Riding the Yellow Banana

I've been missing cycling on my excellent Specialized Sirrus that I used to commute on in the UK. Missing it so much that I decided to buy myself a bike here in Australia.

Logic would dictate that I should have bought another hybrid bike very similar to the Sirrus and I should probably have also considered a second hand bike as I won't be using it daily. However, I put all rational thought aside!

I decided that I wanted to get a bike to compliment my Sirrus so that when I get back to the UK I have two different bikes for different purposes. I've also had a secret yearning for a while to own a road bike and to try out cycling shoes where you clip into the pedals.

I started doing a bit of research on bikes here in Australia and US imports (Scott, Trek, Specialised and Giant etc...) are really expensive compared to America or the UK. I discovered Cell Bikes during my research which is an Aussie brand of bike. If you believe they hype, they buy frames from the same factories in China/Taiwan as the big brands and them assemble here in Oz, giving you an equivalent bike at a lower price.

I went to the store last week to check out some of their different bikes and returned yesterday to make a purchase. Armed with some advice from my friend Olivier to check the stiffness of the frame. I was intending to buy a Blade, but they didn't have my frame size. Despite insistence from the salesman that I would have been ok with the frame size below, I didn't feel comfortable during the test ride. After a bit of agonising (and negotiating) I decided to get the model above which is the Swift.

When I described the bike to my friend Penne she replied "so we're going to see you ride a yellow banana?" I think I've just found my new bike a name.

I've already had a small mishap that I will update you on in an subsequent post.

P.S. In Australia the concept of getting a discount for cash seems to be a real negotiating possibilty. When I decided that I wanted the bike I asked "can you give my a discount for cash if I buy the bike right now?" and I got nearly $200 off. Can you do this in the UK?