Pashley Poppy Review and Some Thoughts on Its Modifications

I've now had the Pashley Poppy for a time (a couple of months), and while I did briefly discuss some changes that were made to the stock Poppy bicycle, it feels as though enough time has passed to provide a bit more detail about the changes that were made to the bike, as well as to better evaluate how it's working for my needs.

While our current living location isn't exactly ideal for any type of city bicycle, it has been useful for short rides, and the move to a new place looks as though it will actually come to fruition in a few short weeks. For now, it's useful on trips to the market, or to the very few close by places, but I think it's going to become much more useful after the move. When I think about being able to ride just about everywhere (except, of course, the trips to school), I find it difficult to believe that this is actually about to happen. It must seem strange to most people that I'm excited about moving to a place that's less than 10 miles from our current home, but truly, it's been a long wait and the convenience of the new location is quite exciting!

But, I digress... The Poppy has been a welcome addition to the fold, and with the changes that were made, it's been pretty ideal. The stock set up has short, close to flat handlebars with cork grips. I knew when the bike arrived that, at minimum, the grips would need to be replaced as they were both severely cracked, but after my initial ride with the original handlebars I felt like an adult attempting to ride a small child's bicycle.

Original cork grips, showing one of the smaller cracks

It was completely uncomfortable to me because it felt far too close between saddle and handlebar. I had no recollection of the Princess Sovereign model feeling this way. I don't think at that time I realized the difference a set of handlebars could make in the way a bicycle feels. I really didn't enjoy the ride on the Poppy the first time because of that crunched in feel, and I thought briefly that perhaps this bicycle would be another to go by the way side. However, after obtaining the mustache handlebars for the Hillborne, and realizing that the stretch was just too much for me on a bicycle that has an almost too far reach as it is, I thought it was worth trying these on the Poppy.

I hadn't seen a Pashley Poppy with mustache bars before, and while I initially thought it might be a strange look, they turned out to be a great option. The stretch the mustache bars provided between saddle and stem was just what I needed. The reach isn't so far that I feel overly stretched, but it provides enough room to feel comfortable, and even a bit racier than the standard set up (in my opinion). The ride itself feels more comfortable as well, though I suspect this is just a by-product of being in a more comfortable position.

Mustache handlebar set up on the Poppy

After the handlebar switch, I wasn't sure I liked the standard brake levers, nor the location I'd likely have to place the levers. While typically people who put mustache handlebars on a bike tend to use a similar style of brake levers, I really wanted to keep the upright feel of the bicycle. This was resolved by purchasing a set of inverse brake levers (Note: I didn't buy mine from Velo-Orange, however, they are the same brand) to be placed at the bar ends. This brought its own set of issues, as I didn't understand at the time that the levers wouldn't adjust the brakes, so there was absolutely no tension, or in other words, there was no ability to stop. This problem was resolved with a small tensioner Sam constructed to work with the other end of the brake cables. I have to say, I love these levers! Braking somehow seems easier, and while it may be entirely in my head, the set up really seems to be working.

Tektro inverse brake levers up close

The next decision was in regard to transporting goods via bicycle. For me, it is pointless to have this set up work so well if I can't carry anything with me. Initially, I thought I would put a rear rack on the Poppy, but after some thought, I decided that perhaps a large front basket made more sense.

Wald Woody front basket on the Poppy

Thus far, the basket has provided what I need. I can put two large reusable grocery bags in it, or a slew of other items, and the depth of the basket doesn't cause things to fall out while riding. I have still debated whether or not a rear rack is necessary, but thus far, this particular set up seems to be quite functional.

As for the ride with this set up, I am extremely happy. The ride is comfortable and functional. If there is anything that might feel strange for some, I would say that some might find that the basket is too close to the handlebars, making it a challenge to utilize every possible hand position. It hasn't been bothersome to me, however, as I mostly ride with my hands in the upright position. The brake cables are also to the sides of the basket, which, in super tight turning instances could create a bit of a tight squeeze.

Cables surrounding the sides of the Wald basket

Thus far, the Poppy has been a joy to have and to ride, and I look forward to a lot more riding... who knows? There could be even more modifications to come!

Pashley Poppy First Impressions/Revisions

Since posting about the new bicycle obtained a few weeks ago, I've been busying myself with a variety of things... one of which has been making some revisions to the standard Poppy. Nothing has dramatically changed as of yet, but I thought I'd post some of my initial impressions and a couple of quick photos of the bike.

