Easter in Stockholm

Cheap flights, 5 star hotel, 4 days away from London and a Scandinavian Easter. Welcome to Stockholm.

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Shiny, Shiny

I was pretty excited back in May last year when I got a great big box from the States that had in it a shiny, shiny new bike. It saw me through some great rides around Scotland and a fantastic trip to France for a little bike race they have over there. But it was on my first ride since arriving in London that I noticed a harline crack in the downtube. Maybe it was just in the paint, or maybe it was symptomatic of something more structural, but either way, it was right where the downtube met the headtube. I've read enough about carbon frames to know it was worth getting looked at, but having bought it from the States, I wasn't sure how I'd go about getting it looked at under warranty.

After a few emails to Competitive Cyclist in the States and to Fisher Outdoor Leisure here in the UK it turned out that a local bike shop would happily take a look at it under warranty. So, I made the 5 minute walk to Mosquito Bikes where I dropped-off my bike and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more.

To be fair, Fisher, the UK distributor was going through the right steps. My old frame was sent back to France for x-rays, no less, to see if the crack was structural and there was a bit of to-ing-and-fro-ing with my US paperwork, but in the end, I was told, 'Yep, you'll get a new frame and you'll get an upgrade to the new 585.' Nice!

After a quality fit-up from the guys at Mosquito Bikes and a few trips back and forth to the shop, I got a very, very nice new toy.

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Yesterday, I diced my way through London traffic through to Richmond Park for my first ride onboard the new frame and ooh, baby, it's good!