I've recently started cycling for my 10 miles (16km) commute to work. I only started using my bike more recently this year after fitting an aftermarket motor kit which has opened my eyes to the...
I've recently started cycling for my 10 miles (16km) commute to work. I only started using my bike more recently this year after fitting an aftermarket motor kit which has opened my eyes to the wider cycling world.
I definitely agree that modern bikes/e-bikes have become less repair friendly, and it's not just the proprietary parts like the bottom brackets mentioned in the article (or software that will be end-of-life'd in 3 years). Almost every midrange and above bike (£650+) features integrated cable routing, where the brake and gear cables are routed through the inside of the frame, rather than being attached to the frame with hooks & screws.
Even as someone who knows how to fix a bike, I don't want to deal with any of that, but what choice do I have for my next bike? I just want a well made, easy to repair bike. Hopefully there are some small makers still catering for people like me...
Oh man, I've been waiting for this question on Tildes for a while! Note: if you race bikes recreationally, you can safely ignore all of this advice. I'm trying to speak to people who just want to...
Exemplary
Oh man, I've been waiting for this question on Tildes for a while!
Note: if you race bikes recreationally, you can safely ignore all of this advice. I'm trying to speak to people who just want to get around on their bikes, not people who want to min/max stats. Think of what I'm describing as the "Honda Civic of bikes". If you know what drafting is and you want to do it, ignore me :-)
Basically, the big bike manufacturers (in the USA, at least), Trek, Specialized, Giant, and a few others, are 90% racing trend-driven nonsense.
Their bread and butter is racing. Today, that's road bikes, gravel bikes, and a few niche categories like cyclocross, track, etc. All of those are optimized to death to drop every possible gram of weight and cut every possible square centimeter of surface to drop wind resistance to the minimum. That's great if you're an Olympian, or someone who gets paid $100,000+ per year to ride bikes. For the rest of us? It really doesn't matter. Sure, there's a tiny niche of 1% of people who race a lot but don't get paid. But that's a massive minority of people. Like, compared to all people who bike, the people for whom these optimizations matter number something on the order of "proportion of billionaires in the human race".
If you're unfortunate enough to buy one of their hybrid bikes, or even something they call a commuter, you get trash components. Basically, the stuff they sell to make their racing bikes look lightweight and sleek. You know how Apple keeps their RAM and storage sizes incredible low at the low end, or how car manufactures make that one model without cruise control so you have to upgrade for a few thousand dollars? Same thing here.
When it comes to bikes, particularly commuters or recreational bikes, simpler is better. What do I mean by that?
Fewer gears means more reliability in shifting, both in acute failure cases (you hit it with a rock) and broader fail cases (you cover your drivetrain in mud)
Fewer gears means a thicker chain, means less chance of failure when you rust 50% of the way through it.
Carbon fiber is slightly lighter than aluminum, but much more brittle under stress from most angles (it is usually stronger along one axis). That can be disastrous if you crash your bike (this WILL happen eventually, though you quite likely won't injure yourself doing it), but it can also be a pain when you work on it yourself -- overtighten a screw, or have someone lean against it the wrong way when you've locked it up, and you can break your frame in a way that's utterly unrepairable (it can't be welded). Better to stick with aluminum or steel, unless you're the 1% Olympian for whom the weight matters. And it's way cheaper! Remember, carbon fiber inevitably ends up in a landfill and won't break down for thousands of years. Meanwhile, the Allies built tanks from bikes all across Western Europe.
Suspension (both front and rear) is not necessary for 99% of use cases. Even for mountain biking it isn't strictly necessary, unless you want to rip trails and give yourself some leeway on jumps. It's expensive to maintain, heavy, and failure prone. Don't buy it unless you actually want a mountain bike.
Instead of suspension, put chonky tires on your bike. 1.5" or more is ideal, even if you're just riding the road. They'll provide cushion when you hit obstacles, like potholes in the road, they'll prevent you from damaging your rims, and they'll give you better grip on mixed surfaces, like when you ride a gravel path. Schawlbe and Vittoria make some great tires that aren't too expensive, but there are a lot of good options out there. Just don't get a tire advertised specifically for mountain biking.
Don't fall for hydraulic brakes (in laymans terms, that's 'brakes actuated with oil suspended in tubes instead of by pulling a cable'). They're annoying to maintain and, unless you're mountain biking, probably not worth the extra cash.
Most modern bikes come with disc brakes (that is, they brake by clamping two pads to a disc that's connected to the center of your wheel). Bu rim brake bikes (they brake by clamping two pads against the rim of your wheel) work just fine, and are both cheaper and easier to maintain. Disc brakes are a little better when wet, though, so for some folks they might be worth it.
Electronic shifting or anything else? No. You know how your phone, your headphones, your watch, your lawnmower, your car, and everything else constantly needs charging? You know how frustrating it is when that stuff lets you down? Mechanical parts work great. Electronic 'improvements' are just planned obsolescence unless you're the 1% pro racer whose shifting is so good you NEED the electronic stuff to ensure you always get that ideal shift. Just don't!
There are only a couple of things you should really care about when it comes to customising your bike:
Find a seat that works well for you. Brooks' leather saddles are really expensive but feel great once you break them in. Most people are better off buying a basic gel saddle though, because it's cheap, comfortable, and you can just buy a new one every couple of years when they wear out. If you feel bad about the environmental impact of constantly tossing out gel saddles, look up the Brooks C17, which provides a similar experience to the leather saddle but with imitation leather.
Don't get special shoes, or special pedals that attach to those shoes. If you're riding around town, it's way nicer to be able to put a food down easily at any time, like when a car cuts you off or you hit ice. Even the pros aren't sure there's a benefit to attached feet any more. Just wear some vans or whatever other flat shoe you like, and get a pedal with some pokey bits that'll provide some grip with your shoe.
Handlebars matter. Most people should have higher handlebars, unless they're racing. Remember: bike companies make bikes for racers, and people who want to look like racers, not actual people who ride bikes to get around! If you ride your bike and feel pain in your back, wrists, or neck:
** raise your handlebar
** consider investing in 'swept-back' handlebars (like dutch bikes have)
** raise your seat -- your leg should be essentially straight at the bottom of your pedal stroke
So, after all of this advice, what bike should you buy (so you don't have to deal with reading my advice again and again)?
Surly makes great, cheap (for their utility value) bikes, mostly steel, that last a looooooooong time. Unfortunately they're moving to hydraulic brakes with some models, and the prices have increased in the last 3-5 years a decent amount, but the Disc Trucker, the Midnight Special, and the Preamble are all fantastic value.
