Back on the road again

I blame Hugh who came to see us last week and John who lives at the bottom of our estate. Hugh because he brought his bike and reminded me how good it was to get about on two wheels and John because he told me about this fantastic sports shop in the Habanaras.

Anyway whilst Pam was perusing the clothes shops upstairs, I went to look at Forum downstairs. There near the front of the shop was this bike which immediately said buy me. Not only was it a great looking cross bike but as a bonus it was on offer with a 30% discount.

For the curious, a cross bike has mountain bike components but with road size wheels and tyres. I had a similar bike in the UK and sold it before coming to Spain. The new bike is vastly superior to the one I sold though.

Just for Hugh:- The bike is an Orbea Elgeta Cross (www.orbea.com). For starters it has a 7005 double butted aluminium frame which makes it very light. To add to that it has Suntour Nex 4000 suspension forks at the front to smooth out the bumps in our Spanish roads. The gears, chainset, shifters and v brakes are Shimano Deore with a Mega 9 rear mech and cassette to take care of the steep hills we have around here. The hubs are Orbea own brand laced with stainless steel spokes to Vueleta Vision rims. Tyres are Continental Twisters. The skinny saddle is a Selle Italia Karisma on a Orbea stem. It is well designed to cut into my ample rear. Finally the headset is by Aheadset. All in all not bad for 599€ but a bargain on sale at 419.95€. Oh and yes I did buy a helmet but forgot to get a puncture repair kit.

NB We must take Hugh there next time he visits us. The shop is amazing. They sell everything a sports fanatic like Hugh would want.

PS Pam is looking forward to me shedding a few pounds for the summer.