My new bike, a Koga Traveller, mixte version.

Finally, after a long wait, I have a new bicycle! And here it is....

I'll give the details in a minute, but first a brief look back at last year, when  I bought a step through touring bike from Oxford Bike Works. After a month or so I returned it and had a refund as I thought it just did not fit. I felt it was too small, and wondered if I had in fact been given a smaller size than I had originally been measured up for. This was the bike -

To add an update to that story, just before going to buy the above bike, I thought to myself that the OBW bike really had been a nice bike - it was just such a shame that it didn't fit me. And then I happened to look again at the original quote for it, which believe me I had gone over and over when I got the bike and wasn't happy with it. And then, for the first time, I saw, literally writ large....... the letter "L". I had been pretty sure that I had originally been fitted up for a size Large (I got a Medium) but thought I hadn't got any proof, but here was the proof, which for some reason I hadn't seen before. When I read that I felt so cross with myself for not having seen it, and also rather sad because I had, essentially, liked the OBW bikes very much.

That was September, and I knew that it would be sensible to wait until the spring of this year to do anything definite about getting another bike, as we had another grandchild on the way, due in January, and I had promised to go down to Devon to help look after daughter and baby while Marines husband was away soon after the birth. I did however spend time looking at my options. To cut a long story short, there aren't that many options in the UK if you want a step through, or mixte, touring bike. So I had whittled it down to two choices - either a German VSF Fahrradmanufaktur or a Dutch Koga, both mixte frames.

I should say here that it was another blogger, Brenda, at Cycling in the Sixth Decade who had first put me on to Kogas. She also put me on to  Cyclesense in Tadcaster who are one of the only three Koga dealers in the UK. I rang them and had a good chat to Dave there about aluminium, steel, sizing and other things. That's another thing about the Kogas - the bike I originally would have gone for was their steel Randonneur, but by the time of my phone call they had stopped making them, so if I bought a Koga it would be aluminium. I'd been convinced by everything I'd read that steel was not only real but better, but I was prepared to listen to other opinions....

On the question of size, Dave reckoned that going by my height of 5' 6 1/2" (I've since discovered that I've shrunk half an inch since I last measured myself, so am actually only 5' 6"!!) I would need the 50cm frame.

I couldn't make my mind up without actually seeing, and hopefully riding, these bikes. Given that the VSF bikes were much cheaper than the Kogas, the sensible side of me thought that it would be money well spent if I went to the only shop in the country that has a stock of these to try one out. That shop is in Cambridge, two or three hours by car from here or a bit of a trek by train. But I quite like treks, and I had been given a Senior Railcard for my birthday so off I went, having rung the shop first to see exactly which models and which sizes they had in stock. They didn't have any of the exact models I'd have bought in stock in my size  but I still thought it was worth going. Again they reckoned I'd need a 50cm.

Pause a minute to discuss size of bike - my inside leg measurement is 31", plus I know I've got long arms. Both shops had thought I'd need a 50 cm (that's the seat tube measurement by the way) but my instinct, plus what I'd read up about sizing, told me that I'd need a bigger size than this. This was partly based on one of the most useful things I've read about frame size, on the Wiggle website, where they say that if you are between two sizes, then measure your armspan. If it is greater than your height then go for the larger size, if it's smaller, then go for the smaller size. That seemed to explain my feeling that I needed a bigger size, as my arm span, though not greater than my height, is equal to it.

Well, my present bike seems to fit me pretty well. The seat tube, by my measurement, is 508mm (the frame is actually a 20") so a little more than the 50cm I was being recommended, and I knew I could probably quite easily handle a little more "reach", so all in all I had feeling I could do with bigger than 50cm. I know it is said that a small bike can be made bigger but a big one can't really be made smaller, but I somehow think I just tend to prefer a bigger bike.

Back to the Cambridge shop - I saw the 50cm but knew even before riding it that it would be too small, and it was. Another model in 52cm fitted much better, but they only do this size in a man's, which I didn't want. Actually they don't do women's frames any bigger than 50 cm which seems a bit daft to me. The mixte frame only comes in 55 cm, which could well have been too big, but the shop wasn't prepared to order one in for me to try unless I was going to definitely buy it.

The bikes themselves were fine, but somehow I wasn't as impressed as I had thought I might be. I was also slightly put off by the fact that the owner was thinking of shutting up shop for the winter!

So, back into Cambridge I walked, got on the train and later walked back across busy London, wondering why on earth people want to drink outside at the side of  busy Marylebone Road. Not far away there is one of those pollution monitoring things!

