cycling to Little Venice. A few very steep canal bridges with those raised groves used in the past for someone to get purchase when dragging a barge by a rope, provided no fuss at all. This was due to the gearing which is astonishing. I love hills and I fancy on this bike, with this gearing I could ascend just about anything.

One section on this mornings adventure of about 2 miles going towards Denham was nothing more than thick mud. On my Brompton (no way with my Condor road bike) I would have been off pushing through and in the process of having a fit of the vapours as it was getting dirty. On this bike I simply moved the chain up to a couple of larger cogs and was able to easily cycle through the near treacle-like mud.

The wheels are 29r's and the tyre choice is differentiated from front to back. The front is an ultra aggressive Maxxis, Ardent and the rear an only slightly less aggressive Maxxis, Crossmark II. These tyres and rims are tubeless ready so if I take that route in the future I can.

The huge tyres together with the front shocks seem to work some sort of magic on terrible surfaces, making them seem like a good road.

I was concerned that the tyres being so big and butch would make things horrible for when using on the road. They don't. Yes I will be slower on the road when compared to a thinner road tyre but their ability to let you go much faster over awful surfaces is wonderful. The grip they afford is immense and this does instil confidence.


The stock seat is light and very comfortable and I have no plans to replace it.

The handlebar is wide at 720mm. This is really comfortable and good for road and off road cycling. It also provides vast real estate for lights, Garmin and phone mounts. I like it. In fact I one of the reasons I have felt confident in cycling off-road and into new territory is because I can mount my iPhone 7+ and get turn by turn navigation.

The grips are very...grippy and I suppose like all hydraulic brake levers, only the slightest touch is needed.

The headset is silky smooth and very different to that of my Brompton which by comparison is not. It is also better than that of my Condor road bike.

This is obviously a much larger bike than my road bike but despite the beefy tyres, front suspension and heavy duty rims it weighs in at 12.5kg. My P-type Brompton is heavier.

This morning I headed out again on the Grand Union Canal and when I got home the bike was splattered in mud, as was I. This did not bother me. A mountain bike is meant for journeys you wouldn't or couldn't do on other bikes. (I did give it a clean naturally). I won't be wearing my finest Rapha on this unless it is in the summer and dry!

Perhaps you can understand why I would not buy another Brompton. If they made it considerably lighter, had better brakes, better gears and reintroduced the colour orange...who knows? 

I can see me using my new mountain bike quite a bit in the coming months and I am already planning the routes for several adventures that I would be terrified to contemplate on a Brompton or my Condor road bike. 

The last time I owned a mountain bike was when I was a young teenager. I recall going everywhere on it as it was fun to ride. This new bike is as much fun if not more - perhaps also because of all the rather lovely technical goodies that all work well together. With this added to the stable I think there will be many more adventures ahead.

RidePac - the king of cycling wallets?

When cycling I have stored my iPhone, credit cards, Oyster card, cash and other bits and pieces in everything from posh leather cycling wallets, saddlebags to freezer bags. The lovely people at veloPac.cc sent me one of their RidePac's in Day-Glo orange no less for review purposes.

When I opened the padded envelop the first thing that struck me was that the packaging was rather good.

The colour of the RidePac was not just orange it was my kind of orange! It was light and the form factor was spot on. A really nice touch was to include a handy RideClean wipe, just in case I suppose.

Look at that colour!

My instant thought was whether my iPhone 7+ would fit. The quick answer is yes it does. Inside the RidePac there is a phone slip pocket and a soft padded microfibre-type lining to keep your screen free from scratches. It is a tight fit initially but after taking out / putting in the phone a few times loosened things up. The fit is very good and I imagine that if you have a phone of similar size to an iPhone 7+ it will fit. Smaller phones fit well too without a great deal of rattling around.

On the other side to the phone slip pocket is a zipped pocket which I found useful for coins. In addition to this is a credit card holder.

