The Raleigh Royal Reviewed

The Raleigh Royal is a 15 kg, steel framed, traditional touring bicycle. It has 24 gears and 700 x 35 tyres. I’ve had mine for over two months and have traveled over 700 miles on it. I tried to buy in Ireland but had problems finding one and ended up buying from mailorderbikes.com in the UK, at a cost of 622 euros.

I added a pair of Deuter Rack Pack Uni Panniers and an Oxford handlebar bag to the bike. To test the Royal I loaded it with 13 kg of books. With this load it handled perfectly at low speeds of 3 mph climbing steep hills and at high speeds of 35 mph descending hills.

Last week I went on a quick tour to Mayo, doing 145 miles on the first day and 135 miles on the second day. Fully loaded with all camping and cooking gear and with food, cooking fuel and water the bike was carrying over 16 kg of cargo. Over the course of two tough days cycling the Royal handled very well, was very comfortable to ride and all the components worked flawlessly.

It has a good range of gears with 48-38-28 chain wheels on front and a 11-32 cassette on the rear, so it will climb steep hills with a heavy load. The 2012 model comes with top of the line puncture resistant Schwalbe Marathon tyres.

The Royal comes in three frame sizes, 50, 55, 60 cm. I’m 5 foot 11 inches tall but I bought the 60 cm frame which in theory should be a little bit too big for me, but this gives me higher handlebars and a more relaxed upright riding position, which is important for comfort on long journeys. I've also had the bicycle on very rough gravel trails and on soft boggy trails and in both cases the 35 tyres handled the rough terrain well.

While this is the most expensive bike I ever bought, it’s rock bottom price for a touring bike. Time will tell how well it lasts but right now I love this machine.

Specs
Frame; 4130 Chromoly Steel 50, 55, 60 cm
Fork; 4130 chromoly fork with carrier mounts
Gears; 24 speed Shimano with Sora STI shifters
Brakes; Tektro alloy cantilever
Wheels; 700 x 35 doublewall alloy rims
Weigh: 15kg

The Raleigh Royal Reviewed Part Two

The Raleigh Royal Reviewed Part Three

Deuter Rack Pack Uni Panniers 

Oxford Bar Bag 

Mail Order Bikes

Composting Kitchen Wastes

Last year we bought a 235 liter composter from the Eco Store in Co Cork, to compost our organic kitchen waste. At the time I wondered would it prove to be good value at the cost of 49.95. But after over a year in use it is more than half full of excellent compost and I’m very happy with the purchase.

The composter is a solid piece of kit, made from 100% recycled plastic and comes with a 15 year guarantee. There is a screw on lid on top for filling and a hatch at the bottom for removing compost.

We have put all vegetable and fruit peelings into it. I have also cut back a lot of vegetation in the garden pond and put the prunings in the composter as well. All these sources provide nitrogen, for carbon I have added cardboard and newspaper.

In a year the composter will be full and will provide the main source of fertility in our kitchen garden in 2013.

You can of course make a composter with timber but I doubt it will prove as durable as a plastic one. If you decide to buy a plastic composter go for a barrel shaped, one piece composter like this, not a flatpacked square shaped one.

Available from the Eco Store for €49.99

The Carrera TDF Reviewed

The Carrera TDF is a 11.7 kg aluminum frame road bike. Not light by racing standards but by far the lightest bike I’ve ever owned. I bought it last September in Halfords in Cavan. I read a lot of advise online about not buying from Halfords but I found the service in the Cavan store first class and the bike was assembled perfectly.

The Carrera TDF

I’ve done almost 3000 km on it so far and I really like this bike. It’s a sporty bike built for performance rather than comfort. The 23 tyres do not cushion the rough country back roads I ride on as well as my hybrid bike, and the aluminum frame does not flex and absorb vibrations like a steel frame does, so I would not like to spend a long day on this bike. I mainly use it for Sunday morning group rides with a local cycling club and for that it's perfect.

I have two minor complaints, the pedals and the tyres it is sold with are both poor quality. I replaced the pedals with Wellgo Platform LU945 from Chainreaction cycles which I got at the excellent sale price of €7.56. And I replaced the tyres with a set of Continental Ultra Gator Skin tyres €32.99 each from Halfords. Apart from this all the components have held up well.

If you want to race this bike is too heavy, but for group rides and as an entry level road bike it's ideal. This is as cheap a road bike as you can buy, but if minded it will give good service. The bike has eyelets which will allow a rear rack and mudguards to be fitted so it would make an ideal light commuter machine.

All in all, the Carrera TDF is good value for money and an ideal low cost introduction to the world of road bikes. Available from Halfords right now for €429.99.

Brakes: Calliper
Frame: Aluminum
Front Mech: Shimano FD-A050
Gear Shifters: Shimano ST-2300
Handle Bars: Drop
Headset: Semi integrated
Gears: 16
Pedals: Road pedals with toe clips
Rear Mech: Shimano RD-2300
Saddle: Carrera
Seatpost: Alloy 350mm x 27.2
Suspension: Rigid
Tyre size: 23c
Tyres: Kenda road tyre
Wheel size: 700c
Chainset: Shimano FCA050 52/39 / Prowheel
Forks: Hi-Tensile Straight Blade
Stem: Alloy
Approximate Weight (KG): 11.7
Cassette: 12-26T

The Carrera TDF from Halfords

Continental Ultra Gator Skin Bike Tyre - 700c x 23c Tyres

Wellgo Platform LU945 Pedals