26 June, 2015

Bye Bye Banana

My Raleigh Team Banana road racing bike has been unused for years, not just because I don't have the energy anymore but also because the roads seem so treacherous these days. One solution of course would be to avoid the narrow main roads with goods vehicles passing in opposite diorections leaving far too little room for a vulnerable cyclist; that pretty much confines me to going no where as all the roads leading out of town are of that nature. So what about off road cycle ways? Well that's my thinking but the wheels on my banana would never cope.

Time to for us to go our seperate ways and even though I haven't ridden it much in recent years it still feels like losing an old friend. So what about making a new friend that can cope with off road use. Yes that's the way I'm going but there's still the problem of quickly exhausting the available energy I have. Well I've been keeping an eye on the progress of electrically assisted pedal cycles for a long time and though the are still expensive they have developed to the point where in use they are entrirely practical. With a pedal assist range of 25-30 miles on average there's genuine benefit and a strong likelihood of being able to make it home again. I was amazed when I first tried one, they really do give pedal power a big boost.

There's a wide range of eBikes and reseach at the moment points towards a mountain bike style so now I have to find somewhere that stocks a good range and that I can try out.