80s and 90s steel "mountain bikes" without suspension will last literally forever as long as you store them inside and don't ride them right after a fresh salting on a winter road. Trek's 830/850/870/930/950/970 models, the Specialized Stumpjumper/Rockhopper, and quite a few similar bikes from the same era are absolute tanks. And the best part is, the parts are all super cheap these days, so maintenance is as cheap as possible! I actually use a 1995 Trek 930 as my daily driver and touring bike, and those 7 speeds have taken me all over the USA and UK on trips. Thousands of miles, and I bought this thing for $200 during peak covid bike price scalping.
If you're super fancy, a Rivendell is about as good as it gets for commuters. You likely won't get all of Grant's design decisions now -- threaded headets, older bottom bracket standards, antique wheel spacing, rim brakes, etc. all seem like retrogrouch nonsense until you've fixed and broken fancy new components a million times. Buy one of these and you can ride it every day until you die (old and healthy and with full pockets due to your reduced maintenance costs).
Also expensive, but Brompton makes battle-tested, proven reliable folding bikes for folks who want to take a bike on public transit, into the office, and even into the pub without much faff. And, of course, they last freakin' forever. 20-30 year old bromptons go for prices similar to the modern equivalents because they basically never die.
All-City Cycles makes great bikes as well, basically the same thing as Surly.
The Trek 520 is Trek's best bike. It's called a 'touring bike' because you can ride it for thousands of miles without anything breaking. They call it that because they don't want everyone realising it's a million times better value than their awful 'hybrid' commuter bikes.
The Salsa Fargo hits similar notes as the Trek 520, though with a slightly more modern design.
The bike industry has an insane amount of bullshit floating around. So many people will tell you that you need the latest tech from some special brand, or that you can't use something old because it's 'outdated', or that the lack of some critical feature ruins a bike. That is not true. Bikes are fun. They are inherently simple. They are inherently easy (once you learn a few tricks -- see Sheldon Brown and Park Tool's repair videos and manuals) to maintain yourself, and cheap to pay someone else to maintain if you buy the right things.
I see so many people get swept up in the deluge of feature churn I refer to as the sauce. If you want to race, I understand. Some people like that. I don't, but I don't judge you for doing it. But please don't push everyone in the racing direction. If you don't want to race, if you just want to get around on a bike instead of driving or walking everywhere, if you think a bike could be fun and relaxing, there is a better way.
This is really the only point I disagree with. Hydraulic brakes are amazing. They're the SSDs to cable brakes's spinning platters. They're not particularly hard to maintain - bleeding takes...
Don't fall for hydraulic brakes. They're annoying to maintain and, unless you're mountain biking, probably not worth the extra cash.
This is really the only point I disagree with. Hydraulic brakes are amazing. They're the SSDs to cable brakes's spinning platters. They're not particularly hard to maintain - bleeding takes marginally longer than adjusting cables, but the payoff in increased power, especially in the wet, is more than worth it. Cable-actuated hydraulic brakes are a thing and they're even less work, but they are quite hard to find.
Brakes that stop you faster for less effort and in more conditions make cycling safer and anything that makes you safer is worth it imo.
I would also mention that carbon fibre has function other than shaving grams for weight weenies. I have carbon handlebars on my (flat bar) road bike and they do an excellent job of damping vibration. Noticeably better than the steel they replaced. I wouldn't really call them essential because I could easily run chonkier tyres at lower pressures but I don't want to. Carbon forks do the same.
Well said! Hydraulic brakes are one of the better trade-offs developed in the last couple of decades of bikes. That's probably why Surly is putting them on a lot of their models these days. While...
Well said! Hydraulic brakes are one of the better trade-offs developed in the last couple of decades of bikes. That's probably why Surly is putting them on a lot of their models these days.
While I'm still a retro enthusiast at heart, I can admit that well-tuned hydros feel pretty fantastic, especially if you're going fast in wet or muddy conditions! But for average commuter use, a decent pair of v-brakes is cheap and effective, and the ever-reliant dirt-cheap Avid BB7 mech disc brake is basically enough for any use case I've had. If your bike shop doesn't rip you off on bleeding costs, hydros are absolutely a good experience, with one caveat: below about 25 degrees F (maybe 2C?), hydros have a tendency to get sluggish. For year-round commuters, that can matter enough to eliminate them as a possibility! Nothing worse than a biting cold day where your brakes give out.
Interestingly, the vibration dampening I've experienced from carbon reminds me a lot of the vibration dampening I get from chromoly steel, especially in handlebars. For whatever reason, it seems like aluminum always vibrates in a mildly unpleasant way, but both carbon and chromoly dampen those vibrations. Everyone seems to agree that this is true, but I don't think I've ever heard a fully convincing explanation. One of those magic bits in the bike world that always captures my imagination.
I agree with everything you've said as it applies to someone looking for a "utility bike". But also like you said, most of this doesn't apply to hobbyists. Carbon fiber frames are fun to ride -...
I agree with everything you've said as it applies to someone looking for a "utility bike". But also like you said, most of this doesn't apply to hobbyists. Carbon fiber frames are fun to ride - super stiff, super light. Hydraulic disc brakes offer much better stopping power. A well tuned suspension makes trails an absolute blast to go barrelling down. Lots of gears equals lots of options on widely varying terrain.
And my favorite discussion topic - electronic shifting. Where do I start with it? I have such strong, mixed feelings about electronic shifting. I was adamantly opposed to it ever since they first came out - after all, a bicycle is a simple, beautiful, mechanical machine. There's no place for electronics on it. Charging my bike? You must be absolutely out of your mind! Then I came across a road bike I decided to buy that had e-shifters. I nearly didn't buy it because of that one fact, but after putting a couple thousand miles on it, my view has changed. Now, I'm certainly not the guy that's going to say "e-shifting is game changing, and you'll never go back to mechanical!", but I will say this: it's pretty nice. Would I seek it out as a deciding factor in a new bike? No. But the speed, accuracy, and ease of shifting has convinced me that it's actually a pretty nice feature. As for charging - I charge the battery maybe 3 or 4 times a season. I ride a couple thousand miles a year on that bike, and have never come remotely close to running low on battery. Basically, I just plug it in for an hour every few months as I think of it.
I think I'm just excited to have a good discussion about bicycles on tildes!
I love hearing experiences with newer bike kit. Carbon fiber is definitely cool, same with hydros and suspension and electronic shifting. For readers who might not know as much about bikes, I mean...
I love hearing experiences with newer bike kit. Carbon fiber is definitely cool, same with hydros and suspension and electronic shifting.
For readers who might not know as much about bikes, I mean cool the same way I might call a tech demo cool: before putting it on a bike, I feel a tech needs to prove years of reliability. They're deceptively simple yet complex systems where any one part failure can easily strans you and ruin your day. So it pays to be skeptical.
Would you mind explaining more about what makes your electronic shifting experience so positive? I know most models use sensors coupled with special cassette designs to shift at the perfect moment for the most optimal shifting experience. But I'm curious how that feels different from mechanical shifting to you, and how it feels worth thinking about a battery in the back of your head. Are there any parts you like worse about electronic shifting? Have you noticed it failing you at any point? And what are the worst (and best) parts of your fancy new bike in general?
