SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
This, and another similarly distressed looking Halfords own brand, came my way recently. It's a 22" frame Austrian-built Puch Touring that dates from around 1973/74 and has been laid up out of use for over 40 years. Just a cheap, everyday utility machine originally aimed at low-budget customers who would not, or could not, stump up the higher price of a similar Raleigh. The original tyres were of course totally flat, so were pumped up and actually held air and didn't split or explode! Gears and brakes needed some tinkering to get them freed off and working properly, but despite the rusty, shabby appearance, the bike actually rides very nicely indeed and appears to have little mechanical wear.
I had just planned to give it a brief shakedown road test before taking my trusty Raleigh Pioneer out for my normal weekend ride, but it goes so well I ended up leaving the Pioneer indoors and did at least 20 miles this morning on the Puch. I'd forgotten how much fun a plain old 3-speed can be to ride, as the relaxed frame geometry soaks up the bumps and remains stable on poor surfaces. The 3-speed hub gears are so user-friendly to use. Derailleur gear trains are a real pain for getting clogged full of grass & other plant life if you ride them away from tarmac, no such hassles with a 3-speed hub. I can see me clocking up quite a few miles on this for journeys that don't involve too many gradients, although I will probably swap the 18T rear sprocket for a 19 or 20T just to lower the gearing a fraction to make top gear more useable.
I had just planned to give it a brief shakedown road test before taking my trusty Raleigh Pioneer out for my normal weekend ride, but it goes so well I ended up leaving the Pioneer indoors and did at least 20 miles this morning on the Puch. I'd forgotten how much fun a plain old 3-speed can be to ride, as the relaxed frame geometry soaks up the bumps and remains stable on poor surfaces. The 3-speed hub gears are so user-friendly to use. Derailleur gear trains are a real pain for getting clogged full of grass & other plant life if you ride them away from tarmac, no such hassles with a 3-speed hub. I can see me clocking up quite a few miles on this for journeys that don't involve too many gradients, although I will probably swap the 18T rear sprocket for a 19 or 20T just to lower the gearing a fraction to make top gear more useable.
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