VISIT: Atomic22, bicycle security specialists

VISIT: Atomic22 - Cycle Security Specialists

Call it the road less travelled; describe it like climbing a vertical cliff; measure the unlikeliness of it actually working: first, to design a security skewer that thieves can't foil, then extend it across the architecture of a bike to all the beautiful parts that can be taken at the twirl of an allen key. Finally, to commercialise the results but keep the manufacturing on site, in the UK, to standards that would be immediately apparent to the likes of Cliff Polton (founder of Royce) or to use a Stateside example, Chris King.
Patrick Wells and Ayantika Mitra started out on this gruelling path back in 2009. Four years later they have a small, CNC-equipped facility on a rather lovely business park situated amidst the flowing hills and woods around Horsham, West Sussex. Just as importantly, they have a growing business on the cusp of expansion.
CNC means 3D manufacturing, and the magic sauce of Atomic22, if you like, is its invention of a security skewer with a three dimensional key/bolt head, so that the unique pattern to which each component is cut is unique in more than one plane.
Everyone Patrick and Ayantika turned to said this was impossible, but being beautifully unreasonable people (try that book - The Power of Unreasonable People, by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan - it's full of brilliant examples) they ignored the negativity and kept at their metier. I don't know exactly how they did it, and understandably they don't want the world to know every detail, but they have.
At this point they have already worked through multiple prototypes for a wide range of security parts, centred around wheel skewers for both road and track/fixie.

Shiny sun, red bricks, fields all around

I met Patrick and Ayantika at Bristol Bespoked (AKA The British Handbuilt Bike Show) in 2012, and have just visited them at their facility in Horsham, eighteen months later. They struck me as completely dedicated when I first met them, incredibly intelligent in several fields (they both have weapons grade backgrounds in mathematics, to give you a hint) - and it's fantastic to see them again on their home ground, with several bikes hanging from the ceiling, a little resident cat called Pebbles, and precision machinery behind closed doors, out to the back (I was offered a glimpse but don't count on it - they've been plagued with the wrong sort of well-wishers, call them 'well-phishers').

Patrick Wells, Ayantika Mitra. Founder-owners, Atomic22

More than anything -and this trip confirmed it- they've got that gleam in the eye that says they're going to succeed.

Patrick hates what he describes as the 'cycle of misery' which results from so much of the bike industry importing so much low quality stuff from Asia, where we all know that there are sweatshops and worse.

 He spends a long time showing me the inner workings of a beautiful bike bell patented by his great grandfather in the years following World War Two, and then I begin to realise that this flows in his blood: precision engineering

The 'Harmo' bell by Fearnought Ltd. Pebbles top right...

mixed up with perfectionism. The bell in question features a clockwork element, with a push mechanism. It works beautifully today.

Moving over to Atomic22 products, he shows me the latest iteration of a masterpiece, the Atomic22 wheel skewer.
Patrick explains how it features a butted profile to reduce weight - it's not just about security - and offers a floating head to alleviate alignment issues, serrations to prevent movement or rotation, and a tab called a dog, also to prevent wrench-induced twisting or chisel-induced shearing. Meanwhile the threads are both internally and externally rolled, making them extremely smooth. The central experience I relate this to is the day I bought my first pair of ZIPP 303s. I described the skewers as jewel-like, and you can say the same about these.

Thieves will move on to less challenging targets

So who's buying them? Having already had great coverage at the NAHBS (North American Handbuilt Bike Show), Atomic22 is taking orders from all the markets you'd expect: USA, Australia, UK and Europe, plus a long ragged tail of other countries.
The biggest frustration is the sheer number of standards prevailing in bikes now, which makes measuring bolts more complex than it used to be and is set to get worse with the plethora of bespoke bikes, plus large manufacturers striving to be 'different', often for the sake of it rather than any meaningful advance. But that's where Atomic22 will need to scale up and take a view on how exactly to proceed. For now, the core customer is high-end commute (geared and fixed) and roadies, which makes eminent sense given the current state of the MTB sector.

I ended my visit by ordering a set of bolts for my Enigma - wheel, seat post collar, saddle and stem. I'll re-blog the results when they are in hand.

