2015 Cannondale Hooligan

Got home from a few days away yesterday to find that my Hooligan has arrived and was waiting for me in it's box. I dropped my bags and rushed to get my tools so I could attach the pedals and sort the handlebars out.

I've wanted a Hooligan as long as I've known about them, I loved riding BMXs as I grew up but needed something a bit taller to ride on and the small wheels and short wheelbase make for easing weaving in London traffic and makes short work of breaking away at traffic lights.

I had problems getting the bike, my work until recently only offered salary sacrifice at two UK high street stores and neither of them could supply me with the bike I wanted. Back in February I nearly bought a B'twin hybrid from Decathlon as a stopgap but the one I wanted sold out and I was back to square one. I've continued to commute on the tube, but my work has finally joined a proper cyclescheme and I placed my order on day one. It took eight days for my order to come through, which greatly impressed me. I gather I'm not the only person who ordered right away, so clearly there was demand at my workplace.

You can order accessories too so I got a fluorescent yellow helmet with a light on the back so I'll be seen, an Abus lock (which turned out to be tiny! - don't go on internet picture alone), some micro LED lights, and some BMX mudguards to protect my uniform. I already had a saddle bag with a multitool and puncture repair kit that I bought back in January.

My landlady informed me she was installing new bike parking in front of the house, I wasn't too impressed as I don't want my new pride and joy on display (although it's cool she's doing something - before I would have had to carry my bike through the house to my room and she was concerned about dirt), so I headed out in search of a beefier lock and a bike tarpaulin.

I ended up riding 22 miles, via Halfords and TKmaxx in Ilford, my work in East London, down to Canary Wharf to Evans', then the ferry across to Surrey Quays to Decathlon where I got the things I wanted, plus a mini pump and a bell too as I was fed up of asking people to step to one side on shared use pathways. I returned via the Rotherhithe tunnel (which I won't be doing again, too much fumes, but I wanted to tick it off) and then back along Mile End Road and Romford Road towards my home. I haven't cycled properly in a while, stopped riding regularly when I got my driving licence in 2008, so I was pleased I could make such a distance but totally exhausted. I start commuting to work tonight.

Planned upgrades include a carbon seatpost, 8-speed hub to replace the 3-speed on there, and a pannier for the rear wheel so I don't have to carry a rucksack. Anyway I love it and hope to get many happy miles out of it.