Lightning riders

Becky Taylor

10,000 miles on a Lightning P-38

I thought you might like to know that my P-38 and I did our 10,000th mile together today — I still love riding this bike. It doesn’t seem like nine years ago that you built no. 1750! I’ve attached a couple of photos from sunny Edinburgh.

It’s changed colour, from black to ‘Bordeaux Violet’ with extra sparkles (courtesy of Ben Cooper at Kinetics in Glasgow), and Ben brazed on disc brake mounts at the same time. The hydraulic brakes are Shimano XT trekking, and I was able to bend the brake levers following your earlier advice. I had to build new wheels for the occasion, too; I stayed with Hope hubs but chose Velocity rims this time. Underneath though, it’s the same frame, the same seat, and the same drivetrain. Still no complaints at all with the Phantom mesh.

I had Laid Back Bikes in Edinburgh make up some new Lightning decals for me in reflective white vinyl. We decided to combine the styles of the classic Lightning logo and the newer logo. The only thing missing is the yellow ‘Made in Lompoc, California’ sticker!

When I wrote my article for Velovision issue 28, back in December 2007,* I said that I could see myself riding this bike forever, and you know, it’s still true.

* Lightning Cycle Dynamics P-38 frameset: fitted out and and reviewed, Velovision, page 40.

Click here to read a review of the Lightning P-38 written by Becky.

For a forum for questions and sharing ideas, visit the P-38 page on Facebook.