I pieced together a bicycle recently with nostalgia and parts-bin pragmatism. The top-of-the-line frame from 25 years ago has patina-ed well, bearing marks of use and care and enjoyment. Everything else has been scrounged, traded for beer, borrowed, or was just hanging around as these things do. I think about buying a front rack and mudguards and all those practical accoutrements that have become fashionable among a certain set. I might dangle an enamel mug off the saddle as my nut-sack bell.

Classical proportions.

I ride it to work. I ride it to the pub. I ride it home.

I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle.

I ride at a pace somewhere between meandering and tourist-y. This is not a fast bicycle, nor am I a fast cyclist.

What you see peeking out below the well-loved SSM Regal are the tidy welds on a Syncros seat post with serrated clamps.

I’ve never ridden a bicycle like this before. It’s always the pursuit of ‘better’, whatever that means. Lighter, faster, stiffer, snappier, more travel, more carbon, more fashion, more discs, just more. These more-ish bicycles demand the right conditions, the right tracks, the right weather, the most attention. I take these bicycles to visit bicycle-y places. Don’t get me wrong –  these have been the best adventures in the best locations that New Zealand has to offer with the coolest companions. It’s just that some things are becoming more important now.

This bicycle has two wheels and flat pedals and it takes me where I want to go (eventually). Sometimes, I’m not even a sweaty mess.

Cook Bros Racing CBR arms don’t give away much to new cranks

This bicycle rides best with my son on the front meandering slowly enough for him to point at things that attracts his eye. He doesn’t like going too fast at the moment, but that might change. It might not, and that’s ok too.

It’s a slow climber with the extra load and awkward seat height and limited gearing and my slides. Also, have you ever ridden a bicycle with the most precious sack of potatoes in the world on your top tube before? I have never had a more satisfying ride then when some babbling, finger pointing, curious chunk of pure fucking joy comes along for the ride. I guess that might have less to do with the bicycle or where we’re going and more about the people you’re with, as all the best rides tend to be.

Here’s to more slow ventures, fast skids, and to travelling at just the right speed.

@takmaupedas | @kahhoe