RACE REPORT: Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Race, 2013

Camping by the River Ribble in Martin Hanson's field

Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Race, 2013

The Pub at the centre of all the action

Difficult to describe this race, because it is an oddity, both within the British scene and the international one. The entire context of the event is actually fell-running, the peculiar British texture of this mad sport best described in Richard Askwith's loving portrayal Feet in the Clouds. The current race was founded by John Rawnsley in 1962, and it was really a super-imposition of bikes atop a fell running race. Fifty years later, in 2012, Rawnsley retired from managing it. By then it had attracted international attention. The best feature about the event and it's history was published in issue 34 (2012) of Rouleur, page 146ff. It's a brilliant feature.

The Start: Straining at the leash - and not only this Hungarian Vizsla

 

 

Rob Jebb leading on Pen-y-Gent (Credit: S.R. Hall)

Pen-y-Gent, which translates as 'winds'. And there are winds.

This year's event -depicted in a handful of photos here- represented a watershed in the history of the event, being the first run by a committee led by Mark Richmond. They did very well. It was also a watershed because the 51st edition of the race was won convincingly by Rob Jebb for his 10th victory, a simply incredible achievement.

I said in my previous blog post that I would briefly revisit my various decisions, strategic and technical, to see what worked and what didn't.

First of all, I was not 100% race fit having battled an unhappy left ham string since June - in fact throughout the four months of specific training for this event. I came 486th out of 544 starters, of which 40 retired. I had entered in a realistic but determined frame of mind: let's do this thing and learn about it. Then regroup for a possible return.

That's about right: I don't think any amount of forum chatting can really get you ready for this one. You need to do it respectfully the first time. This event stretches cycling beyond its normal parameters. It also takes you way out of the normal 'comfort zones' even of otherwise hard-core Cross racing. First there's the running/climbing aspect, obviously, but then there's the terrain, the gradients and the wind (the wind was diabolical despite the sunny conditions - and it made everything much harder). I spent a good portion of the event wondering whether you can 'enjoy' the Three Peaks: it is a very northern, very austere way of having fun, epitomised by an ethos that served up one 'feed station', a white plastic cup of water and nothing else. The subtext was abundantly clear. 'If you were a real man,' said in a thick Yorkshire accent, 'this is all you'd consume for the whole event.' No garish sports drinks, no ghastly Nestle sponsorships (whisper The Etape), no gels, nothing at all. I really thought that was brilliant. Fantastic. The Last Outpost against commercialisation (although it still costs £50 to enter).

Another thing: there were very few overweight competitors, and the fifty or so women competitors were all absolutely brilliant as far as I could tell. Many of them had fell running backgrounds because I snatched the odd conversation with one or two out on the course. On the male side, it was a bit like a National Cross Champs with a smattering of foreign entrants from Switzerland, Belgium (especially), Germany and the USA. I wonder what they made of it all. The quality of the overall field was very good indeed: it was not like a sportive. Every single entry is vetted by the committee, so there are no 'have a go Harries'. There was a palpable respect when you got to the top of the last peak, but in between the encouragement was of a disciplining type. 'C'mon, step it up lad, this is a bludy race.'

On the technical front here's what I found out. I think I made the absolute right decision to fit Panaracer Cinder X 700x35s. They weigh 350grams. This is a strong, MTB-heritage compound tyre with an aggressive block tread. At 90psi (which it is rated for) it rolls well enough on the road. I stand by what I said before about the Schwalbe Urban Cruisers. They are really sluggish and weigh too much at 600grams. Equally, I noted that lots of riders seemed to turn up on the same tyres (700x32, typically) that they'd use on a normal Cross race. This is an error. The average Cross tyre is not strong enough for this course. You need strength and volume of air and a high PSI rating. Clinchers beat tubs unless you are very brave, and happy to change one in the field. I was confident I wouldn't puncture and I didn't. Panaracer flataway kevlar stuff may have helped; in the end I had a disaster with the Joe's sealant and gave up. Not before it had gone everywhere. No comment.

Shoes: As predicted, it was a case of swings and roundabouts. I was way out on a limb deciding to wear Inov-8 Mudclaw 300 fell running shoes instead of clip in SPD MTB shoes. I was very content with this, and so it proved, partly: I had a ton more grip and felt much more confident every time we ran. What I didn't realise was that you need to mount/dismount/mount/dismount at the drop of a hat all the way round. A bit like the world champs in the sand dunes. This is not so easy with clips and straps and fell running shoes with rubber studded soles. I had practised, but on difficult terrain I undoubtedly lost time reachiong down to lift the clip and get the shoe in. The overall distance of 61kms was as far as I would want to ride in running shoes. If I could find the right, 'flexi' pair of MTB shoes I might try that next time. If it was very wet you might still want the Mudclaws. There were lots of sections where this year's dry conditions made the paths dusty/slippery and people in stiff MTB shoes were just struggling to get any grip at all. That's a big risk of injury; ditto the wet grass ascent of Ingleborough, the famous 'cliff' that always gets photographed each year, and often where the initial selection is made.

