I’d been using my trusty “RJays Vortex” helmet for a good four or five years but over the last twelve months or so had been wanting to change it out due to the helmet starting to slide back while I was wearing it due to wear and tear of the fit mechanism. I was going [...]
It rains a lot in Taiwan. Coming from drought stricken Australia at first it was quite the shock but after a few months of torrential rains it wasn’t long before I was swimming it up with the locals. Needless to say in the face of typhoons, 24/7 rain for days at a time and a [...]
Despite the ‘WTF WHY DO YOU WANT TO DIE??!’ attitude that exists towards it, I regularly commute around Taipei City on my bicycle. Having lived in cities for most of my life I’m completely comfortable mixing it up with speeding taxis, overbearing buses trying to run you down and crazy scooters who have all the [...]
After the failure of the Kalloy SP-248D seatpost that came with my Surly Long Haul Trucker, I had to set about researching my options for a replacement. In reality, this vigorous research was nothing more than a trip down to the local bicycle store where they promptly fitted my bike with a Giant “Sports” seatpost: [...]
When we first found Leela in the mountains of Miaoli County she was small and cuddly and fitted nicely inside a bicycle pannier. And then she grew…and grew… and grew. At around 11kg I decided she was getting too big for my bicycle pannier and constructed a bucket DIY pannier for her that gave her [...]
I’d always wondered wondered why bicycle riding had never really taken off amongst lobsters and the clawed crustaceans crowd… but thanks to Sealskinz, now I know. When I first saw the SealSkinz Winter handlebar mittens (yes, that is the product’s actual name) the idea of pairing your non-thumb fingers made sense. Fingers generate warmth so [...]
After using 700×28 Continental Ultra Gatorskins on my Surly Long Haul Trucker for 6,000kms, I started to carry heavier loads and decided to switch back to the 700×37 Continental Contact tires that came with my Trucker. Here’s how they’re holding up 10,000 kms later.
One of the necessities for someone who uses their bike to get around 24/7 come rail, hail or shine are waterproof gloves. Almost as bad as having freezing cold soggy socks inside soaking wet cycling shoes, soggy gloves (especially full-fingered gloves) pretty much ruin a ride in the rain. There’s nothing worse than getting to [...]
The Kalloy SP-248D seatpost looks pretty good in silver and compliments the Surly Long Haul Trucker aesthetically quite well. I believe the company has been using the Kalloy seatpost for a few years now. Unfortunately the SP-248D seatpost has a one bolt design to hold the saddle it’s attached to in place. When you ride a Brooks [...]
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 [...]
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