Waiting for parcels to arrive post-Brexit, post-Christmas, and mid-COVID-pandemic is exasperating, but there’s nothing to be done about it. Fortunately, though slowly, the postal services are moving, and a number of items have arrived for the Street Beast.

So what upgrades have we made lately? We’ve got:

• new Maxxis Holy Roller 2.2″ tyres
• a new right-hand 8 speed shifter
• a new pivot bushing for the rear suspension

New tyres are, as always, lovely. To have confidence you’ll have grip and a lower chance of a flat, is priceless.

I had tuned the shifting to be as good as I could get it, knowing the shifter was 9 speed while the chain and cassette were 8 speed. I also knew getting an 8 speed shifter would be inexpensive, and I kinda like 8 speed overall anyway, as it’s quite robust and there’s a lot of room for error. Finally, to go to 9 speed meant getting another 9 speed cassette and chain, while a shifter was only 20 euro, compared to 30 for a cassette and another 20 for a chain, and you’d still have a very-well-used 9 speed shifter.

Functionally, the new shifter is much cleaner and more crisp than the old shifter, and of course it pulls the correct amount of cable for the 8 speed cassette, so now the shifting is perfect too.

The pivot bushing replacement was a bit more involved, with a lot of careful removal, and some modification (because the original bushing is not available anymore!). I did find a Fisher Sugar rear suspension pivot bushing, and took the chance it was close – and it was, just a bit longer. A bit of grinding and filing, and a few minutes later I had recreated the original, perfectly.

Where previously there was a slight bit of play when you grabbed the saddle and the rear wheel, now it’s solid.

I won’t be taking this bike off-road ever, but it’s nice to remove any sloppiness in the frame, remove any doubts about traction, and eliminate any errors in shifting.