Tyres and shoes are the two most important decisions you'll make. The other one is gearing and I was right about that too, based on advice from Konrad Manning, something of a veteran of the event. You want 1:1 gearing so you can ride much of the initial path up Pen-y-Gent, the last climb. On 34x32 (my set-up), it's marginal. You are so wasted by then, you can only ride small sections and then have to dismount and walk/run. It would be much better to have 32x34. This is crazy stuff outside of the context of this event and takes you off into special kit and expensive prep. But that is what you would ideally have. I didn't have it, but then lots of riders had turned up with 46x36 / 12-25. Stock stuff for school playing field racing. I hope they enjoyed their running legs.

Summary
It would be strange to talk of enjoying this event. The technical demands are so steep that you cannot enjoy any descent as such; I crashed three times to prove that point, once heavily on the descent of Ingleborough. But it is mentally engrossing and by the end you are completely drained. I'd compare it to a bad weather fishing trip that yields little, but the little brown trout you finally catch using a pure method, say dry fly, is worth the wait. Or, a gold panning expedition where you have to pan for hours with nothing, but finally reveal a single, perfectly formed nugget of gold. This is not like an Etape where you get to play the Pro on a 20km descent at wild speeds, pure good fun. It's much harder and drier than that. But, you do have your wild off-road moments, or other moments of beauty; it is very authentic and there are no losers in this event. At the end of it all you're supposed to have a laugh and drink a pint, exactly as the fell runners do. And by then you know that you've done something much, much harder than the Arenberg Trench of Paris-Roubaix fame - which pales in comparison.

REVIEW: Schwalbe Ultremo DD Evolution tyre

The Schwalbe Double Defense -good but it has limits

REVIEW: Schwalbe Ultremo DD Evolution 700x25c tyres £35.19 (Wiggle)

This is not the tyre that most often crops up in the Schwalbe range - it's usually the Ultremo ZX, a pure road comp tyre, or the very popular Durano and friends.

I picked out the 700x25c for its relative light weight (260g) and widely touted puncture resistance (see below the many claims) - as a fast but commuter-savvy tyre capable of handling a rack and panniers laden up to about 10kgs in a commuting only situation. Fitted to my new Enigma Ethos on black Mavic Aksiums, they looked the part but I was always worried that the tyre was too light. For the spring and summer months I never had a problem, but when the rains came two weeks ago, I began to fear the worst - it just feels like a race tyre being stretched to capacity than operating well within its strengths.

Here's the highly persuasive marketing blurb from Schwalbe:

"Cuts by glass shards, or sharp flints are effectively repelled. Weight and rolling resistance remain low. Naturally with Triple Nano Compound. HD Ceramic Guard - This unique, high density fabric offers highly effective protection against penetration punctures. The additional coating of tiny ceramic particles blunts small shards of embedded glass, so that migration through the tyre is stalled. SnakeSkin. The addition of "snakeskin" protects the tyre shoulder and side wall against sharp rocks and broken glass. Although side wall defects are quite rare in road racing, it is still annoying when it happens. And worse, the tyre is often not just punctured by a cut, it is frequently completely destroyed. Double defense is the best prevention against this happening."

Here are the limits - don't know what caused this hole

Part of a winter, Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders - now for commute

Well I'm sorry to say this but my back tyre ruptured big time the other day, riding across London in the wet. I never got to see what I hit but it was probably a shard of bottle glass. The cut, pictured, went right through the tyre and I had no shoulder with me so rode home on 50 psi, gingerly, thinking that any more pressure would likely force the tube out through the hole and leave me stranded.

My immediate thought was that this is a summer tyre or maybe a three season training tyre, but it's not really strong enough for commuting.

Turning to the winter then, I considered buying new Duranos, or even Pluses, or maybe a combo (Durano Plus at the rear, Durano at the front). But I had these last winter and I know they're great. The point here is to try something new.

