Just noted that my last post was over 2 months ago, where does the time go? On top of that, I haven’t been following the other bike blogs I love to read. I miss the massivemtbiker blog in particular, I felt he was a kindred spirit I could relate to, but Clive has had to move on. Sadly things change, not always for the better, but hopefully Clive, you and your family are going from strength to strength. 

Currently, I have lots of problems on the home front, exasperating to say the least. But on the bright side, I have my bikes to ride, to calm me down, and chill. AND I have a new one!

A Jamison Sputnik singlespeed. I’ve had it a few weeks, haven’t wanted to ride it in the rain, been nervous about riding it , to tell the truth. The set up is very different from my commuter workhorse, the Raleigh Venture Pioneer GT, so basically, like a wimp, I’ve been avoiding taking it for a real spin. Today, however, things came to a head, and I was forced to use it.

My car had to go in for its MOT straight after my nightshift, and the Pioneer GT was in Halfrauds (yes, that’s the way you should spell it!), so I took the Sputnik on the back of my car to work last night, then went to my car dealer this morning and cycled home the 15 or so miles home on it. Wow!!!

It was a fantastic ride. Was a bit nervous in the heavy traffic on a long slow incline with lights coming out of Swansea, so I walked a quarter mile on the pavement. That was because I have a problem standing up on the pedals, at the moment, I feel the handlebars are too narrow, causing me to wander side to side, and feeling unsteady. The handlebars are a moustache style. It’s quite comfortable when I’m in the drop position, my arms are then quite wide and I feel in control, but the brakes (yes, I have them, what a wimp all you singlespeeders are saying!) are in the middle, either side of the headset, a narrow set up. which currently I feel unsafe with.

I’ve transferred my Brookes saddle to the Sputnik, I love that name, so the seating arrangement is fine. The cranks, I’ve noticed are much longer, and will touch the ground, when leaning into a bend, much sooner than those on the Pioneer, with the wrong pedal down. Presumably, that’s to give greater torque when pedalling up hill.

The hills, not that I have anything major on my route home, were fine. I must admit I was worried about my ability to cope on the ‘ups’, but as long as I don’t need to slow down, because of the traffic, they’re no problem. Puff! Puff!

This post is still a work in progress, I will tell you, my faithful reader, some more asap.

Cheers for now.

Just tried to upload a couple of pictures of my new Sputnik to this post, to be confronted with system error, but will try again, in the next couple of days. If you want to take a peak, go to Jamison Bicycles, they make lovely bikes.

I’ll close this post now.

Thanks for dropping by.