My New Iron Horse

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After six years of faithful (and un-stolen) service, I've pensioned off my Claud Butler bike for a brand spanking new Specialized Globe Comp Hybrid. It's nice and light, with carbon forks and larger wheels. And it's driven through a Shimano Nexus eight speed internal gearbox, which I'm finding quite responsive and speedy so far, definitely a step up from the 3 speed t bar on the Roadmaster dragster of my youth. It's excellent being able to shift gears at low speed while weaving through the traffic,or stopped at the lights (I do stop at lights!).

I bought it on the government's "Cycle to Work" scheme, where I basically buy the bike over twelve months as a salary sacrifice. Combine the twelve easy payments with no VAT and income tax deductions, it means about a forty percent saving on the cost of the bike. A great scheme for getting people's bums in saddles. I'm co-ordinating the scheme at KLP, and am the first to buy a bike (of course!).