Yesterday I tried a Revolution Country Explorer. The gear and brake shifters are in combined units:

• pull the levers conventionally to brake
• fingers push the levers inboard to change down* (i.e. easier to pedal but shorter distance travelled for each pedal revolution)
• thumb presses a wee nub to change up

*This is true for the left shifter which controls the rear gears. I can’t recall which way the right shifter goes. Whatever, gear changes were slick and didn’t require letting go of the handlebars.

The disk brakes lived up to advertised stopping performance. The rear rack took my current panniers. There was a good torque/power feel in the mid range (i.e. middle front gear, which is the same as Vilior’s larger front gear). If my legs were stronger, which will come in time (I hope), there will be mile-eating ease in the top range. The bike felt solid underneath me and the slightly wider rims handled the corrugated-horror road surfaces around Whitehouse Loan with ease.

Even better, there are a few 2011 models in my size still available. The bike co-op is trying to get rid of them prior to the arrival of the 2012 models. (Better still, the 2011 models are black while the 2012 models are bright red. Politics aside, for bikes black is the cooler colour!)

So taking advantage of this weekend’s 15% discount (on top of an old-model reduction), I’ve ordered Vilior’s replacement at a cost of just over £430. You could spend £300 more and still get less bike. He’ll arrive on Wednesday afternoon. I’m quite pleased.

Now I really need to settle on a name for new bike!