thewashingmachinepost




..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

pryde and joy

neil pryde bura

several years past, a cycle distributor of note kindly allowed me to keep a review bicycle for several weeks longer than i would normally deem necessary to produce an initial review. for me at least, this was an exploratory moment, for i was keen to learn whether one's appreciation of a bicycle altered in any way when offered the opportunity to effectively make it the regular bicycle du jour. would i notice any hitherto hidden features that a mere three or four weeks had kept hidden? as it transpired, which will come as little surprise to most of you, there is a definite benefit to the extended review. however, the nature of the bicycle industry and it's one that applies not only to bicycles, is one of constant change; thus there's a better than evens chance that by the time any subsequent review is published, everything else will have moved on.

neil pryde bura

which is precisely what happened. by the time i had filled many black and yellow pixels with my considered thoughts, the manufacturer had replaced that particular model, rendering my words somewhat unnecessary, if not totally redundant. however, from my own point of view, the exercise was more than worthwhile and i was grateful to the distributor for the opportunity.

and once again, i have been so favoured, though in this case, necessity may be seen as the mother of invention. currently sat within easy reach inside thewashingmachinepost bike shed, is the carbon neil pryde bura previously mentioned favourably on these pages. though the bicycle should have returned to its scottish east coast home before christmas festivities had begun, a week's holiday followed by two busy weeks of work meant that i had had no time to replace the wheelsmith pavé wheelset and restore the frame to its pristine state prior to popping it back in the box.

neil pryde bura

neil pryde bicycles graciously decided to leave the bura with me until the beginning of this year, in part, i should imagine, to avoid having it sat in the back of a carrier's truck over the holiday period. with another bicycle currently under review and used for my 500 festive kilometres, all my other bike rides have been undertaken on the excellent bura. it still features those pavé wheels, predominantly because they are more favourably disposed towards my ageing bones than the factory-fitted fulcrums. when all's said and done, it's still a stiff frame. however, those wheels are shod with the original clement lgg strada tyres, which, considering the craters through which they have been frequently ridden, have proved more than equal to such adversity despite their now unfashionable 25mm width.

thundering regularly through mud, crap and persistent rain, truthfully put it neither up nor down.

neil pryde bura

the bura i find to be one of those hidden secrets sitting in plain view of all. prior to the review period, i confess neil pryde would not have been amongst my top choices, were i to have been considering a new bicycle for christmas. i tend to think that would apply to more than just me. we would, however, have been seriously in error not to have made the bura one of our first ports of call. aside from its most attractive price, one that undercuts similarly shimano ultegra specced machines by up to £1,000, it is very far from the poor velocipedinist's choice. but while price is always a limiting factor for most of us, it would be a seriously misinformed individual who did not also consider just what they would be getting for their money.

neil pryde bura

in this case, the bura is a carbon-framed bicycle that ticks the majority of boxes, from its contemporary frame design to its impressive handling, both up and down hill. replacing the original arione saddle with a brooks weatherproof cambium c17 and the aforementioned wheelset, if nothing else, proved that the frame is ripe for economical upgrading should you so desire.

but ultimately, apart from those keen to satisfy their strava obsession or indoor zwift adherents, i'm firmly of the opinion that the principal reason the majority of us ride our bikes is for fun, pure and simple. that's a feature that the neil pryde bura owns in spades, providing a carefree, level nine or ten on the chuckability scale, combined with a well-founded choice of componentry. as far as i'm concerned, given free reign, the only thing i'd do differently, would be to paint it red, just like the 105 equipped model.

just because.

thanks to Stephen Gildea for his patience and assistance

neil pryde bura

friday 5 january 2018

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................