So I dug out the Vittoria Open Paves that have already seen serious cobble action, and am going to fit the pair with Panaracer Flataway between tyre and tube, a sort of kevlar fuzzy band with adhesive. Make no mistake this is a totally different philosophy of puncture prevention, before we even get to the Panaracer stuff: the Open Paves reply on density (320 TPI =threads per square inch), and a kevlar component, and also a profile where there is more meat in the actual tread than the walls, more so than competitior tyres. Plus, they're 700x24c - an unusual size - and I have always liked their feeling of just being that bit stronger. I'll report back come the Spring. If I have to estimate the weakness, it will be from cuts that just slice the rubber irrespective of the TPI. But if so, it won't be any worse than the piece of glass that just went straight through Schwalbe's HD Ceramic Guard.

UPDATE: Prescription glasses for cycling - Rudy Project, RXSport, and why I hate Oakley

Original post: July 19th, 2013

This is a journalistically satisfying update. Back in July I posted about the very complex world of prescription glasses for cycling, and why Oakley is a dysfunctional giant within a monopolistic mega-group, Milan-based Luxottica. The happy ending of my purchase, via excellent 'minnow' provider www.rxsport.co.uk, of an expensive (£340.04) pair of Rudy Project Magsters turned out to be quite complex: here's what happened.

The projected delivery time was 2-3 weeks, with the glasses coming from the Shamir laboratory in Portugal. The date of the order, placed in person when I visited RXSport, was July 12th, 2013.

I returned from a trip a month later, with nothing awaiting me except a message from RX Sport to call. The glasses had been delayed.

Two weeks later, another call confirmed that they had arrived but were of poor quality, the naked lower edge of the lenses poorly finished.

Another week passed and I spoke to James Coakley, the founder of RX Sport.co.uk, who by now wss handling the matter.

Unbeknownst to me, but I guess typical for a web-savvy company, they'd all been reading my original blog post having performed a routine search for their own brand name. James agreed with my verdict on the industry but insisted that he doesn't make the profit margins I'd estimated. We had a perfectly amicable phone call. He also said that the defective quality of my glasses was "very unusual." They get a small handful of such instances each year, he claims, and my order, apparently, was pushing the available technology to the edge of the known universe, despite a weak, single prescription.

To re-cap: I'd ordered a pair of Rudy Project Magsters, directly glazed single prescription, with brown photochromic lenses, frozen ash frames, and the best available coating, called Shamir Glacier Plus. Until recently you could not obtain all this in a cycling-specific application.

James also rebated me about 12%, bringing the order down to £300, as recompense for the delay - which I thought was a decent (and fair) gesture.

He explained that Shamir has a small UK laboratory and they were starting from scratch to re-manufacture the lenses.

The glasses arrived yesterday, September 5th, eight weeks to the day since the order was orignally placed.

I like the glasses and they came (just) in time for the Cyclo-Cross season, when photo-chromic lenses make a ton of sense. During the very sunny recent weather, I've had a different pair of prescription shades to wear. So I am very happy with the outcome and pleased to have been partially rebated. RXSport handled the whole thing very well and I'd still recommend them - the problem was a third party problem.

I still think the whole industry is comically complex, with a vast array of retailers and a very small number of actual providers, and too many patented applications, all a bit oversold like software. Here's a list of the bits enclosed with my order:

1. Rudy Project sticker
2. IMPACT X Photochromic lens advert
3. Warranty booklet
4. Magster diagram
5. IMPACT X technical brochure
6. Shamir-branded micro cloth
7. Shamir-branded lens care guide
8. Promotional business card from www.transitions.com
9. Shamir 'credit card' 'Certificado de Qualidade'. Let me book my flight to Portugal!
10. Duplicate 'credit card' from Shamir UK Ltd

The micro cloth, at least, is USEFUL!

Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Race 2013

This is roughly what I think you need -

It's been a long-term goal of mine to do the Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross Race. Long billed the hardest Cyclo-Cross Race in the world (in recent years the claim tempered somewhat to 'the hardest race in the UK' -) it is actually a very British oddity of a thing, to take a bike where no bike should go and then call it a race. Anyway, there's plenty about the history and geography of the race, which has run since 1961, here:

http://www.3peakscyclocross.org.uk/

The point of this post is instead to summarise what I have done for my first attempt. It's just three weeks away now and as I am writing this my pulse is soaring. After the event I'll re-post and we'll see what went right and what went wrong.

