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an unbridgeable gap

i did try, honest i did. but events got the better of me, unfortunately resulting in no post for today, and it's not looking good for friday either. fortunately, this is entirely unrelated to the php crisis currently gripping the internet, and much more to a lack of organisation on my part. hopefully back by the weekend in time to be blown sideways by storm austen.

thursday 22 october 2026

condescension

one of the problems of teaching pipe band snare drumming to beginners is the apparent ease with which the experienced drummer practises his/her art. it looks deceptively simple to achieve. piping, on the other hand, looks difficult from the get go, an apprehension that is every bit as true as it appears. the intrepid learner will begin on chanter, the part of the bagpipe which points downwards from the bag, and offers the piper the opportunity to play whichever tune has been decreed. unfortunately, if you happen to be in a nearby drum corps, practising alongside on rubber drum pads, accompaniment is fraught with interludes for breathing.

though i believe it is possible to practise circular breathing, so called because as air is blown through the mouth, the practitioner simultaneously breathes in through the nose. a rarefied number of top grade pipers and saxophonists are able to demionstrate this technique during their respective performances, but for what i hope are obvious reasons, this might be a smidgeon beyond the capability of the rank beginner. those interspersed breaths rarely seem to allow the hypothetical chanter players to maintain a recognisable sense of time, thus rendering any localised accompaniment null and void.

committed pipe band drummists will have already sniggered at the included humour, paying attention to the knowledge that, with one or two exceptions, bagpipers below a certain grade, exhibit no recognition of timekeeping whatsoever.

as it transpires, and i know from first-hand experience, drumming is a whole lot harder than it looks, realisation of which inevitably ends in a sense of disappointment and that there is a very high mountain to climb. pipe band drummers, in common with america's dci drum corps, rely entirely on drum rudiments to create the often overtly technical patterns required by both styles of performance. and in order to grasp technical fluency in any and all of those rudiments, it is necessary to practise them slowly and deliberately, only increasing the tempo when mastery allows.

i cannot deny that it's hardly the most exciting way to occupy your time.

given that pipe band snare drums are specifically designed and constructed to offer unparalleled volume in the great outdoors, instruction and practice generally takes place upon a rubber practice pad, a combination of wood and rubber that reputedly approximates the feel of a real drumhead, but actually doesn't. this means that there are no melodies to be learned, and after having played snare drum for more than 55 years, my practice regime sounds little different than that of the beginner, though perhaps a tad faster and smoother. so while the pipers can move onto the goose (an air bag with chanter, but devoid of the three drones) and then a full set of pipes, as their skills improve, an ageing drummer such as yours truly is still confined to a dark corner of the practice room, tapping away in the background.

heaven forefend that percussive sounds interrupt the lengthy bagpipe tuning ritual, apparently designed to be repeated several times per evening.

though it may be a strange admission from a drummer who has been associated with a pipe band since 1992, i'm not actually all that keen on the sound of the great highland bagpipe in the first place. i'm sure that the pipe majors under whom i have worked believe that i'm only joking, but it's true. that does not, however, disavow the notion that playing in a pipe band is anything but hard. to achieve almost perfect harmony between ten pipers and ten drummers throughout a lengthy performance, is arguably harder than playing jazz, rock or country music (delete as applicable).

i mention this because it is only a matter of days before tickets go on sale for the grand départ in edinburgh at the start of those three weeks in july 2027. there are apparently 9,000 tickets available to the eagerly constituted. according to the comic's website, the event will begin at 18:.30 on wednesday 30 june on the esplanade outside edinburgh castle and will involve the producers of the annual edinburgh military tattoo. but the comic goes one stage further to enlighten those velocipedinists who may not have previously heard of the edinburgh tattoo. and, in obvious anticipation of cycling weekly's sales completely tanking north of the border, they described it as 'a bagpipes and dance show'.

to place in perspective: the edinburgh tattoo attracts an annual audience in excess of 220,000, averaging almost 9,000 people each evening, and has done so since the 1970s. approximately 30% of that audience hails from scotland, 35% from the rest of the uk and around 35% (70,000) travel from overseas. each season features more than 800 performers and the global tv audience is estimated at 100 million. ticket prices range from £58 to over £216. exclusive dining and hospitality packages are closer to £1,000.

cycling weekly's senior writer and deputy features editor should probably not holiday in scotland and i'd advise that he keep well away from the annual world pipe band championships in glasgow at the end of august.

