I have had my bike for a good number of years !
28 to be exact.
I bought it to ride to work in comfort after owning a couple of other cheaper bikes.
It is a Claud Butler Dalesman touring cycle and works as well today as it ever did.
I have replaced the gear mechanism which finally wore the teeth down and the changer became very weedy so that all got swapped out some 15 years ago.
The bottom bracket was replaced with a sealed unit so that instead of breaking it down, greasing it and replacing ball bearings, I could just forget it.
I used to read a lot of Cycling publications but mainly the Cycle Touring Club magazine .
If you live in the UK and want a cycle orientated insurance for yourself and your machine, I recommend joining the CTC and taking advantage of their excellent insurance .
I have two bike books on my shelf from yonks ago.
One is 'Its Easy to fix your bike' which is a technical book that I found handy .
The other is Richards Bicycle Book by Richard Ballantine.
This latter is the best book I have ever read on cycling.
It gives advice on everything , road positioning ,dealing with drivers , maintaining the bike ,commuting and is obviously written by a seasoned cyclist.
This weekend I found A new version of it in the Library.
It is called Richards 21st Century Bicycle book .
Written by the same man ,it is well updated.
He now mentions new gearing,brakes,tyres.
Recumbents.
Mountain bikes.
Helmet use .
You name it ,he has written something on it.
This book is worth having for the break down technical pictures of gears and mechanisms, alone.
I love the old victorian pictures the best.
It is powerful inspiration to get back on the dear old bikey.
I'm going to ask for this for Christmas if anyone in my family asks what I would like.
28 to be exact.
I bought it to ride to work in comfort after owning a couple of other cheaper bikes.
It is a Claud Butler Dalesman touring cycle and works as well today as it ever did.
I have replaced the gear mechanism which finally wore the teeth down and the changer became very weedy so that all got swapped out some 15 years ago.
The bottom bracket was replaced with a sealed unit so that instead of breaking it down, greasing it and replacing ball bearings, I could just forget it.
I used to read a lot of Cycling publications but mainly the Cycle Touring Club magazine .
If you live in the UK and want a cycle orientated insurance for yourself and your machine, I recommend joining the CTC and taking advantage of their excellent insurance .
I have two bike books on my shelf from yonks ago.
One is 'Its Easy to fix your bike' which is a technical book that I found handy .
The other is Richards Bicycle Book by Richard Ballantine.
This latter is the best book I have ever read on cycling.
It gives advice on everything , road positioning ,dealing with drivers , maintaining the bike ,commuting and is obviously written by a seasoned cyclist.
This weekend I found A new version of it in the Library.
It is called Richards 21st Century Bicycle book .
Written by the same man ,it is well updated.
He now mentions new gearing,brakes,tyres.
Recumbents.
Mountain bikes.
Helmet use .
You name it ,he has written something on it.
This book is worth having for the break down technical pictures of gears and mechanisms, alone.
I love the old victorian pictures the best.
It is powerful inspiration to get back on the dear old bikey.
I'm going to ask for this for Christmas if anyone in my family asks what I would like.
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