Happily - there's not enough people in my life that want to talk about bicycles :-) I'll just state again, I'm absolutely not the person that views e-shifting as a "game changer" - certainly not...
Would you mind explaining more about what makes your electronic shifting experience so positive?
Happily - there's not enough people in my life that want to talk about bicycles :-)
I'll just state again, I'm absolutely not the person that views e-shifting as a "game changer" - certainly not in the way that putting a dropper post on my mountain bike was a game changer (for me, anyway). I wouldn't recommend anyone go out and swap out their drive train for something electronic.
The feel of the shifting is so snappy - a light tap on the shifter, and everything just snaps exactly to where it's supposed to be. I do sometimes miss the nice mechanical feel of pulling on a cable and feeling everything move, but god knows I have enough bikes, so if I want that, I'll ride my mountain bike, aluminum gravel bike, or my 25 year old around town beater.
and how it feels worth thinking about a battery in the back of your head
So, for the first few months, this was a thing - I did think about it. But the Di2 (and I'm sure all the others) have a little LED that you can look at that will tell you roughly where your battery is - solid green means it's above 50%. I rode the thing for months on end and that light never showed anything other than solid (and I shift plenty often - I live in a hilly area). After those first few months, I realized I'd have to be riding something like 500 miles a week before I had to regularly charge it. I haven't thought about the battery on a ride since then. Like I said, when I happen to think of it every 3 or 4 months, I plug the thing in for an hour, and I'm good to go (and even after 3 or 4 months, that little LED still shows solid green). In short, unless you're using it as an adventure bike where you'll be riding huge distances unsupported for weeks or months on end, the battery is a non-issue.
Are there any parts you like worse about electronic shifting?
The purist in me doesn't like the idea of electronics getting between me and my bicycle. But all my other bikes are mechanical, so I'm ok with it, and like I said above, after a while I just stopped thinking about the electronic part...it just blends in now. Other than that, the electronic shifting is either on par, or better than all the mechanical stuff I have (the SRAM Eagle on my mountain bike is damn good, so I won't say electronic is better than that, other than never having to tune it up due to cable stretch or anything). I'm also not as familiar with setting it up, or doing tune ups (though the videos I've watched make it look dead simple - basically just put it into adjustment mode, then press a button to move the indexing one way or the other...like a barrel adjuster).
Have you noticed it failing you at any point?
Not yet, no - it's been extremely reliable - I rode it for 3 or 4 hours in heavy rain, and it happily chugged right along. And I've yet to have to do any sort of "tune up".
And what are the worst (and best) parts of your fancy new bike in general?
The price tag ;-) Though, grand scheme, it's a mid-level bike - less than $4,000 - I recognize the absurdity of spending that much on a bicycle, but it's something I enjoy immensely, and on an hourly basis over the course of a few years, it's significantly cheaper than many other hobbies (or that's what I like to tell myself, anyway). Other than that, I do enjoy working on my bikes - changing cables, adjusting derailleurs, etc - the electronics takes a lot of that out of the equation (some would call this a huge bonus...). I don't think mechanical group sets are going to go away anytime soon (and likely never), so I'm not too worried about running out of parts to fiddle with and tweak.
The best part is I absolutely love riding it. I mean, I love riding all my bikes, right down to the $200 dollar one, but this is on a different level. It's just so responsive and enjoyable to be on.
This is one topic where I strongly disagree. While shocks and suspension can need simple maintenance, springs have a long lifespan, and the added comfort is absolutely worth it on most riding...
Suspension (both front and rear) is not necessary for 99% of use cases. Even for mountain biking it isn't strictly necessary, unless you want to rip trails and give yourself some leeway on jumps. It's expensive to maintain, heavy, and failure prone. Don't buy it unless you actually want a mountain bike.
Instead of suspension, put chonky tires on your bike. 1.5" or more is ideal, even if you're just riding the road. They'll provide cushion when you hit obstacles, like potholes in the road, they'll prevent you from damaging your rims, and they'll give you better grip on mixed surfaces, like when you ride a gravel path.
This is one topic where I strongly disagree. While shocks and suspension can need simple maintenance, springs have a long lifespan, and the added comfort is absolutely worth it on most riding surfaces. Thick cruiser tires are nice, but they make the bike harder to pedal. At the very least, I recommend suspension seat-posts. They're easy to maintain and dramatically improve ride comfort. It's like driving a car with and without suspension.
I think many people would be happier with a beach cruiser style bike that prioritizes ride comfort. More upright styles are more popular in countries like Denmark and Japan where bikes are more widely used for leisure and transit.
YMMV with this advice for sure. Think of this list as less like rules, more like... guidelines to avoid getting sucked into the trap of racing culture (if you don't plan on racing). However:...
YMMV with this advice for sure. Think of this list as less like rules, more like... guidelines to avoid getting sucked into the trap of racing culture (if you don't plan on racing). However:
Thick cruiser tires are nice, but they make the bike harder to pedal.
Source? AFAIK even at low PSI thicker tires actually lower rolling resistance. I've certainly never noticed thicker tires making a bike harder to pedal, especially not at the 1.5-2.3" sweet spot I describe. On the other hand, suspension absolutely eats your pedaling power for breakfast on uphills. There are few things more frustrating than feeling that 'two steps forward, one step back' sensation as a crappy suspension system sucks you back in the middle of an agonising hill climb.
That beung said: if you ride on truly rugged terrain, a hardtail can be absolutely worthwhile. But 95% of the time you're better off in the long term learning how to ride that rugged terrain with better technique.
I haven't tried seat suspension, beyond the classic Brooks saddles that incorporate giant springs. IMO that seems like a good optimisation for comfort, and the reviews I've seen suggest that they require little or no maintenance. Probably a good thing to try if you can't find a comfy seat! Ditto for handlebar suspension.
So much great info in this comment, I ride ebikes for fun and transport around town and I always laugh when I get dirty looks from the men in tights and clip on shoes. Like sorry I just want to...
So much great info in this comment, I ride ebikes for fun and transport around town and I always laugh when I get dirty looks from the men in tights and clip on shoes. Like sorry I just want to have a fun time riding around during a nice day, not wear 800 dollar shoes and 500 dollar short shorts
I have a very similar experience in the mountain biking space. It's actually the origin of my username! I tend to wear a sunshirt, a comfy pair or shorts, and either vans or sandals when I ride,...
I have a very similar experience in the mountain biking space. It's actually the origin of my username! I tend to wear a sunshirt, a comfy pair or shorts, and either vans or sandals when I ride, depending on the weather and ruggedness of the terrain. I understand that some people like to 'kit up' in the 'proper gear' to ride, but it has absolutely gone too far in the USA, to the point where you get weird looks even in cities sometimes if you're wearing casual clothes on a bike. Some of us just want to get around in a fun way and don't care about our stats!
