http://www.cyclorama.net/blog Guide to alternative and specialised cycles Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:04:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When I was an Industrial Design student I designed a hand held mobile phone no bigger than, say, a Nokia N97. This was 198cough and I was marked down severely because, according to the tutor, mobile phone technology would never be small enough to fit inside such a small ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/ramblings/aero/ A small boy goes into a bike shop. 'Scuse me mister, can I have a spacer for my headset please'? 'Sure!' Says the man behind the counter. 'What size do you require?' 'Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen or fifteen millimetres?' 'Oh. I dunno.' Says the boy. And he wanders off back to ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/stuff/how-cool-is-this/ It was in Harrogate, just up the road. Bike shows are one of my favourite things (like flying on an airliner, no matter how many times I do it the wonder never leaves me) and so I couldn't very well pass it up. It's a small show and trade only. ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/cycle-shows/show-report-the-bike-place/ The car came back at the weekend after a week away, borrowed by the inlaws. I drove it to work today, just as I drove it to work yesterday. The weather is pretty dismal at the moment, freezing rain with strong winds, and so my pedal to work on routes ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/ramblings/shame/ So, with the Africa Bike back on the road (just in time, the car is away for a week!) we now have a full set of bikes. Here's just a few of them in a bundle: From back to front: Caz's Gazelle Impala 7 with basket and silver Clarjis bags, Big Blue Bakfiets ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/ramblings/the-collection/ The winter has finally arrived after weeks and weeks of spring type weather which has had nature all confused. Wasps in January? Wasps? January?? I have my bike back on the road. Bike #1, my 'daily', the Africa Bike. I love all the other bikes, but they aren't everyday bikes. The Bakfiets ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/ramblings/africa-bike-back-on-the-road/ Last week I took my wheel back to bike shop and left it with them to assess. Ash, Cycle Heaven's resident hub expert kindly checked it over. FOC. He backed off the cones, it span ok and I breathed a sigh of relief. When I got it back I put it ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/ramblings/gutted-cont/ [caption id="attachment_2714" align="aligncenter" width="575" caption="The Solar System looking south to Selby"][/caption] Saturday dawned with a promise of a bright clear morning, a chance to retake the pics I deleted the other day. And no better conditions for a bicycle ride. (Right click image and 'view image' to see full size pics). The addition ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/reviews/contropedale-a-serious-product-review/ Not content with the recent wholesale destruction of my beloved SRAM i-Motion 3 coaster hub, today I outdid myself in the Doh! department. Riding my lovely new Contropedale with its recently installed front 'porteur' rack this morning, I stopped to take some pictures in the low winter sunlight which was streaming ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/rants/aaargh/ If my aim was to start the year off as I intend to go on then I’d better start again. I found myself a little window of opportunity on Sunday the 1st to put my Africa Bike back together. It’s been sitting with its wheels out against the outside wall of ... http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/ramblings/gutted/