12 GIRL BIKES

Hurrah! After a week of faffing around with various seatposts it turns out I was originally correct and - with a little bit of persuasion and a lot of pedalling hard to make it round bikeshops before they closes - got one installed.

So this is it, never ridden and finished not 10 minutes ago, my shiny new Audax bike. All up tips the scales at 10.8kg, so it won't blast up the hills but it should keep on going and going and going.

Just calculated the total cost for all the new bits to be just about ?450 - half on the frame, bars and stem, a quarter on the tyres and saddle and the other quarter on all the little bits. Not bad I think as I've got all the bits that "I" wanted and forked out on great tyres and saddle and pedals and this sort of money wouldn't even buy you a bargain bucket road bike (well, one that you wouldn't throw straight in the bin), which would still need money spent on accessorising. There's some nearly new 105 bits in there too. Of course these other bits all had to be bought at some point too but they've seen good use on older bikes and have lots of good days ahead of them. The only bits now running from the original 7 year old Trek 1000 road bike are the derailleurs and the STIs.

From eBay - Dawes Giro Audax 700 frame in Reynolds 531 Competition tubing. 3TTT bars and stem.
From an old bike - Shimano 105 double crankset and brakes, Shimano Sora derailleurs and STIs, Shimano R500 wheelset (minus silly stickers)
From local bike shops - 700x25c Continental GP4000 rubber, Brooks B17 Narrow leather, SKS P35 guards, cheapo brushed aluminium bottle cages and seatpost. Taping courtesy of Fizik. Skinny clamp for front derailleur.
From the internet - Exustar Delta-compatible clipless pedals. Cabling courtesy of Jagwire. Bracket for Ortlieb Ultimate bar bag.

"This bicycle was made by Humber, Marriott and Cooper. It has a 54 inch (137cm) front wheel, a tubular steel frame and "spider" wheels with solid rubber tyres.

Penny Farthing bicycles had very large front wheels so they would cover a long distance in one revolution. As the pedals were directly connected to the big wheel they also went round once."

Coventry Transport Museum, UK. 2009