...After a long absence...

... of almost ten years, Micro is back on the work trail. Well, not quite the same as in 2000, but we've moved house since then. Normally the route from home to the nearest-but-one station goes up a big hill then down another, so not really praticable on a three-speed folder. So, decided to go to a station a little further down the same line, but on a route which circumvents the big hill. Four kilometres distance, roughly. Then it's a train almost direct to Saint-Lazare, before two trains out to the station closest to the office. Except of course the two day strike which had forced me to work at home Wednesday & Thursday this week had gone into a third day on the last leg of the journey. So I stayed on the train to Versailles & cycled between the two stations there, nominally a twenty minute walk but cycled it in seven or eight minutes. Got overtaken by a guy on a Brompton for my pains.
No Versailles crossing on the return leg, trains synchronised perfectly and at Saint-Lazare waited for the direct non-stop train to my station. Even made it home in time before the bread shop shut !

*** Hundred miles for the year ***

Cresswell gets a run out in the country

The weather forecast for the Easter weekend was not particularly suitable for cycling, the "big bike" stayed at home in the garage whilst the family packed the car for a long (three day) weekend in the country, in the Eure-et-Loir département just south of the cathedral city of Chartres. There was just enough room amidst the bags & kids toys for the Micro, folded of course.

Saturday and Sunday were lousy, not the best time to venture out on two wheels. Monday, however, dawned sunny but fresh, so the lure of the open road took over and Micro was duly unfolded. In total Micro did just over twenty kilometers, absolutely nothing to report, behaved perfectly, no creaking seatpost, no punctures, the tyres stayed put on the rims and all was well in the world. Only one thing marred the whole exercise; set off without a real digital camera, so the following picture was taken with a JVC camcorder in photo mode, so indifferent quality.

In the Beauce, near the village of Illiers Combray, made famous by Marcel Proust

Advert for a Cresswell Micro

Circa 1997:

Torrid Time for Micro in Belgium

Everything should have been perfect. They had announced cold weather but dry & sunny, no rain or snow on the horizon. Cycled from home to my local station : perfect. Train from Paris to Bruxelles: perfect. Connection made at Bruxelles : perfect. Upon arrival at the nearest station to the office, intended to take the shuttle bus to the office, the Micro could travel in the boot. Fifteen people for eight places. No other option than for the dude with the bike to use it. A colleague kindly offered to carry my luggage in the bus to the office. Set off in the sunshine to the office. Had almost arrived when heard a swish swish swish noise and pedalling became mighty difficult. Stopped to inspect; the tyre had blown off the rim on the back wheel. The swishing noise was the "bulge" going past the brakes. No other option than to walk the remaining 200 or so metres.
After work, to the shuttle bus back to the station, where there was a cycle shop conveniently located just around the corner. Unfortunately no 16" tyres on offer, so had to make do with a pump (8 euros). Took the train back to the station near the hotel, pushed the bike the mile or so downhill to the hotel. After checking in, had a look at the tyre which by now I had deflated, and pumped up the bike and luckily the tyre stayed on.
Next day, decided to cycle to work. After one kilometre, felt something odd at the back wheel - a puncture. Pushed the bike back to the hotel where it spent the day in the nice warm room. Walked up the hill to the station, bike-less admittedly, then took train & shuttle to the office.
After work, shuttle back to station & conveniently-located bike shop in order to purchase one repair kit, one 15mm spanner to get the back wheel off and some rather fetching fluo pink tyre levers. Train back to station near hotel and one mile downhill trudge home.
Repaired puncture, fairly easily it has to be said. Checked that no spoke heads were poking through as well. Took bike for a spin - about one kilometre from the hotel, punctured again. Pushed Micro back to hotel. Repaired puncture #2 and left bike in room. Was a new hole, the original mend had held up.
Next morning, sent bag ahead in taxi with a colleague, then decided to cycle to the office. Just short of the intermediate station (the one around the corner from the conveniently-located bike shop) swish swish swish again - tyre off rim. Nothing else to do but push. Shuttle bus to office, from office as well in the evening for the two-train journey home to Paris. Arriving at local station I managed to get a lift thus avoiding a three kilometre uphill trudge with bag and poorly Micro.
Last night, took the tyre right off & inspected closely. Bead seems to be in some kind of trouble and part of it has shot through the inner rubber casing, exposing two inches of rather nasty sharp nail (see photo)

