Tuesday 4 September 2012

The stibasa bike?

Riding the wave of enthusiasm for cycling post olympics, I have posted details of rides and events on www.stibasa.org.uk like never before, and set up a stibasa facebook page, to be a sister to the new B&D LCC branch Facebook page.

Whilst in may be the case that people have used this information and joined the rides featured (or intend to) the information has not resulted in any contact with me. There may be many reasons for this, but from talling to an old friend in the cycling world recently, I've come to the conclusion that people who want to go on rides are already in groups whether publicised or private and there is no supressed demand for rides.

In  a Sustrans meeting recently, someone observed that there are people interested in cycling, but who haven't got bikes. This led me to think of ny friends and acquaintances who don't cycle, but probably could - not on leisure rides particularly, but a bit of local pottering about.

This in turn leads to thoughts about the ideal bike and whether it exists. Mountain bikes with a low ticket price are going to be pretty poor quality and not good value for money in fact. Neither are mountain bikes particularly practical for local pottering around Barking. It seems to me that a simple folding bike is what is needed - one that has a low ticket price, but is not poor quality and therefore poor value for money.

A to B magazine, who I trust about such things, mention this Marine Compass 20" wheeled single speed bike http://www.compass24.com/web/catalog/shop/technics_comfort_bicycles/4857423# , which they say is a badged Dahon. It costs £125 + £13 delivery, and I wonder whether it could be the "stibasa bike".