CW writer Simon Warren's Time NX climbing bike

He rides up hills and writes about them, arren is an authority hen the road inclines

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Newer converts to cycling may cast their eyes over my machine and be quite lost. So, eyes down for a history lesson.

As you will have spotted, my bike does not have disc brakes, electric gears or a fancy integrated handlebar and stem. Its tubes aren’t especially aero and look, the seat stays finish at the seat pin and not halfway down the seat tube. I know, weird. Its tyres are ‘only’ 25mm wide and get this, they still have inner tubes in them. It’s not that I have a deliberate aversion to all modern bike technology, and when I built this bike in 2014 it was just about state of the art. A lot has changed since then.

Laying the foundation

The two key parts of any bike are the frame and the wheels – the rest really is just decoration. Invest in the core, a solid base, then you can continue to dress it with fancier parts as you go, that is what I have always done. I’ve only ever bought one bike off the peg – my Raleigh Corsa back in 1988 – and since then I have always purchased a frame and gone from there and in this case, the frame is a 2014 Time NX. This is my second Time because they make frames to last: they are not the lightest but they make them strong, by hand, and they are works of carbon art.

I’ve never been for a bike fit. I buy frames with a 57cm seat tube, set my saddle height using the LeMond method (multiply your crotch-to-floor measurement by 0.883) and slam the stem, job done.