Retrospective 5: Jul-2014 Broga to Kuala Klawang with the Gita Bayu crew

Enjoying an early morning run through the mist to from Broga through Lenggeng to Kuala Klawang. Giving the Crouching Tigers jersey and the Pocket Rocket a blast with Chang Min from the Gita Bayu crew.

Retrospective 4: Jan-2013 New Zealand South Island

Family holiday for two weeks of the South Island and I managed to bring the Pocket Rocket. Pushing the envelope with some soft trail riding around Lake Wanaka. 28mm tyres were quite rideable on these trails.

Spent an afternoon doing a stretch of the Rail Trail through the old mining districts. Wider tyres would have made it easier, but with a well-made trail, the PR didn't feel any harder to control than a regular road bike.

The tunnel section was particularly fun to ride.

Unfortunately I missed on attacking Baldwin Street in Dunedin, claimed to be the world's steepest street, but here's Katie demonstrating why that might have been a good call (it's about 1 in 2.8 at this point).

Retrospective 3: Apr-2010 Taipei

OK, so who actually takes a bike TO Taiwan? I managed to meet up with a group for a couple of rides: one up Yang Min Shan (1200m) and one cruise around the north coast of the island. Stunning riding. Cruising back along the north east coast.

OK, so I completely cramped up, which gave me an excuse to stop and take photos:

And one of the most fun rides was along Chong De Road, which runs through the hillside cemeteries in eastern Taipei: wonderful switchback roads and almost no traffic. Most amazingly of all, you're on this road within about 2km of Taipei 101.

...and a small-wheeled bike attracts no attention at all. Quite a change from bringing it out in other places.

Retrospective 2: Dec-2012 MIA

Really pushing the Pocket Rocket along on the south side of Brisbane with Eric Huang and the newly formed "MIA" racing team. I'm still not really sure what the name stands for, but the team has been going from strength to strength.

Retrospective 1: Nov-2012 Ride with Cadel

The first of a series of retrospective posts on thrashing the foldie in various ways over the last few years. I got an opportunity to join a promotional ride with Cadel Evans in his capacity as 'brand ambassador' for Siemens. So, of course I took the Pocket Rocket for the spin. Cadel impressed me with his complete professionalism: he had plainly taken the time to understand Siemens's business and talked to people along the ride about a range of subjects outside cycling.

Katie going single

No, not like that; like this:


For her 10th birthday we picked up this sweet Fuji Ace 24. 24" wheel road bike, aluminium frame and $AU 449 RRP. I've got a lot of time for Fuji - for one thing, they're one of the very few companies still making a traditional touring bike. They live up to that expectation by choosing a really sensible set of equipment: small handlebars, small brake levers, 150mm cranks.

Most importantly Katie loves it, which means I've just got to get Viv back stoking on the tandem!

Stiffer up Front

I did mention earlier that I felt that there was a bit of flex in the front of the Tikit. I suspected that it came from the aluminium riser tube that was used. When converting to single speed, I took the opportunity to play with this.



My parts box had a nice long quill stem from an old mountain bike with 1 1/8" steerer. So out goes the aluminium riser and ahead style stem. Slip the quill stem straight in the top of the hinged steerer. Since the steerer is designed with a slot so that it can be clamped tight onto the aluminium riser, you can't use the internal expander bolt, so I discarded that and just used the external clamp to hold the stem firm.

... and yes, it's a lot stiffer.

Depending on your riding style and the length of the hinged steerer, this might not work for you. I'll grab a photo of the whole bike as soon as I can so you can see the sort of handlebar height that I end up with.