So, Koga it was. But by the time I rang Cyclesense to ask them to order me in a Traveller in the mixte ("Women's Sport Model") version, they had all sold out! However I decided that having waited all this time, I might as well sit back and wait a bit longer for the 2018 models to come in. However, I got some good news not long after, which was that Koga had built a few more Travellers. Cyclesense sent me the details and I jumped at the chance.

So a couple of weeks later Husband and I were on our way to Tadcaster for what turned out to be a very nice three day break. In the days beforehand my nerves had been quite wracked by thinking - have I made the right decision here? I didn't really want to go all that way and then find the bike wasn't what I wanted. I had asked them to order in a 53cm - was I right about that? What if it really was too big? And how was I going to get it home? On the train? That would have meant riding it to York, not far away but I haven't put a bike on the train for many a long year and I didn't really fancy doing so for the first time in decades with this new bike. However, Cyclesense are used to sending bikes and this was what we arranged would happen if I bought it. One problem ticked off the list. Things also worked out well as Husband had a few days off and we decided to go up together for three days.

On day two there we visited Cyclesense and I had a decent length ride on the bike round Tadcaster. Here I will point out that if you look at the Koga website and then at the Traveller (which they're not doing any more so why is it still there????!!) you'll see that my bike is not the same as the women's version, which is because, and this is where even I get confused and it's my bike - !! - what happened was that Koga took a Signature frame and built a Traveller......... I think...........so I've got a better frame than I would have got but it cost a bit more.

I knew I had been right about the frame size, and the bike was beautifully smooth to ride, but was it "the one"? Was it perfect? How can you tell without riding at least, say, 20 miles? My back felt slightly uncomfortable as I rode - a bad sign? I had read enough about the make to be convinced that they made very good bikes, and in the end I was convinced enough to buy this one. But I still wondered if I'd made the right decision! When it arrived the next week I took it for a very short ride. A few days later I took it for an 8 mile ride and thought - "Am I going to make it home?" as I was so uncomfortable! But I knew it was just the saddle...... I swapped the saddle for the Bontrager one on my Trek and that was tons better, partly because the rails were longer and so I could get it further back, which I needed to. We also altered the trekking/butterfly handlebar position until it felt about right. I wasn't at all convinced about these bars, and actually rigged up a wire coat hanger into roughly the same shape as the Thorn Comfort bars on my Trek and placed it in position on the Koga, to get an idea of what it would be like with those bars. But I decided to be sensible and patient and give them a decent trial before changing them, which would be more expense.

Regarding saddles, I would love to try a leather one again, either a different Brooks (i.e. not the B17 that the OBW bike had on it originally at my request) or the Selle AnAtomica Titanico reviewed on Lovely Bicycle and elsewhere, but for the moment funds won't allow, so I decided to be very sensible and patient (again!) and simply get another Bontrager. I have had mine for several years and am 95% happy with it.  The 5% bit is mainly "I wish it were leather!" It is the Bontrage Nebula Plus Womens in the 180mm size (I'd been measured up for the first one on the shop's ingenious tool for measuring sit bone size)  and I paid £40 for it in my local bike shop, Ridgeway Cycles. Once I had put that on I thought - "Right, that's all the tweaking that needs doing for now - time for a decent ride!"

So that weekend I took it out on a 43 mile ride, on a familiar and fairly flat route so that I could just concentrate on how the bike felt and not have to worry about the route. After about 9 miles I began to feel some discomfort in my rear end and also in my right thigh, but I thought I'd just take it easy, stop now and again, and see how things went. I stopped after about another 3 miles in Bampton and had a look in their art gallery, and after this break the discomfort seemed to have gone. I then cycled on another mile or so to Aston, where I had coffee at the Pottery there - they have a lovely indoor cafe with delicious food and also a big seating area outside, where there is room enough to take your bike if you want to have it within sight. An Americano (and it was a good one)  in one of their lovely mugs was £2 - that is cheap for Oxfordshire!

After that the bike was feeling good, so having set out thinking I'd probably do 30 miles or so, I felt confident to do 40. I got more used to the handlebars, and was glad I had given them a chance, although having said that I'm not 100% convinced about them. I find the main position at the front rather too narrow and straight, and it feels like I have less control (less stability) than with my wider riser Thorn Comfort Bars. The other positions are useful, but then it seems to me that you need them because of the inadequacies of the main position. Personally I'd rather have bars with fewer positions but where the main one is more comfortable. I know that Thorn says of its Comfort bars "There are two positions - cycling and not cycling!" I think that once funds allow I will probably change them.