wednesday 21 october 2026

anticipation

we have discussed at length, the fencing of uiskentuie strand by islay estates and the consternation this has caused for the dog-walking population of islay. the strand consists of a 3km stretch of grass and dunes bordering the seaward side of the main road between bridgend village and bruichladdich. in fairness to the estate, it is their land and thus subject to the agricultural demands they wish to place upon it, but prior to the full length, roadside fencing being installed, the ground had accommodated weekend walkers, dog walkers, but disappointingly, also motorhome owners and hirers determined to avoid paying for a hook up at the nearby port mòr campsight in port charlotte. and, due to its location, many of those walkers were guilty of parking their cars pretty much anywhere they saw fit.

the official reason for fencing the area was to encourage breeding of the endangered chough, a member of the crow family, numbers of which have been in decline on islay for a number of years. reputedly they feed on the dung beetles that frequent the cow pats resulting from grazing cattle on the strand, and that, in short, is the principal reason behind the protests against the fence installation. while the sheep which usually graze on that stretch of land are largely untroubled by pedestrians, cattle are another thing entirely. for one thing, they're a lot bigger than you or i, and prone to bouts of belligerence, particularly around dogs, whether on a leash or not. and while i'm happy to ride through a herd of sheep, i'm inclined to remain as far from cattle as is practical.

though there is no need to ride on the grass when heading to debbie's for a bout of froth supping, it's a habit in which i have invested several years, hoping to impress upon passing motorists on the road, that i possess the kind of cyclocross skills about which they can but dream. of course, we all know that is very far from the truth, but there's no real harm in attempting to fool all of the people all of the time. thankfully, whether by design or accident, the estate seems to have taken to moving the cattle to the opposite side of the road at weekends, meaning my cameron mason impersonations can continue unhindered.

which, i like to think, is a timeous coming together of several related strands (pun unintended). tnt sports has already broadcast its first televised european cyclocross race of the 2026/27 season from meulebeke this past weekend with the opening round of the telenet super-prestige trophy series coming this sunday. that's followed at the end of the month by the first round of the x2o badkamers trofee series, after which we're well and truly down the cyclocross rabbit hole.

but cyclocross is already here.

saturday's race, the berencross from meulebeke, saw the first appearance of former world champion, fem van empel since she took a step back from the sport in the early part of the 25/26 season. and just to add to the joy of watching 'cross once again, those first few laps of the men's race saw the field headed by scotland's cameron mason (though he subsequently finished in 6th place). i have long said that the three grand tours, the spring classics and one day uci road races simply get in the way of the next cyclocross season, and i still believe that to be the case.

it's now time for a real sport.

tuesday 20 october 2026

rotation

the early 1980s in the uk provided a revelation and revolution for cyclists, with the introduction of the mountain bike. not so much invented, but more inadvertently discovered, the forerunners of the genre are now etched into history, following their experiments with coaster-braked 1930s scwinn cruisers on the so-called repack ride on pine mountain just outside of fairfax, california. gary fisher, joe breeze and charlie kelly are amongst the individuals who bestowed the mountain bike on civilisation. admittedly, downhill featured predominantly in their early exploits. heading back to the top for subsequent descents was accomplished either by a great deal of huffing and puffing, or in the back of a pickup.

coincidentally, the showroom models available to the rest of us explored the connection between three front chainrings, matched to six rear sprockets, the larger of which bore considerably more teeth than had been common on the european road bike. a bit like contemporary tv adverts for the landrover defender, such a wide range of pragmatic gearing offered the average rider the opportunity to convince friends and neighbours of their reputed sense of adventure. very much like the defender, the majority spent their time between home and work, or the shops.

to this i can testify at first hand, having purchased an original muddy fox courier, a bicycle that i cannot ever remember riding offroad (though there may have been a few forgettable occasions). accessorised with a rear rack and a couple of panniers, it's a bicycle that was employed mainly to get me to and from work, a daily round trip of around 20km on tarmac'd roads. it would be hard to deny the practicality of the gearing setup; though middle and outer rings took the bulk of the strain, with the little granny ring employed solely to save face in strong headwinds. the route itself was virtually pan flat.

i have been unable to identify any specific progenitors or inventors of the gravel bike. that particular genre appears to have been at the behest of an unknown marketing department. there is a tentative connection between north america's rapha continental, a group of eccentric cyclists who plied the lengthy gravel roads of the usa, but aboard custom-built steel road bikes on 28mm tyres. my own theory, bolstered by my disdain for the category, is that the existing, and almost indistinguishable cyclocross bike, was a european invention; the gravel bike was north america's means of levelling the playing field.

