For ages and ages and ages I’d been holding off on buying a multi-tool to carry with me when I ride because they were all enormous, then I found the Lezyne SV5 and my search was over. Instantly.

All Lezyne products are seriously beautiful, both cosmetically and functionally. The SV5 is about as simple and basic as possible, it features CNC-machined aluminium side plates and 5 stainless steel tools.

On one side there are 5mm and 6mm allen keys and on the other 3mm and 5mm allen keys plus a phillips head screwdriver.

This thing is so rigid, to look at you might think that it would be a bit flexy and bendable but there is absolutely no give whatsoever when you are using the tools. The quality is second to none and it is a joy to use, every time I tighten a bolt I have to tell everyone around me how much I love the SV5, I’m sure they are sick of hearing about it.

The tool is so small you could hold it between your palm and your bars and it probably wouldn’t cause much of a problem. It’s like the Macbook Air of multi-tools, yes it’s lacking some of the ‘oomph’ of other tools but just look at how small, light and functional it is!

It comes with a stretchy faux-leather wrap which keeps the tools nice and clean, they are fairly tightly packed so don’t flop about the place anyway but it is a nice addition.

I love the Lezyne SV5 multi-tool and I can’t recommend it highly enough, it’s certainly not a workshop tool but will fix most problems you have when our riding and at 50g you won’t even know you’re carrying it.

Order from Urban Cyclery and get an extra 10% of with the code ‘tfd-uc’.

Related posts:

1. Fixedgearlondon LockWhip™ Tool Review As fixed gear riders we don't need many tools, the Fixedgearlondon LockWhip™ Tool kills three birds with one stone....
2. Tokyo Fixed Tool Wall The Tokyo Fixed tool wall is looking mighty fine, there’s not a bike on earth that couldn’t be dismantled with this kit....
3. FGLDN LockWhip Tool Video Andy from FGLDN uses their new LockWhip tool to swap a cog out on the street in London....

Videos of idiots attacking cyclists are not a rare thing anymore, there seems to be a new one every week.

Usually they make me quite angry and leave me shouting at my screen but this one just left my laughing.

God knows why this wellington boot wearing country bumpkin is riding at about 5mph in the middle of the lane but this stupid cow has jumped out of her car, run past all the ones in front of hers and then attempted to knock him to the ground but she’s so pathetically weak that she can barely manage to make him stop! So lame, haha.

Related posts:

1. Bristol Bus Driver Jailed for Hitting Cyclist Video of Bristol bus driver Gavin Hill deliberately hitting a cyclist with his bus... ...
2. Abdul Aziz, a Cyclist in Need Hear about Abdul’s plight and help a fellow cyclist out!...
3. Samuel Higley: Cyclist and Artist Samuel Higley is the dude in white riding around the wasteland at the start of BÖIKZMÖIND, tonight I discovered that he’s a bloody good artist too!...

The weather was looking good for both Saturday and Sunday this weekend so I planned on two fairly easy rides rather than one tough one, but for the second week in a row my stupid legs said no.

When I had the plate removed from my collarbone two months I knew I’d have to stay off the bike for a while but I started riding around after about three weeks or so, I thought this would keep my legs fresh but it clearly didn’t work, AT ALL. I was so pathetic last weekend and again this week that I’m beginning to think that my hill climbing prowess was somehow connected to the plate that was inside me and now that it’s gone I’ve lost my special power!

Me and Huw (I know it should be ‘Huw and I’ but I’m far too common to say that, it would be like saying lunch instead of dinner or dinner instead of tea or sofa instead of settee) headed out at 3pm, it was warm and a nice change from the cold early mornings I’ve been doing all winter. We rode up to Mynydd y Betws, which is the highest mountain in Swansea; the photo at the top is a view of the road in the photo above, the wind that blows down this one little stretch is ungodly, the climb itself only reaches about 8% I think but it’s like riding into a jet engine the whole bloody way up, it sucks.