One thing I do find incredibly good about them though is the leather and padding - it was very comfortable to hold,  and it was also a hot day but my hands didn't get sweaty at all. The synthetic grips on my Trek have done me well, and are still going strong after 20 odd years, but I did find on a recent trip in May in VERY hot weather that by the end of the day my hands were black and tacky, although that's the first time that's happened. So that's a preference now for leather grips.

Despite reassurances from Cyclesense that the good quality aluminium Koga uses would give me as comfortable a ride as steel, I had still been concerned that it wouldn't. Whether the bike sails over the bumps in the UK roads as comfortably as a high quality steel bike, I really can't say. But I can say that I am happy with it, and certainly think it is as comfortable in this respect as my steel Trek.

The forecast for the next few days is good. I've just been given a big sewing job but that can wait! The bike is calling.......

Lizzie

PS 19.7.17 Forgot to add that Husband did a video of the bike and put it on his YouTube channel. Click here to watch it.

Oxford Bike Works step through touring bike

I have been intending to write this post since last October, and now having read this post on anniebikes recently about the Rivendell Clementine I've been inspired to get on and do it, as her post, and the comments that follow, has lots of interesting things to say on the subject of step through bikes. I also found this article about mixtes on Lovely bicycle! very useful. I didn't even realize that my own bike, a roughly 20 year old Trek, was a mixte until a few months ago, and now I'm a great fan of them - I've learnt a lot in the past year!

My mixte Trek

Back last year, this bike was off the road for several days, and as it was and is my main and preferred means of transport I felt lost without it! It was a bit like my sewing machines - some time ago I realized I could probably do with having two machines, partly because different machines are good for different things, but also in case one ever goes wrong and I can't fix it. Eldest Son told me of this formula about the number of bikes people have, and I believe it has also been applied to sewing machines  - it is n + 1. What this means is that n is the number of bikes/sewingmachines one has but one always wants/needs one more.......

So last year I decided I really would like to have that + 1 bike. A couple of years before that, I had looked longingly at first Thorn touring bikes, and then at Oxford Bike Works bikes. OBW bikes were similar to Thorn's and a mere 14 miles or so away from me, and as I do like to try to buy locally, I decided to arrange a visit to Richard there. I wanted a step through (this was before I knew what a mixte was) as I didn't want to swing my leg over the saddle, having done it on the Trek aluminium hybrid that I should never have bought in 2014 (although technically it was a women's frame, the crossbar was high and I ended up swinging my leg over the saddle). It's not that I can't do it - I just don't want to.

I had the choice of a step through frame with either 700c wheels, which would be built from a frame supplied by Intec, or 26" size wheels with a frame made by Lee Cooper in the UK, and being basically the OBW Model 1. Both were steel. I went for a short ride on one of Richard's "men's" bikes in the 26" wheel size (I can't actually remember the frame size of this bike - this is significant regarding what happened in the end) and decided to go for the latter, although it was more expensive, as I liked the extra controlability that the 26" wheels seemed to give. Richard took the measurements of my Trek, as I was happy with the size of that, and did various measurements in the workshop with me on the bike I had ridden, and the new step through bike was ordered. At this point I should mention, as it's significant later in the story, that I thought I remembered him saying, when I was sat on the bike in the workshop, "I think you need a large frame".

I requested a Brooks B17S saddle. I like my Bontrager saddle, which I was measured for in my local bike shop, but I had wanted to try a Brooks for ages and adding it on at this stage was cheaper than adding one later. And small bar ends.

Six weeks later I went to collect the bike. I have to say that my immediate impression was of disappointment, because my first thought was that the bike looked small, a little bit like a child's bike made to fit an adult. I hadn't expected it to look like this. It may sound silly but I didn't want a bike that looked small, even if it was the right size for me. I actually think now that that first thought - of it being small - was because it was too small. Anyway, I rode it the 14 miles home. I have to say it was an extremely uncomfortable ride!! My immediate thought, thinking of the very harsh ride that I got with the Trek hybrid, was "Oh no, what HAVE I done....? Have I made another mistake?"

This was the bike as it was when I first got it home.