tellingly, when i still reviewed bicycles in these black and yellow pixels, it was difficult to get hold of cyclocross bikes for review, particularly the lower cost models. most distributors claimed that, with limited sales, they were not in the habit of apportioning models to their review fleet. change the name to gravel, and it's now hard to avoid reviews. colnago (for example) regularly invites cycle journalists to tuscany to ride the latest version of their gravel series (already up to number five).

however, despite the cycling industry's continual tinkering with almost every aspect of this niche world of which we find ourselves obsessed, the mountain bike continues to hum away in the background (i do appreciate that such is the vision of the roadie; mountain bikers, i'm sure, think of road bikes in the same way). at the behest of the aforementioned marketing departments, the humble mountain bike - which first arrived bereft of suspension in any form) has expanded into cross country, downhill, hardtail and likely one or two others of which i am blissfully unaware, several of which resemble farm gates on two wheels, with price tags to match.

thankfully (i think), madison's ridgeback has not taken its eye off the ball or the accounts spreadsheet, recently introducing their terrain entry-level mountain bike, outfitted with shimano componentry (madison is the uk's shimano distributor), a pair of suntour suspension forks and maxxis tyres. you need only take a glance at the photo above to witness the relative simplicity of the release, the price of which begins at £599, and offers two wheel sizes to accommodate a differentially-sized range of customers.

but while madison are unashamedly aiming the terrain at those purchasing their first (mountain) bike, it strikes me that it might appeal not only to those with one eye on their bank account, but those who long for the simplicity of the 1980s mountain bikes. though it's not something of which i harbour a desire to purchase, i do wonder if one of the big boys might emulate madison's perspicacity by doing roadies a similar favour. a low cost, aluminium, steel or, perhaps, carbon frame with an entirely mechanical groupset, separate bars and stem, rim brakes, but 28mm or even 30mm tyre clearance.

i'm sure that at least one, if not more, bicycle manufacturers already hide such a model within their extensive ranges, possibly even at a similarly amenable price to the ridgeback terrain. in which case, perhaps their marketing department(s) might like to earn their salaries by highlighting any that fit the above description? the majority of advertisements and reviews i have witnessed in recent months, have mostly edged towards the upper reaches, with often all but unobtainable prices. it would mark a welcome step in democratising entry-level road cycling.

anybody listening?

monday 19 october 2026

ascendancy

i have recently been listening to podcasts hosted by rich redman, a nashville-based drummer, whose main gig for quite some time, has been with country singer, jason aldean. now just before you consider that i may have switched musical genres, deserting jazz for the works of johnny cash and tammy wynette, fear not, for that is very far from the case. aside from the fact that redman is a drummer, which makes him alright in my book from the get go, he does presetn a particularly relaxed persona as a podcast host, very much at odds with his extrovert style of drumming, consisting as it does of hard-hitting, augmented with habitual, yet confidently approached, stick twirls.

however, appreciative as i am that you could care less about my podcast predilections, the reason i mention this is related to one of the guests featured only a matter of days past. chase adams, a drummer of whom i had no previous knowledge, currently holds the drum chair with a band called the frontmen, apparently highly respected musicians of whom i have never heard a note. however, during the conversations, mr adams revealed that he had passed an audition with the band, almost entirely due to having 'done his homework'. in other words, apart from his undoubted skills at the drumset, he had made sure to listen and learn as many of the band's recorded works as he felt necessary, preparation which, it seems, worked very much in his favour.

as a big fish in a small pond, such musical preparation for yours truly, is largely unnecessary; there are so few drummers on the island (possibly only one other who seems less than eager to participate in any public music-making), that i am able to retain my own drum chair despite continuously (and slightly tongue-in-cheek) disparagement of the material proposed by our lead singer and guitarist. of course, should that one other drummer change his modus operandi, my laissez faire attitude could come back to bite me.

however, having previously praised the continued existence of local, independent bike shops - i only wish we had one - it is pertinent to recognise that many such bricks-and-mortar retail outlets possess web presences all of their own. so doing is quite possibly regarded as necessitous in our increasingly digitised world. and though not all of the above offer online sales from those websites, the majority will, at the very least, give an indication of the principal brands stocked, the componentry and accessories available, and would surely mention an ability or inability to service your bicycle, possibly even including a basic cost chart.

