Moulton spotted at a fashion show

I'm no fan of fashion shows but Velorution, the trendy London bike shop and Moulton dealer, recently hosted a cycling fashion show called Pret à Rouler.

In the video of the event, shown below, there are several clips of a Pashley Moulton TSR 9. It's nice to the Moulton featured in such a stylish way.

If the show highlights anything, it's how there's hitherto been a serious lack of variety when it comes to cycle clothing, especially for those of us who are not pretending to be racers. Partly inspired by the Grant Petersen interview, I'm beginning to see what a silly practice the wearing of racing clothing is.When a motorist (boy racer for example) puts a spoiler or a body kit on his car, or installs bucket seats, most normal people think he's a twat, and rightly so! Imagine how they'd be viewed if the boy racers started wearing fireproof jump suits and helmets!But we cyclists are expected to wear clothing designed for top class professional cyclists... men who weigh 60kgs, with 5% body fat. Let's face it... lycra does nothing for 95% of cyclists... and it does nothing to encourage non-cyclists onto two wheels.

Part of me thinks that the proposed ban on lycra cycling shorts in Salt Lake City, Utah is not such a bad idea!

I welcome this new focus by clothing designers on cycle clothing. Needless to say, Pret a Rouler was a fashion show, and one rarely sees practical items of clothing at a fashion show of any description. I'm not sure I could ever turn up at work or even at BoA wearing a Dashing Tweeds outfit, however ingenious the weaving of reflective material into the tweed might be.

Cycling Suit by Dashing Tweeds

So let's hope that Pret a Rouler marks the start of a new generation in cycle clothing. Where one does not have to dress up to go for a ride. Where we cyclists can dismount and immediately look like normal people.

While we're waiting for the revolution, the internet must suffice.

For functional cycle clothing that would almost pass for normal clothing, try Swrve, Chrome, Rivendell, Bicycle Fixation or Portland.

Bicycle Fixation Knickers

Or even try the local charity shop, and get stuff altered to suit.

And if you must wear race style clothing, and to be honest it's difficult to avoid it for rides of 50km or over, try it in natural fabrics from the likes of Rapha, Woolistic or Ibex.

Rapha Fixed Shorts

Riding my Moulton in rural Meath

It's been a really wet summer, and so when I woke up to sunshine on Sunday morning, I wasted no time in jumping into my lycra, grabbing my GPS and phone, hopping onto my Pashley Moulton APB, and heading for the hills.

The area where I live is rural, 5km from Navan (population > 25,000). There are a number of national routes nearby.

My cycling playground is an area between the N2 to the east, the N3 to the west, the aforementioned N51 to the south. If I cross the relatively quiet N52 to the north, I have a free run all the way to the border.

With a little bit of planning, I can quite easily find routes of 100km or more without having to travel on a single national route or a busy road of any description. On my rides I encounter very few cars, perhaps as few as 10 per hour.

I usually plan my routes using a combination of Google Maps and the Ordnance Survey Discovery Series maps (usually 35, 36, 42 and 43). Google Maps is great for showing the roads I like to travel on. I avoid all roads that are blue (motorways), green (national routes) and yellow (busier regional roads) and I focus on the white roads (they look grey until you zoom in further).

Backroads in north Meath

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

The map above shows the route I took last Sunday. The profile looks like this
Route Profile
I consult the OS maps to find some hills or I use HeyWhatsThat Path Profiler. There are very few big hills near where I live. There are plenty of 100-150m climbs, and just a few in the 150-210m range. It's not too difficult to find a 10% incline, but they are mostly less than a kilometre long.

The "white roads" are usually very low traffic, and quite scenic. On occasion the road can be quite narrow with grass growing down the centre of the road!

These routes are perfect for a Moulton bicycle, with the suspension taking the edge off any imperfections in the surface, and making all descents exhilarating.

I usually travel without a map or GPS, unless I'm travelling a new route and I'm afraid I'll get lost, or find my self on a busy national route. Signposts cannot be relied upon in Ireland! Local youths seem to take sport in rotating the signpost to send you the wrong way. In recent years however, there seem to be lots more fixed (two pole) sign posts appearing, making them more reliable.

Alex Moulton Double Pylon on BikeRadar.com

BikeRadar.com have a feature on the Alex Moulton Double Pylon / New Series and it's highlighted on the front page today.

Alex Moulton Double Pylon

The review is glowing with no negative points and the reviewer states that "if I had the funds I would order one right now".

Wouldn't we all!

An interview with Grant Petersen

Bikescape, a podcast from San Fransisco, recently interviewed Grant Petersen from Rivendell Bicycles, and it is well worth a listen.

I don't know if Grant Petersen has ever met Alex Moulton, but I imagine that they have lots in common. Apart from producing beautiful bicycles to a niche market with a cult following, their attitudes are quite similar in many respects.

To many, both could be viewed as old fashioned and even conservative in their outlook. But both men produce well designed, well built bicycles for the lifetime enjoyment of their owners. Neither uses new materials or technology just for the sake of it, and isn't afraid to take a different tack to the mainstream bike industry.

Grant also has some interesting views on clothing for cycling in the interview.

Oh and check out his Tips for Happy Riding