I knew I wanted wide tyres, which is why we picked the Bloomfield. I like rim brakes. They look good and they're easy to maintain. It works great aesthetically.

...and people treat you differently as well. The locals of a place will see you differently. They'll see you more as "them" rather than someone else. Travelling in Indonesia, when we were on the bicycles, people were so much happier to have us in the cafe or whatever, which was cool.

I realised it was a fantastic way of getting around, and I often thought of how great it would be to continue riding after the shift as opposed to riding around town, going back to the garage, and driving home like I did for a couple of years.

Drawn together by a passion for lollygagging and speaking to random strangers, Simon and I have known each other for just shy of 25 years. For the whole time he has had Cool Bikes.