Sit up and breathe!

My daughter says ‘there’s no such thing as perfection, only improvement’. I’m told, it’s what her teacher says.

You may remember my old ‘Specialized’ bike above gradually transformed from the standard off-the-self bike, to a more relaxed sit-up and breathe kind of thing. My riding style gradually changed from:
A. Trying to co-exist with traffic, ‘cycling’, riding a bike with a similar driverly attitude and outlook.
to…
Z. Aiming to be more aware of person, place, and surroundings: adopting a more mindful way.

So although my delightful ‘Gazelle Ultimate S8‘* was pretty much perfect, after a trip to France I found room for improvement.

My new S8* adopted my previous Jones Bend H-Bar® 660. However, I still had that slight niggle that I wanted to relax even more.

You’ll see from my random selection of bikes in France, that people abroad generally ride in a more relaxed manner; sit-up and breathe.

Driving home I found myself following a Gazelle with an extended handlebar stem – I decided, that’s what I want!

And so, the great people at Future Cycles Leicester replaced the limited length break and gear cables on the S8 with longer ones, and added a new stem… ‘simples’.

Old Stem…