Looking at it more closely I realise it is a single speed. With the low bars was it a track bike? If so why mudguards?
Bruce
Looking at it more closely I realise it is a single speed. With the low bars was it a track bike? If so why mudguards?
Bruce
Congratulations - what a wonderful piece of history to own. I looked online earlier and I thought it must be late 19th century. I saw that some of the earlier Crawford models had the chain and gears on the left. Is it fixed gear or does it have a freewheel?
I guess it is a race bike, yes.
It is a fixed hub. I do not if the freewheel mechanism was invented in 1896.
Freewheel was invented in 1869 apparently but wasn’t popular with cyclists. It’s mentioned in this article which is quite interesting in itself.
Cycling revolutions: 10 brilliant inventions that changed the bicycle forever | road.cc.
Fun!
No black routes for me but I still ride red routes. I used to ride them on a hardtail but now a full sus bike is the concession to my age.
Cannot recommend the 7stanes routes too highly. I have ridden at almost all the locations at some point and return to the Dumfries area every winter for a week to enjoy the cluster around there. They each have slightly different characters, but the red XC routes are generally excellent for a challenging but entirely rideable blast. In winter during midweek you may well have them almost to yourself too.
N Wales has great options; Penmachno my favourite, a less well-known wild and rugged challenge. The Marin Trail at Betys Y Coed or the various routes at Coed y Brenin a bit further south are great fun but busier.
Bruce
PS I am recovering from a procedure and managed only 20mins on the turbo at just 40 watts yesterday. Oh well, Dumfries is booked for Feb so time yet.
A short ride around Southsea, Hampshire, on a gloomy Sunday morning. Two coffees in Bath Square and we shared an orange and cardamom bun.
And here (above) we got something for tonight’s supper.
After losing another cheap ping bell (due to vibrational metal fatigue) i went back to using my expensive and flash Knog Oi classic, which unfortunately in real world action is completely useless being far too quiet.
Anyway, the Knog is now back in its expensive looking packaging and back in the drawer, and just fitted a ‘Toptrek’ bell that shows a lot more promise. Easy to fit on handlebars very near the stem to be out of the way but easily accessible, 110dB ping which sustains a long note and a good high enough pitch tone to gain attention. Really hoping this bell is going to work well and last, may buy another for the other bike
Hi Debs. Is this for a flat bar bike or dropped handlebars ?
Drops or flat bars; the centre of my drop bars widen near the stem to 31.8mm and this bell fits perfectly, it also comes with rubber adaptors for bars as narrow as 22.2mm.
The Amazon price is presently £8.98 which i think is okay due to reasonable build quality.
That’s nice and tidy. I’ve got a tiny bell that clips into the underside of the brake lever’s rubber housing. But it’s only good for very quiet cycle paths. I shall investigate further. Thanks for heads up
(Or could blow £600 on the new Garmin 1050 with electronic bell !)
We use these bells.
The blurb states 90dB and they are loud, people jump out of their skin when we use them, it also has a long delay which is good.
Weren’t expensive and well built from metal, we got them from Amazon.
DG…
If anyone catches me with a bell on my bike they are under strict instructions to shoot me!
Spurcycle makes the best bells. Period. Perfekt pitch and nice build quality.
In Denmark now. We ride great trails every day. Today we were in Bjåbjerg. It is in the south of Jutland. Had two amazing hours.
Back in Slettestrand yesterday and today. Tornby tomorrow and the ferry from Hirtshals. Eight days of riding in an eight day vacation. Perfect!
Just got my first e-Bike.
It’s revolutionised my riding and I now zoom around my local area almost twice as fast as I did previously on the very inefficient Bike I had until now.
It’s exhilarating feeling that surge of power whoosh me forwards every time I start riding.
The Gates CDX belt drive and Shimano Nexus sealed hub gears give a very smooth ride and will save me a lot of money and time from having low maintenance if they work as I hope they will over the next decade.
As a sixty year old Cycle commuter, I’m not going back to normal bikes again after finding out how much fun this really is and how much easier and more relaxing on my body.
Glad you like your new e-bike, just got to get a new saddle
DG…
That’s my old saddle, which (despite being Bontrager and having been mysteriously slashed to expose the gel core) is much more comfortable and fun to ride than the one the bike came with.
Also, having a saddle that’s been repaired with black gaffer tape makes the bike look a wee bit less nickable.
I’ve also ordered a brand new Thudbuster seat post - the one that’s on it at the moment (my old LT/Long Travel Cane Creek seat post from the previous 3rd generation of Thudbusters) is slightly too large to allow my leg to be bent when the pedal is at the bottom of its cycle.
So I had to order the 4th generation ST (Short Travel) Thudbuster - this gives less extent of movement to soak up massive potholes and kerbs than the LT version - but it’s much easier to change the elastomers on the G4 range of Thudbusters.
I’m also planning to replace the handlebars with something much wider and more cowhorn-style to adopt a more upright and laid back geometry.
Managed first 100k ride for 3 weeks. My fitness is a fraction of what it was then - my physiology seems to require me to put plenty of miles in to gain significant performance. I’ve tried less quantity more quality but it doesn’t really work for me…
That’s a nice day out, especially on a non-electrical bike.
My personal record was about 20 years ago when I did the London to Brighton cycle ride three times in a day on a good quality rented road bike, which is about 180 miles.
Nowadays, I don’t think I’d even try and do that on an electric bike.