July 3, 2006
Bikes
Stumpy FSR - Girls Bike
Can you believe it? It seems that I am so short, that I have to buy a girls bike!
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I went in to the bike shop to pick up a men's Specialized Stumpjumper FSR comp, but even the small is too big for me. The women's frame is only just ok, but I have to make do with the puffy colours.
I'm not really complaining, its a beautiful bike. I ended up getting the Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert, which is just a tad above my current skill level, but it was the only one in stock. What can a girl do?
I pick it up tomorrow, after they have removed most of the seat post length. Can't wait to have some fun this weekend. Got to get my skill level up quickly, you can't have a bike like that and then start behaving like a wuss on the trails.
June 28, 2006
Bikes
New Bike Dreams
I am just teetering on the age of buying my new bike. That will be about the 6th bike purchase this year and leave me living with another bike in my shower for a while. Ah well - it is another beauty.
The bike in question is a Specialized Epic. Yes I have moved over to the other side - mountain biking! Well at least at the weekend, for the rest of the week I'll be happy on my Sirrus Pro.
I've started collecting together a load of reviews on the Epic:
Bike Mag review
Bike Magic Review
MTBR user reviews
March 15, 2006
Bikes
The end of Peryl!
Well its taken me a shockingly long time to let you all know but I'm afraid Peryl is no more. Way back in October, I discovered a fairly major crack in the frame of my airnimal chameleon ultegra. That was not a particularly good day for me. I had an OU maths exam in the morning but I was up early and thought I would take my mind off things by washing the airnimal in the shower.
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Aaaaargh! Just look at the damage....
Can you believe that? To top it all I missed my exam with all the stress and trying to contact airnimal and Ben Haywards to get some kind of response.
July 15, 2005
Bikes
New Tyres for Peryl
I've just taken Peryl in for a bit of a service, her gears aren't changing too well and no amount of fiddling by me is making much difference. The guy at BikeFix reckons that brake cable has been used for the rear mech instead of gear cable so he is going to change it for me. So long as it fixes the gear change I don't really care.
While I was there I decided to invest in a pair of the new tyres now available for the Chameleon. They are the Panracer Pasela touring tyre, they apparently have a little more tread than the Technova although they look very similar. I'll let you know what I think later.
I damaged my tyres on the Sightseer audax, I got the wheels caught in a ridiculously fine grid - a bit like a cattle grid that spanned one of the roads. Everyone else seemed to sail over it but the combination of small radius and width left me stuck. It has ripped the side of both tyres and gauged my rims.
No puncture incurred though which is amazing. Having said that I will get hundreds now.
June 22, 2005
Bikes
Me and Peryl get re-acquainted
I've had a few teething problems with Peryl the Airnimal Chameleon, since I got her nearly 3 months ago.
No real problems, it was just a shock to the system to move from the comfort of a hybrid with front suspension to a twitchy, road bike. I had aches and pains particularly in my elbows and wrists but the main problem was the price. It is a shockingly expensive machine and I suppose it has to be said that I can't quite afford it. Don't get me wrong, I have paid for it, but really I can't warrant such an outlay. Now that its my only bike I have worries about trips like going to the hairdressers and the shops - I just don't want to leave her outside.
April 13, 2005
Bikes
Dirty Little Tike
Peryl had her first shower last night. After 4 consequetive days commuting I thought she deserved it.
Typically it pissed it down this morning so I wish I hadn't bothered.
April 10, 2005
Bikes
Airnimal Rides Again
Four days and Peryl hardly got a ride in, my excuse is that I've been ill and in truth I've felt just a little intimidated by her.
Still, thats all changed now. I replaced the seat and we headed for the hills yesterday, or at least we went to Richmond Park.
Blimey, blimey that bike can move. I went down one of the hills at such a pace I nearly wet myself. Can't tell what speed I was actually going as I had set the wrong wheelsize into the computer! Must have been 60mph at least!
Today i went into work and set a time of 37mins which is really pretty good for me, now if I could remove the traffic lights I might really be able to set some records.
All in all I am pretty happy with Peryl the Airnimal Chameleon, I've sussed out the balance so I can stand in the pedals and have begun to feel that old confidence - the trust between man and bike. I was talking to my dad about the importance of feeling in tune in your bike, London is a scary place to ride without trusting your machine. He described me as a cyclotaur - half woman, half bike. He thinks he's funny, what can you do?
April 5, 2005
Bikes
The Airnimal Has Landed
Well it arrived, a beautiful yellow dream machine. It came flat packed but I managed to keep singing throughout my frustrating attempts to put it together. Really it shouldn't have been that hard, I'm just rather unfamiliar with all the road bike components - never heard of a Ring-go star.
Anyway, I better stop calling her it and introduce you, she's called Peryl and she has taken to living in my bath. Either I'm going to get pretty smelly or we'll have to get over our inhibitions quickly and start showering together.
I took her out for a ride today and I'm pleased to say we got on well. Its going to be a bit of an adjustment for me, moving from my hybrid cannondale designed with comfort and more comfort in mind. The new Airnimal Chameleon Ultegra Ultra is very much more hardcore. Light, fast, sexy, although that is not how I feel after sitting on the saddle for an hour.
I really need to up the ante on the diet front again. I am not designed for sitting on a knife edge and the new bent forward, aerodynamic seating position brings my knees perilously close to my tits (which are certainly not my most aerodynamic feature).
The wheel size turns out to be fine, much better than the Brompton style wheel. It handles like a big bike and isn't too jittery on the steering. Not quite sure about powering myself out of the saddle yet but I think my fears are because the bike is so light (and I'm not) rather than because of her diminutive size.
Not sure how the speed compares yet, it feels fast, my throat was burning in under a mile so I must have been going for it. I will try and rig up the polar S725 tonight and then I can tell for sure.
