March 15, 2006 at 8:58 pm · Filed under Bikes, Cycling, Equipment, Road
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.
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.
I have to say that the outcome was very positive. Ben Haywards were excellent, they really went out of their way to make it convenient for me to return the bike, actually allowing me to drop it off outside of hours. Airnimal believed that the weld had been overheated during its manufacture and replaced the entire chameleon frame under warranty. I think the new machine was back with me within a week.
Anyway, once bitten twice shy as they say. I decided she had to go and promptly sold the new bike on.
Now I’m the proud owner of a slightly cheaper Specialised Sirrus, another ultegra model with flat bars and disk brakes. I think its better suited to my well built self.
Popularity: 29% [?]
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July 15, 2005 at 12:08 pm · Filed under Bikes, Cycling, Equipment
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.
Popularity: 24% [?]
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Tags: airnimal, chameleon, folding bike
July 6, 2005 at 9:30 pm · Filed under Cycling, Road
Well, after my second long distance ride in a week I can say that I am well and truly knackered. I got home this evening after a 75 mile day trip and was so tired that I sat on the loo and remained there for the next 30 mins just taking refuge.
It was my first audax ride - the so called West London Sight Seer. The route took us too and from Hampton Hill via Kingston, Richmond Park, Putney, Westminster, London Bridge, Greenwich, Millenium Dome, Mudchute, The City, Hyde Park, Nottinghill, Hammersmith and Isleworth. A real sight seeing route.
It was a complex ride with 4 pages of detailed route notes but very enjoyable. I stuck with a group of 4 guys and they were an absolute pleasure to ride with. I would certainly recommend it. Quite a slow tiring ride but very interesting, I saw a new and different side to London - it was the first time I’d used the Greenwich foot tunnel for example.
The route came in at 65 miles but we made a few minor errors in route which probably amounted to the extra 5 miles. The riding time was 6 hours and 8 mins although we added extra time with essential tea breaks. That amounts to an average speed of 11 mph - not so great eh?
I damaged Peryl’s wheels by getting the rear tire stuck in a narrow cattle grid type thingy, thats the trouble with narrow race tyres. Just scored the rims, no real problem.
I will definately do more audax rides, I found it to be very friendly and quite manageable, there was just one hill on the way into Greenwich park that caused my heart rate to go through the roof. Other than that I managed to keep with the pace.
Popularity: 20% [?]
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Tags: airnimal, chameleon, folding bike, hyde park, Richmond Park
June 22, 2005 at 2:00 pm · Filed under Bikes, Cycling, Equipment
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.
Anyway, thats enough moaning. I think its all an excuse to get another bike - like I need to be a two bike household!
Things have really improved since I came back from my holiday though. My elbows recovered, I bought some extra padding for the handlebars and I started having fun. She is after all a lovely bike.
I’ve just entered us both into an audax. Its my first and not one I would have considered doing on my old cannondale. So the date is set, 6th July, me, Peryl and 100km of london streets. Exciting init.
Popularity: 18% [?]
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April 10, 2005 at 12:49 pm · Filed under Bikes, Commuting, Cycling, Equipment
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?
Popularity: 22% [?]
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Tags: airnimal, chameleon, folding bike, Richmond Park
April 5, 2005 at 5:34 pm · Filed under Bikes, Cycling, Equipment, Road
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.
Popularity: 26% [?]
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Tags: airnimal, chameleon, Diet, folding bike, knee, polar