I have always very deliberately avoided becoming a MAMILMiddle Aged Man In Lycra But when I needed some shorts suitable for riding my road bike a few years back, I did buy some lycra and it's...
I have always very deliberately avoided becoming a
MAMILMiddle Aged Man In Lycra
But when I needed some shorts suitable for riding my road bike a few years back, I did buy some lycra and it's amazing how much more comfortable it is on longer rides. Then I picked up a lycra jersey because it has a rear zipped pocket which is perfect for stashing my keys/snacks/tiny toolkit and now I'm everything I didn't want to be. But none of it for reasons other than comfort, in the end! I'm not tooling around in £500 matching team kit, at least.
I ride my trail bike in anything I have to hand though, and that's the bike I ride the most near people (the road bike is usually just countryside riding on quiet roads), either on the trails or commuting.
You know, I immediately believe that the bikes you have listed are easy to service. But, they also do showcase a total different biking culture and bike availability, which is very interesting to...
You know, I immediately believe that the bikes you have listed are easy to service. But, they also do showcase a total different biking culture and bike availability, which is very interesting to me.
One thing I would like to add is that hub shifters and enclosed chains generally do require less maintaining compared to derailleurs.
Here so called "city bikes" are seen most often and if I had to recommend a bike I would say something like a Gazelle Esperit although these days so called "oma fietsen" (grandma bikes) are also very popular (mostly among high schoolers and students).
I'm guessing you're in the Netherlands, which means you have actual, functional, safe bike infrastructure. In the USA, we're still struggling to put painted lanes and sharrows onto roads. So our...
I'm guessing you're in the Netherlands, which means you have actual, functional, safe bike infrastructure. In the USA, we're still struggling to put painted lanes and sharrows onto roads. So our bikes need to be a little scrappier.
That being said, those bikes would do fine over here as well, they're just really hard to find and source.
Good guess ;) And yeah I get what you mean. Although, I think, a bike like the Esprit I linked would do pretty well over there, exactly because of the raised handlebars and because they are pretty...
Good guess ;) And yeah I get what you mean. Although, I think, a bike like the Esprit I linked would do pretty well over there, exactly because of the raised handlebars and because they are pretty solid overall.
The handlebars position is actually really important, for comfortable commuting.
Not only is it easier on your back, it also gives you a better overview as you are higher up, and you can more easily look behind you with your entire body. It also allows you to be seen better by car drivers.
So even if a Dutch bike is not an option, getting that style of handlebars I highly recommend.
For anyone interested in Dutch bikes, I do know of at least one Canadian company that imports them: https://www.godutch.ca there might be more companies like that. Although, the prices are likely inflated compared to what they would cost here.
Since the OP listed their question in pounds: in the UK we've got a fun mix depending on where you are in the country but generally somewhere between the two extremes of NL and USA.
Since the OP listed their question in pounds: in the UK we've got a fun mix depending on where you are in the country but generally somewhere between the two extremes of NL and USA.
Excellent write up! I've been in and out of biking culture and have spent an inordinate amount of time looking at the fanciest bikes on various websites. Around town is fairly flat and I feel like...
Excellent write up! I've been in and out of biking culture and have spent an inordinate amount of time looking at the fanciest bikes on various websites.
Around town is fairly flat and I feel like I achieved biking nirvana when I was essentially gifted my friends single speed. It's fast, agile, and it does two things: stop and go. I ride it much more than my 2013 Allez now unless we're heading into the mountains.
Seconding Surly. I'm a pround member of the Surly gang, which is something of a bike cult. They are heavy, clunky, great at nothing and good at everything. I've ridden well over 20,000 miles on my...
Seconding Surly. I'm a pround member of the Surly gang, which is something of a bike cult. They are heavy, clunky, great at nothing and good at everything. I've ridden well over 20,000 miles on my 2016 disc trucker and it's still ambling along beautifully.
Side benefit: there are few days I don't hear "Nice Surly!" as I ride around town. It's almost an imperative for other Surly riders to comment.
If I could go back and choose again I think I'd select the Orge or the Karate Monkey, but the Cross Check is a great road/commuter as well. Even the Ghost Grappler looks enticing.
EDIT: Just one small note on the shoe comment. 5.10's freerider pro will alway be my go to bike shoe. They are bulky and stupid looking, I always feel like a toddler walking around in them, but they have an unmatched level of support and comfort for biking/walking. I even took them into REI and FleetFeet trying to find a running shoe to match their level of stiffness (RIP my La Sportiva Bushido IIs). They will put more of your energy into the pedal - even as a huge advocate of vans, they turn into mush on pedals.
The Ogre with a Rohloff is close to my ideal touring rig. My partner has a Surly (also disc trucker, 2016 as well I believe) and I always get a chuckle when someone compliments it, but ignores my...
The Ogre with a Rohloff is close to my ideal touring rig.
My partner has a Surly (also disc trucker, 2016 as well I believe) and I always get a chuckle when someone compliments it, but ignores my 30 year old steel mountain bike. Almost feels a bit unfair! This summer she got my favorite Surly cult swag ever: a homemade bracelet that says 'surly' on letter blocks. I imagine getting a Surly as your first bike would make you feel very welcome in the bike universe becausw people comment on them so often -- that's part of why I listed them first!
Allegedly the Brooks C17 is made from vulcanized rubber and organic cotton! So I assume it isn't petrol-based. But that is an excellent point. Sidenote: I wish I could get a phone case of the same...
Allegedly the Brooks C17 is made from vulcanized rubber and organic cotton! So I assume it isn't petrol-based. But that is an excellent point.
Sidenote: I wish I could get a phone case of the same material. Why are all phone cases made from such awful material?
A one-by drivetrain (as in one chainring up front, no front derailleur) is my number one must-have feature on a bike, especially if paired with a rear cassette with a decent number of gears. No...
A one-by drivetrain (as in one chainring up front, no front derailleur) is my number one must-have feature on a bike, especially if paired with a rear cassette with a decent number of gears. No more screwing around adjusting front derailleurs, huzzah!
Even better if it has a clutch on the rear, makes it almost impossible to drop the chain when you hit a bump or come off a curb too hard or whatever. My old bike had a 3x8 drivetrain and it would drop the chain on the regular. My current bike has 1x12 and has never once dropped the chain on me in about 3000 miles of riding.
This is a great post, and if I can bother your bike expertise just a bit more -- I live in Europe, so I can get a Dutch bike more easily, and I need something that basically a Grandma can ride. Do...
This is a great post, and if I can bother your bike expertise just a bit more -- I live in Europe, so I can get a Dutch bike more easily, and I need something that basically a Grandma can ride. Do you know anything about the market outside the US or brands that make Dutch bikes? I also refuse to get a bike that I cannot brake by pushing back on the pedals (the way you can on bikes for kids in the US) -- do you know if there's a name for this so I can use it when searching for bikes online?
