Fresh Product: Penhale Bicycle Co. B'Stard

Penhale Bicycle Co. B'Stard Prototype

Fresh Product: Penhale Bicycle Co. They are based in Rancho Santa Margarita California, but don't let that fool you. The founder and designer is a Northern Lad and knows what it's like to ride in the filth that is a British winter. Andy Holmes has always been a bit of a bike Guru to me. In the early days of mountain biking just as straight bars and Onza bar ends were becoming the next big thing, Andy would turn up at the woods with drop bars on, then proceed to ride harder faster and with more style and grace than any of us had seen.
We soon developed our own way of riding, getting away from the main trails and going off following deer tracks. Before long Bush Whacking became our thing. Find a point in the distance, agree on it and simply ride straight to it with as few dabs as possible. Not such a problem on the open moor land but down in the woods it made for some interesting times. But to get to the woods you needed a bike you could ride from home. Step out the front door, ride to the woods, 10-20 miles away, ride the woods all day and then when your tired out ride home.
This new bike came out of those early days of riding. Penhale Bicycle Co. are an adventure brand, they want you to take your bike and go ride it anywhere, anytime, over anything and still be able to make it back for a pint and a pie at the pub on your way home.

So what have we got, Steel frame, old school is the new school. At the moment it's simply called the B'Stard, short for 650b standard.
Maybe this will be the new standard to judge the rest against?

What sets this bike apart is the 650b or 27.5" wheels. They don't stand out like a 29'er and make you look like a six year old riding your dads bike. It rolls well too, point it over rocky or rooty single track and it just soaks it up and asks for more. I had intended to be careful with this bike as it's the first prototype to be produced and the only other one is safe and sound in California where the riding is a little drier.
Well being careful didn't last long, I took it for a blast out through my local woods and onto Dartmoor where I pointed it up some nice big rocky climbs before heading for my favourite track "The Widowmaker", its a rocky descent from just outside Princetown down to Burrator reservoir. I've taken many bikes down this track but never had as much fun as I did on this bike. I'm always a little nervous taking a new bike down the Widowmaker, if it ain't up to it its going to really hurt. the surface is granite rocks, from the size of your fist to blocks a foot across and all with nice pointy edges.
Falling off at speed is not going to be pretty or something your likely to walk away from without a lot of bruising. I needn't have worried, the B'Stard just soaked it up. As your speed builds you feel the bike lift up and start skimming over the rocky surface. Kind of like a boat coming up onto the plane. At speed it gives confidence. I was able to corner on the rocky surface and never felt out of control, in fact the faster I went the more this bike seemed to love it.
It will love you if you take to any of the new bike parks springing up around the country, but it's equally at home doing the cross country slog. It climbs well too, I've pointed it up rocky stream beds and found it just loves it. Staying in the saddle works best keeping the traction on the real wheel.

The cockpit area is comfortable allowing plenty of room for moving around and changing centre of gravity whilst being snug enough to keep everything in control. Riding down steep rocky drops I was able to get off the back of the saddle and still have plenty of reach on the handlebars.

I ran it with the stock 2.4" Continental X-Kings that came with it, they are not great in the woods but really come into there own out on the Moors and over rocks.
It has a SR Suntour Epicon XC fork up front with a very nice quick release through axle.
Front and rear mechs are Shimano XT.
Chainset is also Shimano XT, 30 speeds taking care of all situations.
I popped in a Nukeproof seat post in and dropped an Evans own brand saddle on it.
Peddles are Nukeproof too, love the way they grip my 5Ten's and tear chunks out of my legs.
Brakes are Shimano SL hydraulic with 160mm rotors, loads of stopping power.

So now we have to wait for it to hit production If anyone out there is interested in stocking it/distributing it get in touch and I can pass you details on. I love this bike Penhale Bicycle Co. B'Stard Ride hard, ride long

Big gear on my Langster

I finally got around to fitting the 53 tooth chainring to my steel Langster last week. I've been for a few rides on it around Plymouth and onto the edge of Dartmoor. I will need a couple of weeks to build up the strength to tackle the big hills I have been used to doing when I had the 46 tooth fitted. I'm looking forward to taking it to Bristol and cycling from there to Gloucester and back.

