How a simple failing like badly-fitted bar-ends on a rental bike ruined plans for an idyllic ride.
I’ve blogged before about traumas that ensue when bikes - especially rental bikes - are poor quality or simply not up to the intended use. My worst experience overall was in the Dordogne region in France, simply because we had to struggle with dodgy bikes for a whole week, but they weren’t the worst bikes I’ve ever ridden.
That dubious honour, indubitably goes to a bike that I rented on the island of Barra, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. There is nowhere more beautiful than the Hebrides, and Barra is a microcosm of the whole archipelago. But the bikes!
They’d started out as cheap, wannabe mountain bikes, and were poorly maintained; tyres were a bit soft and gear-changing was temperamental. But the killer was the bar-ends - you know, those bolt-on extensions at the end of the handlebars to give a better hand position for climbing.
The problem was that these had been fitted almost vertically, even leaning back a little. I couldn’t see any way this could actually be useful, and while they didn’t seriously interfere with my riding while I was in the saddle, as soon as I tried to stand up I was bashing my forearms against them. It took me about two minutes to decide that this was ludicrous, but the guy at the hire shack had obviously decided that was it for the day and disappeared
If I’d had a 6mm Allen key I’d have fixed the problem in a minute, but now I was stuck with it. So we abandoned any ideas of cycling right round the island, even though it’s only 20 miles, and instead headed across the causeway to the neighbouring island of Vatersay, where we went for a magical walk along a deserted headland with perfect white sand beaches. Day saved.