As @DynamoSunshirt says: Omafiets. Oma fiets directly translates into grandma bike and not for no reason. You can't really go wrong with an omafiets from brands like Gazelle or Cortina. That said,...
Grandma
As @DynamoSunshirt says: Omafiets. Oma fiets directly translates into grandma bike and not for no reason. You can't really go wrong with an omafiets from brands like Gazelle or Cortina. That said, most of these types of bikes are so stupidly simple that there's little wrong with odd brands. I don't even know what brand my bike is (or even how I got it or how expensive it was, secondhand store for 50-75 I'd say?) but this thing is pink and indestructible.
I'd argue most elderly nowadays get a fancy newer e-bike rather than a scrappy omafiets, but they're incredibly basic bikes anyone can drive that function well for anything inner city nonetheless.
Most have backpedal braking, but not all. It's usually listed.
I'm sure someone in NL can answer with specific brands and recs in your country, but that specific brake design you're describing is called the coaster brake. I've only seen them on children's...
I'm sure someone in NL can answer with specific brands and recs in your country, but that specific brake design you're describing is called the coaster brake. I've only seen them on children's bikes in the USA, allegedly because they don't provide much braking power. Supposedly the lack of hills and generally slow cycling speeds in NL is responsible for their popularity there. If you like controlling your brakes with the pedals, seems fair to me! As a closed system, they're allegedly quite low maintenance... and the popularity in NL certainly suggests they work OK.
I would look for a smaller bike shop near you and just pop in asking for a bike. Omafiets is likely the key term you need to use -- IIRC most of those use coaster brakes.
I more or less stopped cycling right at the stage where bikes stopped having those types of brakes (I grew up in the US) and the lack of the ability to brake with my feet that way was really...
I more or less stopped cycling right at the stage where bikes stopped having those types of brakes (I grew up in the US) and the lack of the ability to brake with my feet that way was really unsettling to me when I grew old enough for bikes without them. That also coincided with me spending a lot less time biking for leisure (I was an indoorsy tween/teen) so I've still got the muscle memory that "push back = brake".
Rücktrittbremse is apparently what they are called. There are only two languages that have wiki articles about them, the Dutch and German ones. Basically, if you want those you are looking at a...
Rücktrittbremse is apparently what they are called. There are only two languages that have wiki articles about them, the Dutch and German ones.
Basically, if you want those you are looking at a bike without gears. Funnily enough given your requirement "oma fietsen" translating to "grandma bikes" are really popular bikes in the Netherlands and fit the bil.
Can you expand on this? I have the mountain bike pedals and shoes and i absolutely see the benefit in being able to pull and push (especially up hills). I'm far from a pro or even expert, I'm just...
Don't get special shoes, or special pedals that attach to those shoes. ...Even the pros aren't sure there's a benefit to attached feet any more.
Can you expand on this? I have the mountain bike pedals and shoes and i absolutely see the benefit in being able to pull and push (especially up hills). I'm far from a pro or even expert, I'm just surprised to read this point.
There's a lot to unpack here, but think of it this way: your cranks (the bits the pedals attach to the end of) face opposite directions. You are always pushing on one of them. Pushing is a lot...
There's a lot to unpack here, but think of it this way: your cranks (the bits the pedals attach to the end of) face opposite directions. You are always pushing on one of them. Pushing is a lot stronger than pulling, especially if you aren't working at Olympian levels.
There's been a lot of research done on this subject, and as far as I can tell, the jury is still out on whether or not clipless pedals (that's the confusingly named pedals that DO attach to shoes) increase power, speed or efficiency. Unfortunately the annoyance of special shoes and occasionally falling over makes that lack of proof damning: if the benefit is unclear, why deal with the pain?
Doubtless there are people out there who do better with clipless. Personally I hate it because I want to wear normal shoes. But I have friends who like them "because it's funny to click around when you walk in the shoes." Which is totally valid! If you enjoy them in some way, or they feel better to you, it's unlikely that they're worse. But at the end of the day it's more gear to buy, more technique to learn, and possibly no benefit, so I don't recommend it to the average cyclist. IMO they're a bit like playing rhe ukelele: neat, I won't hate on it, but not my jam.
What are your thoughts on Worksman Cycles, assuming you have any? I’ve been thinking about buying one from them because they are one of the few manufacturers who cater to heavier riders.
What are your thoughts on Worksman Cycles, assuming you have any? I’ve been thinking about buying one from them because they are one of the few manufacturers who cater to heavier riders.
It's really not very hard though. At worst it's fractionally more awkward than externally routed cables, but only fractionally. I just set up my kid's new bike which has internal cabling and I...
It's really not very hard though. At worst it's fractionally more awkward than externally routed cables, but only fractionally. I just set up my kid's new bike which has internal cabling and I didn't notice it being any harder.
If someone can't swap an internally routed cable then there's probably not a lot they are capable of doing on a bike at all. It's far more challenging to bleed brakes or trim derailleurs than swap out some cables, and those things need doing way more regularly. I've probably got 15k km on my current cables on my road bike and I'm not even considering changing them yet.
There is also the fact that internal cabling reduces the chances of cable damage so you will probably need to do less servicing overall.
Yeah, the first time was a little tricky, but a vacuum and some floss and it's easy. There are also little magnet kits you can get. It's really not much harder since you only have to fuss with it...
Yeah, the first time was a little tricky, but a vacuum and some floss and it's easy. There are also little magnet kits you can get. It's really not much harder since you only have to fuss with it to get the cable cable routing in place, once that is done, everything else is the same.
I just shoved them in with my hands and it was all sorted in a few minutes. I spent way more time fiddling the grommets into place around the entrance/exit holes than anything to do with the...
I just shoved them in with my hands and it was all sorted in a few minutes. I spent way more time fiddling the grommets into place around the entrance/exit holes than anything to do with the cables themselves. I had to use a specialist "end of a screwdriver" tool and a highly skilled "copious amounts of swearing" technique to get those sorted.
Meanwhile my trail bike, which has external cables, is wearing through them where they rub on the frame. I need to sort that out before I have to replace the cable sleeves (and before I snap a cable somewhere deep in the woods...)
I imagine it also makes them more visually appealing. Thinking about non-motorized bikes, at least, it is not that uncommon for them to require simple fixes and adjustments during use. So that...
I imagine it also makes them more visually appealing. Thinking about non-motorized bikes, at least, it is not that uncommon for them to require simple fixes and adjustments during use. So that could put someone in a bad situation, stranded several kilometers away from home and without the necessary tools.
Yeah. There's definitely an ongoing philosophical divide among cyclists regarding what a bike really is for them. Especially on the e-bike end of things, it's closer to a modern car; if you want...
Yeah. There's definitely an ongoing philosophical divide among cyclists regarding what a bike really is for them. Especially on the e-bike end of things, it's closer to a modern car; if you want it repaired, you have to take it to a mechanic unless you're an expert yourself.