The first thing you need is to get on the start sheet. To do that you have to produce evidence of ability. For me this meant completing the previous 'Cross season, with a full roster of races and a final placing. I was ranked 20th Elite Vet out of 57 in the Elmy Eastern Cross League, 2012-13. http://www.easterncross.org.uk/

For the purposes of clarity, I am elite nothing; but in my League they bundle the youngest Vets (40-45) with the 'real' Elites to contain ever-swelling fields of entrants. Call it the advantage of being a younger-older rider.

My palmares was enough to get me accepted onto the start sheet for the Three Peaks, when I applied on Saturday June 1, the day entries opened (it is no longer an unseemly scramble: you have a couple of weeks, and then there is a committee decision. I did not pull any favours as a journalist).

I was then faced with the whole logistical thing: how am I going to get myself and my kit ready?

To cut to the end, I have placed almost my entire preparation down to the comment about this race that has stuck deep inside my head since I first read it some years ago. The most prolific winner, Rob Jebb, is conventionally described by the organisers, Bradford R.C.C, as "a fell runner and occasional cyclist."

So my whole approach has been to work on the stuff most cyclists hate. I began a whole new training plan, re-joined my gym and built in ramp running on a treadmill, upper body strengthening, core work and more actual walking and running and stair climbing to recruit those muscles. 

It's not been straightforward. I got symptoms of ITB on my right side; and combined with a big bout of cycling, almost over-training, I overloaded my anterior adductor which started to yelp. This has now passed across to an intermittently unhappy medio-hamstring. I have a masseuse (Timo Dahlstedt, London-based genius: timo@timomassagetherapy.co.uk) and a physiotherapist (Simon Gilchrist via www.marylebonephysio.com), and the physio does dry-needling with acupuncture needles. This is, let's put it this way, an interesting procedure. Luckily I am not injured, we are all agreed. It's more akin to an overuse symptom. This encourages me.

The rest of the prep will involve increased intensity and actually racing - my first 2013-14 'Cross race is tomorrow, Sept 7, and there is room for a second next weekend before the big trip north to the Yorkshire Dales.

TYRES
As for kit, the picture shown in this post is a rough guide. The special forum for the Three Peaks is very handy but it is not to be taken as gospel. You have to make your own decisions in the end. There is a consensus, for instance, that the best tyres are Schwalbe Land Cruisers, clinchers pumped up very hard to minimise pinch punctures. All well and good, but the first time I rode mine I didn't like them. At 615g each in the 700x35cc size, they feel sluggish. The centre line is nice for a turn of speed on the road, but seems to compromise grip off road. The merest dab of the back brake, and the bike stepped out. So I am selling those on eBay having replaced them with a more conventional 'Cross tyre, the Panaracer Cinder X. Once again 700x35cc (the maximum size permitted by the rules, and thus the maximum volume of air/ contact patch possible for this event), these weigh about 380g each and then I've added Panaracer Flat-Away, an adhesive kevlar fuzzy band that sits between tyre and tube.

For context, I notice in the photos from last year that Rob Jebb, contrary to what people have said on the forum, does not ride Land Cruisers. The photo shows him riding Schwalbe Racing Ralphs - beautiful light tubulars. But he has backers, spare bikes and immense experience. Strange - I have just fitted the same tubs to a pair of Zipp 303s for my normal racing, but for the Three Peaks, I do NOT want to be stranded on a moor with a wrecked tub and shivering hands. My sense is that it is an agicultural situation. Kit breaks. Do not go with the lightest thing money can buy, but err towards strength.

A week before the race, I'll inject sealant into the tubes as well. If I puncture, I'll have CO2, a pump, and two spare tubes. If I get through all that I have my legs left as the last engine.

SHOES
The other big debate is footwear. Oh yes. Now I was recently in the Canadian Rockies and my former marine father-in-law insisted that I take his steel framed bike to start running up and down the mountain with a bike on my shoulder, in cycling shoes. The main lesson was that Specialized S-Works MTB shoes are mentally stiff and simply don't work for running steep gradients. The limestone trails of the Three Peaks do not suit the twin studs at the toe either - I am told. This is why everyone gets screaming calves or blasted achilles tendons.

