On Yer Bike!

[Ilex]

What do you have? Is it an all-singing and dancing mountain machine with full suspension or are you a laid back recumbent rider? City folder or stripped, lightweight racer? Maybe you have a fleet for all different purposes? Any tricycles out there or what about shop bikes with those huge baskets and small front wheels? Haven't seen any postie's using a bike lately!

Me? I'm an old fashioned git and having got incredibly fat over Christmas and New Year, desperately need to get back on my 1995 Pashley Prospero. Rod brakes, brooks leather saddle and gears I can work! Norman Clegg would definitely like my bike . Made in Britain too . I'd love one of their new Roadster Sovereigns or a Guv'nor path racer.

So what do you ride and what would you go for if money wasn't the crippling factor it always seems to be ?

Graeme

[Boddie]

Hi Graeme

I currently ride the Proflex XP8 which was one of the very first full suspension mountain bikes ever produced, but still regarded as one of the best. I only ride it cross country however.

For touring I ride a Chas Roberts Transcontinental which is fitted with a Thudbuster seatpost and a carbon Aliante. I had Shimano 959's fitted and the groupset is a Campag and Shimano mix.

Price no object I would take a Moulton but the model I want is the price of a small car, or, more importantly, a 800mm lens

[foxy mars]

I'm a keen cyclist and have 4 bikes, however, I don't really want disclose details of them. I will tell you that I have a mountain bike, trekking bike, road bike and a hybrid bike. The trekking is my best bike and is used for cycle-camping and is beautiful to cycle with such loads.

However, this year. I hope to do the C2C from Whitehaven to Sunderland in September, over 3-4 days.

Funny, enough on the subject of cycling. That I'm walking the Coast to Coast in the summer, walking the Wheelwrights Coast to Coast mtb route.

[Jez]

I own two bikes, each are poles apart in price and riding style, but I'm very pleased with both!

I own an old Raleigh Flyer which I bought from a cycling charity - Spokes Spokes - What is Spokes CIC? who turned it to a single speed freewheel hack bike for £45, the drop bars where no use to me so I turned them down side up, fitted them with foam grips for winter rides and also fitted an angled BMX seat stem to give me more leverage on inclines totaling the cost at £75 will be fitting cyclo x 700c tyres for trailing at some point but for the little money It's a good ride for winter training and all year round steady cruising!

The other is a recumbent bicycle imported from the states - Volae Club from the nice people at Hostel Shoppe W.I . It's a thorough bred race bike (high racer) due to its seat height and spec. Euro style hammock fibre glass seat and Alpha Q fibre glass forks, dual 650c velocity aero rims and a combination of FSA gossamer crank, head set, Truvativ Elita 27 speed gear set and Sram gripshifts clipped pedals and goes some. A Spring/Summer/Autumn bike for fast/ enjoyable adrenalin road riding! http://www.volaerecumbents.com/2009/.../lg_09club.jpg

[foxy mars]

Jez, I just love that recumbent. It's beautiful, give me a bike like that, more than a woman. When I was at the York Cycle Show last year, I saw loads of recumbent's. If I won the lottery, that would be on my wish-list.