So what has gone wrong ? Was there a fault in the manufacture of the tyre ? I have a suspicion that the tyre was fractionally too big for the rim. I had already done 30km or so with the tyre.
Maybe I'm too heavy, combined with the weight of the rucksack. The official Schwalbe site says 75km max load for the 16" Marathon, but I know that riders as big as me have done lots of kilometres on Schwalbe-fitted Bromptons, often fully loaded.
Next step is to take the tyre back from whence it did come and try and work out a solution. Meanwhile the original tyre is back on...

The week on a Cresswell Micro

Spring is not quite here yet, but the rain has held off and there is no sign of snow for the moment, so the Micro has seen a fair bit of use over the last seven days. Mostly replacing the 20kg+ supermarket bike on the bread run in the mornings - I took two days off work at the end of the week. Replaced the saddle as well during the week for one I originally bought for a renovation project that never got beyond the drawing board state. The new one is on rails with an adapter clip, which means that I have gained about 15mm saddle height.
One of the main issues I have now with the Micro is with the seat tube/saddle interface. I experienced some severe creaking recently from this area, so resolved this issue with a light oiling. However, a new problem occurs of the seat post gradually slipping down into the frame each time I go over a bump. Added to this the seat post emerges black and oily once out of the frame. So, it's remove the oil, leaving the minimum to prevent creaking. I have tightened the quick release as far as possible, so we'll see if this holds up....

The Instruction Manual

This was the instruction manual that came with the bike when purchased...

A Rather Muddy Belgian Outing

Took the Micro to Belgium this week. After a rather rainy Tuesday, Wednesday morning promised better things, with the sun making a feeble effort to come out. Despite all the rain, the roads weren't too bad, except for the bits near the kerb, and of course the cycle "lanes". Cycled down from the hotel to the office, nominally 6 and a bit kilometres, but the GPS kept trying to send me back onto the (busy) main road. Several attempts at keeping away from traffic resulted in an extra three kilometres added to the trip. The last kilometer, a long drag of 1km on a steadily rising cycle track along a very busy road was particularly difficult; the track was strewn with debris, lots of mud and at the top some guys were in the process of cutting back trees, blocking the path.
Arrived at work with a damp patch on back of shirt. Must rethink dress code..

The evening was equally nice, even a rare sunset. Cycled back to the hotel; first three km, know the way well enough by now. Wind in the back, roads drying out quite nicely. Last three km a nightmare. GPS directed me on to a narrow, single-lane mudbath with several cars crossed en-route. Poor bike suffered. Spent half an hour and half a roll of bog paper in the hotel cleaning it up. Didn't use it Thursday apart from the very last leg from my station to my house (3km, uphill into a southerly gale).

Cresswell Micro Statistics

Cockpit (length from centre of seatpost to bars : 66cm

Standover height : 53 cm

Bottom Bracket height : 28 cm

Max seat height : 101cm

Wheelbase : 89cm

Front Fork Trail : 5cm

Crank length : 172,5mm

(Try comparing these to your bike or your folder).

