a new bike

i am loving my bike; biking genuinely makes me happy. 

i was looking for a city-style bike, upright handlebars and 7 gears. although i originally wanted a much lighter bike, the difference in weight for riding around the city was not great enough to make a difference. and, steel is significantly cheaper.

i also wanted a 'made in sweden' bike. might as well, since i'm living here right? this bike, from skeppshult, is made in southern sweden. they manufacture their bikes using high-strength steel and they're powder coated in skeppshult. not only are they thoughtful about the swedish winters (i.e. drum brake!), they also care about the environment :)

i hoped to buy the skeppshult nature, it's a beautiful retro looking bike, especially in racing green but when test riding each of their bikes, i found the nova to be most comfortable for me.

the next choice was colour! i loved the glossy black frame and once the guys at sjöstaden cykel swapped out the black saddle and grips with the brown and black hand grips and brown saddle, i was so giddy that the bike was mine. a new bike is a thing of beauty and i keep mine double locked up!

i ride it daily and everywhere, monday to friday. it's stress-free when it comes to transportation, i don't miss the trams and t-bana, at all. while i do cycle everywhere, my calves have yet to look amazing. i guess i will just keep cycling and try harder to get my boys on their bikes during the weekends :)

side note: just minutes before i took this photo of my bike, it was lightly snowing... in may!