100Km Brevet Populaire at Stanton under Bardon

As usual at 100Km BPs, folders and separables were not very well represented at this ride today. At least I was riding one myself this time, after the exceptional Ellesmere ride where I used a conventional diamond frame (and still managed to get it inside the Smart for travelling to and from the event)! At first I thought the only folder/separable present was my Airnimal Chameleon, but riding for a while with a couple on a very nice Mercian tandem it turned out that this was a separable as well, and they also own a Bike Friday tandem. Bike Friday seem to have identified quite a good market niche with their folding tandems - in fact the most common folders I encounter on one of these events are Friday tandems, whether in Family Tandem or Tandem Twosday form. Most people travel to and from these events by car, but of course with a tandem this is till a problem, and the Bike Fridays are almost unique in providing a solution.

The ride itself was most enjoyable, with a very good route, first class route sheet and beatiful weather. Although I'll continue to use other folders (and non-folders!) for such rides for variety, the Chameleon remains my preferred choice - very easy to fit in the Smart for travel, and an ideal ride in terms of comfort, range of gears, general enjoyment etc.