Two Bike Ride

You might have noticed that I’ve not been riding Siegried much recently. In September, the Pashley’s 5-speed Sturmey Archer hub developed a fault, and got jammed in first gear. I’d not really had time to fix it myself (Ha - as if! Have you seen the insides of 5-speed hubs? I’ve only four words for the average bike tinkerer - “Be afraid, very afraid”), and never quite got around to having a serious discussion with Ben at our local bike shop about what could be done. He’s a bit of a Sturmey fan, so if anyone can, hopefully Ben can fix it.

Anyway, after some discussions with Sturmey Archer, Ben felt that he’d got an idea as to what the problem could be, so could I bring the bike down for him to start playing with . . . easier said than done, as it won’t fit into my car, and I really didn’t fancy the walk back from Tynemouth.

So I hatched a play - drive the Brompton down to Tynemouth in the car, drive home, ride the Pashley to Tynemouth, and then ride home on the Brompton. Simples!

Wife suggested that I could make it a whole lot simpler by riding the Pashley, with the Brompton on my back for the return trip . . . which seemed to make a whole lot more sense, and so is what ended up happening. Things to consider if you want to try this:

  1. Even folded in a shoulder bag, a Brompton isn’t that small when it’s slung on your back.
  2. The Pashley is high. Getting up there with another bike on your back is tricky - the Brompton made several attempts to grab the Pashley’s saddle to stop me getting on.
  3. Getting off also felt like it could be a problem, so I opted for a route with minimal traffic and minimal junctions.
  4. I was riding a very traditionally styled bike with a single (low) gear, and a huge bag on my back. If you do the same, then under no circumstances should you attempt to act like your some sort of Dutch cycle courier alley cat wannabe. It will end in tears - especially if you grab the shoulder of a passing motor-scooterist, which would also be cheating . . .
Fingers crossed that fixing the Pashley costs a whole lot less than the car repair bill I got landed with today.

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One Response to “ Two Bike Ride ”

  1. Amoeba on January 20, 2011 at 5:09 am

    One solution might be to pop the Pashley on a Y-frame Large trailer with a bolted-on cycle carrier and tow it to the LBS. And then tow the empty trailer back. Collection would be the reverse.

    Works for me, except I haven’t got a Pashley. But it looks like the wife will end-up with one.