Mmm…oh for a bike with a wicker basket! Even the Mail has a fashion article about them today. But it’s all just a fad – soon there’ll be a glut of Dutch-style ladies bikes, with wicker-baskets, hung or stood, gathering cobwebs in garages everywhere.
But we can get new models of this style of bike. No, I haven’t seen any new bikes, like this, for £25 (?) as many phone-callers ask! (You can’t get the basket, new, for that!)
Second-hand? It is possible – check-out ebay. There was a Brompton there yesterday bidded (then) up to £310 I think. Plus of course any necessary repairs.
The fact is; thanks to such bikes featuring in Miss Marple and other trendy TV programmes, they’ve become a fashion item, so at the moment you simply can’t get hold of them for back-pocket change.
For new, good-stuff, in this style, over £500 is sensible. Then, if bought via ‘net, you’ve got to assemble it.
Dawes Duchess.
Some real, although ‘virtual’, bike-shops do actually assemble such bikes; and deliver them to your door – all working and ready to ride – the baskets ready for use! Sadly, doing that costs………..and that might not be quite so fashionable… (but, oh to find such a shop!)
A tasty and fashionable bike of this style is the Dawes Graduate with really retro hub gears and brakes. It’s around £500 new (if we can find one 
) plus delivery charges, but the bike pictured: The Dawes Duchess, is similarly styled for about £300 plus delivery, if cost is more important to you than fashion! I must point out that the basket, in both cases, is Rattan effect but what d’you want at the price? (It’ll last longer when hung in the garage!)
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We’ll be moving house shortly. But work will continue.
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I have been watching some stages of the Tour de France bike race. It is great to see on TV with all the scenery etc. And the bikes!!!
They are superb. Ultra light. Little or no ‘rolling-resistance’ so they go like the wind.
The trouble is, I fear, they’ve gone a bit too OTT in weight-reduction and streamlining attempts. The tyres on these bikes are a point in mind.
They have little or no tread. So, when you go around a corner…they slip and you fall off.
Several riders this year have been so affected. Some quite seriously.
So, what’s the point of trying to save a few seconds (over a month???) by skimping on such vital components as tyres, when a fall loses you several minutes?
And having a tread on tyres would make 100 km/hour mountain descents far safer at the corners (and far faster!) – well, that’s how I’d ride ‘em anyway….on me Raleigh.