The outer zip is excellent. It has short zip puller with a rubber 'V' for VeloPac. This makes opening the closing the RidePac easy in cold weather or when wearing gloves.

The zip is water resistant but then so is the outer fabric and inner materials. I know that many phones including the iPhone 7 are now waterproof but knowing things are safe from water ingress does provide a degree of security.

The RidePac fits perfectly in the rear pocket of any jersey/jacket and with dimensions of 100mm x 185mm it is just an excellent size.

The RidePac costs £28 which I have to say is ex ellen value for what you get. It looks bulletproof to me and will definitely stand up to many years of faithful service.

I also own the Rolls Royce of cycling phone wallets in the form of a plus size 'All-Conditions Phone Pocket' by Bellroy. This is a waxed leather number that is also waterproof and the mention of Rolls Royce has probably given you a clue that it isn;t exactly cheap. In fact it retails for £89.

Which do I prefer? For there is no competition. The RidePac wins. I do of course love the colour (other colours are of course available) but the form factor is just better in terms of size and weight. It is comfortable in ones rear jersey pocket to the extent that you forget it is there. I cannot say that with the Bellroy.

If you are in the market for a great little cycling phone, cash, credit card wallet that is waterproof, tough as nails and looks great, you should give them a go. Sorry VeloPac but if you are wondering why I have not sent this back to you, it just might get lost in the post!

Link to the VeloPac website

Back along the Thames Path

It seems like ages since I was out and about on one of my bicycles. The prospect of clear skies and no rain brought me to the conclusion that I should get out of the house and go for a ride. So that is just what I did.

I decided to cycle along a tried and tested route that always seems to bring a smile to my face. From the photos and title to this blog post, it was of course the Thames Path, heading east from St Paul's Cathedral to the Thames Flood Barrier and back again.

I used to come here when it was all fields! 

As of late the usual suspects have all gone off in their own directions and if honest, so have I. We rarely seem to ride together now, so this was a solo effort.

Crossing the Millennium Bridge there were already scores of people about. People taking selfies, photographers with tripods and heavy SLR cameras taking arty shots of the London skyline, joggers, dog walkers and other cyclists.

As I neared Tower Bridge I got off my bike and started walking with it. Some sort of security guard, who I suspect was the village idiot from where he came, abruptly informed me that I could not ride my bike across the bridge. I politely informed him that I was halfway across the bridge and that he had seen me from some distance walking with my bicycle?!

At various points I decided to do the touristy sort of thing and take a few photos while there was no traffic.

I cannot tell you how many times I have cycled along this stretch of the Thames Path but I always enjoy it.

This morning did seem rather busy and it was as if everyone had the same idea I had.

Greenwich

At the Greenwich Foot Tunnel the sign just outside of the lift stated that cycling was permitted, so I cycled its entire length.

At a point along the Thames Path a large riverside development forced a detour along the main road that heads towards the Blackwall Tunnel. The traffic was gridlocked and I was glad of the shared cycle lane / pedestrian walkway.

As I cleared the diversion I chanced across a great view of the upside down electric pylon. A couple of gentlemen seemed to be selling potted plants?

The Thames Path has lots of large artwork structure dotting along its length. One I like is the half boat. You see less or more if it depending on the tide.

A piece of artwork

Arriving at the Thames Barrier I made my way to the 'View Cafe' where I had some refreshment. It was also the place where I was joined by a group of tourists from Norway who were bewitched by my folding bicycle.

Part of the Thames Paths that used to be almost like a muddy field, seems to be finally getting developed. There is tarmac on some stretches and they had kindly placed gravel on the rest. As a result my usual cursing about my bike getting dirty was kept to a minimum.

I enjoyed my morning cycle and I really should do this more often. There are a couple of rides next week, one on Friday night and the other on Saturday night. I have yet to decide which would be best for me or if I even want to go at all. I suppose I will see how the week ahead goes and sleep on it.

Until next time...

Link to map and ride data