Light Fantastic

Not much to report on the bike front. The disc brake adapter turned up for the Singlespeed, but I haven’t fitted it yet. The Remedy needs a new rear tyre after I holed the sidewall on the final descent of the last ride in Llangollen. It might be repairable, but I’ve never had much confidence in repaired tyres and the Maxxis Ignitor tyres have always been puncture prone. I think that the sidewalls are just too lightweight for a bike like this. The Roadrat is a nicer bike to ride without all the lights on it, I’m glad that spring is on the way.

I had a random chat with a rider on the way home on Friday who was on a Fred Williams road bike. My Independent Fabrication obsessed mate, Jam Price works for Williams, so we had a bit of banter about the bike, which it turned out had come off eBay. I was asked how did I find the Cotic? Well it’s built tough. It was great over winter with the disc brakes and cross tyres on it, but it lacks the kind of frame zinginess that makes it exciting to ride. If you accept that it’s a solid sturdy workhorse then you’ll be made up with one, but if you want something that occasionally you can crank up to 8 or 9 and push a bit, then it’s not for you. I’m not even sure the virtual volume adjuster even goes to 10. I think that for the kind of performance, in terms of reacting to power inputs or sudden changes in direction that I’m looking for I need to look into a proper road bike.

So the lease on it under the Bike to Work scheme only runs until July after that it’ll be new bike time. Hmmm, better start looking now then.