It’s time to celebrate one full year of living a 100% car-free existence. Yes, it was May 2007 when I bought myself a new mountain bike and tossed my car-keys in the drawer. There’s no going back now. If I can live a full year like this, I should be able to do it forever – at least until such time as I acquire a girlfriend and have to think about things like dating and the transportation required therein. Well, if that happens, I can always jury-rig a side-car, or at least buy some BMX stunt-pegs that she can stand on behind me.
Meanwhile, look at these babies. Decided to splash out on a pair of mag wheels. Always wanted wheels like this, right back to when I was eleven years old when I found that Father Christmas had left me a Raleigh Ultra Burner instead of a Super Burner under the tree. I seem to be spending a worrying amount of attention on fulfilling childhood dreams lately, and perhaps a worrying amount of money. These wheels were not cheap. They cost me £200, and that’s second-hand on eBay. They’re the third pair I’ve watched; the others spiralled up to £250.
It’s rare to find mag wheels for mountain bikes. Due to their fragile nature (they shatter rather than bend as regular spokes do) they’re usually for racing bikes. But this is set isn’t made from some flimsy plastic; it’s carbon fibre, and available only in the US. Hopefully they’ll take any abuse my considerable bulk throws at them, and I won’t end up lying at the side of the road with a big shiny black carbon spoke protruding through my chest.
Darryl Sloan 
The other great thing about mag wheels is that they make a mountain bike look the BMX bikes we remember from 80s films, in terms of scale. Obviously, you’d dwarf a real BMX. And have to get around without loads of gears.
I’ve just won a mountain bike on Ebay. This year I had been managing with the 70s three-speed for shopping and my drop handlebar bike (another Ebay win) for day touring. It’ll be nice to have something decent for shopping again and a bit of off road.
The first thing I thought when I fitted the mags was, “What have I done? My bike looks tiny!” But it’s an optical illusion, of course; the chunkier wheels make the frame look smaller by comparison. But my eye quickly got used to it, and I love the new look. Yeah, sort of old school BMX-ish, except for the handlebars.
A whole bike on eBay? Won’t that cost a fortune in postage? Be sure and put a photo up on Crazy Mike’s Cycling Log. Been a while since you updated, and I’m still a faithful subscriber.
Ah, the trick is (I can’t believe that I didn’t think of this sooner), to search for bikes within a ten or twenty five mile radius of my postcode.
Nice! And congrats on being car free for a year. Now if only we didn’t have winters in Minnesota…
And you have the added bonus of having a great picture for your next novel if, indeed, you do get a carbon graphite lance through the chest 😉
Well, hello, Mr. Campbell. You dropped off the face of the earth for quite a while. Great to hear from you again!