The Insufferable Smugness Of The Long* Distance Commuter
I’ve finally started to cycle in to work. Well, cycle to the train station and then get on a train.
I’ve begun to cycle-train it in due toa combination of factors: getting bored of the M62, paying for car parking (and parking fines), being unable to booze after rides and Singletrack’s “trying to be greener” policies (see http://www.singletrackworld.com/article.php?sid=2839 for details).
Looking around at various bicycles for the job I ended up choosing a Merida S-Presso i8-D (see http://www2.merida-bikes.com/en_INT/Bikes.Category?category=Fitness%20Bike for details).
And I have to admit to really liking it - both the commuting and the bicycle. The commute takes about 15 minutes and the traffic at 9am isn’t too bad at all - even on Deansgate. The bike zips along but doesn’t feel overly roadie-twitchy, skittish or harsh.
The Shimano Alfine hub gear is doing okay. It’s useful to be able to change gear whilst not pedalling - if I have to stop at traffic lights or slow down for a car changing lanes etc. It doesn’t pick-up very quickly after freewheeling (it seems to take a quarter-pedal stroke before the gear fully engages) so it’s made me less keen on trying an Alfine-equipped MTB.
The disc brakes are great. I’m not keen on the Ergon-alike grips (it feels iffy not having my outer fingers fully wrapped around the bar) but I’ll persevere with them for a bit. And the pedal bearings feel notchy already so I’ll swap them ASAP. I flipped the stem upside down to get a slightly less “shopping bike” position.
I’ll do a proper review of the bike in a few months time. So far, so good.
Here’s a few pics…
The Merida S-Spresso i8-D.
The tensioner spoils the looks a bit but works fine.
Great brakes, iffy grips.
Nice gloss-on-matt graphics.
Unusual-but-good disc mount positioning.
* well, 30 miles is quite long in my book 
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Blimey. You’ll be discovering the joys of the Mersey river run next.
Have you found the the Chorlton ’shore yet?
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Is it only 30 miles? You should ride all of the way. If Kelvin and I can do that sort of distance then you shouldn’t have any bother
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 am
Just listen to the bailers!
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
360 - i’ve found a fair bit of fun stuff in Chorlton Water Park believe it or not!
Simon - historically i can do about 30 minutes of tarmac bashing before my mind implodes with boredom