Fixed and happy

Well I've had the Langster for about a month now,it's undergone a couple of changes since I bought it. It now sports some very comfy bullhorn bars, much better than the very painful track bars it came with. I've ridden it every day since I got it and I love it. I am getting fitter with every week that passes and am starting to tackle some of the bigger hills around Plymouth. Last Sunday I decided to try a longer route:
Starting from home (Keyham) through Plymouth city centre and out on to the Embankment to Plympton, picked up the cyclepath to Yelverton then back on the road to Princetown, passing some tourers and swapping lead with a roadie and some pleasantries as well. From Princetown I headed to Tavistock past Merrivale (38.85mph on the way down!). After a coffee in Tavistock I took the main road back to Plymouth via Yelverton and back to the house. 15.6mph Average over the 47.6 mile route with some big hills. not bad for an old geezer on a fixie

Well that’s it I’m a total convert! I got a Langster in steel, have only rode it fixed since picking up and now I don’t know what I was worried about. Fixed is just the best way to ride on the road. I’ve listened to my best friend Jonathan wax lyrical about riding fixed, the “sense of being at one with the bike” and all that and to be honest I thought he mad (not the hacking your limbs off with a machete mad, more the “would like more fried squirrel with your hamster sandwich type mad). But here I am talking the same way with a fixed grin (pun intended) every time I think of riding my Langster. I opted for the feel of steel in the end; aluminium is just too harsh for my back these days. After a few hours riding around Plymouth in the sun trying out various coffee shops I packed it on the train and headed for Bristol. Jonathan met me at the station for leisurely ride back to his place through town (more coffee shops) my Timbuk2 filled with a weekends supplies. Considering I’d never ridden fixed until the Friday I found myself hammering through traffic and enjoying every minute of it. It seemed like we had only just got started and suddenly we were bad to his place and the ride was over. Definitely got the bug.
Now I find myself looking for any excuse to get out on the bike, and then I find myself checking my watch to see if I have enough time to go the long way every time I go out. I love the bike, Specialized Langster in steel. Retail is £499 but I just bought it through the NHS bike scheme and it works out to cost me around £340. That’s a real bargain for what is a really nice bike. I know there will those out there that turn their noses up at an off the peg fixie but this was always intended to be a cheap bike to commute to work on, I didn’t expect to be so affected by it. So now the mountain bike is locked up in my storage unit out of town and I find myself riding fixie everywhere and loving it.

Slow day, slow ride, legs like lead

Slow day, slow ride, legs like lead. Why is it that some days I wake up full of energy; I bounce out of bed get my riding kit on then jump on the bike and fly up the hills on the way to work. Everything feels easy and right. Then there’s days like today, all felt the same until I hit the first hill, my legs felt heavy and the bike felt like sluggish and tight like the brakes were on and bearing were binding. None of these things we actually happening; it was all just down to me. I still stood up all the way up that hill mind you, not easing myself into the saddle until I had cleared the brow and my speed was picking up.
And so the training continues, I know the fixie is arriving in a few weeks time and I want to be strong enough to clear all the hills on the way to work from the moment it arrives. So I find myself lugging my tank of a DMR Trailstar with its enormous Marzocchi Z150 suspension forks and 2.5inch knobbly tyres that seem to drag at the tarmac up the hills determined not to change gear, just push myself harder. From the ache in my legs I know it’s making me stronger. I know it will be easier on the fixie with its tiny high pressure road tyres not to mention the entire bike weighs about the same as the front wheel of my DMR!
Jonathan was down from Bristol last night for an evening of guitar playing and talking music and bikes. We talked about the whole steel over aluminium frame thing, the comfort that steel offers against the stiffness of aluminium. Whilst I agree in the virtues of steel over aluminium I will still be getting the aluminium version of the Langster as the geometry of the steel version is just to harsh for my first fixie, and let’s not forget the reason for getting this bike in the first place; it’s supposed to be a cheap bike for commuting to work on. If I become one of the truly converted through riding the Langster then I will look at buying a sleek steel framed fixie for purely recreational use. My dilemma now is to try to decide which pedals to fit to my new ride. It comes with some very basic but functional looking caged toeclip pedals, but I think I will feel better on some double sided clipless pedals. There are so many out there so now it’s time to trawl through the web reviews and find a set in my price range that match my requirements; oh yes and some shoes to go with them. My “Five Ten” boots are no good for this kind of riding.

