Only established in 2006, Charge Bikes have carved a niche in the growing market of ‘cool’ single speed. With sleek minimalistic designs, they have proved quite popular, especially in London. They offer a range of three single speed bikes, with another three models of geared Charge Plug
Single speed
All come with Cro-mo steel frame and fork
Charge 0 – £329 (bullhorn bars)
Charge 1 – £399 (bullhorn bars
Charge 2 – £499 (drop track handle bars)
Geared Charge Plug
Charge 3 – (disc brakes, Shimano Sora Gears)
Charge 4 – Shimano 105 gears (£1,099)
Charge 5 – SRAM Rival 22 gearing and hydraulic discs
Charge Plug 0
This is the entry level Charge Plug bike, newly released
At £329, it is quite a cheap introduction to single speed bikes. For simplicity and value, the Charge 0 is a reasonable start.
The Charge Plug – comes with bullhorn bars, these are a little more aerodynamic and help enable a stronger push when pedalling the single speed off from a standing start. They also help the bike stand out from the pack. However, many novices to cycling will find it easier to use horizontal bars.
York’s hill is the venue of the one of the world’s oldest cycle races – Catford CC hill climb in Kent, S.E. England. The full climb is 0.8 miles, climbing 353ft / 108m . But, it is the last half a miles of the climb which is the really interesting part. It is one of the steepest climbs in the south of England. The climb starts off innocuously enough, but as you near the top, the road gets steeper, until you hit the really tough 20-25% section at the end. York’s hill makes a great event for the Catford CC hill climb. The steep section is usually thronged with spectators who take great delight in watching the suffering of the competitors.
Honister pass is a fairly inaccessible climb in the north West Lake District. To get there invariably involves cycling up many other Lake District hills, but it is worth the effort as it a great climb, with equally superb views. It is a great climb from both directions.
Starting in Keswick you will travel south down the East coast of Derwent water towards Borrowdale. Just before the village of Seatoller, you take a right turn on the B2589.
There is a 2 mile gentle introduction to the climb as you go up the valley at a very gentle gradient. However, as the road bends round to the right you leave the valley and start the climb proper.
It was hard coming back from Croatia. It may have been cold and windy. But, unless it rained all day, it was sunny – clear sky, clear roads and great mountain vistas.
If this doesn’t make you get on your bike, I don’t know what will
Britain is just grey and damp by comparison. Even when it’s not raining, the roads are wet. I do love cycling in Britain, but only as long as I can complain about things like the weather.
misty wet road
I went out last Sunday and independently, two people told me – what a great day for cycling it was. I thought this slightly ironic because I knew that when they said – ‘it was a great day for cycling’ – they had absolutely no intention to do any cycling themselves. One chap was sitting in a nice comfortable, centrally heated petrol station, the other chap momentarily got out of his centrally heated car. At least they were being friendly towards cyclists, I’ll take that in any form.
I suppose a great day for cycling in January, primarily means it isn’t raining like cats and dogs. It was also 5 degrees above zero, so I guess I shouldn’t complain. But, I couldn’t quite share their enthusiasm for the ‘perfect day’ of cycling. If this is cycling heaven, I don’t want to go to cycling hell.
Failed New Year Resolutions
I only made one New Years resolution – stop complaining about being over geared and buy a compact chain set. Alas, not only have I hopelessly failed in my New Year’s resolution , I’ve managed to make it worse.
I researched a compact chain set, but got put off about spending £30 on a chain set when I realised I would have to buy a new bottom bracket too. The problem is I don’t want to spend £50 on better gear ratios because I’m saving up to buy a £800 custom skin suit. – Don’t try to understand cyclists, because we don’t make sense.
When my mobile bike mechanic came round, I wanted to use up a Dura Ace cassette that has been sitting around the bike shed for literally decades. A nine speed Dura Ace cassette is one of those things you can’t throw away, but also you can’t use. Therefore, I asked him to put it on my winter training bike (9spd). In fact it wasn’t actually 9spd, it was so old the cassette was 8 speed (either that or I lost a ring in the 12 years of sitting around doing nothing). 8sp Dura Ace !? – I didn’t realise I was that old myself. That cassette could have been sitting there for over 10 years. Anyway, the Dura Ace cassette is no longer languishing on the shelf, but is proudly on my winter training bike; it goes well with the Tiagra group set.
