Brooks Leather grips

Oh Boy, look whats just arrived in the post!

These are my black grips, and my wife has a brown pair.

These will be fitted to the Pashleys tomorrow, and I might then get around to a proper review!

These grips are just beautiful, machined alloy ends, connected with spokes that thread through a set of leather washers.  Warm, comfortable, breathable.  Cant wait.

Famous Pashley riders - part 4

You may remember their music video - those are Pashleys!

State of the British bicycle industry

Nice article from Director magazine about the state of the British bike industry, including an interview with Pashley.

Click the link below

Sector profile | The British bicycle industry

Ukuleles and bicycle

I really do like Nippers Bicycle and Ukulele site.

Most of all I love this picture!

Thats the same as the Pashley I recently acquired - the Roadster Sovereign - dont have so many Ukes though!

Nippers blog can be found HERE

If you want to know more about the Ukulele - try my blog HERE

So, what goes in the toolkit?

Any prepared rider should carry around a simple toolkit with them - you never know when you will get caught short.

What do I carry in mine?

• Puncture repair kit - for the obvious
• 13mm spanner - for wheel nuts and seat post
• Allen key - to fit gear levers, brake levers and handlebar stem
• Rag - to clean hands
• small phillips screwdriver - to remove chain case if necessary
• Couple of tyre levers
• Some cable ties - handy for tying back anything that comes loose
• Small amount of duck tape - just because!

That is perfectly fine for day to day riding.  If I was touring I would probably add a spoke key and perhaps a wider range of allen keys and spanners for more serious tinkering.

What do you carry in yours?

A bigger saddlebag

On my Pashley, I want the bike to be functional. I have some larger clip on panniers for the rear rack, but I wanted a larger saddlebag to carry a waterproof, saddle cover, and still have a bit of space for a bottle of milk (or wine!!) if I am out and about.

The obvious choice was Carradice - handmade in Nelson, Lancashire, UK, these are old favourites amongst touring cyclists, so couldn't resist.  I bought the Carradice Barley, and it fits on the saddle and rack wonderfully.

I'll be doing a fuller review of the bag in due course (when I get around to a review of the bike itself!).  In the meantime, here is a picture!