Bespoked Bristol

A good if wet day out yesterday over in Temple Meads, Bristol.
A really good turn out of bikes, frames and components. I couldn't pick one bike from the show that stood out for me, but manufacturer wise, it had to be Field Cycles from Sheffield.

I loved the truss forked 29er, not least because it was brown. Their handlebars and stems were a work of art. The paintwork was immaculate on all their bikes and parts.

Next up in my not-a-top-three was the Titchmarsh Long John cargo bike. Beautiful engineering on the hub centre steering and really nicely put together.

The final round up was outside. The Windcheetah was parked up outside and I really wanted to try it out.

So a few others that caught my eye.
Souplesse bamboo bike

14 Bike Co. x Royce

Hobo Bushwacker

Alchemy Arion carbon beast

Faggin leather bound bike

ERA in the new builder section with lovely Barry Sheene/Heron paint work.

Finally someone is having a crack at reinventing the wheel with Loopwheels

A good show, thanks to the organisers.

Canada part 3, farewell Toronto, hello Halifax

A short day in Toronto, and the hottest so far. With the mercury chasing 35'C we had a morning to spend before we flew across to Halifax for the next stage of the trip. What to do?
How about a trip on the ferry over to Toronto Island?
We buy our ticket and take our ride. As we pull out of dock the towers of the Financial District dominate the skyline first and then give in to the CN tower as we get further away from the city shore. Camera shutters rattle and iPhones submit synthesised shutter sounds as visual experiences are attempted to be documented.
Here is my attempt.

The island is a green relief from the city and we walk around and enjoy the slightly cooler feel that grass, trees and water cooled air.
Back across to the metropolis and the spotting of an interesting home made cargo bike.

Interesting stuff.
Back to the hotel, shower, then jump again on the excellent TTC to the airport. Smaller plane and we're over to Halifax. A great trip with probably the nicest person I met on the trip, Tim the bus driver, and we were into the second city of our journey.
A good burger and a couple of pints down by the water and that was another day done...