A to B m a g a z i n e

Available from selected outlets, online at www.exacteditions.com or by annual subscription on 01305 259998 or www.atob.org.uk

£13.80 (United Kingdom), £19 or US$27 (overseas airmail)

Issue 80 October 2010 A to B 40 Manor Road, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 2AX, England

ISSN 1460-0587 . tel 01305 259998

email (subscriptions & advertising) teresa@atob.org.uk (editorial) atob@atob.org.uk . web www.atob.org.uk

Editor David Henshaw .Administration Teresa Ridout . Proof-reading Peter Henshaw

Thanks to Malcolm Bulpitt, Mary Francis Dunham Printers Henry Ling . Next deadline 21st November 2010

The usual mixed bag this month, and hopefully a bit of something for everyone. Going car-free in Switzerland (not so hard), a two-speed Strida, new Brompton seat-post, Europe by high-speed rail, a bigger, better battery for the Raleigh Dover, and we get our hands on the 2011 NuVinci continuously variable transmission. Is this the future of cycling? We’ll let you decide.

Meanwhile, after more than ten years as a free, unsupported and unsubsidized service, our wonderful web site is now taking carefully selected advertisements.The balance between print media and the web is changing rapidly.Ten years ago, most people buying a folding bike (or if they were brave, an early electric bike) would subscribe or buy a pack of back numbers to read.Today, most study the website, click on the chosen link and make a purchase.We have to make few quid along the way, and the only practical answer is to accept advertising... something we’ve always done in print, of course. Oddly enough, even in a recession, A to B’s subscription base continues to hold up very well, so it seems a magazine you can read in the loo, or on the way to work will always have a place, but the accent is moving subtly towards the web. As we’ve said more than once, we live in interesting times. DAVID HENSHAW

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ContentsTheMole...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 A to B Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A to B News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 P i vot’s Corner : Solar PV and Batteries . . . . . . . . 18 Infrastructure: Europe by High Speed Rail . . . . . . 21 Travel: A Car-Free Holiday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Tested: Brompton Al l oy Seatpost . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 The Trial: Str i da MAS Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Health: Cycling with Parkinson’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The Trial: Raleigh 360 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 A to B Smalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

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A to B 80 Oct 10