Meet Mambo! My favourite tallbike yet.
She was built by a skilled builder in 2019 in Bournemouth, UK. I purchased her like this in September 2020. As soon as I heard about the sale and saw the bike, I was immediately attracted to the vibrant colours and sleek yet crafty frame design, which made it look like the ultimate touring tallbike. The design for this bike was based on similar touring tallbikes by the Zenga Brothers. She had been used mostly as a beach cruiser previously and hadn't put on more than ~500 miles. The spacious cargo bay is designed either to take luggage or to sit a passenger (facing backwards). She has 7 working gears, and both brakes work for once. The rear is a disc brake for better braking power. Mambo also came with two bespoke tiki masks - a large one on the front, and a smaller one on the back. These were hand-crafted by the original builder, and both also have fairy lights added into them, which act as secondary front + rear lights (and look really cool!). This tallbike was also the tallest bike I had owned except my BMX TripleTall, measuring in at just over 6 feet tall. Another interesting aspect which Mambo has is the step halfway between the pedal and the ground (or two if you count the cargo bay). This allows the rider to literally "step" up the bike to mount, instead of running furiously and jumping like I usually do :). |
Timeline
This was immediately after I had just finished my last ~500 mile tour going from Home > London > Birmingham > Gloucester > Bristol > Stonehenge > Portsmouth on Mark I, so I was in need of a few weeks of rest and didn't take too many test rides, also thanks to the bad weather that Autumn brought with it.
After a few days we finally re-gained some sun, so I took Mambo on a short 30-mile round trip to my local city, where I planned to do a photoshoot on the Hill with a backdrop of the city. Pictures below: |
September 2020:
I picked Mambo up from Bournemouth in late September, bringing her back up on the train (somehow she managed to fit, despite having a 5.5ft long wheelbase). The bike had no racks of sorts, so nowhere to affix my touring panniers over from Mark I. I just had to use a bunch of bungee cords as a short-term fix to get her back: |
October 2020:
Despite the weather getting colder I wanted to test Mambo's capabilities, taking my first overnight trip (this was in-between the two lockdowns). I had welded in two brackets to the left-hand side of the frame, which connected to telescopic poles that acted as dual stands (and a shelter too when combined with tarp). They were recycled from more parts of my old trampoline... the gift that just keeps on giving. Most images have been taken from my Instagram story archive, hence all the random captions. I had also now removed the high-rise cruiser handlebars (not great for going uphill with), replaced with regular flats and extra bar ends in the middle, acting as DIY "aero bars" for battling the headwinds. Luckily I found a compatible rear rack, a cheap Oxford from my local bike shop which was about £30. Only 3 holes were drilled into the frame to make this possible. ;) You may also be able to spot the suspicious-looking clear/black bottle secured to the headtube... I made a guilty purchase of £25 which soon proved itself to be worth the money - It's an Airzound bike horn: a refillable, eco-friendly air horn which is three times as loud as a regular car horn. It certainly helped to keep dangerous drivers from passing me too close on tight UK roads! |
November 2020: Cargo mode
With mambo performing so well without any issues, I wanted to see how much I could carry. I took the opportunity of having an upwards-oriented cargo bike, and filled it up with whatever I could find that needed transporting locally. This included bed frames, vacuum cleaners, park slides, timber, entire bikes and more. And Mambo just handled it with ease. |
December 2020
Now that I was sure Mambo could handle heavy loads, I wanted to get her tour-worthy for longer trips. With only a rear rack, it left space for just two panniers, along with whatever I could bungee into the cargo bay. Not to mention that the Oxford rear rack had to be packed lightly, as it had a 30kg limit before it was at risk of failing. I spent a few days drawing up ideas on how to design a central rack. Most conventional touring bikes tend to have two sets of panniers: on one the rear rack, the other set mounted on the forks. However, Mambo's forktube is almost 2 metres long and already has a lot of flex when braking is applied, so adding more torque/tension so the steering wasn't a great idea. Eventually I decided to make a sort of "cage" above the cargo bay, sadly eliminating the passenger space forever. The plan was to make it like a box, with many compartments so that the inside of the cage was utilised, as well as the outside, where two panniers would be able to hang. It had to be designed to be extremely strong, as it would hold at least 30-40kg including the panniers, and that's not factoring in the rider. |
My welding skills were slowly getting better, having now built 9 tallbikes over the previous 2 years.
