Cyclokairos

First rule of Cyclokairos – don’t be dogmatic. In the previous post, I described The Blue Bike as the ideal cyclokairos bike, listing the features that merit such an accolade. Truth be told, The Black Bike is the bike that I ride most.

It overlaps with The Blue Bike in some aspects but differs in many. Steel frame, wide tyres, mudguards (with flaps), and a bell are there. But the gears are indexed, the brakes disc (TRP’s Frankenstein hydraulic-mechanical HY/RD – they work very well, actually), the saddle is Brooks but not a leathery Smethwick job, the rear derailleur has normal, rather than opposite, motion, no basket (but a sizeable saddlebag instead), and there isn’t a sniff of shellac on the bar tape.

A Cadillac of a ride, ideal for the battered country lanes and occasional bridleway-diversions that constitute the majority of my riding. I wouldn’t mind a touch more silver; certainly the headset, the chainset too. But that set of sets works perfectly well, so I’m loath to replace them.

Embrace the moment and ride what you’ve got (but if it’s one of those electronics-festooned plastic ones that you can’t service yourself and is destined for landfill, then we need to have a talk).