So here I'm out on my own limb: I've decided to do clips and straps mated to fell running shoes. I went off to this fantastic, family-owned specialist running shop/web retailer, http://www.runandbecome.com/Home, last week and bought a pair of Innov-8 Mudclaw 300s, the '300' referring to the weight in grams.
The tread looks like a nightmare for getting into clip and straps, but I tried it and with a wiggle, they go in OK. Yes, they are flexible where ideally you'd have stiffness, but I'm sticking to the original philosophy, that this is a fell running event with cycling thrown in, rather than the other way round. We'll see if I come to revise any of that.

GEARING
So finally to gearing. For normal racing, my Ridley X-Night is set up with Shimano Ultegra, 46-36 / 11-25. This is way too high for the Three Peaks, where as I was reminded by front runner & long time participant Konrad Manning, Nick Craig won it one year by ascending the final Pen-y-gent peak by riding out a 1:1 gear.
Well OK. But there's a budget here and going right over into bespoke chainrings and cranksets, is not something I'm willing to do yet. At 1:1 you can profitably run or walk too.
So as you see in the photo here, I've done the obvious by going as low as I can without departing the known universe or resorting to a triple: added a 34 tooth inner chainring and acquired a new set of sprockets, Shimano Tiagra 12-30. Even this hasn't been cheap. The Ultegra short cage derailleur can't go bigger than 29, and the chain as fitted was too short for 46-30. So add another £85 for a Shimano 105 long-mech and new chain.

COST
Well, I've eBayed myself half out of trouble, but the actual cost of Three Peaks-specific kit is so far £320. This includes the running shoes. It cost more than I thought it would but then I am the eternal optimist.

REVIEW London Bikes Shops: Sargent & Co

Rob Sargent: A genius for steel

Bikes shops.
When I was growing up in a tiny village, there was no bike shop but the son of a family we knew 'who could mend a puncture'. Dad didn't have a clue.
Now I live in London in 2013, and after a recent trip to San Francisco and America's 'most cycling city' Portland, Oregon, you better believe it: we Londoners have it good.
In bike shop terms London is a Shangri La, despite the amazing world of the web and the fact that a big box web 'tailer like Chain Reaction can stock hundreds of thousands of parts that even the largest shop could never hope to stock.

But the fact is that bikes are awkward in the mail and there are numerous problems that can be quickly solved by a decent mechanic. Bike shops are blossoming. They are not being killed off by the web. In fact one I know (Micycle, Islington) told me they too order bits and bobs online, when they need one widget and not a hundred, subtly subverting the traditional distributor/wholesale model. I'm sure they're not alone.


One of my favourite all time stores in London is Sargent and Co. in Finsbury Park, founded by Rob Sargent. I pass it daily and keep an eye on his ever-changing window feast of old steel beauties. 

Currently he has a poster in the window. It reads: "You can't buy happiness, but you can buy a bike and that's pretty close." There's also a cheeky sign that says 'No Mountain bikes or 'hybrids''.

Premises at 84 Mountgrove Rd, N5 2LT

So you can see straightaway that Rob has done what you have to do to succeed: focus on one area and do it really well, in this case steel frames and bikes that modern bike shops have almost forgotten how to service. He knows them inside out and has two halves to his business, selling retro-magic bikes and frames and builds, and of course servicing and fixing God Knows What old stuff coming in the door, the 'rescued from the shed but needs a bit of attention' commuter market.

Rob replaced my head set and allowed me to watch

Rob's magnificent cat Cassius sleeps in the window, and when I popped in to get a headset replaced on my Coppi (I had made an appointment on this occasion), it was as relaxed as can possibly be. I set off to buy some coffee for both of us from the Retro Vintage Cafe two doors down, and then we just chatted while Rob expertly did a big job requiring specialist tools. He charged me just £40, and what to charge seemed almost like an afterthought. What a fantastic guy.

Rob Sargent wins my vote for 'favourite bike shop in 2013', partly for defying 'market economics' and riding a different and beautiful wave that's seen a whole sub-culture of low cost, beautiful bikes being restored, re-cycled, re-worked and re-built.

I salute that: it is personal and intimate and friendly in a way that biking culture should be. I am not against the big chains like Evans, who can service other needs (and open very long hours), but they are headed in an opposite direction, getting bigger and bigger, bought out last year by private equity and thus owned and run now by non-cycling bean counters. It is great thing that the formerly humble world of the cycling shop could have matured and stratified to this degree as an entire business sector, but my vote goes to Rob Sargent nonetheless - and of course I love steel road bikes so I am partly expressing my own preferences.