On the other end, there has been something of a renaissance of steel frame bicycles with simpler mechanics that are user serviceable for people who have more passion for bicycle mechanics. Something you could actually disassemble, clean, and put back together yourself. Fixies are maybe the purest expression of this, but there's a whole spectrum.
My ebike is functionally my car, and I do all the maintenance myself, but I wouldn't consider myself an expert. Most parts are perfectly serviceable with some Allen keys and a pair of pliers....
My ebike is functionally my car, and I do all the maintenance myself, but I wouldn't consider myself an expert. Most parts are perfectly serviceable with some Allen keys and a pair of pliers.
There's nothing about an ebike that necessitates it being harder to maintain, it just takes a thoughtful designer/engineer. My kit needs no phone app or proprietary battery, and replacement motor parts are easy to get, it's wonderful!
Sure! Here's a picture: https://i.imgur.com/AL22hRW.jpeg It's a Giant hardtail (2018/19 I think) with a To7 mid-drive motor kit and battery from Greenlance. I upgraded the brakes to Magura MT5e...
It's a Giant hardtail (2018/19 I think) with a To7 mid-drive motor kit and battery from Greenlance. I upgraded the brakes to Magura MT5e for the motor cut-off levers and swapped+rearranged the rear cassette for a better chainline
I'd say if you're not comfortable working on bikes and you have the budget, look for a premade one with a belt drive and internal gear hub (IGH), they are incredibly low maintenance and very...
I'd say if you're not comfortable working on bikes and you have the budget, look for a premade one with a belt drive and internal gear hub (IGH), they are incredibly low maintenance and very simple to use.
Remove the belt and IGH and it'll be more affordable, though IMO current ebikes are waaay overpriced. The UK has a cycle-to-work scheme to purchase stuff as a salary sacrifice so you save a bunch (works for components/clothing too!)
In terms of DIY kits, I'd recommend a mid-drive over a hub, good ones are torque-sensing so feel much more natural (they measure your pedal pressure and amplify it).
Mine is from To7motors, it's a small and new manufacturer but reliability complaints seem to be rare and the firmware is in a good place now (was a bit iffy at the start of the year). They can be used with any 36V-52V battery as long as the connector fits (or solder your own). Mine is from Greenlance in the UK.
If you get a To7, make sure you get the USB programming cables so you can update the firmware. Also the settings aren't the most intuitive/well documented so you'll need some patience to learn it.
The High Voltage Light Electric Vehicle YT channel has videos on the motors if you want to learn more, and a good Discord community.
The frame cannot be "opened." Basically, if you need to run new cable, the easiest method is to detach the cable at one end, remove any rubber stoppers, wrap, tie, or tape the new cable onto the...
The frame cannot be "opened."
Basically, if you need to run new cable, the easiest method is to detach the cable at one end, remove any rubber stoppers, wrap, tie, or tape the new cable onto the end of the old one and then pull from the other end. Once the joint comes out, detach them and your new cable is in.
Otherwise, you can magnet fish like other commenters have mentioned.
650 is wayyy beyond midrange if you're talking about general purpose city bikes. Admittedly, I'm Dutch and our range of options is expansive, but simple city bikes do not need shiny and flashy kit...
650 is wayyy beyond midrange if you're talking about general purpose city bikes. Admittedly, I'm Dutch and our range of options is expansive, but simple city bikes do not need shiny and flashy kit and a €100-200 bike gets you anywhere. Bonus points because they're often dead simple at that price point where the most complicated parts are the gears.
The most annoying aspect with all these designers reinventing the bike is the lack of parts, especially when they inevitably go out of business. But if you get yourself a bike with software, it’s...
The most annoying aspect with all these designers reinventing the bike is the lack of parts, especially when they inevitably go out of business. But if you get yourself a bike with software, it’s a whole ‘nother level of hell. Van Moof had this problem and now they are removing features that you technically paid that Van Moof premium for.
The bike is the epitome of a machine with replaceable parts. My advice to anyone is to make interchangeability a very high priority when buying one.
I've recently started cycling for my 10 miles (16km) commute to work. I only started using my bike more recently this year after fitting an aftermarket motor kit which has opened my eyes to the wider cycling world.
I definitely agree that modern bikes/e-bikes have become less repair friendly, and it's not just the proprietary parts like the bottom brackets mentioned in the article (or software that will be end-of-life'd in 3 years). Almost every midrange and above bike (£650+) features integrated cable routing, where the brake and gear cables are routed through the inside of the frame, rather than being attached to the frame with hooks & screws.
Even as someone who knows how to fix a bike, I don't want to deal with any of that, but what choice do I have for my next bike? I just want a well made, easy to repair bike. Hopefully there are some small makers still catering for people like me...
Oh man, I've been waiting for this question on Tildes for a while!
Note: if you race bikes recreationally, you can safely ignore all of this advice. I'm trying to speak to people who just want to get around on their bikes, not people who want to min/max stats. Think of what I'm describing as the "Honda Civic of bikes". If you know what drafting is and you want to do it, ignore me :-)
Basically, the big bike manufacturers (in the USA, at least), Trek, Specialized, Giant, and a few others, are 90% racing trend-driven nonsense.
Their bread and butter is racing. Today, that's road bikes, gravel bikes, and a few niche categories like cyclocross, track, etc. All of those are optimized to death to drop every possible gram of weight and cut every possible square centimeter of surface to drop wind resistance to the minimum. That's great if you're an Olympian, or someone who gets paid $100,000+ per year to ride bikes. For the rest of us? It really doesn't matter. Sure, there's a tiny niche of 1% of people who race a lot but don't get paid. But that's a massive minority of people. Like, compared to all people who bike, the people for whom these optimizations matter number something on the order of "proportion of billionaires in the human race".
If you're unfortunate enough to buy one of their hybrid bikes, or even something they call a commuter, you get trash components. Basically, the stuff they sell to make their racing bikes look lightweight and sleek. You know how Apple keeps their RAM and storage sizes incredible low at the low end, or how car manufactures make that one model without cruise control so you have to upgrade for a few thousand dollars? Same thing here.
When it comes to bikes, particularly commuters or recreational bikes, simpler is better. What do I mean by that?
There are only a couple of things you should really care about when it comes to customising your bike:
** raise your handlebar
** consider investing in 'swept-back' handlebars (like dutch bikes have)
** raise your seat -- your leg should be essentially straight at the bottom of your pedal stroke
So, after all of this advice, what bike should you buy (so you don't have to deal with reading my advice again and again)?
The bike industry has an insane amount of bullshit floating around. So many people will tell you that you need the latest tech from some special brand, or that you can't use something old because it's 'outdated', or that the lack of some critical feature ruins a bike. That is not true. Bikes are fun. They are inherently simple. They are inherently easy (once you learn a few tricks -- see Sheldon Brown and Park Tool's repair videos and manuals) to maintain yourself, and cheap to pay someone else to maintain if you buy the right things.