Note: Updated review: originally posted on old blog.
Trek 7.1 FX is one of Trek’s best selling models. For £350- £375, you get a lot of features for your money which will appeal to a broad spectrum of commuting cyclists.
It’s not surprising why it is so popular. For most commuters and newbie cyclists sticking to roads, this bike does pretty much everything you need. It is reliable, solid and gives a good riding experience without any expensive extravagances.
It comes with 21 gears, and a very low ratio for getting up steep hills. Some may find the top gear of 48*14 a little on the slow side. You have to maintain a pretty high cadence to get over 25mph.
Box Hill is one of Britain’s most iconic climbs. The statistics don’t look particularly impressive – 2.5 km with an average gradient of 5%, for a mere 129m height gain. If Box hill was located in the foothills of the Pyrenees, it would barely mention a footnote. But, given it’s accessibility and closeness to London, it has become a popular test for every type of cyclist from the Olympic road race to beginner sportive riders. It is a challenging climb, but also manageable enough for just about everyone to ‘enjoy’ going up Box hill – even if you’re on a Brompton foldup.
It also offers great views of the surrounding countryside. Box hill is also known as ‘Zig Zag’ hill for the couple of hairpins which really give it an Alpine feel – just for a short time whilst climbing Box Hill, you can imagine yourself away from London and cycling up a ‘proper’ climb.
Box Hill – Sum of Marc
The Olympic road race was a once in a lifetime event, but fortunately it has left a lasting legacy. The Prudential London-Surrey Classic is becoming an important road race and it includes Box hill amongst other climbs. In 2014, Adam Blythe won a thrilling race. Also, the Olympics has made the climb even more popular, featuring in innumerable sportives and becoming one of the most popular Strava segments in Europe.
I visited Box Hill just before the Olympic road race in July 2012. It was a couple of days before the Olympic road race and I thoroughly enjoyed going up Box Hill 9 times. I’ve never been back, even though it is tempting.
Last week, I was complaining about motorists who would pass too close. Unfortunately, there are plenty of other reasons to complain when you get on to British roads. This is a shame because cycling should be an enjoyable activity – get on two wheels and pedal happily off into the sunset. But, it seems the world of a cyclist is squashed between the impatience of taxi drivers and complaints about the dangers of the road. If you’re not careful, you can get sucked into a ‘political world of cycling’ that is negative and endless arguments of who is right and wrong.
The internet has not particularly helped. There is something about the nature of the internet which encourages outrage, strong opinions, a tribal mentality of ‘us and ‘them. These issues of sharing the road were always around, but the internet gives it greater currency and force – feeding antagonism in a way that I’m not sure existed when you had to send a letter by pigeon post or go down to the local post office to send a telegram.
CAR PASSED TOO CLOSE! – STOP – HAD TO COME TO EMERGENCY STOP! – STOP
By the time you had Morse Coded your feelings, most of your anger had long since dissipated anyway. A more modern telegram service like Twitter lacks this natural delay of several weeks as you wait for the boat from India to come into dock.
What did minor-celebrities do before having twitter spats and outraging some or another constituents of the easily outraged? I’m sure if you read the Cycling Weekly letters from the 1950s, you would find letters of complaint. But, at least in the 1950s you could read a newspaper, without, on every article, getting sucked into reading comments from 335 outraged internet trolls, who don’t have anything better to do, but get disgusted with cyclists / motorists / pigeons / and the latest reality TV show on Channel 5.
Of course, it may just be we are just looking through tinted rays of ‘The golden age of cycling’ – this mythical utopia of cycling in the 1950s, where you could cycle 100 miles on quiet roads through British lanes to enjoy warm beer and sandwiches on the village green, with nothing more than a Bobby on his bike giving you a friendly wave.
60 years later and this mythical golden age of cycling utopia has been replaced by pitched battles between Uber fuelled tax drivers who equate cyclists to ISIS and the relentless finger pointing about who is the absolutely the worst person on the roads. The only thing we agree on is that it is always someone else’s fault!
Yet, all is not lost. If you go cycling on British roads, it is not as traumatic as you might believe from the comment sections of the Daily Mail. It is still possible to really enjoy cycling – whether it’s cycling up Hardknott Pass or even, dare I say it commuting into the centre of London.
A good cycling friend – Andy Sherwood has set up a new business – Sherwood Cycles It is aimed at offering mobile bike repairs throughout Oxfordshire and surrounding areas.
Andy Sherwood – experienced bike mechanic
I’ve known Andy for quite few years, we did a few hill climbs together back in 2004/05. Sherwood is not a bad cyclist himself, and did two 24 hour time trials, reaching 400 miles plus in both.
With seven bikes, I’m a big customer of bike repair services. My training and commuting bikes need fairly regular simple maintenance (cables/ cassettes / chains) My racing bikes are also a real pain – regularly needing tricky servicing. This is especially true since my latest Trek Speed Concept is now Dura Ace Di2 11 speed. I have 8sp, 9sp, 10sp and 11sp bikes. Wonderful compatibility problems. Especially, when you are trying to fit a Quark Power meter.
Rollers are good fun, the minutes fly by and it’s a great way to improve your cycling fitness and cycling skills from the comfort of your own garage. (However, for reasons which may become apparent later – don’t use rollers in your greenhouse…)
With a set of rollers you don’t have to worry about the weather or going out in the dark. There’s always some way to keep yourself ticking over.
Reasons to get some rollers
1. Look outside at the weather
You can practise high cadence pedalling. Consistently pedalling 100rpm takes considerable concentration. There are different opinions about optimum cadence, but it’s a good skill to have the ability to cycle higher cadence and a nice fluid pedalling style.
You can try to maintain a straight line on the rollers. This is almost impossible to do, but you can spend hours trying to do it.
If you ever ride the track, rollers make excellent practise in terms of both bike handling and high cadence pedalling.
It’s marginally more fun than a turbo. This is probably the main reason I bought a set of rollers. I though I might be marginally more likely to do indoor training sessions with rollers than a turbo. When I just had a turbo, I used to max out at about 30 minutes. Last winter I did a couple of two hour sessions on my rollers – including one at threshold pace on TT bike. I’m not sure how I managed that though.
You can practise trying to take off a jacket whilst still pedalling on the rollers. This is much more tricky than it may sounds. But, if you’ve ever used rollers, you will know it is no easy task of changing clothes whilst still pedalling away. So far I have only fallen off my rollers three times – twice because my discarded jacket got caught in my rollers.
Do you need rollers and a turbo?
If you want to do all your training indoor, you probably do. Turbo for high intensity, big gear efforts. Rollers for developing smoother pedalling style and helping indoor hours pass quicker.
Tips on Using Cycle Rollers
If you’ve never used cycle rollers before, it’s a bit like learning to ride a bike all over again. When you first get on – you can become nervous about letting go. It seems really difficult – as if you are cycling on ice. But, when you finally let go and cycle normally, you wonder what all the fuss was about in the first place. Before you know it you are riding with one hand and seamlessly shifting all over the rollers.
In cycling, it is good to know where to spend your money. For example, with – Shimano 105 v Shimano Dura Ace – there is very little difference in quality, but a huge difference in price.
But, when it comes to cheap cycling shorts vs good cycling shorts – there is a huge difference in quality of the product, the enjoyment of your ride and even can affect how many saddle sores you get. (see: tips for avoiding saddle sores)
Make sure you have a good pair of shorts
It is ironic that I often end up buying the most uncomfortable looking saddle (69gram sheet of carbon fibre) and then rely on a good pair of padded cycling shorts to make the ride bearable.
– Throw away the cheap cycling shorts. Last November I mentioned how I made myself throw away several pair of cheap cycling shorts. They are not worth using because they gave saddle sores.
A good padded cycling short is one of the most essential ways to get a more comfortable ride, especially for anything over two hours.
Over the years I’ve tried quite a few cycling shorts. For quite a few years, I’ve ridden some Impsport custom made ones for my cycling teams like Oxonians and Sri Chinmoy CT. Unfortunately, Impsport do not make the best cycling shorts. They are not as bad as they were (and they may continue to get better). But some of the earlier models were virtually unrideable with the chamois inadequate, and in the wrong place leading to chaffing. Unfortunately, this wasn’t just my experience, but also that of a team-mate. I haven’t tested other types of custom made team kit. I’ve heard people speak relatively highly of Endura. But, it is always a little bit of a gamble ordering custom made shorts, when you can’t test them until it is too late.
A few general comments about cycling shorts
Bibbed shorts are more comfortable than non-bibbed. It is much easier to keep them up without the feeling of elastic around the waist. They also seem to stay in position much more easily. I do have a few non-bibbed shorts, but, when getting in and out of the saddle, they tend to move around, which is mildly irritating.