The cage was made from solid steel rod, all salvaged from an abandoned shopping trolley found in a ditch. (previously known as The Bus). It was quite a lot of extra weight, but would be worth it in the long run. Painting it was definitely the best part :) I also debated adding supports from the top (front) area of the cage, to the front of the cargo bay's underbelly where it joined the headtube - this could add structural support and minimise frame flex. I decided against it, as it would be harder to get things in and out of the cage, and would mean i could no longer store long items in front of the cage sticking out either side. |
Once the wooden cargo bay had been reinstalled (and the tinsel!), Mambo was beginning to look more like a long-distance tourer.
Everything was finally coming together. I started buying bikepacking gear that I'd had on my list for years, and slowly upgraded some parts on the bike. I transferred my Brooks B17 saddle onto Mambo once I finally recovered Mark I from Portsmouth (I left it there to pick up Mambo and couldn't bring them both back at the same time). The Brooks definitely made riding so much more comfortable. The only other issue was the riding position. Because Mambo was designed to be more of a beach cruiser than a tourer, the top tube and frame angle is quite laid-back, with a very upright riding position. This meant that with regular flat handlebars, I still felt quite bent-over and uncomfortable on longer rides. After a lot of research, I settled on the Koga Denham handlebars, which were specifically designed by Alee Denham of cyclingabout.com. They cost almost £100, but were 100% worth it. These bars are the absolute godsend of bicycle touring for me. I've never used such a comfortable handlebar setup before. Even after 7+ hours of riding some days, the bars were still not hurting my palms or wrists! |
Photo of handlebars is from cyclingabout.com as I don't have any photos from when I first installed my own pair.
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December 2020: Disaster strikes
I remember the day clearly. It was shortly after christmas, and I was doing a Just Eat delivery on Mambo (yes that was a thing!), going down a short hill, and hauled on the front brake to slow down. Now usually when you press the front brake on a tallbike like Mambo, the forks will always flex inwards slightly (about 1-2cm at the axle). This flex is fine, as it's not from the forks - it's from the entire steertube flexing internally as well. However, when you have more luggage loaded just behind the front wheel (in the cargo bay), when you freeze the forks up the weight from the rest of the bike puts that weight and pressure all on that steertube and fork. Lesson learned: Use the rear brake primarily! (at the time my rear brake pads were worn beyond being usable and I was working to earn the money to replace them). Knowing my welding skills were limited, I didn't want to attempt this repair on my own. After all, this bike was destined to go on multi-country tours one day, so had to be perfect. And to be honest, I'm glad it broke while I was close to home, as opposed to breaking halfway across Europe where I have no welder or access to repair services. Regardless, the bike had only been semi-loaded when this happened, so the forktube was also at fault. It was too weak. |
January 2021
When the fork broke I immediately contacted the original builder, and he kindly offered to replace it free of charge, as it was his component that had failed. The fork in this picture is the replacement fork and steertube (before being painted). It's much beefier, and he made sure to re-enforce the steertube a lot more than the original one had been. After all, it had only previously been built to cruise lightly and I was testing every limit :). Another issue I encountered due to the heavy weights I was exposing the bike too, was the wheel issues. I was using a regular 26" mountain bike wheel - nothing special, but it looked fairly sturdy. But once I started taking more day trips fully loaded, it soon failed - first one spoke, then three, until it was unrideable. The rim also kept buckling under the weight. After working for a few weeks I earned enough to invest in a proper touring wheel. The front wheel didn't need replacing as it barely took any weight. For the rear I chose a Ryde Andra 30 rim with Sapim Strong double-butted spokes and their best spoke nipples - all these things had been recommended to me by other tourers and heavy bicycle users. The hub was a generic, mid-range shimano that was supposedly quite strong, and had a nice freehub too and looked very sleek and lightweight. I couldn't afford anything higher, so got the wheel built with those parts. Once installed, handling definitely felt a bit more secure, and I could only hear the spokes pinging if I was going full-pelt up a really steep hill while fully loaded. So far so good. |
March 2021: Viva Scotland!
We had now got through the worst of the winter (or so I thought), so I wanted to finally get Mambo out on her first proper tour. With lockdowns coming in and out of fashion every week, and new variants announced monthly, there was no point waiting - it wasn't going to get any better. And anyways, I'm riding 6 feet off the ground, wild camping, and barely having any human contact on my travels - I'd say that's pretty safe and solitary. My plan was a 500 mile route from home to Glasgow, as direct as possible (taking mostly larger roads and motorways). The first few days were chilly but bearable. I was excited to be off on another adventure. Fully overpacked with way more than I'd ever realistically need, I assumed I was impervious to anything that could possibly go wrong. |
The views as I travelled up through into the Yorkshire dales were breathtaking, as was the wind.... so strong that I could barely make it up these massive hills. Then the rain hit. for 24 hours straight, while I was wild camping at the top of a Dale. Once I finally packed up my gear in the pouring rain, I set off to the next town, a little place called Skipton.
