So, my day job is as an organisational development consultant, which takes me all over the country. This week, I have a couple of days in Norwich, which is 200 miles, 4.5 hours by train (including time transferring between stations in London), and I decided I'd use it as a trial run for the Mini. I needed to take my briefcase, a pannier of clothes, and some stuff overflowed into another briefcase pannier on the side. This left me with precious little space to attach the Downtube bag, which I wanted to try, but I found a way. This is how it looked when I left:
The bike is actually pretty stable like this; you can lift the front wheel on a steep climb, but it's easy not to. I was perfectly happy at 16-18 mph in traffic, no problems at all. A 35 mph descent might have been scary, however! Anyway, got on the train to London, 3.5 miles from my house. All these trains have lots of bike racks, so I only fold my bike if they're full. In the rack it went, all of my other stuff went on the overhead rack.
That got me to Waterloo just fine, and since I didn't have any desire to lug all that stuff through the Underground, I simply cycled the couple of miles to Liverpool Street (plus a couple of navigational digressions!), which was very pleasant in the late afternoon sunshine. The bike had to be folded for the train to Norwich, so I did that on the platform and put it in the bag - with 3 other bags, it needed to go on my shoulder - and off I went.
My hotel was literally across the road from Norwich station, so I simply carried the bag across, and it stayed in the corner of my room for the first two nights
On my second morning, however, I had to check out, so I rode the bike with all my luggage up a mile and a half of hills, to County Hall, and locked it in their fairly secure bike rack, taking the bags in with me. In the evening, I'm pretty sure I was quicker back to the station than a car would've been, and it was a lot more pleasant. The bike sat neatly on the luggage rack in the train
I got on the wrong end of the train, meaning I had a very long walk to get from the end of the platform at Liverpool street to the station entrance. Back out on the road, however, I had another very pleasant mid evening ride through London to Waterloo, got the train back to Southampton, and cycled back in the dark, which gave me the chance to try out my Dinotte lights - very impressive!
When you've had to lock your Mini (as you mentioned doing in your post), do you lock it folded or unfolded? I recently picked up the toughest U lock commercially available, plus a couple of cables to lock down the seat and front wheel. I'm wondering if folding before locking would further discourage thieves (from the bafflement perspective). Thankfully, I haven't yet been in a situation where I had to lock on the street and test it all out, but I know that day's coming.
Sammyboy
06-26-08, 09:51 AM
Well, I rarely lock them outside, but on this occasion, all that was available was a wheelbender rack, so I folded the bike, locked through the rear wheel to the rack with my U-lock, and then ran my cable lock through the rack, the rear wheel, the front wheel, and the seat frame (didn't wanna lose my Brooks!). That said, I could probably have left it unlocked in this place, and been fine.
Dynocoaster
06-26-08, 10:22 AM
Very nice pictures and those lights are impressive.
Sammyboy
06-26-08, 10:27 AM
Not bad are they? What's more impressive is the Ultrafire Cree flashlight I have that pretty much equals that headlight for 1/5 the price! I've seen nothing to touch the taillight anywhere.
Dynocoaster
06-26-08, 10:28 AM
Can you run a flashing led taillight on a bike in the UK.?
Sammyboy
06-26-08, 10:29 AM
You can, but I prefer the very steady bright red of the Dinotte than a blinkie. Both would be favourite.
trueno92
06-26-08, 10:29 AM
good pics man, yes i enjoy the 16" wheels for sure. good speed you were gettign there at 16-18mph? is that correct? thats like 26/30km/h..........? serious?
snafu21
06-26-08, 10:33 AM
Brill! Multimodal pootlin':)
(yes, people run LED flashers here)
folderster
06-26-08, 10:34 AM
Very cool! Thanks for sharing the ride.
Can I ask what the total load (you + the pack) weighed in at?
And what kind of rack is that? It looks like it attaches to the dropouts and the seat post, and also lets you collapse the seat post. I need to get one of those badly!
simsles
06-26-08, 10:50 AM
If your carrier is canti-levered off the seat post, as it appears to be, then I would have thought that it was never intended to carry such a load.
Is the maximum loading marked on it?
Sammyboy
06-26-08, 11:55 AM
16-18 mph is an estimate based on my cruising speed on my IXFS, which has a speedo. When I push on with the Mini on the flat, I feel as though I'm doing that sort of speed. The rack is rated for 15 kilos, or about 34 lbs. The briefcase even when loaded with my laptop, files, locks etc only weighs about 15 lbs, one pannier was suit, shoes, change of underwear and the like, the other was a book, Ipod, washbag. I expect I was comfortable under the limit - it wasn't like I was carrying dog food!
Total weight? Not sure, but well over the Mini limit. I weigh around 245-250, so on my own I'm over the Mini rating. The rack is an Axiom QR Tracker, it doesn't attach to the dropouts, it's just that it has pannier supports, and on the Mini, they happen to come close to the axle. They do a non-QR rack that has even better pannier supports, and a 25kg limit, but I need the QR to let me drop the seat. It wouldn't fit in the standard Mini bag like this, I imagine, but it goes in the 20" bike bag no problem.
puppypilgrim
06-26-08, 12:34 PM
Brilliant and inspiring post!! Thanks.
