MrPorridge
Well-Known Member
- Location
- North West England
Err... Hello. I've just registered. I'm old (51) though I guess that's relative, fat (ditto). Short (5'6" so definitely) and bald (profoundly).
I'm very much a fair weather (April-Sept), very short commute (3 miles if I go the long way round) sort of a cyclist. I have an old, steel Marin hybrid that is probably too small for me (15" frame) but as I have comically short legs getting something to fit my body means having no standover clearance even with these new-fangled sloping top tube jobbies.
I'm rather out of shape but have been losing some weight and I'm trying to get fitter (exercise bike) with the aim of getting out more on the old push-iron when the weather gets a little bit better.
I'd love a new machine and to start to get further afield than my usual pootles down the canal path but I'd prefer one that doesn't make me look like a gorilla perched on a child's bike. However, my own compromised geometry would seem to rule out most things.
I love the idea of things like the Planet-X Kaffenback or the Genesis Croix de Fer but, in truth, it's the idea of some kind of funky, drop-bar, steel-framed, do-it-all that I'm drawn to rather than any real knowledge or experience of what I should actually be looking for. I suspect that my bike quest, rather like Arkwright from Open All Hours' trouser shopping, will end up with me finding everything I try uncomfortable and re-selecting my clapped-out old velocipede.
Oh, and I do tend to go on a bit. Sorry about that.
I'm very much a fair weather (April-Sept), very short commute (3 miles if I go the long way round) sort of a cyclist. I have an old, steel Marin hybrid that is probably too small for me (15" frame) but as I have comically short legs getting something to fit my body means having no standover clearance even with these new-fangled sloping top tube jobbies.
I'm rather out of shape but have been losing some weight and I'm trying to get fitter (exercise bike) with the aim of getting out more on the old push-iron when the weather gets a little bit better.
I'd love a new machine and to start to get further afield than my usual pootles down the canal path but I'd prefer one that doesn't make me look like a gorilla perched on a child's bike. However, my own compromised geometry would seem to rule out most things.
I love the idea of things like the Planet-X Kaffenback or the Genesis Croix de Fer but, in truth, it's the idea of some kind of funky, drop-bar, steel-framed, do-it-all that I'm drawn to rather than any real knowledge or experience of what I should actually be looking for. I suspect that my bike quest, rather like Arkwright from Open All Hours' trouser shopping, will end up with me finding everything I try uncomfortable and re-selecting my clapped-out old velocipede.
Oh, and I do tend to go on a bit. Sorry about that.