Reason to Ride #31

The A12 this evening: gridlocked

Back on the Beta

Back on the Beta commuter bike for a few days... moving back to chain drive and rim brakes on fat 26" tyres with only my trusty old 90-lumen Fenix head-torch is interesting. Not sure how I rode the trusty stead like this for 18months!

Amazingly small...

Amazingly bright... It must be a Supernova light!

The first weeks commuting

I have a days holiday tomorrow so this weeks commuting is done. I have ridden the new bike on 3 of the 4 days (rode the MTB on Wednesday as it had to go in the car on the way into work)

The week has not been the greatest to commute due to the concern with ice on the roads which means I have had to stick to the main roads. Even then there has been plenty of ice on the surface and it has been a bit of a nervous week. To prove a point tonight I helped a motorist who had managed to get his car into a ditch. Fortunately he was OK but the cars was going nowhere.

First impressions of the bike are good. The design has eliminated all of the short comings of the Beta bike.

- I can get a rack on the rear and still have a rear disc brake.

- The geometry of the frame is excellent and makes for a very comfortable ride on the road.

- The Marathon Plus tyres have way more grip than the city slickers on the beta which has been very comforting this week.

- The Gates Belt Drive has been silent and has meant that I have not had to use oil all week.

- The dynohub means I have not had to charge batteries.

It has been everything Mark and I always discussed for the ultimate commute bike. A bike you can take out every morning and just ride. I can't wait til the roads are a bit more predictable to ride and then I can do some longer rides home and get used to riding the bike at a bit greater speed.

Reason to Ride #25

-3.5deg, crisp & clear; an awesome morning

2 Commutes in the Bag

Been commuting on the prototype for a couple of days now, and it's going really well - apart from the Brooks saddle, which is going to take some breaking-in! The weather hasn't been the best so far - well below freezing this morning, some serious frost in some areas too

Love it: Grade 'A' Milk

Uber-frost!

The deep freeze continues here in the UK, but that hasn't affected the commute and the new bikes are churning on without any issues. Really enjoying getting to know the prototype! (More images later, once they've been downloaded)

Ready to Roll!

The White prototype is complete and ready to roll (barring the 'guards and a rack). The Gates carbon belt drive didn't go on as well as we thought it would; took a bit of tinkering to get the alignment just right before setting the tension, but now it's setup it should give endless hours of clean, silent and maintenance-free drive! Now for a bit if testing! Mark

Starting to feel like Christmas

Up at friends last week we made some wreaths. I managed to find an old tyre while we were out collecting materials so used that as the base for mine. Hung it on the shed door today with a bit of old inner tube ;-)

Some more build pictures

Not to be out done by Mark I have also been building up my prototype....

It's a bike!

... well, nearly! It's starting to look like a bit at any rate... Now just need the snow to stop and melt before the weekend. Wishful thinking, me thinks!