Just been out on this route and got 3 Personal Bests on Strava, including Yalding Hill.
Yay!
And now I’m aching.
Nothing much else happened this week, cycling-wise, except on Monday as I was passing a bike shop in Ashford I saw this thing of beauty through the window
I literally did a double-take and had to turn around and go back and stare through the window drooling! This was like the dream machine of my youth. I used to have a Holdsworth frame – I even sprayed it orange, but didn’t have the logos on. Used to commute on it in the late 70’s.
Purists would say (and I agree) that the wheels/tyres on this re-issue look too lairy. The A-head stem looks a little unrealistic too I guess but I could live with that, and the carbon forks.
I want one! Now! Of course I’d have to get some retro kit to match!
I saw a glowing review of this bike and it must have been just at the right time for me to be thinking about getting a new bike, even though there was nothing particularly wrong with my existing bike. It’s a bit like when you suddenly decide to get a different car. Once your mind is on that track you can’t shift it. You always end up getting a new car, and in my case it was inevitable that I would get some sort of new bike, and this one fit the bill. List price was £1499, but I had seen them going for £1299, and in one case £1199. Being late in the year this was 2012’s outgoing model, hence the generous discounts. I called my to see if they would offer a comparable price.
“Oh no, we sold out of those back in August. We can’t get any more of those. There are none left anywhere in the UK”
I panicked, thinking they were in short supply and immediately ordered one from Pedal-On. It was delivered in a couple of days. Needless to say, my LBS had got it wrong again! These were still for sale months later.
I was really looking forward to trying it but it rained every day for 2 weeks! I eventually got to try it out but the weather never really improved and I ended up riding it through a wet winter. I even bought mudguards because I was so fed-up with hosing it down after each ride! I find the bike very comfortable to ride, even over the atrocious road surfaces I encountered on the back country lanes. I love the SRAM Apex DoubleTap gear shifters. It took no time getting used to them. The ability to shift up or down while down in the drops is so convenient. The first upgrade I made was to fit Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels I bought second-hand from a bloke selling them on eBay. Recently I fitted a , after briefly trying a
This shows the bike with the Mavic Ksyrium Elites, Selle Italia saddle and with the stem flipped to give a more aggressive rider position.
Got these wheels second-hand from eBay. The seller said they had done just 200 miles and, judging by the look of them and the tyres, I had no reason to doubt him. They came with a Shimano Ultegra cassette, which I sold on eBay for £35, so I ended up paying about £100 less than …
I literally did a double-take and had to turn around and go back and stare through the window drooling! This was like the dream machine of my youth. I used to have a Holdsworth frame – I even sprayed it orange, but didn’t have the logos on. Used to commute on it in the late 70’s.