SesameCrunch
06-26-08, 03:18 PM
Brill! Multimodal pootlin':)
I call FOUL! He clearly exceed the official Pootle speed limit of 12mph.
We can't just let any ride be called a Pootle. It'll ruin the long history and tradition of the sport!
We'll file a formal protest as soon as we figure out where to file it.
SesameCrunch,
Chief Pootle Officer - P.U.N.T.
(Pootlers United iN Tradition)
:D:D
sahadev
06-26-08, 03:59 PM
Sammyboy,
Great pootle, your excessive speed notwithstanding. Perhaps the limit could be stretched for what is obviously a business/professional pootle. I would think they would require a set of rules to themselves, perhaps specifying the proper attire and such. Bow ties and a pince-nez anyone?
Sammyboy
06-27-08, 01:41 AM
I don't believe I've had a ride where I averaged under 12 mph in forever! Perhaps I just don't belong. During the train part of my pootle, the GPS on my Blackberry said I exceeded 100mph! The trip there was in jeans and t-shirt, because it was an afternoon/evening run with no work after. On the way home, it was a pinstripe suit and a double cuff shirt, for the real Fred look!
Urbanis
06-27-08, 05:44 AM
Wow, the tail light at $169.00 is quite the investment! The Ultrafire Cree flashlight at $20 is much more reasonable. How do you mount the flashlight to your bike?
Sammyboy
06-27-08, 05:49 AM
I got the Dinotte lights at $100 in the sale, and bought both. That's the pair mounted there. The Ultrafire is waiting for 2fish to get their stock of LockBlocks in so I can offer them as a package - those are the best light mounts for flashlights. I really only bought the Dinottes to take comparison shots, but they are quite nice and shiny, specially the tail light!
Urbanis
06-27-08, 06:28 AM
Hi Sammyboy, thanks. A question: For the Cree Ultrafire, I read one review that said the flashlight got very hot after a few minutes. I do a lot of nighttime riding and so, of course, keep my front light on for extended periods. Is this something I need to be concerned about?
Sammyboy
06-27-08, 06:34 AM
No. When you're riding, the wind keeps the light cool. Just as a test, I've got the light on my desk on high mode. I'll see what it's like in 10 mins.
Sammyboy
06-27-08, 06:51 AM
Ok, light has been on now for approx 15 mins, and is faintly warm. Not even warm enough to be comforting on a cold day, and certainly not hot enough to burn a person. I'll do a runtime test tonight with fresh batteries, for whoever previously asked me.
snafu21
06-27-08, 06:55 AM
I think Sam has just invented the Business Class Pootle, for which a collar and tie has to be worn in one direction at least, and there must be a laptop attached to the bike at all times.
The '100mph on a Blackberry thing' we must put down to youthful folly, but should overlook as he wasn't actually in charge of the vehicle at that time..
Urbanis
06-27-08, 08:23 AM
Sammyboy, you're the best! Thanks for testing.
Sammyboy
06-27-08, 08:29 AM
Runtime testing right now. Will also take some beamshots tonight comparing the Ultrafire and the Dinotte (need those for my website anyway).
Sammyboy
06-27-08, 10:49 AM
Ok, after 1:45 mins in the brightest mode, light output was not noticeably diminished. After 2 hours, it was noticeably dimmer, though still very much on. Comparative beamshots after if gets dark.
gringo_gus
06-27-08, 12:30 PM
Sammy, what is Organizational Development?
Sammyboy
06-27-08, 11:45 PM
Well......it's the development of organisations! I guess you could characterise it as the strategic decisions taken to change and grow an organisation's culture, leadership and structure. So I work on leadership development programmes, coaching senior managers and delivering workshops, on organisational values development and deployment programmes, on competency development programmes, 360 assessment programmes - it's fairly wide, I think.
gringo_gus
06-29-08, 07:26 AM
Well......it's the development of organisations! I guess you could characterise it as the strategic decisions taken to change and grow an organisation's culture, leadership and structure. So I work on leadership development programmes, coaching senior managers and delivering workshops, on organisational values development and deployment programmes, on competency development programmes, 360 assessment programmes - it's fairly wide, I think.
OK, now I understand..... sorry, I was teasing you a bit, I know some OD stuff meself, think answering that question is one of the toughest asks in the game...:thumb: used to think Kolb's learning cycle was a bike with them little wheels on for kids to learn to ride....
Sammyboy
06-29-08, 09:28 AM
Bahahahaha - lovely jubbly! I pride myself on being able to explain things fairly well; I do some freelance journalism in what little spare time I have!
Dynocoaster
06-29-08, 10:05 AM
I am OCD. :)
Sammyboy
06-30-08, 06:40 AM
Comparitive beam shots. What this doesn't completely capture is that the Ultrafire light has a much wider spill. What you get with the Dinotte is slightly more light, captured in a smaller pool, so a small bright hotspot, and a bright pool round it. With the Ultrafire, you get a bigger, cooler hotspot, and a wider spill, so you get to see more road, but not quite as well. I'd say they're definitely comparable, and once I get my Lockblocks, I'll compare them on the bike.