Terning over a new leaf

This blog will be going through a change in 2013. I have changed my place of work so will no longer have 2x 80 minute train journeys each day to write the posts. The content will remain the same as will the name however I will write articles when I get the opportunity, some will take significantly longer than 80 minutes, others will not, I will try to keep to the timings and hopefully they will still be interesting.

This leads me nicely into my first post being written post-Christmas. A major side effect of not travelling to London is that I will no longer have the convenience of the London underground to whisk me to the office, instead I have been facing the following options:

• Directish and reasonably frequent bus, cheap and reasonably environmentally friendly, downside of this is that the road the bus follows is basically a car park at the time I would be travelling in the morning.
• Taxi, is door to door but expensive, and again following traffic jam. Taxi is also the least environmentally friendly option available to me.
• Walk, most environmentally friendly and no delays however each section takes 25 minutes (and I have 4 of them per day) even at my brisk pace, also if it’s raining I will be in the rain for longest.
• Cycle, second most environmentally friendly and no delays, will take roughly the same amount of time as a bus, only downside is having to take the bike on the train, storing bike and equipment at work and the initial set up costs.

I’ve decided to go down the bike route and to make this as easy as possible I decided to go down the folding bike route. There are many makes and models to choose from with Brompton seeming to the premium brand, however the starting price of 850 and a 20 week wait wasn’t desirable, next make down on quality list is a close run thing between Dahon and Tern, Tern being a company set up by previous Dahon board members and seemingly utilising many of the same suppliers and parts. Down from this are bikes made by Raleigh and other major manufacturers, many reviews I’ve read have stated these are basically old Dahon models just rebranded anyway. Weighing up cost and features, as I’m sure you’ll have guessed, I went for a Tern, more specifically the Tern Link which is a good sized commuter bike, is less skittish than a Brompton and still folds small enough for me to squeeze it into a luggage rack and quickly enough that if I am rushed for the train I can collapse in seconds.

I purchased the bike from Evans cycles and would recommend them to anybody, the sales staff are knowledgeable and the bike was a very good price as it’s a 2012 model. I would also recommend that anybody considering a folder looks at the YouTube videos by nyce wheels, they have reviewed most folder models, including mine and always seen very objective.

I collected the bike one week - which included Christmas day, Boxing Day and a Sunday - after ordering on a Friday so well done to Evans for getting it ready. First ride out was wobbly as last time I rode a bike was 2004, but the old adage rings true and before long I had been once around the block. Second ride was better and further and also less physically painful as my muscles got used to cycling again.

Today was my first official commute, 5.5 miles and a couple of hundred calories and it went well, I’ll see how it goes over time but so far so good.