Stock image of the Pashley Poppy in blue
*Image from adelineadeline.com

When I received this bike in shipping, it was fairly well assembled, however, it did require some mechanical aptness to finish up the process. Luckily, there is a mechanically-inclined individual in house here, so it worked to my advantage. The worst part about the process is that the fenders were bent in shipping. While they have been somewhat straightened, I'm not sure they will ever be what they should have been in their original form. This is sometimes the price paid to have an item shipped over distances that are not realistically traveled in a timely manner by vehicle. Beyond the fenders, it was simply fitting and tightening the seat post in the seat tube, attaching the front wheel, and sliding the handlebar stem into place and securing it. Not too bad, considering.

When the mustache handlebars didn't seem to be working out on the Hillborne, I thought that perhaps giving them a try on the Poppy would be a good way to go. When I initially rode the Poppy I had a feeling of being too close in reach, so that extra stretch that was far too much on the Hillborne, might actually work out on the Poppy. To my absolute glee, they were a perfect match. After riding around on the bars with just bare metal for a time, I decided they were worth keeping, and went to work using some cloth tape, twine and shellac.

Poppy with mustache bars, cloth tape, twine and a coat of amber shellac

As you may have also noticed, I opted to get some inverse brake levers, as I thought they would work better with this style of handlebar. What I didn't realize with this small purchase, is that the brake cables were not set up to work with this style of lever, and there was no tension to the brakes at all. After a few rounds of conversation with local bike shops (which were not horribly helpful), Sam came to the realization that there was a simple fix with a dollar purchase at the local hardware store. Now, they are tensioned and work perfectly. We also shifted the gear shift lever down, so that when riding in the brake position, the gears are more easily shifted. It's definitely a different look, and I haven't seen one quite like it, but I think it works.

Here is more of a full picture of the Poppy with the new handlebars (I apologize for being on the "wrong" side of the bike while taking the picture, but it was a hurried moment in time).

Full view of the Poppy with new handlebars, brake levers, and cloth tape/twine

I am so happy with the ride on this bike now! In speculation stages, it seems so unlikely that a handlebar can feel so foreign on one bicycle, and yet be the perfect fit for another. I understand it has to do with the geometry and set up of each bike, but I am happy that while the original intention didn't work out, the situation balanced itself and the perfect match came together. The ride is thus far what I had hoped for, and it feels a little "racier" as Sam put it, a bit like the Raleigh Lady Sports. It will still not be a record speed breaker, but it feels good, and I'm anxious to put it to some tests to see how it feels over slightly longer rides.

While I'd still like to find some crocheted skirt guards, I think I may skip the rear rack for now, and see how the Wald basket, currently on Fred looks and works on this bike before making any more purchases. Until then, I'm looking forward to more rides on the Poppy, and putting those mustache bars to good use.

New "Princess" in the House

As an earlier not-so-subtle hint implied, I have acquired another bicycle... a Pashley Poppy. I sometimes wonder what is wrong with me and why I can't manage to simply steer clear of adding bicycles to the flock, but they really do just seem to find me. In this particular case, the Pashley had been gathering dust in a bike shop in Texas, and I was able to purchase it with a really incredible discount a few weeks ago. I almost couldn't say no... and I guess I ultimately didn't. In fact, I drove poor Sam insane with my daily, "But it's such a good deal!" and "So, how mad will you be if I buy this?" type of questions/statements. I finally decided to just go for it and deal with the aftermath later. I suppose I figured if all else failed, I would get to use it for a bit and then could likely sell it without much of a loss to someone else. And who doesn't want to pass along bicycle love?

Here is a stock image from Pashley of the Poppy.

Stock Pashley Poppy set up

The frame is the same as the Pashley Princess or the Pashley Princess Sovereign; however, the Poppy has been painted in a more contemporary color (Pashley's terminology, not mine). In addition to the paint color change, the tires are the cream Schwalbe Delta Cruisers (rather than the black Schwalbe Marathon tires), the saddle is a Brooks B67s (rather than the B66s), the handlebars are a more flat bar (rather than the porteur or touring style handlebar on the Princess), the grips are a cork blend of some sort (rather than the black rubber standard of the Princess), it has a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub (rather than the SA 5-speed), and a partial chainguard (instead of the fully enclosed chainguard). The Sovereign also comes standard with a front wicker basket, while the Poppy does not (however, mine did come with the basket), and the standard kickstands are also a bit different. The Poppy's has what I would term a more "modern" looking Pletscher kickstand. There are other subtractions for this particular model. As you can see, there are no skirt/coat guards on this bicycle, no rear rack, no wheel lock, and no lighting system. In some ways, it seems like a stripped down model, but on the up side, the bicycle is also a little less than 10 pounds/4.5 kilograms lighter.

While the bicycle is fine as it stands, I will be making additions/changes to this bike. For example, I'm not fond of the handlebars on this bike, and while I had tried out a different style, I wasn't thrilled with those either, so, I will probably trade out for the mustache bars to see how they feel. If those don't work, I will find something more along the lines of the Princess models. There are also plans to add a rear rack because I need a place to carry items - nothing fancy, but something that will work for some light items, and I'm very tempted to hunt down some crocheted skirt guards for 26" wheels (which seem to be a bit more difficult to find).

