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.
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.
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