the fact that such information is freely available, means that should you be in the market for a new or used bicycle, perhaps you might even wish to trade in your existing model, or possibly you held desires of upgrading your velocipedinal wardrobe, or groupset, despite this being a service industry, i think it prudent that we (meaning you), ought to ensure we do our own homework. how embarrassing if it transpires that the chosen retailer does not deal in previously owned merchandise.

due to territorial considerations, where there is more than one bike shop in a defined area, distributors are less than inclined to supply more than one of them, unless special circumstances exist. thus, if you harbour desires of acquiring a new colnago, but enter a local trek dealer to effuse this considered choice, aside from probably leaving sorely disappointed, you are very unlikely to have endeared yourself to the proprietor and his/her staff, when the website plainly cites the brands to be found on the shop floor. similarly, entering a store with a display of top end pinarello, bianchi, colnago and enve models, to enquire if they might suggest the ideal frame size for a pashley roadster, would probably ensure that the staff behind the counter were not laughing with you.

in other words, do your homework.

in the main, we are wont to consider ourselves amongst the velocipedinal cognoscenti, along with which comes certain, unwritten standards. it is expected that anyone who knows and understands velominati's rule #5, should at least have the savvy not to embarrass themselves in public when making requests at the counter. it may be that your local bike shop staff consists of individuals who would struggle to spell campagnolo, but that hardly lets you off the hook.

consider the possibility that their service centre is staffed by former kwik fit employees, individuals who will have no qualms about attempting to sell you a full sram, wireless groupset, when all you'd asked for was a pair of presta valve caps. for your own peace of mind and public honour, you neeed to know when you're being misled. thankfully, there are remarkably few examples of independent bike shops where such behaviour is common, but i'm willing to bet that the staff would prefer to converse with someone possessed of a similar level of product knowledge as are they. there's no harm whatosoever, in asking their opinion or recommendations on bicycles, apparel or componentry, but the onus is on you to at least ensure you understand the answers. look what happened in the hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy on discovering the answer was '42'.

the concept of 'doing your homework' stops well short of attempting to become an expert in your chosen subject, but well do i recall a bike mechanic's facial expression when the fellow ahead of me in a local bike shop far, far away, stood with his bicycle and proclaimed, "it's making a noise."

even i smiled out loud.

sunday 18 october 2026

enticement

as i was on my return to civilisation following the recent week's holiday, i had cause to stop over in glasgow for an evening as a result of transport considerations. the attractions of the big city paled into insignificance many years ago, when the apparent costs of city centre retail drove many of the more interesting outlets farther afield, several occupying warehouses in outlying areas for a pittance in comparison to the rents of their former city centre shopfronts. that visiting the latter now inevitably necessitates a taxi ride and concomitant time restrictions has substantially reduced the commercial allure of the city centre conurbation. that and the fact that i'm none too keen on crowds.

however, in an effort to productively pass the time until dinner, i paid a quick visit to one of the nation's more prominant bicycle emporia, if only to view the product in its less than natural environment.

despite innovations in the retail paradigm, said emporium continues to maintain the shop layout that has persisted since it first opened in circa 2013. encountering a sporadic bicycle presence on the ground floor, i headed upstairs to view the remainder of the collection, passing a member of staff descending the stairs as i ascended in the opposite direction. upstairs was bereft of any staff whatsoever, bringing into question why the staff member encountered on the way, had not interrupted my travels by asking whther he might be able to offer retail assistance? it is, i believe, worthwhile my pointing out that my fifteen or so minutes on the upper floor were a solitary existence, with no-one bothering to check what i was doing, or whether i had several thousand pounds burning a hole in my wallet.

as a resident on the outer edge, i will freely admit to being less than well aware of the velocipedinal habits of the mainland dweller, but i must admit that i had expected the bulk of the bike floor stock to comprise of gravel. nothing could have been further from the truth. in fact the two main displays (i use the word in its loosest sense) consisted of a large number of mountain bikes; i found only five bona-fide gravel bikes, and two, 2025 road bike models, the retail prices of which had been substantially discounted. a separate display of machinery sourced from one of the world's premier brands consisted entirely of full-suspension mountain bikes.

descending the stairs to exit, i passed three members of staff behind the counter, none of whom even glanced in my direction. hardly the pinnacle of retail experiences, bicycle related or otherwise.

