LONGTERM RIDES

Team bikes ridden hard, for a year

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TOM'S LAST GLEN €3,017

(frame, shock, ISCG mount & headset, exc. shipping & tax) Our MBUK TV presenter has been experimenting with a load of accessories

While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I think we can all agree that simple lines unfettered by excessive attachments, make for a great-looking bike.

In its current form, then, my Last Glen is more like the Hunchback of Notre Dame than Esmeralda, because the straight alloy tubes are festooned with a multitude of bolt-on parts and accessories.

There's method to some of this aesthetically challenging madness, though. In the centre of the frame, the bottle cage and bottle keep me hydrated without needing similarly awkward rubber tubes flapping around my face, while my go-to tool and pump combo - the excellent OneUp EDC system - keeps the bike rolling if and when things go wrong. Space is tight in the front triangle, so some brake calliper washers have been used under the cage and pump mount to alter their respective angles slightly, giving a little extra clearance.

Further forward, the cockpit is far from clean. I'm enjoying analogue life with SRAM's cable-actuated Eagle 90 Transmission, and the OneUp dropper too, but there's a nest of cables up front. However, it's the addition of the hand guards and steering damper that really draw attention.

I held off running hand guards for years - they'd just been stuffed in the back of a cupboard. But this summer's sun created a bumper crop of brambles so I thought I'd see what the fuss was about. While I don't like their looks, they've saved me from picking thorns out of my knuckles, and seem to help my handlebar skim past trees with much more subtlety than the ends of rubber grips can. Sadly, they can't fully deflect brambles away from the hook of my elbow, which has been left stinging with sweat after being flailed by their barbs.