Went out for a nice ride for the first time since my triple-puncture week back in December. Now I've got both front and rear tires fitted with schwalbe marathon plus tires. These prevent punctures on the road first by being impossible to put on, so you can't ride at all, then by nearly guaranteeing pinch-flats, so you can't ride at all, and lastly, if you somehow manage to correctly install them, by being nearly impenetrable. Definitely tarmac tires, though. I did managed to put myself down in some mud at one point after the bike went sideways on me.
Thinking a lot about what I would want for a city bike in London. Ideally it would be fully suspended. I like my suspension stem, but it's starting to go wobbly and they stopped making them years ago. So a suspension fork and frame then. But most suspensions are made for mountain biking and downhilling, not the kind of constant vibro-pounding your spine takes on the rough pavement, tarmac, bricks, and cobblestones of London streets, parks, and towpaths. The hardpack on some of the towpaths is the smoothest surface to be found. Add some grass, wet leaves, potholes, glass, rubbish, curbs of all manner of height and state of disrepair, along with some rutted muddy bits, and it's your basic challenging urban environment. I want a full suspension tuned for the constant vibration, not tuned for huge travel when I catch air coming down off of boulders.
I'd like something fairly simple and low-maintenance and able to withstand the near-constant drizzle. Ideally internal gears in the rear hub, something like sram's 9-speed internal gear rear hub. Add truvative hammerschmidt cranks and you get 18 gears with a single ring on front and a single on back, no derailleurs. Of course, I don't think this wouldn't work well with a fully suspended bike without having to either add a rear derailleur or adding a chain tensioner. But with a hardtail this would be an attractive setup. Very simple, low maintenance, durable, never drop a chain, and change gears, front or rear, even at a dead standstill.
On the front, an internal generator hub (schmidt or sram) powering an LED front light. For brakes: I hate v-brakes. Either old-school calipers or, more likely, go with disc brakes. Possibly overkill on a road-ish bike, but definitely nice to have considering the amount of time spent riding in the wet here. Front only. I can live without rear brakes on a city bike. Red LED on the back. Lightweight clip-on fenders. Depending on commuting needs, either backpack (my choice), or rack with panniers.
5 comments:
http://www.moultonbicycles.co.uk/models/NSDoublePylon.html
although it might not be completely what you are looking for... it does have a nice suspension system.
However, i love gary fisher bikes - and they have a few city/speed models that may do you. As with any bike you have to test it out for ride to make sure that you fit it well. I had bought a trek (mountain/dirt) bike and found that I had problems with the reach. :( It just didn't feel great. the parts were nice tho' and one day when I have a bit of time and energy, i may cannibalize some of those parts for my fuji racer. which is nice and fast - but completely useless for pot holes. :)
Cannondale made a road suspension front end which was interesting, but never gained traction in the market.
The moulton looks.... well, it looks awful, but I'm intrigued by the suspension. I would love to ride one. I don't like the small wheels and I really don't like the use of stainless steel for the frame material, but the suspension is definitely intriguing. However, the price is outrageous! Nearly £6k! I could buy a race-tuned carbon santa cruz for that, and hire an engineer to go canal-bashing with me to custom tune the suspension, and have enough left over to buy you a couple spare gary fisher commuter bikes in case you got a flat tire. Schmoly! Wonder if I can test ride one, though....
I'm currently on a trek 7600 metrotrack from 1992 (or so). Was a "hybrid". Closer to a cyclocross bike but with straight bars instead of drops, but wider-clearance calipers than a road bike, 700 wheels, gearing more for road than mountain. Had the softride suspension stem put on it when brand new. Have replaced quite a few parts but it's still going strong. But it's never too early to plan the next one.
I love planning for new bikes. :) but, I have 3 already... so perhaps I may have to purge. umm.. perhaps not. trek - mountain, fuji racer and a fuji cross. (yes, I do like the fuji's as well - mostly because of the shorter ratio between seat and bars. I am a bit on the short side. *sigh*)
anywayz...yes the moulton was wacked - but cool suspension. I like the cannondales but have been hearing that they are having issues with frames recently. Do not know if it is just some styles or what..... but for that price point, I expect it to be perfect! :)
And, whenever you wish to buy me a fisher! :) lol. Also, let me know if they let you test drive the moulton. since they are UK based -- perhaps they will let you have a go. I think their big claim to fame is the fact that some (all?) of their bikes are "fold-able".
I can only imagine that you'd be using bikes like this for leisure rides, or to commute if and only if you can actually bring the bike into secured parking. Street-locking even something like the Trek in the post above this one? At best, it'd get vandalized. Secure bike parking in NYC is getting easier, as the City Council has mandated that employers provide it. (The Municipal Building in Manhattan actually has attended parking!) Now, if only the city would enforce the law elsewhere....
Rick -- I think you're suffering from over-extrapolation syndrome that seems to eventually afflict even the most world-wise new yorkers.
Moultons aside (those bikes are so expensive I couldn't imagine leaving it parked outside anywhere, bikes far nicer than that Trek regularly get locked up in street parking in london. Sensibly locked ones in good places are less likely to get stolen. And generally don't get vandalized unless you leave them overnight or do something stupid like forget to run your chain through the quick-release wheel. Lots of bikes do get stolen here but the quality of bikes people use to commute with and lock outside, say, broadgate circle or canary wharf, tends to be quite high. Not every locale is infested with asshole nyc bike messengers.
In fact, being able to ride a decent bike to work is more the rule than the exception. NY being the exception.
In Tokyo I confirmed with the guys in the office that bikes will get stolen, but was astonished at the lax locking in general. Beaters completely unlocked or with a thin chain connecting only the frame to a wheel, to prevent it being casually ridden away. Nice cruisers casually locked to fences -- one had the cable running solely through its pannier rack! I even saw a gorgeous bianchi locked up, not well, under a train overpass.
In any case, that trek would do well as a real commuter in most of the modern urbanized world. Shame about NY.
Post a Comment