The "Fixie" fixation

Well I’ve done it now; I’ve back flipped off the high board of cycling and landed in the world of the fixie. For so long I’ve ridden mountain bikes with all their cumbersome components making the hills and obstacles insignificant little rolling obstructions. But what do you really need to ride, and I mean just ride.
I’ve looked back at the road bikes I used to hammer the streets on in my quest for more speed and bigger distances. I can’t ignore the feeling that doing 60mph downhill on tiny little over inflated rubber tubes did for me, but now I long for something simple, something pure. Enter the “Fixie”; my honouree brother in Bristol went fixie last year has never looked back. He has repeatedly tried to extol the virtues of fixie riding onto me, but I resisted mentally compartmentalising him as “a bit loose in the marbles area” I mean surely we have moved on since the fixed wheel came out, progress brought us the single speed freewheel. Childhood memories of my first brand new bike a “Raliegh Rebel” single speed with a freewheel. I followed my older brother on his 10 speed racer everywhere (much to his dismay). I used it for everything from epic road rides to hammering in the woods. I probably had more real fun on that bike than any other I have owned since. And so there it was staring me in the face all this time, the simplicity of no gears, bare bones riding, all the fun without the complications.
Unfortunately the real world still has some influence on me and financial pressures of buying a house and supporting a family mean I can’t just go out and buy my dream bike, then the cycling gods did there bit to help and the NHS ran it’s Bikes for Work scheme. So I get to buy a new bike minus all the tax and have it taken directly from my wages over the course of the year so I won’t even miss it, suddenly a new fixie becomes affordable. So I’ve placed my order and now I pace around like an expectant father waiting for the notification to arrive, “your bike is ready for collection”. As my excitement grows and I start to tell friends and colleagues about my new venture I see the blank faces and glazed eyes of people who just can’t get it. “what you mean it’s got no gears at all, how will you get up hills?” my simple reply, ride harder. I can’t help but grin as I say it. It does however make me long for my old riding buddie, Mr Chuck Bodfish now living in the sunnier climate offered by California.
People here (UK) just don’t get it. I’ve not ridden with anyone that really just gets the whole riding thing in all its forms. I guess I miss those long summer days riding the woods, the lanes, the distance, the surreal conversations, sitting enjoying just being there. Boxing Day rides with a cold beer in the middle of nowhere. Andy aka “Chuck” always had a shed full of bikes of all descriptions and a memory for a great ride on each of them. I used to wonder at why one man should need so many different bikes, but now I can see each of them had a place in his life, be it past or present. I guess it’s a bit like a photo album in the way each bike like a picture contains it’s own memories but unlike a photograph, a simple snapshot in time; the bikes purpose remains.
So I’ve ordered my bike, a Specialized Langster 2010. The matte black paintwork and simple graphics match the elegant lines of simple chainline. I hope it lives up to my dream, I have only ridden one very briefly at Certini’s bike shop in Saltash, Cornwall. I now can’t wait to be powering it through the streets of Plymouth nipping in and out of traffic. This is me getting back to basics and loving every minute of it.
Cycling, it’s definitely a way of life not a hobby. Mmm Zen and the art of cycling, (I may start chanting soon). It rained so hard here yesterday but I couldn’t wait to be out on the bike on the way home, when I was completely soaked through I coasted and then took the long way home, just enjoying being out riding. Weather is inconsequential for the most part.

Live to ride, ride to live.. . . .

If you come across any good web sites for fixies or fanzines drop me a link.