GORILLA ZEN
Finding the Zen on two wheels
12/6/2017 0 Comments Searching for a new bike
A study found out that cyclist form strong emotional attachment with their surroundings and bikes. This is no surprise to me. My bike take me places much quicker than my feet. In the first weeks after buying my bike, I saw more of London than in 3 years in this city. And unlike cars, bikes gives you an awareness of where you are and what are you doing that just makes you appreciate the whole ride.
Since I got back to London in the beginning of ’17, I started spending more and more time cycling through the city. But something wasn’t quite right. I would end my rides with my elbows and shoulders in pain. It didn’t take me long to figure out that my Claude Butler bike was too big for me. It was time to start a quest for a new bike. What may sound simple, proves to be much harder in reality. I started researching which bike I would like (some great articles here, there and everywhere). I was sure I’d like a road bike, that it had to be comfortable and if I was to create a deep emotional bond with my bike, it needed a soul! Nowadays you can find so much information online that the task can be herculean! But as I am used to have tons of papers to read for my PhD, this was no novelty. I dashed through hundreds of articles and got to the conclusion that, in the end, it's the bike that chooses you and not the other way around. On one of these searches, I stumbled upon Mango bikes website (www.mangobikes.com). They are a small British bike company, focused in single speed bikes, but a couple of years ago they released what they believe is their finest and fastest bike so far: The mango Point R. It comes with an aluminium frame, carbon forks and a lotsof other details but above all, it is a stunning bike and it was considered the best budget bike of 2016. What else in PhD scholarship life could I ask for? My plan was to go to their showroom and buy a new bike, but when I contacted them, they could only deliver it at the beginning of July. I was willing to wait, but in the mean time I decided to look for one secondhand bike . I started searching on gumtree, Facebook marketplace, ebay… until I found this beauty for sale. Emil used to commute by bike, but a couple of months ago he changed jobs and stopped using the bike, so he was selling it. Half of the price I’d pay for a new one… So I went to check it. Arriving there, the bike was exactly what I was looking for: beautiful and it rode like a beast! Quickly we closed the deal, and I was ready to go for my opening ride on my new bike! The only thing missing now is a name for it! Check my opening ride with my new bike on strava
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|