i do, however, have a modicum of sympathy for their predicament. as pointed out in a trade column by andy carr on the bike biz website, "What's missing is a reason to replace a bike. Since everyone bought one in 2021, the industry is looking for a new motivator to sell to existing customers..." we have explored this state of affairs on several previous occasions. during covid, bicycles spent the least amount of time on the shop floor, before being snapped up by those with demanding commutes to undertake, when personal health safety on public transport was not a guarantee. but that was only five years ago; those of us who are confirmed obsessives might not require a good reason to buy yet another bicycle (rule #12: the correct number of bikes to own is n+1), but the civilian population is not wired like that. why anyone thought that the bike boom would continue past the end of lockdown is a mystery unlikely ever to be solved.

however, modern society appears beholden to the idea that economic growth should continue in perpetuity, and that if the customer ain't buying, then it's the bike industry's job to provide it with new and innovative to wrest those pound notes from tightly shut wallets, purses and essentials cases. in the case of bicycles, reinventing the wheel seems to be the chosen option. not content with 650b, 26" 700c and 29ers, now we're being sold on 32". and when it comes to stopping power, particularly on road bikes, but edging to less frantic gravel, was there ever any real problem with the rim-brake?

and then there's clothing. roger daltrey, in his heyday, when he was determined not to be fooled again, invited us all to meet the new boss, who, it seems, was the same as the old boss. transpose that to cycle jerseys, and to paraphrase: meet the new jersey; same as the old jersey but in a different colour. consider rapha's new afterglow collection, apparently in the london clubhouse even as we speak. just as the uk enters the coldest part of the year, imperial works (as was), introduces lightweight jerseys coloured in shades of pastel pink and blue, notable for their all-over perforations designed not to keep you warm at all. you can view an image on their website only a few centimetres below the latest in waterproof overshoes. perhaps it's always warm and sunny near london's regent street?

i do have sympathy; apart from the search for the holy grail of waterproof apparel to replace the banned shakedry, there has to be a finite limit to the technological developments taking place in apparel design. so what's a loss-making purveyor to do if the shareholders and investment group owners demand the same level of financial growth that arose during the bradley bubble? status quo and nashville seem to have perfected the art of surviving on presenting the same thing over and over again.

how come it's not working for the bicycle industry?

image: rapha

saturday 17 october 2026

tea and grit. a bicycle journey along the silk road. helen watson. journey books paperback. 334pp illus. £9.99

continuity is hardly my finest hour. generally i'm inclined to jump from one subject to another on a daily basis. rarely does one day's post bear any relation to the previous day's, other than a commonality in pursuit of the bicycle (metaphorically speaking). but completely by accident, following yesterday's paean to the touring bike, or, more specifically, the dawes galaxy, comes a review of helen watson's excellent book about riding the silk road in the company of her husband ed, through turkey, syria, iraq, iran and several istans prior to reaching chinese china.

oddly, though both hail from scotlandshire, the prologue identifies itself as being written from tajikistan in june of 2010, more than sixteen years ago. as you might imagine, things have changed in mid-asia since then, a fact to which ms. watson alludes on more than one occasion in her narrative. and if you're as inquisitive as yours truly, you might be wondering why the accompanying map highlights their, at times, nerve-wracking trip as beginning in turkey, with scant regard for the bicycle travel presumably incurred between glasgow and ankara (we never find out). however, following the prologue, chapter one opens in the dark, windy and wet atmosphere of glasgow in 2015. it ends, however with watson listening to a radio reporter "talking about the construction of a vast refugee camp built from shipping containers." he was broadcasting from the turkish town of kilis.

chapter two arrives as the first in a section entitled syria, dated to february - march 2010, where our intrepid couple "...descended steadily from the Turkish town of Kilis towards the Syrian border." thus begins their often precarious trip of 15,000km along the historic silk road to china. whether such a bicycle journey would be possible in 2026 is highly doubtful; it's unlikely that the generosity and friendliness of those met along the way has changed by much, but there's little doubt that present day political and military regimes are a tad less approachable or tolerant than they were at the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

as mentioned in yesterday's monologue, the very best cycle travel books pay scant attention to the bicycles themselves, which, by implication, makes this one of the very best cycle travel books. mention of the velocipedes which carried them (more or less safely, you'll be pleased to learn) tends to be confined to mention of punctures, the occasional repair and the delight with which the bicycles were welcomed by children across all of the countries through which they travelled. only by squinting at the downtube in one of the photographs, was i able to detect the word koga, a marque also favoured by scots adventure cyclist, mark beaumont.