As for the ride, well, I forgot how upright the Pashley is! I kept asking Sam, "Does this frame seem different from the Princess?" To which he kept saying, "No. It looks the same." I think I'd just forgotten how it was to ride this bicycle, despite the fact that it really hasn't been that long since I sold the Princess Sovereign. I even had to pull up a side-by-side picture of the two to ensure that I wasn't losing my mind.

Visual comparison of Pashley Princess Sovereign vs Pashley Poppy

While my reasons for selling the Princess Sovereign remain valid, I just couldn't turn down this awesome deal. It was never that I disliked the ride, but rather more of our current living situation (which has a possibility of changing in the relatively near future... but that's a post of another sort), and a desire to not house such an expensive bicycle that wasn't being used to its full potential. There really is no justification for purchasing the Poppy, other than knowing it was an extremely good deal, and well, I honestly just thought it was supposed to be mine... at least for now. Pictures of the Poppy are forthcoming, but for now, I just couldn't resist posting about the new "princess" in the house.

Mustache Ride

As reported earlier, the mustache bars made their way onto the Hillborne, and I promptly took him out for an approximate 5 mile ride. Before the five mile ride, I took the time to ride down the street, around the block and through the neighborhood to test things out, and to make sure that brake levers were in a good spot and so on. Sam joined me on the little jaunt to Walgreens to pick up a greeting card on Sunday. I have to say, as much as I really don't want to admit it, I think the bars were a mistake. While I was doing great riding around the neighborhood, the slightly longer ride to the store was not so pleasant. I was having a difficult time breathing because of the strange posture (neither completely bent over, nor upright, and stretched entirely too far out), and my hands really didn't do well, and are still actually aching a couple of days after the short ride. I can only imagine what a typical much longer ride would do to me. The worst part about it is that I just can't seem to put my finger on the precise "why's" of this set up not working out as I had planned.

I had read that there was potential for these handlebars to take some getting used to, so I was prepared for an adjustment, but this went beyond an uncomfortable stage. Beyond what is typically my largest issue (hand weakness/pain), and on this ride what seemed to be the inability to breathe properly, my entire right side went numb about a mile into the ride. I'm not sure I'm entirely ready to blame the handlebars for the numbness, as I was having back issues before I even left the house, and it's possible the breathing issues were in part due to allergies and the seemingly never ending wind that has taken over here most days for the last several weeks, but the hand pain was definitely the bars. As advertised, the bars do provide multiple hand positions; however, the pressure on my hands in each of these positions is on the same part of my hand, which for me, defeats the purpose of different positions.

I am tempted to try again when I'm not having other physical ailments to see if it was just a one time instance, but regardless of the outcome, I have a back up plan for these bars should they not work out on the Hillborne. Without giving too much away (okay, it really almost gives it entirely away), I leave you with a photo and a reminder that I have a serious, serious problem... but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Doing It On My Own: The Results

I reported on Saturday that I had intentions to attach my new handlebars and reattach the necessary brakes and shifters to the Hillborne on my own. Here's how it all went down.

Step One: Take a deep breath and know that it's not the end of the world if this doesn't go well.

Hillborne awaits the mustache bars

Step Two:  Install mustache handlebars to the stem and tighten bolt.

Mustache bars are in place and tightened

Step Three: Attach brake levers to handlebar and tighten in place.

Brakes are on the bars, but not tightened

Step Four: Attach shifters to bar ends, and tighten?

Everything is on, right?

While on the surface it looks as though I was quite successful with my undertaking, it didn't actually go so well. First of all, because I have so little hand strength, the handlebars were not even remotely tight enough, so they were slipping all over the place. Sam had to tighten them when he arrived home.
Sam 1 - G.E. 0

Next, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to tighten the brakes on the handlebars. I looked, and looked, took them off of the bars and looked, but to no avail.

Searching for tightening mechanism on brakes

I also went online to attempt to find assistance, but apparently there are not bike assemblers out in the universe quite as slow as me, and this is obvious to all others on planet Earth. I decided to go ahead to the next step, attaching the bar end shifters, instead of stressing about it. When Sam got home, he illustrated that the tightening bolt is used by depressing the brake lever and sticking a wrench inside (rather blindly, I might add) to tighten these to the bars. The ironic part is that I had actually looked in the right place, however, I just didn't see what I was looking for.
Sam 2 - G.E. - 0

The nice thing about all of these attachments is that everything was already connected to derailleurs and such, so there really wasn't anything for me to do except re-attach them to the bar ends. It seemed simple enough, but while the left side slid right in, the right side was not cooperating at all.

