A couple of days ago I signed up for a 300 km bicycle ride in May. Besides some training to prepare myself for the event I am also upgrading my Bike Friday folding bike.

The first investment has been a Brooks leather saddle. This British firm has an excellent reputation amongst long distance cyclists. On my last 150+ km ride there were two other riders with Brooks, one of them was Sarah Outen who has cycled from Europe to Tokyo on hers. The other was a friend of mine who had toured for weeks across East Tibet on his. Towards my longest ride so far I found it hard to sit on my previous bike saddle. My upcoming ride in May will be almost twice as far, so I will need to be as comfortable as I can. The B17 Standard is Brooks’ entry level model meant primarily for touring.

So far the impression is excellent: Even though Brooks saddles are supposed to take a break-in period of up to 1000 km, I have felt totally comfortable on mine from the first minute. Definitely recommended!

On the 40 km test ride I had my first puncture in 2000 km, but it was quickly fixed with my spare tube, tools and compact pump.

My second investment for the coming ride is a dynamo light, the Busch + Müller Lumotec IQ Cyo N Plus LED Front Light (175QNDi), which should be more effective than the small battery powered light that I now use. The current light is OK in town, but I wouldn’t want to rely on in the absence of street lights out of town.

More about the B&M IQ Cyo N Plus here once I will have received it and had a chance to test it!