JAVIER THE JAMIS

Someone who is obviously very keen has asked me to describe my bike. Poor thing has carried me 3,400kms across Europe but hasn’t had much of a look-in. So even though it's very late in the piece, introducing Javier the Jamis:

Before I found him, I thought Jamis was pronouced like Yam-is (not sure why, but it is more eloquent) but the bike shop guy called him a Jam-is, so in line with the duel pronunciation thing, I've gone with Javier, pronounced Ha-vier or Jay-vier depending on where you're from and how you're feeling...

He’s a Jamis Aurora Elite 2012 with a 62cm chromoly steel frame which, size-wise, conveniently makes him as disproportionate to the population of bicycles as I am to the population of humans. Unlike me, however, he obviously watches what he eats since he’s a skinny 12.2kg (27 lbs). But he doesn’t look lanky? I’ve more than made up for it with super heavy bags though. As an ‘experienced tourer’ (surely I’ve earned the right to call myself that after three thousands k’s?!) I now know that I am carrying approximately twice as much as I need, seriously.

He's got a Shimano 10-speed cassette and chain, so 30 gears in total, which help me smash it out on the descents or sit back and relax on the ascents. Take it from me, with heavy panniers (or even without) the latter is much less enjoyable. Instead of regular grip shift or rapid fire gears he has shift levers which essentially means that while they are still derailleurs, the gear change mechanism is at the end of the low section of the drop handlebars rather than on top of the handlebars as I'm used to. Even though I was at first very apprehensive about these, to me this large difference has been surprisingly inconspicuous.

Javier: fully loaded

Mavic A119 double wall rims have been fitted with Vittoria Randonneur Pro tyres which look nice, and seem to be reliable and efficient – except for the very major fact that the back tyre started to badly wear out at about 2700kms. This should be no great surprise given the weight of my heavy panniers and of course myself, plus shocking roads with approximately 17,822 potholes (which is 17,822 too many) but still, I’m the only one of four on this trip with this problem and Javier has, by far, the newest tyres of his friends, which gives the Vittoria's a big fat F in my book. Anyway, I found a temporary solution by swapping the front and back until I get home and replace it.

The only other fail that Javier gets is for pedals. Simply put, he didn’t come with any. No doubt this is because people who purchase this would almost certainly use cleats, but unfortunately I was not able to find any in the entire country of England that would fit my flippers ... I mean feet. Sad really isn't it? (But not as sad as the first time, when I was a teenager, that I was told by the ice skate rental people that the size of my feet made this hobby impossible. Or the time my Dad sat me down to explain that my dream of being a jockey would never be realised.)

Abd yes, I agree, it seems strange to pay over £1,000 for a bike that you physically cannot ride out of the shop. The bike shop guy agreed that something isn’t right about that, and so kindly gave me the pedals that usually come with the Jamis Aurora (as opposed to the Aurora ‘Elite’, i.e. Javier) . So the ‘Elite’ version comes with less?! I suppose they think it’s so super-dooper elite that it doesn’t even need pedals to move, hmmm?! Anyway, as it turns out I am very glad I splashed out for the Elite, because as previously described, those pedals failed me on only Day Five!

Finally, it's important to note that he's got disk brakes rather than direct pulls (v-brakes). This means there is a small disc (rotor) mounted on both wheel hubs, and brake pads made of metal (rather than rubber) are used to stop the rotor - and therefore the wheel - rather than the wheel rim as with traditional v-brakes. They are super effective and not as affected by weather so definitely a valuable addition.

So that’s it, Javier in a nutshell. Hope that clears it all up for you. (By the way, if you made it this far through this particular blog then you are either really keen, or care lots about bikes, or maybe you just have a really boring job?) Any questions, please just shout out...