Friday 19 September 2014

One Day One Photo - 7

Tuesday 16th September

After my Specialized road bike was cheekily stolen from me in a Milan street a couple of years ago I reverted to riding my old racing hack. It was the first road bike I bought, about sixteen years ago - a red bike from De Ver Cycles in Streatham, South London. It was my pride and joy back then, and I was really grateful to Maurice Burton who built it for me at a very reasonable cost.

Riding it again after having spent 7 years using the nice lightweight Specialized (which I'd also bought from De Ver Cycles) felt like riding a tractor, thanks to the heavy grade aluminium and fork, commuting rack and mudguards. Time trialling or riding hilly cyclosportives on this has been challenging! But the good news is things have just become easier - at least for the remaining weeks of the road season.

Once more, thanks to Maurice, I have received this little beauty to test ride - the De Ver Flight. So far, I have used the bike in a triathlon and also in 2-up time trial, and the bike has performed well. It is so much lighter than the first De Ver bike I rode, and with a more responsive frame. The comparison between the Campagnolo Athena groupset versus my old Shimano 105 is more than night and day! Even better, there are electronic gear shifters to play with, thus eliminating clunky gear changes. Of course, this is not the first swish new bike I have been given to test ride. It is just noteworthy how my first bike was a De Ver heavy unwieldy thing. And here I am all these years, coming out of the same shop with a light speedy thing that can rival many of the big brand road bikes that people rave about. Watch this space for the full review!

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