Now, I know not everyone is as enthusiastic as me about daylight saving. There is apparently a woman in Queensland who blames all those extra hours of government sponsored sunlight for making her furniture fade. But riding home from work while it’s still light is nice isn’t it? And this is the bicycle that got me through the long, damp Auckland winter.
Yes, it’s my old friend the Bridgestone MB4 – looking much more ride-to-work friendly than when it came out of the factory back in the early 90s. You will notice, it now has some comprehensive mudguards (Planet Bike) new tyres (Compass Bicycles) moustache handlebars (Planet-X-Bikes) and a discrete, yet semi-permanant light (DKG).
As I have blathered on about before, I reckon mudguards are virtually essential for a practical bike, and I think these ones are very good. Easy to put on and specially designed for mountain bikes – so they’re pretty wide. They are also very sturdy & non-rattly. Except when you don’t bother to tighten up the bolt on the rear brake bridge properly, and then the nut falls off while you’re riding home. But even then, there’s enough other stays to hold them on, so you can fix it when you get home. Or so I’ve heard. Ahem.
The previous set of tyres I had on this bike were Schwalbe Super Motos. Brillliant though they were, mudguard-friendly they were not. So I replaced them with some similarly exotic, but more conservative looking tyres from Compass Cycles. They are made by Panaracer for Compass, which is why they look very much like Panaracer Paselas. According to Compass, their version of the tyres are made to a higher standard, and therefore roll better. I haven’t tested this properly, but they certainly feel fast.
The front light is slightly unusual – it’s an LED Maglite held on with a bracket from DKG. I really don’t like the way most bicycle lights these days are clamped on to the handlebars with crappy plastic brackets. This one is machined from solid aluminium, and is of excellent quality.
Is this the perfect ride-to-work bike? Not really. But it’s pretty good. The 26in wheels make it agile for city riding, and it looks crappy enough to be fairly theft-resistant. Also, there’s a shortcut I sometimes take, which involves a brief climb up an incredibly steep street. So, thanks to the mountain bike gearing, I can chuck it into first & grind slowly up – a handy feature at 7:30 in the morning when you’re half asleep, and cold.
That’s one lovely set of wheels there. I particularly like the lighting rig. Clever.
The handlebars are quite unusual – haven’t seen this before.
I think it is a choice work bike! Out of interest, what would be the so called ‘perfect’ bike?
For anyone looking to get mudguards/fenders, you can see the amount the front guard comes down towards the ground. It can’t be overstated that this is important in order to stop a lot/most of the water and crud from flicking up into your bottom bracket and chainrings on a wet day. It won’t keep your BB and chain perfectly clean, but it will help, and it will keep your feet a bit dryer too!
But any mud guards will keep you drier as you ride, the back ones for the butt are awesome, and the front for stopping it all flicking up in your face are awesome too..
Great rig. Love the light-mount, thanks for the link.
Did you have to mail-order the PlanetBike mudguards?
I have problems with the rim brakes in the wet, to the extent that it can frighten. What are the alternatives and how have you dealt with that?
Bike Slob, how do your brakes work in the wet weather?
I have problems with the rim brakes in the wet, to the extent that it can frighten, and make wet weather journeys much longer.
What are the alternatives and how have you dealt with that?
The brakes on this bike work fine in the wet – not as well as they do in the dry, but fine. I would suggest that you make sure your brakes are adjusted properly, with the pads hitting the rims correctly (not to high, not too low). You could fit some better pads – personally I like Kool-Stops. You might also want to check what your rims are made of – if they’re steel (you can use a magnet to confirm this) then you might have to just get used to the fear (or get new wheels). Steel rims get slipperier than a weasel drenched in bacon fat when it rains. What kind of bike have you got?
Thanks. The mudguards are distributed in NZ by HS White so any local bike shop should be able to get them for you.
Thanks. The Perfect Bike? Hmmm, that’s a difficult one – I’m still working on it. But I think one major improvement to this bike would be the addition of a hub dynamo & LED lights powered by it. Although the current lighting system works well, it would be nice not to worry about batteries.
Thanks. That style of handlebars are usually called ‘moustache bars’. They were popularised by Grant Peterson when he worked for Bridgestone. The story goes that he saw them on bikes ridden by Japanese school children who weren’t allowed drop-bars.
Thanks for your comments on braking without breaking. It’s an Avanti “Town & Country” and has steel rims. The running gear seems to be Shimano. IT may not be true to label as I bought it off TradeMe as a bit neglected with blown out tyre. But apart from that it has given me good service over a couple of thousand km in the past 4 years. I bought it when I could no longer ride my 1952 roadster (which I bought new) when waiting for hip replacements and needed the gears to make it around the shops. Cycling is so much easier than walking for me. So i have added 4 gallon plastic can on the rear and 1 gallon on the handle bars for paniers and it has done a good job. Hang the walking stick along the bar and we’re away. The only thing that I have qualms about is the braking in wet conditions when they are somtimes worse than useless.
Yeah, Kool stop ‘salmon’ pads are better than any I have tried in the wet. You still have to ‘pump the brakes’ or at least drag them to get the water off the rims first, then brake. No wet rim will brake like a dry one, so increase your braking distance and reduce your speed is the way to go. Brake before the corner too, if you roll through the corner rather than braking in it because you have slowed down enough, then all of the traction is available to corner.
I agree ABS, dynamos would be awesome for not having to charge batteries (rechargeables cheaper than replacing non-rechargeables tho). But quite a few $$ in the conversion to hub dynamos.
Antoine, I’m sure I’ve seen the planet bike guards about, ring a few LBS’s. Also check out the SKS “Longboard” guards if you can find them, for comparable coverage.
Ted, I’m not sure, but I think the town and country came with Aluminium wheels, which brake better compared to ‘chromed’ steel, which is what Auckland Bike Slob was referring too. If in doubt ask at your freindly local bike shop. The pads I wrote about can be between $25 and $30 a pair (you’d need 2 sets), but I’m replacing mine after 4000km, so you should see many years out of a set.
Also, I think that your model of bike means that the pads themselves may be quite old, and therefore have become less effective. A new set may be all that’s needed.
Well James my rims are definitely steel. The pads are not original asw i replaced the a a couple of years ago. Maybe the Warehouse is not the best place to go? But I shall try and remember to use the pads intermittently before I need them to see if that improves the effectiveness. Thanks for your thoughts.
Our local $2 shop has some excellent little lights that fit onto my helmet (one white and one red for $2.00 iether flashing or steady) with little nicad batteries that last a long time and the frame mounted ones which don’t seem to expensive for me to run on batteries. Easier than pushing the old tyre m ounted dynamo I have on the roadster.