The rain only got worse, turning into hail and eventually sleet and snow. |
Eventually the wind, rain and snow became too much for me. By the time I reached Skipton I was pedalling full-pelt into the wind and barely reaching 5mph. This was going to be impossible.
To add to this, my budget for the coming week was just £20 including food, accommodation, and any necessary repairs. It wasn't looking great.
I managed to barter my way onto the train to Preston, and somehow also managed to get the train to Glasgow, all while keeping under my budget. The train conductor spent most of the trip quizzing me about my travels and asking about Mambo.
Once in Scotland, I stayed there until around May when I headed back home for a while.
My favourite experience in Scotland was cycling around the east of Loch Lomond and then climbing up Ben Lomond with an elevation of almost 1000 metres. Safe to say I couldn't feel my legs on the ride back though.
To add to this, my budget for the coming week was just £20 including food, accommodation, and any necessary repairs. It wasn't looking great.
I managed to barter my way onto the train to Preston, and somehow also managed to get the train to Glasgow, all while keeping under my budget. The train conductor spent most of the trip quizzing me about my travels and asking about Mambo.
Once in Scotland, I stayed there until around May when I headed back home for a while.
My favourite experience in Scotland was cycling around the east of Loch Lomond and then climbing up Ben Lomond with an elevation of almost 1000 metres. Safe to say I couldn't feel my legs on the ride back though.
July 2021: Viva Scotland again!
It seems I got the cycling bug. I was hooked. After returning home by train for some rest time, the weather finally improved and we happened to have a few weeks of sunny weather. I immediately got prepped again, as I was determined to make it all the way to Scotland, but this time without the help of trains. I had a slightly larger budget of around £150 for an estimated 14 days on the road, and planned to use a mixture of cheap hostels and camping along the way. I also brought along my DJI Mini 2 (drone) which I had recently purchased, so that I could document my travels from the sky too. Packing all my gear, I wanted to minimise a bit and lighten my load. But with the addition of the drone and all its' accessories, my panniers ended up being heavier than last time. |
October 2021: Scotland... again!
After I reached Scotland in July I stayed there until October, waiting for COP26 in Glasgow. Then, just two weeks before COP26, I heard word that there were people cycling from all over the country (and the world!) to get there. Despite the worsening weather, I was eager to join a ride. I usually tour on my own as I work better that way, at my own speeds. However, this ride was planned to be slow and steady with a variety of capabilities. I didn't have enough time to cycle all the way back down to London to join from the beginning, so I instead took the train down to Manchester and cycled up from there with about 15 others. Over 500 cyclists came to COP26 by bicycle. When we crossed the border into rainy Scotland we met a lady who was also on her way there, and had cycled from Lisbon, Portugal! |
January-May 2022
Since the New Year I've decided to take some time off from social media and bike touring. I've settled down for a while and will decide where to head to once warmer weather arrives. I have big plans for this year hopefully :)
I'll still be editing this website and my YouTube is still active: youtube.com/tallbiketour
Since the New Year I've decided to take some time off from social media and bike touring. I've settled down for a while and will decide where to head to once warmer weather arrives. I have big plans for this year hopefully :)
I'll still be editing this website and my YouTube is still active: youtube.com/tallbiketour
May-November 2022
I left on May 1st from Amsterdam Netherlands and spent around 5 months crossing europe on Mambo, headed in the direction of Cappadocia, Turkey - as this was the first country in Asia and I wanted to cycle to Asia by tallbike.
I ended up picking up a stray puppy along the way in Serbia, she's called Nova, and she now travels full-time with me on the tallbike. More stories about the tour can be found on my Instagram (icon at the bottom of the page), and also a set of videos will soon be released about my travels in 2022 via YouTube.
I ended up picking up a stray puppy along the way in Serbia, she's called Nova, and she now travels full-time with me on the tallbike. More stories about the tour can be found on my Instagram (icon at the bottom of the page), and also a set of videos will soon be released about my travels in 2022 via YouTube.
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Always happy to help and answer questions, feel free to get in touch. |