I see so many people get swept up in the deluge of feature churn I refer to as the sauce. If you want to race, I understand. Some people like that. I don't, but I don't judge you for doing it. But please don't push everyone in the racing direction. If you don't want to race, if you just want to get around on a bike instead of driving or walking everywhere, if you think a bike could be fun and relaxing, there is a better way.
This is really the only point I disagree with. Hydraulic brakes are amazing. They're the SSDs to cable brakes's spinning platters. They're not particularly hard to maintain - bleeding takes marginally longer than adjusting cables, but the payoff in increased power, especially in the wet, is more than worth it. Cable-actuated hydraulic brakes are a thing and they're even less work, but they are quite hard to find.
Brakes that stop you faster for less effort and in more conditions make cycling safer and anything that makes you safer is worth it imo.
I would also mention that carbon fibre has function other than shaving grams for weight weenies. I have carbon handlebars on my (flat bar) road bike and they do an excellent job of damping vibration. Noticeably better than the steel they replaced. I wouldn't really call them essential because I could easily run chonkier tyres at lower pressures but I don't want to. Carbon forks do the same.
Otherwise excellent post though.
Well said! Hydraulic brakes are one of the better trade-offs developed in the last couple of decades of bikes. That's probably why Surly is putting them on a lot of their models these days.
While I'm still a retro enthusiast at heart, I can admit that well-tuned hydros feel pretty fantastic, especially if you're going fast in wet or muddy conditions! But for average commuter use, a decent pair of v-brakes is cheap and effective, and the ever-reliant dirt-cheap Avid BB7 mech disc brake is basically enough for any use case I've had. If your bike shop doesn't rip you off on bleeding costs, hydros are absolutely a good experience, with one caveat: below about 25 degrees F (maybe 2C?), hydros have a tendency to get sluggish. For year-round commuters, that can matter enough to eliminate them as a possibility! Nothing worse than a biting cold day where your brakes give out.
Interestingly, the vibration dampening I've experienced from carbon reminds me a lot of the vibration dampening I get from chromoly steel, especially in handlebars. For whatever reason, it seems like aluminum always vibrates in a mildly unpleasant way, but both carbon and chromoly dampen those vibrations. Everyone seems to agree that this is true, but I don't think I've ever heard a fully convincing explanation. One of those magic bits in the bike world that always captures my imagination.
I agree with everything you've said as it applies to someone looking for a "utility bike". But also like you said, most of this doesn't apply to hobbyists. Carbon fiber frames are fun to ride - super stiff, super light. Hydraulic disc brakes offer much better stopping power. A well tuned suspension makes trails an absolute blast to go barrelling down. Lots of gears equals lots of options on widely varying terrain.
And my favorite discussion topic - electronic shifting. Where do I start with it? I have such strong, mixed feelings about electronic shifting. I was adamantly opposed to it ever since they first came out - after all, a bicycle is a simple, beautiful, mechanical machine. There's no place for electronics on it. Charging my bike? You must be absolutely out of your mind! Then I came across a road bike I decided to buy that had e-shifters. I nearly didn't buy it because of that one fact, but after putting a couple thousand miles on it, my view has changed. Now, I'm certainly not the guy that's going to say "e-shifting is game changing, and you'll never go back to mechanical!", but I will say this: it's pretty nice. Would I seek it out as a deciding factor in a new bike? No. But the speed, accuracy, and ease of shifting has convinced me that it's actually a pretty nice feature. As for charging - I charge the battery maybe 3 or 4 times a season. I ride a couple thousand miles a year on that bike, and have never come remotely close to running low on battery. Basically, I just plug it in for an hour every few months as I think of it.
I think I'm just excited to have a good discussion about bicycles on tildes!
I love hearing experiences with newer bike kit. Carbon fiber is definitely cool, same with hydros and suspension and electronic shifting.
For readers who might not know as much about bikes, I mean cool the same way I might call a tech demo cool: before putting it on a bike, I feel a tech needs to prove years of reliability. They're deceptively simple yet complex systems where any one part failure can easily strans you and ruin your day. So it pays to be skeptical.
Would you mind explaining more about what makes your electronic shifting experience so positive? I know most models use sensors coupled with special cassette designs to shift at the perfect moment for the most optimal shifting experience. But I'm curious how that feels different from mechanical shifting to you, and how it feels worth thinking about a battery in the back of your head. Are there any parts you like worse about electronic shifting? Have you noticed it failing you at any point? And what are the worst (and best) parts of your fancy new bike in general?
Happily - there's not enough people in my life that want to talk about bicycles :-)
I'll just state again, I'm absolutely not the person that views e-shifting as a "game changer" - certainly not in the way that putting a dropper post on my mountain bike was a game changer (for me, anyway). I wouldn't recommend anyone go out and swap out their drive train for something electronic.
The feel of the shifting is so snappy - a light tap on the shifter, and everything just snaps exactly to where it's supposed to be. I do sometimes miss the nice mechanical feel of pulling on a cable and feeling everything move, but god knows I have enough bikes, so if I want that, I'll ride my mountain bike, aluminum gravel bike, or my 25 year old around town beater.
So, for the first few months, this was a thing - I did think about it. But the Di2 (and I'm sure all the others) have a little LED that you can look at that will tell you roughly where your battery is - solid green means it's above 50%. I rode the thing for months on end and that light never showed anything other than solid (and I shift plenty often - I live in a hilly area). After those first few months, I realized I'd have to be riding something like 500 miles a week before I had to regularly charge it. I haven't thought about the battery on a ride since then. Like I said, when I happen to think of it every 3 or 4 months, I plug the thing in for an hour, and I'm good to go (and even after 3 or 4 months, that little LED still shows solid green). In short, unless you're using it as an adventure bike where you'll be riding huge distances unsupported for weeks or months on end, the battery is a non-issue.
The purist in me doesn't like the idea of electronics getting between me and my bicycle. But all my other bikes are mechanical, so I'm ok with it, and like I said above, after a while I just stopped thinking about the electronic part...it just blends in now. Other than that, the electronic shifting is either on par, or better than all the mechanical stuff I have (the SRAM Eagle on my mountain bike is damn good, so I won't say electronic is better than that, other than never having to tune it up due to cable stretch or anything). I'm also not as familiar with setting it up, or doing tune ups (though the videos I've watched make it look dead simple - basically just put it into adjustment mode, then press a button to move the indexing one way or the other...like a barrel adjuster).
Not yet, no - it's been extremely reliable - I rode it for 3 or 4 hours in heavy rain, and it happily chugged right along. And I've yet to have to do any sort of "tune up".
