One of the things I love about my Brooks saddle is its simplicity. Essentially I’m sitting on a bit of leather stretched over a metal frame. Brilliantly simple and wonderfully comfy. Unfortunately with this simplicity and use of natural material comes a price. Late last year after over three years of use my Brooks saddle [...]

Although these days most saddle rails will fit the grooves carved into a seatpost clamp, due to the sheer amount of seatpost clamp and saddle combinations possible, it’s still occasionally possible to run into problems. Typically this means that even when tightened, a saddle’s railings (the metal tubes underneath a saddle) are not large enough [...]

With rain polluted with god knows what trickling down from the storm clouds above, there I was walking along the streets of Taiwan minding my own business when a bicycle stopped me dead in my tracks. As I habitually do with most bicycles I see out and about I’d glanced over at this one as [...]

Probably when it looks something like this: Missing a seat, deflated tyres, rustbucket rims and spokes (and probably frame), half a handlebar and from the looks of it, no chain.

I’ve had my Long Haul Trucker for just over 3 years now and just recently ticked over 15,000 kms on the odometer. By some standards this might not be monumental mileage but I believe it’s more than enough to gauge the componentry of the Long Haul Trucker Complete. Ride wise my Long Haul Trucker has [...]

When we found Leela the in the mountains of Miaoli County, one of the things I knew I had to accept was that sooner or later she was going to grow too large for my regular Deuter Rack Pack bicycle panniers. Enjoying her time as a small puppy being carted around in one of my [...]

A fortnight ago I read enthusiastically about the newly renovated Old Caoling Bikeway. Opened on October 30th with a 9am inauguration ride organised by Taiwan’s Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Old Caoling Bikway (舊草嶺自行車道) starts off at Fulong train station and after entering the Old Caoling Tunnel, pulls a u-turn and runs along the [...]

Known to most Taiwanese folk through recital of the famous Taiwanese nursery rhyme, ‘Diu Diu Dong’ about a train going into the tunnel and the sound of water dripping inside, the Old Caoling Tunnel (舊草嶺隧道) is a designated ‘old historic site’ by both Yilan and Taipei counties. Construction on the Old Caoling Tunnel began in [...]

Automotive styling in Taiwan often leaves much to be desired. From cutesy cartoon character stickers, doilies that your grandmother covers her couch with featuring prominently in the styling, weird plastic figurines completely taking over taxi dashboards, little red pouches that grant good luck, 7-11 mascot themed scooters…. the list goes on and on. I have [...]

There’s a lot to be said about Taiwan’s bike paths. Coming from a city (Melbourne, Australia) where nearly every major road has dedicated bike lanes, I find it quite frustrating to try and make sense of Taiwan’s limited bike paths. Often next to footpaths (or combined), Taiwan’s bike paths seem to appear, disappear, merge with [...]