Here is how one of our customers responded to the 92-page cycling guide published last Saturday in the Guardian, curated by Matt Seaton:

Hi Matt,

Thanks a lot for the Cycling guide – a truly informative and valuable resource:-)

At the risk of seeming cranky – which I’m definitely not, my (non-existent) psychiatrist tells me -there’s another cycling trend you may want to investigate: a return to a sort of “retro” cycling.

I’ve been a cyclist all my life, in spite of which, at 49, I’m slightly portly, and would definitely not look good in Lycra, so when I went out a couple of years ago to look for a new bike it was to find one which I could ride to my job in the City in a suit and not look a complete tit.

I’d often been to Amsterdam and really like their cycling culture, so started looking out for Dutch-style bikes – luckily, just at that time, an Italian called Andrea Casalotti was opening a shop in Great Titchfield St (nr. Oxford Circus) called “Velorution”

Andrea sells bikes that image conscious middle-aged blokes can ride in civvies – solid, heavy sit-up-and beg bikes from all over Northern Europe – including Pashleys – and they’re fantastic.
I now cycle the 5 miles from Clapham to Bank and back almost every day on a big black Dutch “Pastoorviets” with three hub-gears, dynamo lighting and back-pedal brakes. My legs are like tree trunks, my stress levels much lower, and what’s even more surprising, most drivers – even bus drivers – are incredibly, and very unexpectedly, courteous – perhaps they think I’m an old lady cycling to Evensong, but I don’t care. What’s more, dozens of people have stopped me to look at it and ask about it, sometimes with a nostalgic glint in their eyes but quite often with definite acquisitive intention.

There seem to be more and more of this style of solid, low maintenance bike around town – ok, it may be just a middle-class fad at the moment, but for those of us with a green conscience but who don’t want to adopt the sporty image the major cycle manufacturers insist on they’re a real boon.

Hope you find this useful!

regards,

Joe Stanley

BTW, Joe looks half the age of the Milanese in the shot by the Sartorialist