Shifter just won't slide into the bar end

I had noticed that there was a portion of the shifter that had been unscrewed from the rest, but I didn't understand why this had been done, and had re-tightened the screw. What I discovered later, was that there was a reason it was disassembled, and that it was how the shifter was loosened and tightened into place. By this point, I didn't want to get upset, so I decided instead to head out to do some shopping with a friend in Denver. When Sam got home and explained what was needed, and then completed the task for me, it made sense, but I realized even more that I was just not cut out to do these sorts of tasks.
Sam 3 - G.E. 0

In all of this, I was proud of myself for at least trying to get the job done without assistance, but I was even more impressed that I didn't have a complete meltdown when it didn't work out.  Sometimes, patience is the best route, and knowing your own limitations can be invaluable. While I did attempt, with Sam's tutelage, to get the job done later in the evening, we realized that I just don't have the strength to tighten parts to the level they need to be. But hey, the stuff is on, and that's all that matters. I'll report on the first ride with these bars at a later time, but for now the realization that they are on appropriately is good enough.

Is Patience a Virtue?

As reported earlier this week (and last week), I have been awaiting the arrival of the new handlebars for the Hillborne. After a bit of a weather delay in shipment, they finally arrived yesterday. I was extremely excited to get them because that meant I could enjoy the nicer weather we're supposed to have here in Colorado this weekend.

The box arrives with the mustache handlebars for Tony

I normally prefer to buy parts locally for our bikes; however, when I can save 40%+ by purchasing online, I can't afford to make the choice to buy locally. In this case, Tree Fort Bikes was selling the bars I wanted for quite a savings, so I went ahead and bought online. It's not the first time I've bought from them either. While shipping seems to be a bit on the slow side, the cost savings is completely worth the wait, in my opinion. Of course there are many other online options, and searching for the best deal is usually the route I take, unless it's a company that I've had bad experiences with in the past... then, I often opt to pay a few more dollars elsewhere.

Anyway, the handlebars arrived safe and sound and I felt like a little kid waiting to open her gifts on Christmas morning. I cracked open the box and removed the handlebars which were neatly and properly packaged. I looked at them with glee, and have to admit I was a bit giddy about wanting to get them on the bike ASAP.

The mustache bars removed from the cardboard box

Last night, we had plans to visit some local art galleries, so I knew it wouldn't be completed at that time, but today, Sam is off with a friend snowboarding in Breckenridge, and I'm not sure I have the patience to wait for his return this evening for the mounting to begin. I woke up this morning thinking, "How hard can it be to mount handlebars?" I'm just not sure that I can contain myself to wait for his arrival back home late afternoon to early evening... and then, the bars will only get mounted if he isn't exhausted from the days festivities (which is unlikely).

Mustache bars lounge around, waiting to be installed

So, despite my better judgement, and knowing how uncoordinated I am with such things, I think I'm going to give this a try myself. I figure the worst thing that can happen is that I will get frustrated and give up, at which point I can simply wait for Sam's return home. Best case scenario, they'll get mounted and I can practice riding on them and get the brakes set up in the right location all by myself. That is the plan...we shall see what the actual outcome of this little venture turns into, but I'm hoping for the best. Wish me luck!

An Orange Swan

In a recent post, I talked about some small adjustments that would be made to the Hillborne. One of these is going to be a trial of some different style handlebars. In his current state, Tony looks a bit like a swan, I think.

Oh where, oh where have my handlebars gone?

It's both amusing and a little sad to see him without handlebars. As I've had time to ride this bike over the last several months, I've realized that perhaps the Nitto drops were just not the right style for me on this bicycle. I very rarely use the drops for their intended purpose (on a 20 mile ride, I most often spend less than 1/2 mile using the actual drop portion of the bars, if at all), so I've decided to give mustache bars a go on this bike. I was concerned that longer rides and touring might be difficult with the mustache style, but I've read about some individuals who utilize them for this very purpose. While I realize that reading about something doesn't necessarily make it true, I think it is definitely worth giving them a try in my situation. It took some deliberation and intense research to come to this decision, but I think there will still be enough hand positions for me to move around and avoid the pain and numbness that often occurs for me when riding on flat bar bicycles.

Handlebar tape on his saddle, Tony awaits the new mustache bars
As a side note - I swear, our home is not normally two-tones of paint on a single wall,
but I'm in the midst of a painting project that I've become quite lazy about completing.

I have found that while riding, at least for the most part, I want to keep my hands either on the hoods or on the flat part of the bar, so it just made sense to me to give this a go. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival and forthcoming addition of the mustache bars to the Hillborne. While he's a bit crippled at the moment, he'll be back to working order within a couple of days, which will be just enough time for our recent snow drop to clear out and allow the two of us a good, long ride together.