At the top on the right hand side there is a very special treat for those in the know (which is you now!). The 13th-century ruins of Penlle’r Castell lie completely hidden from view across a ditch and up a boggy bank. If you look very very carefully you’ll be able to see a very faint path that is used by the very few other people in the know. I have written about the ruins before so go here for a little bit more info.

As you can see the panoramic view is absolutely amazing and well worth getting a bit of dirt in your cleats for, click the photo to enlarge.

We headed off with no plans at all from this point, my legs felt like hell but it would’ve been stupid to let that spoil what was a perfectly lovely ride in the sun with my blinding white legs out. We descended to Cwmllynfell, which is the home of the jolly funny sign above and a shop where we stopped to get some water.

Long story short, at this point we thought we could possibly take the Rhigos and The Bwlch from behind but after riding up the A4221 (where I actually got KOM) we decided that it would be better to just ride home rather than die a slow, cold, painful death at the top of a mountain in the dark.

About 10 miles from home Huw was really feeling the burn, I’m sure he’d want everyone to know that, haha. It’s a shame he’ll be going back to flat old Bournemouth for his uni holidays because it wouldn’t take much for him to really get into the climbing spirit and he’s going to miss the best time of the year for it.

I really need to start putting in a couple of 20-30 mile rides in the evenings, that’s the only thing that’ll stop my legs from crying like a baby after 60 miles and 4500ft of climbing I reckon. As always the route can be seen on Strava and Ride with GPS.

Related posts:

1. Ride a Bike, Get Sexy Legs Mark Skulls is the shop manager of Tokyo Fixed and his design portfolio is well worth checking out......

More awesome jerseys, this time from Tokyo Fixed!

My favourite is, can you guess? Yeah, the black and white one with mountains on, it ticks all my boxes :-D

They’ll be available online next week but are in Tokyo Fixed in Soho already so get down there.

Related posts:

1. Buy the Tokyo Fixed Jersey The Tokyo Fixed jersey that I posted about yesterday is now listed on their site so you could be as rad as me....
2. Tokyo Fixed Bikes Now Available Tokyo Fixed have launched a dedicated site for their new range of frames and complete bikes. Each frame has it’s own page with full spec and geometry....
3. New Tokyo Fixed T-Shirts Tokyo Fixed have a few new t-shirts available......

This new Brother Cycles summer jersey by Milltag is an absolute corker!

Don’t know when they’ll be available or anything but it’s one of the most bang tidy jersey’s I’ve seen in a long time.

I’m down for anything black with white, ha.

Related posts:

1. Brother Cycles x Milltag Comrade Milltag have posted a bit of background information regarding the Brother x Milltag Comrade project....
2. Brother Cycles x Milltag Revealed So here it is, as expected there is a well smart jersey and also a seriously pimped out one of a kind frameset....
3. Brother Cycles x Milltag Poster The Brother Cycles x Milltag collaboration just got a whole load more exciting......

This is one of my favourite photos and one that I think every cyclist in the world can look at and feel as smug as is humanly possible. There are few better feelings than riding through the middle of two lanes of gridlocked traffic and looking at all the driver’s miserable faces, haha.

Dan Wood is a skateboarder and photographer from South Wales who shoots exclusively on film, makes all his own prints and has an eye that the Six Million Dollar Man could only dream of. It’s really not easy to make a photo of a traffic jam look good, this single shot is a testament to his skills I reckon.

Word is that he has just ONE 20×16 print left for £25, hit up his site to see the rest of his work and contact him if you fancy hanging this on your wall.

Related posts:

1. Is Playing in Traffic Too Dangerous? Playing in traffic is one of the most exhilarating things you can do on a bike, especially a fixed gear but at what point does it become too dangerous?...
2. Riding in Traffic I went out with Evs to try and shoot some photos today, I failed pretty miserably but got this one ok shot....
3. Gnarrlyness Photo Series Jason Sellers shot all the photos in the Gnarrlyness series over 2 days with some of London’s best FGFS riders......

