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

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.