Mix a pinch of imagination, a teaspoon of mystery and a bicycle and there you have it, the perfect recipe for an adventure into the heart and soul of Bangkok. Not the Bangkok of skyscrapers, pollution and traffic jams, but the Bangkok that's been dubbed the 'Venice of the Orient'. Yes, it exists, around the corner - you just have to know where to look.

You can easily book a one-day cycling trip with one of the specialized and very professional cycling agencies, which offer several itineraries that take in historical sights, floating markets and Bangkok at night.

But if you want to ride off the beaten track and step back in time, then the tranquil neighborhood of Phrapadaeng, located across the river from the concrete jungle of the capital, is an ideal weekend escape and a memorable cycling experience. Most visitors don't know about places like Phrapadaeng. Even Bangkokians have yet to discover it. The cycling around Phrapadaeng is fantastic because everything is local, from the villages, temples, markets, and schools you can find or pass by.

It's hard to believe that only a couple of decades or so ago, mountain bikes did not existed – anywhere. The majority of the bikes you could buy were skinny wheel, ten-gear, drop handlebar, steel-frame light- weights in monochromatic colors only fit for road riding. Nobody even thought about a bicycle that could be ridden off road.

In 1979, two keen cyclists called Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly became partners in a company dedicated to commercial production of a new kind of bike. The name they gave their company? Mountain Bikes. The world of cycling was about to change.

Fat Tyre Terror

Back in the mid-70s Kelly, Fisher and their friend Joe Breeze hung around on the edge of the California bicycle racing scene, but had never been fully absorbed into it – even though Fisher had done some racing. Kelly and Breeze preferred to hang around their place at 32 Humboldt Street in Fairfax, California, building bikes up from bits.

Nonetheless, they were both committed cyclists in a land that, back then, didn't hold cycling in much regard. "I was a solitary guy with a nice ten-speed bike," says Kelly. "In those days you didn't have riding friends. It was so rare, that when you saw someone cycling you'd say: ‘Yo! How's it going?'"

Although Bangkok is reputed to be one of the world's largest cities and infamous for its traffic problems, solutions are at hand with cycling routes being introduced to help solve congestion and reduce pollution.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has converted footpaths into cycling routes with entrance and exit facilities for cyclists. Cycling routes are in evidence all over the city with some routes running through historically important and quite beautiful areas such as Thanon Ratchadamnoen which was copied, to some extent, from avenues in Europe at the time the city was expanded northwards.

The Raoyal Plaza with the Equestrain Monument of King Rama V is at the end of Thanon Ratchadamnoen along with the Dusit Throne Hall. The route passes many tourist attractions such as Tattanankosin Island, Golden Mountain, Loha Prasat, Wat Ratchanatda, and winds back to the middle of Thanon Ratchadamnoen, passing Democracy Monument, Sanam Luang, the Grand Palace, Tha Chang and Tha Phra Chan.

The guys at Merida are obviously not getting any sleep because to get a production frame under the 1 kilo mark involves lots of late nights and weekends working. But they've finally done it – the new Merida O.Nine does what it says on the skin and weights 930 grams.

The new Merida O.Nine is 200 grams lighter than the Carbon FLX, 16 World Cup winning frame, while increasing BB stiffness by nearly 30 percent. But, the ultimate has to be the BB30 version.

December is probably our favorite time to ride our mountain bike in Thailand, the temperature is not so high, the only downturn is that it gets quickly dark. Most mountain bikes are not very well equipped to ride in the darkness. On the good side, those who have yet to try a evening ride are missing one of the sport's most exciting experiences.

Why ride in the dark? The top reason is that it gets so quickly dark in Thailand this time of the year. The sun sets this time of the year in only a few minutes.

Many enthusiasts throw on headlights to extend the weekend rides when the days shorten in December. You don't have to be a great bike handler to enjoy riding in the dark. If you can ride during the day, you can take on the darkness.

Craig Calfee had spent a decade building top-end, carbon fiber bike frames. So when his dog Luna dragged a piece of bamboo into the yard behind his bike shop, he wasn't exactly looking for a new foundation for high-performance mountain bikes. But that's exactly what he found.

'From that point on,' Calfee says, now 10 years after building his first bamboo bike, 'it has just been about learning about bamboo and being amazed by it.'

There were, of course, plenty of skeptics. People who told Calfee that bamboo wouldn't hold, last, or cooperate. And, at first, they were right. But when Calfee Design shifted from black bamboo to smoked bamboo, the wood stopped splitting. Now some 150 mountain bike enthusiasts, particularly trail riders, enjoy the US$ 2,695 frame. 'No matter how you build it, it is going to be very smooth riding,' Calfee says. 'It fully absorbs the bumps on the trail.'

More and more you see bike manufacturers building production cyclo-cross bikes, cyclo-cross bikes are usually produced in small quantities and sell out fast, so if you want to get one, do not hesitate too long... Alternatively, you could make some tweaks to your existing mountain bike and get a taste of cyclo-cross action MTB-style with the minimum of cost or bike space.

Cyclo-cross bikes are not hybrids, more a stepping stone between road bikes and trail bikes.

Cyclo-cross adds a new spice to tail of the raining season's cycling, and it does wonders for your bike handling – if you can skate around in the mud on little more than a knobbly-tyred road bike, you will find returning to your mountain bike a welcome comfort. An if you're going to have a roadie stiffback bike, why not have one which can go off-road?

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced plans to begin Japan-wide sales starting February 2010, of the Honda Bicycle Simulator developed for the purpose of traffic safety education. By safely experiencing the possible risks bicycle riders may face, users will improve their ability to predict risks and increase safety awareness.

In addition, rider evaluation session which will follow the riding simulation will help users learn traffic rules and manners in an enjoyable way. Honda will aim for widespread use of this simulator by a range of customers including public offices, law-enforcement organizations, driving schools and educational institutions which conduct bicycle safety education programs primarily for school children and senior citizens. Honda will begin accepting pre-sale orders in November of this year.