House and Household

Some thoughts on Bikes and Bits. Coming from a chrome molly tube touring bike background to the idea of actually doing a tour on a “mountainbike” was hard. I mean surely they were and invention of the devil rather like the transistor-radio :-)! I’ve had to rejig my whole outlook. Time and miles will tell me how correct some of my alterations have been. Tyres Argh yes funny things that keep the rim off the road. My giants original Hutchinson tyres are great balloon like 2 inch plus things with a protuberance of knobs. They will be great for the gravel and sand but not for anything else. they are like pedalling thru mud even on the best cycle path. Slicks have improved markedly and also we’ve seen a development of “expedition” tyres which have a slick centre and knobs on the edges. I’ve tried the following 26’ slick tyres over the past 10 years mainly for commuting. “Specialised” make some nice Armadillo tyres mine eventually failed when the side walls weathered. I felt they were very s