On the road: Bobbin Brownie – bike review

'It's for cyclists who value the ability to pedal in a full skirt over the ability to pedal full gas'

'That, Helen Pidd, is the most beautiful bike I have ever seen," said one of my colleagues, stroking the gleaming steed propped up by my desk as if it were a thoroughbred. (Newspaper people have a bad habit of referring to each other by their full bylines; grooming inanimate objects is a more niche perversion.) She was right: the Bobbin Brownie is a beaut. Mine was St Ives Green, a spearmint hue that managed to stand out while complementing pretty much every dress I own. It's not a bicycle for hi-vis lovers or Lycra junkies. It's for cyclists who value the ability to pedal in a full skirt over the ability to pedal full gas: exactly me on my two-mile commute into Manchester city centre.

Bobbin is a British bike brand run by a husband-and-wife team who get their Dutch-style bikes made in Asia. They used to have a delightful shop in London, which they dubbed the world's first bicycle boutique, but are online only these days. I would never normally recommend buying online. Not only could you get a donkey, but you will probably have to assemble the ass yourself: this, beware, is how brakes rub, gears stick and forks get put on the wrong way round.