In terms of folded size, I have compared the Micro with two "similar" bikes, the Brompton and the Dahon Curve D3:

D3 : 34 x 67 x 64 = ,145 cubic metres

Brompton : 27 x 58,5 x 56,5 = ,089 cubic metres

Micro : 76 x 51 x 38 = 0.147 cubic metres

Head Tube Badge

How to Fold & Unfold a Cresswell Micro

Folding a Cresswel Micro is relatively simple, although the folded package is less neat than a Brompton, and the chain is "on the outside", so beware of yours and other folks' clothes. Folded, the whole thing measures 76 x 51 x 38cm, or 0.147 cubic metres, well inside the limits defined by some train companies.You can of course make the folded package smaller by removing the saddle, better for putting bike in bag.
To fold, start by unlocking the seat post quick release and push the seat post down into the frame. While you are down there, might as well fold the pedals up too. Now, open the main frame clamp by unscrewing and pivot the frame so that the front fork locks into the grip on the real triangle, left hand side. Finally, unscrew the clamp holding the handlebar stem in place and fold the bars down, these should be held to the frame by another grip. Some hints - the left hand pedal should be under the bars, so that the weight of the bike rests on the pedal and not on your headlight or gear shifter.
To re-assemble the bike, firstly unclip the handlebars, at the same time swing the front part of the frame round so that it meets the back half. If you try to unfold the frame without unfolding the bars, it is quite likely that the bars will hit the plastic guard around the chain wheel. Tighten the bar and frame clamps by screwing the lock. Unfold the pedals next, with the VP folding pedals there is a little tab which you turn 90° to prevent the pedal from folding up. The hardest part of unfolding is pulling the seat tube out and finding the correct height before closing the quick release. After a while the limit mark wears off and in the dark it is
quite difficult to find. I have made a scratch so that I can find the limit mark. Under no circumstances should you ride the bike past the limit mark.
Voilà, your steed is ready for the road. Just one final tip; make sure that the brake and gear cables are on the left side of the bike once unfolded. Otherwise I have found that the brakes don't work quite as well.

The Micro folded

A bit of history...

I am the proud owner of a Cresswell Micro purchased from Messrs Pratt & Co in Hull, frame number M511. The velocipede was obtained in January 1998.

Despite one or two outings in Eurostar from time to time, the machine earns its keep on the not-so-faraway shores of Paris, France, where it is regarded as something of a curiosity.

Initially, its primary function was to make the liaison between my former home at Clichy and SNCF Clichy-Levallois (about 1,5 km) and at the other end of the journey twixt SNCF La Verrière and my office at Maurepas (3.5 km). I had to change trains twice, but I devised a system for finding the best place on the train.

La Verrière-Maurepas is almost exclusively on cycle path, whilst at the Parisian end I used to risk my neck mixing it with other heavier road users. Generally traffic noticed me - a six footer on a bright yellow bike with sixteen inch wheels is pretty obvious.

Eventually we moved house, further out into the suburbs, on the side of a fairly steep hill (well for a bike with little wheels & three gears). So Micro went into semi-retirement, coming out for the occasional trip to the UK. Recently, a new project at work meant that I will be spending some time in Belgium, where the link between the hotel/station/office is a tad sketchy. Two colleagues have bought Bromptons, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to dig the Micro out of its quiet life. Unfortunately the weather has been lousy for commuting this Winter so as often as not, the Micro sleeps during the day in a nice warm hotel room !

The Micro runs well, a bit too much flex in the bars for my liking, though. At first I experienced a serious failure in the bar stem resulting in cracks appearing in the stem tube; Pashley were called and a replacement piece arrived within a week, free of charge. The replacement part is an improved design and the fault has not reappeared.

I'm not over impressed with the choice of gears; first is a waste of space - the thing just wheelies, second is too low and third too high. The jump in between is enormous. I've punctured twice to date, and getting the small tyres back on is a job and a half!

I've successfully fitted a Cateye Mity 2 computer and a Cateye Krypton front headlight to the bike as well as a Zèfal LED on the seat-tube. Micro has been to the countryside once and it was fun, but really it's a "vélo de ville". I recently replaced the original Swallow tyres with Schwalbe Marathons in a bid to resist the dodgy Brabant road surfaces. I'll blog my findings eventually once the tyres get some miles in.

Bienvenue !

Welcome to this, the first-ever Cresswell Micro Owners' Blog.

The idea is to share experiences, technical stuff, hints & just stories about this underrated folding bicycle.

To start out with, here's mine: