So… Tadcaster. Small market town between Leeds and York on the River Wharfe, famous for its breweries. Until a few weeks ago, a town that I had never previously visited. Under the blue sky of a crisp Friday morning in late March, it’s an attractive place, especially as you wander beside the river and St Mary’s Church:

Tadcaster is also home to Cycle Sense:

Which is where Dave works. This is Dave:

And Dave, according to his son, is the best man in Britain to talk to about Koga bicycles. Which is why I went to Tadcaster yesterday to have a chat…

It was a follow-up visit to the one I made in February and you can read all about that in this post from February. On that first trip to Cycle Sense, Dave (who owns the place) had taken the afternoon off – he also happens to be Tadcaster’s leading musical impresario and was setting up a gig – so the return visit was essential. I arrived in town at around 9am. The shop doesn’t open until 10 so I set about wandering beside the Wharfe and through the graveyard of the church. As I ambled, I tweeted a few pretty pictures and of my intention to visit Cycle Sense. Within a few minutes, a response arrived:

I bet that doesn’t happen at Evans…

Not only did the second visit allow me to meet Dave, I was also able to have a good look at the Koga Signature bike that had just been delivered. It is the one above in Dave’s hands and very closely spec’d to the one I would like to order myself; Rohloff hub, carbon belt, trekking bars (although not quite butterfly bars), front electric hub… Very nice indeed. I even had the chance to cycle around the car park, my first ever ride on a bike fitted with a Rohloff hub. Wow! I’ll be paying Dave a third visit just before Easter, the day after payday…