Bicycles

London Sky Ride

| Richard

As part of my new fitness drive, I took part today in the London Sky Ride: a loop from Tower Bridge to St James’s Park and back plus the two miles or so each way along the Thames Path from my apartment to Tower Bridge. Here are the stats:

It was looking overcast when I left but by the time I reached Tower Bridge, it had started raining and by the time I was on the route itself it was lashing down. The route was still very busy indeed with many cyclists not being aware I was coming up behind them fairly swiftly despite the regular stops to allow pedestrians to cross. By the time I was halfway around the ‘course’, I was absolutely soaked to the skin and my canvas Adidas trainers were full of rainwater and squelching – eeyyoo!

Not quite sure how I managed speeds of 112.8mph – see charts – or a max. speed of 64.8mph – see summary – but the rest is pretty accurate!

On my way home, I had an ‘off’ on the now-slippery Thames Path, landing heavily on my bad shoulder and also banging my head on the block paviors. Maybe a bike helmet might be a good idea after all? I crashed with sufficient force to buckle the front rim too, so I’ll need to get that fixed soon too.

Carrera Kraken 20″ 2009 Mountain Bike

| Richard

I was in the market for a new pushbike as mine was being skipped – 1988 vintage and starting to show its age – and as my partner and her daughters like to get out and about on bikes.

We ended up at Halfords and after looking at a few bikes, I settled on the Carrera Kraken 09 20″. Carrera pushbikes are – as far as I know – only sold through Halfords who use their purchasing clout to bring a relatively high specification bike to market at a lower price point than you would otherwise expect. Its specification is as follows:

  • Alloy Rims: Yes
  • Approximate Weight (KG): 13.64
  • Brake Type: Hydraulic Disc
  • Chainset: Truvativ Isoflow with Power Spline BB
  • Exact Frame Size: 20″
  • Fork Lock-out : Yes
  • Fork travel: 120mm
  • Forks: Suntour XCR 120mm Travel
  • Forks – Adjustable damping : Yes
  • Frame Colour: Grey
  • Frame Material: Aluminium
  • Frame Size: 20+
  • Frame-: 7005 Aluminium
  • Front Brake: Tektro Auriga Comp hydraulic disc brakes
  • Front Mech: SRAM X5
  • Gear Shifters: SRAM X5 27 Speed Trigger
  • Gender: Mens
  • Handle Bars: Kalloy Alloy 31.8MM
  • Headset: Semi Integrated
  • Hubs: Fomula Alloy Black
  • Number of Gears: 27
  • Pedals: Wellgo Alloy Black
  • Quick Release Wheels: Yes
  • Rear Brake: Tektro Auriga Comp hydraulic disc
  • Rear Mech: SRAM X5
  • Rims: Double Wall Alloy
  • Saddle: Carrera
  • Seatpost: Kalloy Alloy 31.6MM
  • Stem: Kalloy Alloy 31.8MM
  • Suspension: Front
  • Tyre size: 26 x 2.3
  • Tyres: Continental Speed King
  • Wheel size: 26

Carrera Kraken 09 20"

Not at all bad.

Pricing was (I thought) good: on offer in-store at Grimsby at £400 which was £50 off their previously advertised prices. Ordered and paid for and collected yesterday but not tested yet: that test will follow, especially in view of what happened next…

Having already decided to get a pushbike for London – my base during the week – I started looking at Decathlon’s stock of similar spec’d bikes and found them to be more expensive: price matching produced a heavier bike with cable-operated brakes, for instance.

So I looked at Halfords’ website and was horrified to see that the Carrera Kraken was being advertised at 20% off for web sales even though you could collect in store! Another order placed and I went to collect it at £320 (boxed) from Halfords’ Old Kent Road store. The assistant failed to locate a boxed one as it seems that their stock was assembled and on show. The bikes hadn’t been fully built or safety checked so I have arranged to pick it up this evening.

Thule 970 Xpress

Thule 970 Xpress Folded

As the bike will be fully assembled, shoving it inside my Mazda RX-8 R3 isn’t now going to be an option. I had ordered a Thule 970 Express from Wiggle (at £54 delivered) but they hadn’t processed the order after a day, so thinking this might happen, I had cancelled the order before going to Halfords. They had some in stock (at £60) so I bought one. It fits to the demountable towbar in just a minute or so and folds flat when not needed but I do find the fact that the whole shebang is effectively hanging off one support only a little disconcerting.