It being as fine an Autumn day as you could wish for, I set out on my hundred-year-old bicycle to take a turn about Perth, pausing only to admire the details that never fail to give me pleasure on my 1915 Golden Sunbeam, such as the parallel seat stays, the gold-leaf embellishment, the noble proportions … Continue reading Autumn Almanac
Category: 40-635
Out and about in October
It's an odd thing: when I bought my 1915 Sunbeam (see here and here) I'd have thought I might spend the summer on it - yet here we are in Autumn and my rides have been few and far between. Of course, things have happened, but still... So this morning, having slept in and missed … Continue reading Out and about in October
In just spring: impromptu circular
(for the map of this route, click here) The best excursions, like the best parties, are impromptu. When you are lazy and idleminded, and prone to melancholy (I am all of these things) then not having to do things generally means not doing them. I work at home (or not, as the case may be). … Continue reading In just spring: impromptu circular
Carefree car-free circular
Today being a beautiful clear frosty November day I decided that a bike run was called for. In view of my recent unsatisfactory run on the Dream Roadster, I thought a change of bike was in order, so I decanted several from their hiding-place under the stairs (it's remarkable just how many bicycles you can … Continue reading Carefree car-free circular
‘Blow, blow, thou winter wind!’
'Walking for exercise? Pah!' My father had a way saying 'Pah!' that was peculiarly dismissive. He liked a good walk, so it seemed an odd thing for him to say, but I think it was his very love of walking that made him say it. To walk 'for exercise' carries an overtone of duress, as … Continue reading ‘Blow, blow, thou winter wind!’
The Dark Secret of Pottiehill
All right, I can see you're not convinced: how can a place called Pottiehill have a dark secret? Yet it does; I have seen it. I have pictures (though some of them are a little odd - an unfamiliar camera). But first, the curious case of Benjamin Button. (you see what I am doing here? … Continue reading The Dark Secret of Pottiehill
Gearing dreams and reality (another one for epicyclists)
Sometimes, you do not fully appreciate why something is the way it is till you try to do it differently (as a writer and a lover of books, I hope that may be the lasting effect of e-readers such as the Kindle: they will make people appreciate just what a clever piece of technology a … Continue reading Gearing dreams and reality (another one for epicyclists)
Autumn circular with brambles, hips & haws
(The map for this route can be found here) Well, after a dull morning, the sun came out and so did I. Early on it had shown all the promise of a classic Autumn day - bright sun, a nip in the air, trailers of mist on the hills - but then it all went … Continue reading Autumn circular with brambles, hips & haws
The Great Sausage Mystery – or why Sunbeam abandoned the Newill Hub
You find answers in the oddest places*; sometimes to questions you hadn’t thought to ask till you came across them. I have already written about my adventures dismantling the William Newill-designed Sunbeam 3 speed hub; a recent article by Robert Cordon Champ, the Sunbeam registrar at the V-CC and the author of Sunbeam Bicycles & Motorcycles, … Continue reading The Great Sausage Mystery – or why Sunbeam abandoned the Newill Hub
In the belly of the beast
This one is for hard-core hub-gear fans - epicyclists? - only. It shows the dismantling of my hundred-year-old Sunbeam 'Newill' hub, which I did a few years ago. At the moment, the sequence is on Flickr as a set, and some of the shots are a bit dark, though if you blow them up, you … Continue reading In the belly of the beast
COMPLEAT TROWZER 