Cycling Plus magazine recently crowned the Focus Izalco Pro 3.0 it’s bike of the year and there’s quite a buzz about it at the mo.

This has co-incided with my starting a new job at Urban Cyclery in Swansea (more on that later) and us taking on Focus Bikes as our newest brand.

If you are in the market for a seriously good upgrade to your current road bike then the Izalco Pro 3.0 should be your first choice. “Creating a bike that’s able to match you whether you want to ride hard or cruise along in comfort is a superb trick and one we’ve only really encountered on bikes at twice this price.” (source)  We’ll even chuck in a free set of Look Keo pedals and a copy of Rouleur cause we’re such top blokes!

Check out the full range of Focus road bikes and feel free to give us a call on 01792 467944 for a chat if you have any questions.

Related posts:

1. Urban Cyclery T-Shirts Ride along to the tune of 'Sheena is a Bike Messenger' or 'Ace of Shades’ with these three new music inspired t-shirts from Urban Cyclery......
2. New Mission Workshop at Urban Cyclery Urban Cyclery took delivery of a whole bunch of new Mission Workshop bags today including the awesome new Fitzroy backpack......
3. Exclusive Chrome Gear at Urban Cyclery Urban Cyclery in Swansea have just taken delivery of a load of Chrome shoes, clothing and bags that have, to my knowledge, not been available in the UK before....

Another particularly fine bike from the workshop of Tom Donhou.

“Roger came to me talking about stainless and bi-lam, I was instantly excited about this build! We opted for 853 and Reynolds new stainless steel – 931. The bi-lam works perfectly for this build, there is true inherent beauty in the construction technique of this frame, with the stainless almost piercing through the paint. To compliment the fillet brazing on the frame we built a fillet brazed unicrown fork keeping that smooth steel look.”

For more photos and information head over to the Donhou Bicycles website.

Related posts:

1. Tim’s Track Bike by Donhou Bicycles Tim’s custom track bike by Donhou Bicycles floated down on a cloud from heaven......
2. 14R Stainless 316 Steel Dropouts by Royce Royce will be producing incredible 316 stainless steel dropouts for the 14 Bike Co 14R frames......
3. Filthy Rusty Road Bike, Shame on Me! Keeping a road bike clean throughout the winter months is hard work and not something you want to do in the cold weather....

Ohana Fixed are a group of riders from London who look like they’re having a whale of a time.

In the crew they have Mikey Ramirez and Foday Fofana who is the dude that bought my ESB off me, nice.

Check out their Tumblr for a whole load of original content!

Related posts:

1. Bristol to London, Fixed A guest post by Ed Trotman about 13 fixed gear riders that rode from Bristol to London....
2. Fixed Gear London 2011 Fixed Gear London have released their 2011 catalogue, as well as the LockWhip Tool and All Weather Jacket they will have new tees and a hoody up for grabs too....
3. alkr® Work Sessions – Fixed Gear London Watch a really cool video by alkr® of Andy Ellis from Fixed Gear London....

Swansea’s finest bike shop, Urban Cyclery, have both the black and white San Marco Concor Red Hook Crit saddles in stock.

They are customised versions of the Concor Light Urban Performance saddle featuring graphics from the Red Hook Crit, nobody else in the UK has these for sale so if you want one you should head over to the Urban Cyclery site and use the exclusive ‘tfd-uc’ discount code for 10% off and free postage!

Related posts:

1. Urban Cyclery Merckxtallica T-Shirt Urban Cyclery’s Eddy Merckx meets Metallica t-shirt is perfect for cycling metal fans....
2. Focus Bikes Now Available at Urban Cyclery The full range of Focus Bikes, including the Izalco Pro 3.0, is available from Urban Cyclery, the thinking man’s independent bike shop....
3. Urban Cyclery T-Shirts Ride along to the tune of 'Sheena is a Bike Messenger' or 'Ace of Shades’ with these three new music inspired t-shirts from Urban Cyclery......