One thing I knew was that despite what everyone says about breaking in a Brooks saddle, there was no way I was ever going to break this one in. I'd worn my padded undershorts even though I wouldn't normally need them on a short journey like this one but even with them on I was very uncomfortable! So that was the first thing that would have to be changed. I came home and read up all I could about the different Brooks saddles, comparing all the measurements, and comparing the B17S measurements to those of my current saddle. I concluded that I would probably be better off with a wider one. I wasn't getting the width that I needed according to my sit bones measurement. Lovely Bicycle! has a very good post on Brooks saddles.

Another thing that I thought might be affecting the ride were the tyres, which were Schwalbe 32mm (I think they were Marathon Plus but I can't be certain now). I also didn't think the handlebars were at the sort of height we had originally agreed, but it wasn't until I rode it home that I realized this.

So, back to OBW. Richard changed the saddle to a Velo model, which I knew wasn't my ideal but was acceptable, put wider tyres on (unfortunately I can't remember the width now), and raised the handlebars to the position I wanted by putting in more spacers (though it was only afterwards that I realized that in fact this put the handlebars slightly nearer to the saddle, which I didn't want). This time I left it with Richard, and he kindly returned it to me a few days later.

New saddle, and extra spacers under the handlebars.

I took it out for a ride. It was more comfortable, but inside me I had this awful thought that I'd just spent about £1600 on a new bike and I knew I wasn't happy with it.....Husband and I measured and measured both this bike and my Trek, to see if there was a logical reason why I didn't feel right on it. There was very little difference in the measurements, although one important one was in the distance from the saddle to the handlebars; I needed to move the saddle further back but it wasn't possible - it was as far back as it would go. I do know I've got long arms. Again I refer here to Lovely Bicycle!, although I can't remember the particular post, but it says somewhere concerning fit, that in the end you just have to go with your gut feeling as to whether a bike is right for you or not, and my gut feeling was that this one wasn't, although the only reason I could give was that it just felt small, and generally not right.

In the end, Richard offered to take the bike back and give me a full refund, and this I accepted. I rode it back and he kindly took time to discuss things with me. I think it was probably like when I know a sewing customer of mine isn't happy (thankfully it has rarely happened!) - I just want to know what's wrong and put it right if possible.  I did mention that when I first went to see him I thought he had said that I needed a large size, as opposed to the medium I had. So possibly there was some error in the sizing, but neither of us could be certain. 

He did put forward two ideas; one was taking one of his large size bikes home to try out for a longer time than I had originally had, and the other was that he was thinking of getting in a step through in the next couple of months in a large size for customers to try and maybe I would like to try that out. I would have been particularly keen on trying out the large step through, but I have heard no more. I am the first customer he has refunded - he obviously has lots of happy customers judging from his Facebook page.

My own theory is that given the choice between two sizes of bike, I would naturally tend to choose the bigger one, which may be something inexplicable, or may be down to something logical - I don't know! I've studied bike geometry until it comes out of my ears.....

Regarding step-throughs and mixtes, I also know now that looks wise I definitely lean more towards a mixte. As I said earlier, I like to buy local when possible, or at least British, but I have to admit that a bike I am leaning towards is the Dutch Koga Traveller. I would have loved to have the steel Koga Randonneur, which another blogger, Brenda, has, but unfortunately Koga are no longer making them. The Traveller is aluminium, which I would have steered (ha ha...) clear of after my experience with the Trek, but after more research and talking to people who know more than me I'm inclined to rethink my opinions. I've also looked at the bikes made by VSF Fahrradmanufaktur, although they only come in black [Note added 7th April: Having delved deeper into the website I find that they do indeed come in other colours, and some very nice ones too.]  The mixtes apparently only come in one frame size, which I don't understand. You certainly get a lot for your money with both of these.

I'm slightly nervous about buying a bike from somewhere that isn't within reasonably easy reach by bike (for me that's Tadcaster or London for the Koga, and London or Cambridge for the Fahrradmanufaktur) in case I need to take it back for any reason, and neither of these makes are available within that sort of distance, but hey ho, maybe I shouldn't worry.

I'm sure I've missed out something I wanted to say but after several days of reading this post through and editing it I'll go ahead and finally post it.

And just to give you something to look at, Vulpine, the bike clothing manufacturer, have collaborated with British frame builder Gavin Buxton of August Bicycles to make this very beautiful - and expensive! - mixte. Intended more for urban riding than touring so I understand.

All comments and opinions very welcome on this subject (as on any other post of course)!

Lizzie

Note added on 7.07.17: I later found that I had been right regarding the size of bike I should have had - see my post here for the details and the bike I later bought.