Paul finally buys a new bike (shock horror)

Here's an overdue posting - I've finally invested in a new bicycle - admittedly this was more than a month ago .. but time as a parent is fluid and it too easily slips through your fingers. (And now, I'm sat in Kidzcity in Utrecht, an indoor play ground; the kids are burning up energy as I just sit ..).

Back to the bike: everyone in my direct neighbourhood knows I've been going on about a new bike for ages (2+ years). As I use my bike a lot - for my daily (no exceptions) commute to work (25 km round trip) - they tend to see a fair bit of wear and tear.

The general pattern in my adult cycling life so far has been:

1. I've invested in a sporty (ATB, Racer, Hybrid) bike with gears;
2. After about 1,5 years use the gears are knackered;
3. I invest in new (better) gears;
4. After about 1,5 years the gears are knackered;
5. I decide not to invest in gears - but start stripping the bike down and invest in a single chainwheel, sprocket and new chain;
6. After about 1,5 years I return to bullet 5.
7. (A new bike arrives when the old bike is really starting to require too much maintenance - like when a wheel rim detaches).

All in all, for my purposes 1 gear suffices; yes it's annoying when there's a lot of wind:

• The gearing is too high (I struggle against the wind);
• The gearing is too low (my legs go around like crazy).
• (My gear ratio is always around the 2,7 mark).

But .. it's generally a very simple, enjoyable, light-weight cycling experience.

Anyhoo .. I digress. My set of requirements for my bike:

1. It has to be the epitome of cycling:
1. Efficient (energy in = energy out);
2. Effective (it does what it's meant for - and no more);
3. Cost effective (why is it that the more minimal the bike, the higher the price ?);
4. Reliable (it has to survive without being serviced every 50 km);
2. The above requirements can be translated to (items aren't ordered):
• Light-weight;
• 1 gear (not a fixie);
• Cruise speed just over 30 km/h;
• Touring / city geometry (fairly comfortable);
• Mudguards;
• Reliable;
• Costs under EUR 1000.

Apart from the 1 gear requirement - this will fit quite a lot of bikes. For instance, my colleagues at work asked why I didn't invest in a standard Dutch "stadsfiets" (e.g. the Batavus Commuter): they're not too expensive, reliable, have gears and are very suited to commuting. 

At this point I should make it clear that I've forgotten one of my requirements:

1. It should be special.

So .. I looked into (albeit from the internet) bikes with a Gates Carbon Drive; nice - but very quickly very expensive. (I must say that at the beginning of 2009 I attempted to to buy a Trek Soho in England; the pound was extremely low and the English price hadn't been corrected yet so I would have saved myself roughly EUR 350 over the Dutch price (then). Unfortunately it didn't work out. Trek have a complete stranglehold on how bikes are supplied and the internet shop wasn't allowed to supply. Even trying to have it delivered to an English address failed; the bike had to be picked up. Since this event, I've gone off Trek   - in hindsight I should've contacted the EU over consumer protection - cause it all reeked of a manufacturer interfering with the rights to fair supply).

Once again, I digress. I kind of knew what I wanted, but I couldn't find a manufacturer (should I make a bike myself ?- if only I had more time).

And then - on 7 January (2011) I noticed that Wiggle was selling the 2010 Charge Plug Grinder  for next to nothing (well ... GBP 270 less than the 2011 model). And as the 2010 model doesn't seem to be inferior to the 2011 model (looking at the specs), I decided to go for it - the price was what drew me over the line in the end. 

And so far, I'm very pleased I've done it (see the following post). 

And funnily enough the Wiggle price of the 2010 Charge Plug Grinder has gone up again, by GBP 220 !! Now that puts a smile on my face.