along with many, i am a confirmed armchair explorer, far more content to experience the world via the two wheels of intrepid individuals such as helen and her husband, than to harbour thoughts of following their lead. but should i ever reconsider, riding the so-called axis of evil would certainly not be my first choice.

however, the very same axis of evil is home to many of the world's greatest historical sites, such as the roman ruins of apamea, the monastery of mar musa, palmyra, isfahan, the tomb tower at gonbad-e kavus, bukhara and many others. and far from taking a laissez faire attitude towards where and when they rode their bicycles, there was often the pressing need to depart a country before their hard-won tourist visas expired. with seemingly perpetual clandestine miltary activity in many countries, the dangers of being found far from the border with an expired visa scarcely bore thinking about.

unlike the neighbours coming round on a sunday evening to show you their holiday snaps, reading of helen and ed's explorations is more than compulsive. despite being notionally aware that they must surely have succeeded in their mission, or it would not have appeared in book form, it was forever a case of 'just one more chapter' to ensure they reached relative safety before both they and i respectively bedded down for the night. we have been told from time immemorial that a book should not be judged by its cover; in this case, that is completely untrue. had i come across this book in my local bookshop, i would have bought it on the strength of the cover alone. the fact that the contents are even more impressive and enjoyable would simply have encouraged me to become even more smug in my perspicacity than usual.

despite the daily news reports and the existence of narcissistic, antagonistic dictators in both east and west, the world is still a wonderful place, especially if you have the cojones to find this out at first hand. many other velocipedinal adventurers have cited the unconfrontational nature of riding a bicycle through countries where others fear to tread; to a large extent, helen watson confirms that particular truth. if the daily news depresses you, tea and grit exists as the perfect antidote.

affirmation in book form.

friday 16 october 2026

into the sunset

older readers might recall the two principal annual catalogues available to the velocipedinal cognoscenti of yesteryear: madison's freewheel and ron kitching's everything cycling. just as the back pages of the comic could, once-upon-a-time, keep any cyclist absorbed for hours and days on end, trawling through double-page spreads from the likes of deeside cycles and parker international. those happy days of endlessly comparing prices and adding to the arcane knowledge to be disseminated on the sunday ride, are every bit a part of cycling's great heritage as are tales of derring-do by jacques anquetil, fausto coppi and gino bartoli. the two catalogues named above, fed into that selfsame heritage, even if you never actually bought anything from either.

as the uk shimano importers, madison filled their freewheel catalogue with xt, deore and dura-ace, while mr kitching, as the uk suntour proponent (remember them?) ploughed his own japanese furrow. and, of course, there were bikes too, with ridgeback being the former's in-house brand, though i only recall ron kitching featuring bicycles with his surname on the seat tube and down tube. however, i do recall that the freewheel catalogue also offered the less sportingly oriented, the once renowned dawes galaxy touring bike, featuring a highly aspirational, honey-coloured brooks leather saddle.

at the time, i was a fully paid up member of the cyclists' touring club, an organisation that changed both name and, to a certain extent, purpose, in 2016, when it became cycling uk. as part of the ctc membership deal, subscribers received a quarterly magazine, in which enraged correspondents could vent their ire over the very thought of triple chainsets in place of the more traditional double, with large outer ring and an incredibly (by comparison) small (granny) inner. there may also have been a few disagreements over the veracity of the shimano-invented v-brake.

as a companion to that particular publication, i was also in the habit of purchasing the occasional copy of cycling world, in which it seemed the articles about bicycle touring were accompanied by images featuring a compulsory bicycle. thus, if the writer had pedalled to amiens cathedral, for example, a photo of its architectural magnificence would inevitably have a bicycle leaning against a flying buttress. it was quaint, but presumably required to justify the article's inclusion in the first place. it is a well-known fact that the very best of cycle touring literature, rarely mentions the bicycle.

every bit as gullible as many others in the mid 1980s, i purchased an original muddy fox courier, riding a bicycle reputedly designed for the steeper, offroad portions of scotland's topography, despite being domiciled nowhere near any of them. however, well in advance of the bikepacking gravel bike genre, i subsequently altered a component or two to transform said courier into a touring bike, one which resembled the much-sought-after dawes galaxy in no respect whatsoever. this was accessorised with blackburn racks and karrimor (remember them?) front and rear panniers and a bar bag, allowing me to resemble a dyed-in-the-wool explorer when i rode to my parents' house on the scottish coast opposite arran. if the word you're thinking of is overkill, you're not entirely mistaken.

