To the Batcave

So I made a decision. I am going to cycle. I am going to cycle and see if I can ride to work. I am going back on a bike –but what bike?

You have had a WTF moment haven’t you? That sinking feeling as reams of information descend on your head and you think you will never get to the bottom of it? Well try looking at the range of bikes that are now available.

Road, Touring, Cyclo-Cross, MTB, Hybrid, Urban, Comfort, Dutch, Recumbents, Sit-ups, Pull-ups (OK (I think) I made that one up), wave upon wave of different styles, Oh boy things had changed since I was a kid.

You see, all those years ago it was very simple you had three types of bikes – a racer, a BMX or a cobbler – something that you cobbled together from the bits lying around in your dad’s garage.

I’d built my own bikes since I could ride, and as the youngest of four, had plenty of spares lying around.

Eventually my mum relented and I got a BMX – a cheap piece of shite that I needed to constantly carry an alum key around with for running repairs.

Eventually cars and girls took over so my biking days were over so I had no idea what a world it had become.  

I blame a friend who shall remain nameless for this change in events. It is entirely down to him that I was now looking at a vast gamut of velocipedes because it was him, yes him, that introduced the world to the Raleigh Bomber.

These simple categorisations that I grew up with (the occasional US import or chopper not withstanding) had begun to change with that bike I reckon.

Anyway, so onto the cycling sites I went to clear things up…

Or not.

What I gathered was that the mountain bike lot don’t like the road lot that don’t like the hybrid lot that don’t really care as they need to get to work on time.

Meanwhile the fixies look down their immaculately sculpted faces and salmon trousers that just show a little bit of ankle at the whole lot.

Bromptonites wobbled, ummed and aahed and decided that they should just concentrate on that bus…

For a bear avoiding a trike, it actually boiled down to the fact that I needed something that wouldn’t make me look too twattish…