Riding in city traffic is serious. Anyone who does it regularly appreciates the importance of properly calibrated brakes, good tyres with enough pressure and a bike that’s generally up to the rigours of the road. With drivers and weather to contend with, you need to know that the bike will respond at a moment’s notice.

But have you ever looked at other people’s bikes? Fair-weather commuters, people who keep a bike for weekend riding, women… (sorry, but see below!)

I’ve got a colleague who occasionally rides an old steel-framed mountain bike to work and I was glancing over it one day as I locked mine up. His back brake was hanging loose, the bearings had gone in the back wheel – it quivered from side to side as he rode – and the handlebars were misaligned. It was total death trap!

It’s amazing how ‘effectively’ a bike will perform considering its shortcomings. Just as a human can live without a kidney or a lung or a leg, a bike may be technically rideable with one functioning brake, semi-inflated tyres and knackered bearings. In my younger (poorer, stupider) days, I commuted on a bike with only one pedal.

It’s obvious how such things occur. You just get used to the feeling of a bike. If the tyres slowly deflate and the brakes go and the gears don’t mesh, you become accustomed to it and compensate – much like human aging. After some time, you can’t even remember what it’s like to be on a new and tip-top machine. Normality is whatever you’re used to.