All shorts become more comfortable when you are used to cycling. Getting used to spending hours in the saddle is like anything else, you develop tolerance over time. If you’re new to cycling, even spending £200 on some shorts may still leave you feeling pretty sore after a seven hour sportive. If you’re used to spending hours in the saddle, you will find all shorts more comfortable.
Keep Clean. I’m sure this doesn’t really need saying, but, you want to wash shorts after every ride. Try to avoid hanging around in sweaty shorts after a ride too. On tour, you can handwash shorts pretty easily. (Some pros used to insist on hand washing so they could be sure it didn’t get mixed up with other laundry which could potentially pass on germs)
Don’t Wash at Too High Temperature. On one holiday in US, I took my laundry to a US washomat. After washing at presumably very high temperature, the lycra was stretched to almost indecent proportions. I had to throw away the see-through shorts before getting into trouble. Don’t ruin a good pair of lycra by washing in very hot water!
Some Chamois cream can help keep the insert padding soft. Useful for long rides, though most synthetic chamois are pretty good at staying soft.
Shorts I can recommend
Assos T607
This is a cold weather range of shorts. It is suitable for many months of UK weather – apart from hot days, and very cold.
Assos have a reputation for producing the best, (whatever the cost). These shorts certainly looked intriguing with their dimpled padding. The padding is quite substantial and feels very soft when put on. It does feel different to other shorts because of the air flow and space in between dimples. This helps to wick away sweat which is one of top ways of creating friction and discomfort. The short fits on the body very easily, it smooths away pressure and there is no feeling of tightness or discomfort. Also, I never felt any seems which I often do on other shorts. For long rides, it is substantially more comfortable and does make a real difference.
It comes with a warning that the material is more delicate. It is not bullet proof and may not last. It suggests careful use, hand-washing – it even gives instructions on how to pee whilst wearing the shorts. However, I’ve had them for two years and after considerable use, there is little discernible sign of use. There is a little fraying in the padding, but it is not a problem. I will be fairly confident of getting a substantial amount of wear to justify the cost.
Overall, these are a very good short. Excellent comfort and design. A good investment for those who do longer rides. See: full review of Assos T607 F1 Mile
I also bought some Assos Uno for £110. These are a cheaper version to the T607, but still offer great comfort. They are ironically, the ‘starter’ version of Assos premium short range. Again, I’ve used for over two years without any obvious sign of wear and tear.
I recently reviewed the shorts here. Half the price of Assos, they offer a good comfortable use. I’ve used for the past couple of months and it has been comfortable. The only thing I have noticed is the lyrca which comes into contact with the saddle has begun to ‘bobble’. But, they fit well and offer a good degree of padding and support. There is a noticeable difference with the Assos. But, at £60, they are good value.
DHB classic shorts RRP £49.99
For a mid-range shorts which still gives a good riding experience. The DHB shorts offer good value. You might be able to pick up for less than £30. There is no cost of buying a ‘branded’ name, which can add extra on to the final price. The classic shorts are thin lycra, they also do the DHB Vaeon Roubaix padded shorts for extra insulation and riding in cold weather. Overall a no fussy, comfortable pair of shorts.
I received these a couple of months ago, and have been wearing on training rides – up to four hours on time trial bike. I am pretty impressed with the comfort of the shorts. The padding looks relatively thin, but after four hours everything feels pretty good, no discomfort at all (I use dash saddle) The product description says it has high density foam with good air ventilation.
On the outside they look pretty good. They are close fitting to legs, without having strong grippers which leave marks on the skin. I got size L which is pretty good for 6″ 3′
Only weighs 210g
A lightweight carbon fibre mesh bib construction to keep cool. To be honest, in England I rarely overheat when cycling so haven’t been able to test this out, but I can believe it is very lightweight and cool.
I have ridden quite a few shorts over the years. For short training rides, I tend to ride mid-priced shorts like the Specialized or DHB. For long training rides of 3 hours plus, I ‘treat’ myself with the very comfortable Assos shorts. This is to extend the life of these more delicate shorts. There is also a psychological advantage of having the best shorts reserved for the longest rides.
There are many more types of shorts I haven’t ridden, which might be worth looking at. Fortunately, short technology seems to have improved in the past few years.