those days, however, are in my far distant past, with road bikes and cyclocross having replaced any thoughts of mr dawes' galaxy (though i still harbour fond memories). however, the advent of those considerably less than aesthetically pleasing bikepacking bags have only confirmed that regular panniers are by far the more civilised option.

islay and jura are two islands frequently included in the travel plans of the summer cyclists, often arriving via the isle of arran, or occasionally, as the penultimate steps on a ride originating in the western isles farther north. as i have pointed out on oh, so many occasions, cycling is every bit as subject to the whims of fashion as any other ephemeral and fleeting fancy, meaning that, in the last decade, visiting cyclists have either been aboard heavy and impractical (for touring) e-bikes, road bikes with a single rear pannier, or the misguided bikepackers with seatpacks resembling wynton marsalis' trumpet and every available space occupied by oddly-shaped and possibly useless bike packs.

then, just when it would be easy to be misdirected as to the questionable philosophy of the contemporary velocipedinist, a light bulb appeared at the junction of main street and school street, on a day when the prospect of rain was heavy in the air, and ferries and aeroplanes were cancelled due to the remnants of hurricane isaias. that lightbulb was aboard a bona-fide, steel touring bike, with two ageing rear panniers, two similarly vintage low-rider front panniers and a bar bag that had definitely seen better days, turning the corner and heading towards bowmore distillery.

there is hope for the world after all.

thursday 15 october 2026

how much?

in my previous life on mainland scotland, i owned a motor car which, i believe, i have mentioned on occasion. however, anticipating hitherto untoward financial pressures following the shift to the hebrides, i decided to sell prior to the move, but also because i intended to travel by bicycle as a likely more economic and pragmatic transport choice on such a relatively small island. i'm pleased to report that, for once in my life, i appear to have got it right.

that car, however, was undoubtedly the nearest thing to cycling on four wheels: a bright yellow citroen 2cv which i purchased from a local seller for the princely sum of £900. it's a car that seemed to incur a marmite reaction; you either love them, or you don't. however, its practicality would be hard to deny. it featured four doors, with the windows in the front split horizontally and hinged in the middle, allowing them to be flipped open with ease. all the seats could be easily removed, meaning carriage of a drumset was greatly aided, while the boot lid could be slid to one side and removed to allow greater access to said drumset.

an air-cooled engine, capable of 70mph, produced warm air almost immediately, allowing quick heating on cold mornings, augmented by flaps 'neath the front windscreen to cool when too hot.

and during those heatwaves constantly occurring in the uk (a little hebridean humour, there), the roll-open canvas sunroof was practical and cool.

three years after i moved to the centre of the universe, citroen ceased production of the cutest car on the planet. though i'd hate to be quoted on the subject, i assume that the car's demise was likely at the behest of encroaching safety regulations. there's little doubt that the vehicle embodied the word fragile, very unlikely to survive an incursion with the likes of a volvo, for instance. however, it's still possible to acquire quality vintage models, though to the best of my knowledge, there are none in the wilderness on islay or jura.

however, at this year's paris motor show, which opened this week, citroen has displayed a new 2cv concept car, powered entirely by electricity, and retaining many of the favoured traits of its ancestor. the brief reviews i have come across online show the car with yellow tartan bench seats, front and back, still with the ventilation flaps below the windscreen, and an integrated egg carton in the driver's door panel (one of the demands of the original, 1948 2cv, was the ability to carry a tray of duck eggs over a ploughed field without breaking any of the eggs).

because the motor show model is a concept, there is no guarantee that it will reach production in its current form, though the portents appear to be favourable. and there's no news of whether the suspension will replicate the 'all-at-sea' behaviour of the orginal. however, despite the unsurety of its production, several reviewers have identified a likely sale price of £13,000, considerably less than the £22,000 asked by colnago for a c72 la scala model, and more than £1,000 less than a colnago y1rs outfitted with campagnolo's 13-speed super-record groupset.

