Thanks to my parents and their parents, I am pleased to present my new bike.
Welcome... "The Beast"
The Beast is a Decathlon b'Twin Riverside 05, £359. I have transferred my Brooks B17 and added 700x40c Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tyres to replace the knock-off marathons that came as stock. I have put on some Wellgo SPD-style pedals that were in the parts box here at Mission Control, however I am struggling to clip in - I will probably change to the reliable Shimanos that I have on another bike.
Initial impressions are that acceleration is nil and climbing is slow, but cruising is easy and the bike is very comfy. I am looking forward to using the panniers not a rucksack.
The bike seems like brilliant value. Deore drivetrain including the rear hub. Shimano dynohub on the front wheel and dyno lights with a standlight on the rear. Deore v-brakes, they feel like shit compared to my hydraulic Hope and thoroughly inadequate to stop a steed of this weight but Emily, who is used to v-brakes, rated their performance as 'pretty good'.
I think that I am going to rotate the bars down by one notch, other than that, its all good. I just have to pretend that I am driving an oil tanker and it will be fine!
The biggest problem is the bikes sheer size and weight make it nearly impossible for me to carry up the 5 floors of tight winding staircase to our flat.