UPDATE: Enigma Ethos Custom Build, £3,000

There have been teething problems with the Enigma Ethos

In my original blog (May 12, 2013) I explained how I'd spent £3,000 acquiring the ultimate commuter/light tourer: a hand-made, custom build, Reynolds 853 from Sussex, England-based titanium and steel specialists Enigma.

Four months in and I've had a few teething problems.

The front brake caliper seemed to be slightly uphappy from an early stage, but only when I noticed strings of fine cotton pealing off the outside wall of the Schwalbe Ultremo DD Double Defense 700x25cc front tyre (not a cheap tyre!), did I realise that the nearside brake block had somehow worked its way above the rim and was lightly scoring the tyre every time I braked.

I was worried, because on inspection I realised there was no more vertical allowance in the caliper arm, and it was not a question of playing with the centering screw or anything like that. In truth, I think this demonstrates that you can't happily get a regular caliper over a 'normal' set of mudguards (in this case SKS narrow/road).

In fairness to Enigma, I think they'd tried desperately hard to keep me all-in with the Shimano 105 groupset, including the regular calipers. Plus, Mark Reilly their meister-frame builder offered to 'tweak the crown' if I could get the bike back to them for a couple of days. That's a big shipping bill or £50+ of diesel and hours of driving so I decided instead to order 57mm drop calipers (colloquially called 'long-drop' calipers).This is the obvious solution and should perhaps have been applied at the build stage.

I replaced the front caliper yesterday and have now ordered a matching back one, not wanting to be with an unmatched pair of brakes. Problem solved - except that to stay with Shimano means going down a groupset to Tiagra, where each caliper weighs 20g more and has a less slick barrel adjuster.

Yesterday, I was talking to Condor owner Grant Young (Grey's Inn Road, London), and he explained that every single time they meet with Campagnolo they ask them to make a long drop brake for the many, many riders who want a mudguard to slip underneath and the clearance for up to 700x28mm tyres (the perfect winter commuting tyre I'd suggest). But they don't.

So Condor commissioned its own brakes and they come in polished silver or black at £60, sold only as pairs (called Pioggio, there's also a lesser pair). Grant claims they are the equal of Shimano 105, but I decided to stick with Tiagra having already taken delivery of the front caliper. 

Another solution is to choose different mudguards - not the Crud RoadRacer 2s that every roadie is now fitting here in the UK, but I'm thinking something more durable for this sort of bike, such as Portland Design Works's aluminium guards (called 'Full Metal Fenders @$120 a pair, see: https://www.ridepdw.com/goods/fenders/full-metal-fenders), which come with special hardware to go around calipers. And they look amazing. Watch this space - I might try these as an experiment.

The next issue is replacement of the now-damaged front tyre, and probably the rear at the same time. But I've examined the front and it's OK for commuting duties until October and then I'll put on something wintry.

The final issue concerns sizing. From day one I felt it slightly large.

I took the bike with me to Sheffield and a Retul bike fit with Chris Last at Planet X (for a TT bike which I subsequently purchased, to be the subject of another blog). He offered to give me a quick check on the Enigma and noted that he'd knock a couple of cms off the stem and bring the saddle back and up, to get the right angles at the knee. Caveat: he was talking road race set-up, whereas this is a utility bike, so we agreed that I should just do what I wanted.

I would emphasize here that Enigma didn't do anything wrong. There are different sizing philosophies and none of them are exactly right. I'd tried to mimic the upright posture of the Focus cross bike, but translating this over into the road-geometry of the Enigma had exaggerated the length of the top tube. 

In the midst of all of this I had surgery for a mild squint which I'd had from birth, which has subtly changed everything and made me more comfortable with a larger saddle-stem vertical drop.

So I am still sorting these elements out. I've got a big spacer above the stem on a steerer tube that I'll need to trim, and am toying with slamming it even lower. Meanwhile, Grant at Condor generously lent me a 100mm stem (versus the 110mm stem fitted by Enigma), so I can mail Enigma the original, colour-matched grey stem, for them to colour match a 100mm replacement.

Costs so far: Set of Tiagra brake calipers from Fawkes in Oldham (via web): £43.68. New stem will cost c£45 (colour matched to frame).

The Reynolds 853 frame: it is fantastic. You should really try to ride one. As such I am not having 'second thoughts' about the bike, although occasionally I miss the cowboy potential of the cross bike, which I abused mercilessly. The Enigma is too nice for that but it makes me feel older than I feel. No wheelies.