Well winters arrived and I,ve put my elderly Peugeot to bed for the next few months.It's not like it's worth a lot but because of its condition I want to preserve it from the harsh conditions of winter and filthy lanes around here.The Peugeot is a flimsy road bike and only really gets used on the decent roads, but cycling along them at night amongst speeding traffic doesn't inspire much confidence or enjoyment, so tonight the MTB Boardman has been reinstated back into use for the winter wonders. The ex brother-in-law built it up for me last year and gave to me as a surprise present. I was speechless when he gave it to me last year, as I was at an all time low after coming to terms with the loss of my wife from her adulterous acts.
Anyway time has moved on and must not dwell sorry , and tonight I took the Boardman out for its first winter night ride of the year.You can certainly tell that bike technology and bike design has moved on between the two bikes. The hydraulic brakes on the Boardman are a million miles wide from the Weinmann side pull brakes on the Pug. It was also nice to have indexed gearing with the Shimano Sora group set compared to the" old hat"friction levers on the down tubes.
The Boardman has got a set of thick chunky slicks fitted which made the going a lot easier than knobbly tyres and copped quite well down the filthy lanes. Time will tell though will the bad weather really kicks in with them. Another noticeable thing I noticed was how much safer I felt physiologically. I felt more in control, stable , and more visible to other road users. A sure sign tonight that winters arrived as I saw 4 gritters out for the first time this evening.
Tonight its been a transformation from a summer roadie to winter mountain biker and "boy" its been good fun coming home covered in freezing cold welsh mud lol :-) :-)
Time for a shower and a beer .
How yourselves a good night,
johnny :-)
Anyway time has moved on and must not dwell sorry , and tonight I took the Boardman out for its first winter night ride of the year.You can certainly tell that bike technology and bike design has moved on between the two bikes. The hydraulic brakes on the Boardman are a million miles wide from the Weinmann side pull brakes on the Pug. It was also nice to have indexed gearing with the Shimano Sora group set compared to the" old hat"friction levers on the down tubes.
The Boardman has got a set of thick chunky slicks fitted which made the going a lot easier than knobbly tyres and copped quite well down the filthy lanes. Time will tell though will the bad weather really kicks in with them. Another noticeable thing I noticed was how much safer I felt physiologically. I felt more in control, stable , and more visible to other road users. A sure sign tonight that winters arrived as I saw 4 gritters out for the first time this evening.
Tonight its been a transformation from a summer roadie to winter mountain biker and "boy" its been good fun coming home covered in freezing cold welsh mud lol :-) :-)
Time for a shower and a beer .
How yourselves a good night,
johnny :-)
Not surprising though, no way that hub would stand 'radial' spoking. 
