Wednesday 28 August 2013

Riding with Dolphins....

...you don't get that in L.A!  Ha!  Poo poo to Los Angles with the sunshine, the balmy waters, and the muscle men.  Here in Aberdeen we have damp Haar air, grey skies and 4 degree waters in the summer... but we also have Dolphins - and entire herd! Or shoal?  Is it a shoal if they're all mamals - like the proper air breathing kind, not the middle aged kind though they breath too.  There was about seven of them, sleek and leaping, and a couple of calfs? Calves? A shoal of calfs?  A nursery of calves?  What ever.  Watching a slick of healthy dolphins jump and leap and generally enjoy themselves in fish rich waters not far of the shore of Aberdeen Beach whilst I glide along in my little Brompton is pretty glorious.

So, the Brompton's doing well.  I've more or less got the fold down and even manage the wheel flick.  I've fashioned a pulley from a coat hanger and some gaffer tape, and I'm no longer a sweaty mass of bike bits going into Starbucks.


Sunday 18 August 2013

What The Jensie made me do! (with Link! Soz guys)

It's here!  And it's all foldy goodness! I've unfolded it, ridden it, been into starbucks with it (didn't go well, haven't mastered the whole foldy walk around with it).  So what's it like?  Well, it does feel pretty nippy, the small wheel base means it's fairly responsive.  And it's easy to fold and unfold but I have scratched the paintwork on the legs of it a few times.



There are a few teething problems though: I've more than once been sweatier than I'd like - I really have to get out of the whole 'I'm training' cos... well I'm not - this is supposed to be fun! And it is heavy - easy enough to lift though it is like carrying an old fashioned type writer - if that makes sense.  I'm having trouble rolling it too. I'm just a wee bit too short to have the 'Eazy Wheels' lift enough so that they pivot in their axis, so the front wheel keeps catching on the ground when I roll it, and it's not ballanced quite right so it tips over every time I try and turn it on it's wheels like an unbalanced suitcase.  I've come up with a couple of solutions.  One of them is one of these,  'Brompton Turn'.  As far as I can make out they're made by a Japanese man whose web page isn't Google Translate friendly. I've thought about fashioning my own - there's loads of stuff on the web about customising the wheel bits to make it easier to pull about.  Lot's of people have used the roller blades so something on a pivoting shock absorbing axle would work.

Hrmm, lots to think about.

Jx