much as i enjoyed my yellow citroen 2cv, i have no inherent desire to once again own, or even drive a motor car, no matter how cute it might be. but i do find myself very much confused by the amounts of money demanded for top-of-the-range road and gravel bikes these days. i cannot see how it can possibly cost more to produce a few kilograms of carbon fibre and an electronic groupset, than an admittedly small car with the ability to carry five passengers, running on a much larger electric motor than is present in campagnolo's two gear mechs, and a considerably larger battery. and while i will cheerfully disparage those who drive cars over remarkably short distances, the cost comparisons simply don't add up. at least, not in favour of the bicycle.

it may be that fabrication of motor cars is considerably less labour intensive than a handmade carbon frame, and that potential sales would easily outstrip those of even the most popular of bicycles. but surely the cost of a colnago frame must be a lot less than even those incurred in production of the original 2cv, let alone its newer sibling? i would be very keen to have someone in the bicycle industry explain it to me while keeping a straight face.

wednesday 14 october 2026

unwarranted complexity

late last year, it was painfully obvious that a combination of gritty bottom bracket bearings and an unadjustable campagnolo record rear mech was going to require some sort of remedial action on behalf of the bicycle's owner. in other words; me. at the risk of stating the glaringly obvious, the work was likely to combine the necessary with the preventative, resulting in the purchase of a complete cable set to allow replacement of both gear cables and rim-brake cables prior to the onset of winter. since this would also require removal of the bar tape, a pack of suitable material became part of the plan, as well as checking that i still possessed sufficient electrical tape to hold the cable outers in place.

the process was begun by removing the recalcitrant rear mech which could no longer be accurately set due to a stripped thread on the cable adjuster, followed by extrication of the crankset to allow replacement of the bearings, components which vicenza has dictated are affixed to the inner face of the crank arms. i've detailed the process on previous occasions, so i'll spare you the boredom for the present. suffice it to say, all went swimmingly and, in a matter of a few minutes, i had an almost friction-free bottom bracket, eager and willing to transport me in the manner to which i have become accustomed.

it was during the process of replacing the drive-side bearing cup spring-clip that i discovered the considerable corrosion that had afflicted the lower portion of the steel downtube. it is of no commendation that not only is the cable-set still inside its sealed package and the gear mech yet to be replaced, but the corrosion is as it was, leaving the bicycle unridden since november 2025. in mitigation, after lengthy deliberation as to whether i should replace the frame only, or the entire bicycle, i took the easy (and admittedly, most pragmatic) option by choosing to ride my cyclocross bike due to its greater comfort and suitability for islay's degrading road network.

but, had i chosen to persist with restoring the veracity of the ritchey logic in the face of adversity, not only was i capable of doing so within the space of an afternoon or morning's concentrated fettling, but the cost of so doing remained well within an amenable budget. and though i have yet to attempt a similar cable/hose replacement policy on the specialized crux, i am reasonably confident that i would emerge victorious, despite no previous practical experience with hydraulic brakes. and it's at times like this that i am confirmed in my distinctly luddite approach to velocipedinal matters.

such a reaction received immediate sustenance following the watching of a youtube video over the course of last weekend. presented by barn cycle repairs and entitled this canyon nearly broke me... the principal content concerned removal and replacement of the one-piece carbon bars/stem on a canyon road bike for which the customer had supplied not only replacement headset bearings, but a new bar/stem combo featuring a longer stem; presumably the reason for what followed.

as is the case with the majority of modern bicycles, the di2 wiring and hydraulic brake hoses were internally routed, and had thus to be removed; a somewhat convoluted procedure. the mechanic/presenter demonstrated endless patience, creativity and humour, especially when having to deal with di2 cables that required new junction boxes, allowing them to negotiate tight curves and a restrictive clamping system routing them through the canyon's steerer.

the immediate result of having watched this modern nightmare, designed by those who will probably never have to carry out the procedures themselves, was a sunday morning ride conversation discussing just how much aero drag can reasonably be expected from cables blowing in the wind. those of us in the peloton were in complete agreement that the cables we could view exiting the underside of our respective bar tapes were highly unlikely to be impeding our forward progress by anything approximating even a single watt. and even were that to be the case, as miles davis enquired, 'so what? and should there be conclusive proof that external cables do actually mean the difference between winning and losing, it's not the sort of consideration that is of immediate concern to the great unwashed.

for the naysayers and those keen to occupy the bleeding edge of technology, it may be worth my while pointing out that not only did the work appear to take more than a single day, but that the resulting invoice to simply change a pair of handlebars, was likely to be in excess of £300.

remember when we just used to go for a bike ride?

tuesday 13 october 2026