The London Town Bike Challenge

A common sight in central London.  Basket optional.
Image courtesy Watch My Wallet 

For the past 5 weeks, I have been without a commuting bike that I could leave locked up in London overnight. As explained in previous posts, when I started a new job in central London last April, I had assumed that I would resume using Lucy the Brompton for round-trip commuting duties (especially with her more hill-friendly 8-speed upgrade), but found in reality that she's too heavy for lugging up and down stairs at Luton rail station (where there are no lifts to the platforms). I then thought that the solution would be to eliminate the need to carry a bike on the train at all -- simply have one bike that I ride back and forth between home and Luton station and a second bike that I ride in London between St Pancras station and my office in the West End. Obviously, however, the Brompton would not be ideal for either role: not really hill-friendly even with those 8 gears and far too valuable to leave locked up anywhere out of my sight, whether at Luton or St Pancras or my office. 

The Surly Cross Check is perfect for the Bedfordshire end of my commute -- it's tough as old boots with touring gears, full mudguards and a sturdy rack. The question was, what to use on the London end? 

Thus began a saga to get a vintage bicycle (of which I had several) built up for the task. It needed to be sturdy, with puncture-resistant tyres, mudguards and a rack -- yet not 'attractive' enough to tempt thieves. That last factor is a significant one, since London is a hotbed for bike theft and vintage bicycles in particular are very popular amongst young urban cyclists. The streets are full of 1970s lightweight steel road bikes, including many mixtes. It's a two-edged sword: vintage mixtes are quite common now but they are highly sought-after by "hipsters", both male and female, and as a consequence have seen their prices on ebay increase by a factor of 4 in the past 3 years. They're not seen as just "old bikes" anymore.

Nonetheless, one after the other, I cast two different Puchs into the role of London Town Bike: first, a 1970s Emerald 'swoopy' (loop frame) mixte, then an older Rugby Sports. The Emerald was an Ebay purchase several years ago and turned out to have been in a crash at some point in her past:  the drivechain side rear triangle was bent and we have not been able to find a way to keep the rear wheel axle firmly fixed in the dropouts.  The Rugby Sport did fairly well but in truth fairly heavy and I just haven't enjoying riding it as much as I thought I would.

I have been considering my options:  

1. Having all the parts to build up a frame from scratch, I could try again with another vintage frame -- running the same "buyer beware" risks as with Swoopy.
   
   
2. Use one of my existing "old" bicycles that's already in good running order. However, only Lorelei qualifies and she's too precious to me to ride in all weathers and leave locked up in London overnight. 
   
   
3. I could buy a complete "old" bike. I am rather taken with a Del Croix mixte currently on Ebay. It's very like Lorelei, just without personal history. Still, I don't really like to duplicate the bikes in my stable; each should have its purpose. And even without the emotional attachment that prevents me from putting Lorelei into the London Town Bike role, the Del Croix is also far too nice to subject to the kind of abuse that a bike in this role must be capable of taking. Not to mention, it's desirable enough to be a theft risk.
   
   
4. Wait a few months until I qualify for a Cyclescheme voucher from work -- and then go shopping at the likes of Fitzrovia Bicycles, who stock a selection of "Dutch" style city bikes as well as non-descriptive soulless creatures like Ridgeback hybrids. A price point in the region of £500 seems to be sensible here. I am intrigued by models such as the Bella Ciao Corvo Citta Donna reviewed a few years by Lovely Bicycle! and by another Italian brand newly available in the UK, the name of which escapes me but is stocked by Fitzrovia (but not on their website). There is also "the Dutchie", also rather new on the market here but which I've seen "in the wild". A few test rides may be in order!
   
   
5. Shop around for a "cheap and cheerful" new bike, now. by "cheap", I mean under £200. I've seen one in particular locked up near my office that looked far better build quality than what I'd previously assumed you could get at this price point. Again, a few test rides would be needed.

I am leaning towards Option 5 at the moment, with the idea that this may be a short-term fix to buy time until I can proceed with Option 4. 

The challenge is find something that rides well enough that I won't hate riding it, with frame and components robust enough to last through at least one winter. This would not be a "good bike" - it just needs to do a job, do it "well enough" (i.e. not need much ongoing repair or maintenance) in any kind of weather, and not attract undue attention sitting unattended in the West End and overnight off Euston Road. 

I wonder what my readers' thoughts are. Any suggestions?