The price tag ;-) Though, grand scheme, it's a mid-level bike - less than $4,000 - I recognize the absurdity of spending that much on a bicycle, but it's something I enjoy immensely, and on an hourly basis over the course of a few years, it's significantly cheaper than many other hobbies (or that's what I like to tell myself, anyway). Other than that, I do enjoy working on my bikes - changing cables, adjusting derailleurs, etc - the electronics takes a lot of that out of the equation (some would call this a huge bonus...). I don't think mechanical group sets are going to go away anytime soon (and likely never), so I'm not too worried about running out of parts to fiddle with and tweak.
The best part is I absolutely love riding it. I mean, I love riding all my bikes, right down to the $200 dollar one, but this is on a different level. It's just so responsive and enjoyable to be on.
What sorts of bikes do you like to ride/own?
This is one topic where I strongly disagree. While shocks and suspension can need simple maintenance, springs have a long lifespan, and the added comfort is absolutely worth it on most riding surfaces. Thick cruiser tires are nice, but they make the bike harder to pedal. At the very least, I recommend suspension seat-posts. They're easy to maintain and dramatically improve ride comfort. It's like driving a car with and without suspension.
I think many people would be happier with a beach cruiser style bike that prioritizes ride comfort. More upright styles are more popular in countries like Denmark and Japan where bikes are more widely used for leisure and transit.
YMMV with this advice for sure. Think of this list as less like rules, more like... guidelines to avoid getting sucked into the trap of racing culture (if you don't plan on racing). However:
Source? AFAIK even at low PSI thicker tires actually lower rolling resistance. I've certainly never noticed thicker tires making a bike harder to pedal, especially not at the 1.5-2.3" sweet spot I describe. On the other hand, suspension absolutely eats your pedaling power for breakfast on uphills. There are few things more frustrating than feeling that 'two steps forward, one step back' sensation as a crappy suspension system sucks you back in the middle of an agonising hill climb.
That beung said: if you ride on truly rugged terrain, a hardtail can be absolutely worthwhile. But 95% of the time you're better off in the long term learning how to ride that rugged terrain with better technique.
I haven't tried seat suspension, beyond the classic Brooks saddles that incorporate giant springs. IMO that seems like a good optimisation for comfort, and the reviews I've seen suggest that they require little or no maintenance. Probably a good thing to try if you can't find a comfy seat! Ditto for handlebar suspension.
So much great info in this comment, I ride ebikes for fun and transport around town and I always laugh when I get dirty looks from the men in tights and clip on shoes. Like sorry I just want to have a fun time riding around during a nice day, not wear 800 dollar shoes and 500 dollar short shorts
I have a very similar experience in the mountain biking space. It's actually the origin of my username! I tend to wear a sunshirt, a comfy pair or shorts, and either vans or sandals when I ride, depending on the weather and ruggedness of the terrain. I understand that some people like to 'kit up' in the 'proper gear' to ride, but it has absolutely gone too far in the USA, to the point where you get weird looks even in cities sometimes if you're wearing casual clothes on a bike. Some of us just want to get around in a fun way and don't care about our stats!
I have always very deliberately avoided becoming a
MAMIL
Middle Aged Man In LycraBut when I needed some shorts suitable for riding my road bike a few years back, I did buy some lycra and it's amazing how much more comfortable it is on longer rides. Then I picked up a lycra jersey because it has a rear zipped pocket which is perfect for stashing my keys/snacks/tiny toolkit and now I'm everything I didn't want to be. But none of it for reasons other than comfort, in the end! I'm not tooling around in £500 matching team kit, at least.
I ride my trail bike in anything I have to hand though, and that's the bike I ride the most near people (the road bike is usually just countryside riding on quiet roads), either on the trails or commuting.
You know, I immediately believe that the bikes you have listed are easy to service. But, they also do showcase a total different biking culture and bike availability, which is very interesting to me.
One thing I would like to add is that hub shifters and enclosed chains generally do require less maintaining compared to derailleurs.
Here so called "city bikes" are seen most often and if I had to recommend a bike I would say something like a Gazelle Esperit although these days so called "oma fietsen" (grandma bikes) are also very popular (mostly among high schoolers and students).
I'm guessing you're in the Netherlands, which means you have actual, functional, safe bike infrastructure. In the USA, we're still struggling to put painted lanes and sharrows onto roads. So our bikes need to be a little scrappier.
That being said, those bikes would do fine over here as well, they're just really hard to find and source.
Good guess ;) And yeah I get what you mean. Although, I think, a bike like the Esprit I linked would do pretty well over there, exactly because of the raised handlebars and because they are pretty solid overall.
The handlebars position is actually really important, for comfortable commuting.
Not only is it easier on your back, it also gives you a better overview as you are higher up, and you can more easily look behind you with your entire body. It also allows you to be seen better by car drivers.
So even if a Dutch bike is not an option, getting that style of handlebars I highly recommend.
For anyone interested in Dutch bikes, I do know of at least one Canadian company that imports them: https://www.godutch.ca there might be more companies like that. Although, the prices are likely inflated compared to what they would cost here.
Since the OP listed their question in pounds: in the UK we've got a fun mix depending on where you are in the country but generally somewhere between the two extremes of NL and USA.
Excellent write up! I've been in and out of biking culture and have spent an inordinate amount of time looking at the fanciest bikes on various websites.
Around town is fairly flat and I feel like I achieved biking nirvana when I was essentially gifted my friends single speed. It's fast, agile, and it does two things: stop and go. I ride it much more than my 2013 Allez now unless we're heading into the mountains.
Seconding Surly. I'm a pround member of the Surly gang, which is something of a bike cult. They are heavy, clunky, great at nothing and good at everything. I've ridden well over 20,000 miles on my 2016 disc trucker and it's still ambling along beautifully.
Side benefit: there are few days I don't hear "Nice Surly!" as I ride around town. It's almost an imperative for other Surly riders to comment.
If I could go back and choose again I think I'd select the Orge or the Karate Monkey, but the Cross Check is a great road/commuter as well. Even the Ghost Grappler looks enticing.
EDIT: Just one small note on the shoe comment. 5.10's freerider pro will alway be my go to bike shoe. They are bulky and stupid looking, I always feel like a toddler walking around in them, but they have an unmatched level of support and comfort for biking/walking. I even took them into REI and FleetFeet trying to find a running shoe to match their level of stiffness (RIP my La Sportiva Bushido IIs). They will put more of your energy into the pedal - even as a huge advocate of vans, they turn into mush on pedals.
The Ogre with a Rohloff is close to my ideal touring rig.
My partner has a Surly (also disc trucker, 2016 as well I believe) and I always get a chuckle when someone compliments it, but ignores my 30 year old steel mountain bike. Almost feels a bit unfair! This summer she got my favorite Surly cult swag ever: a homemade bracelet that says 'surly' on letter blocks. I imagine getting a Surly as your first bike would make you feel very welcome in the bike universe becausw people comment on them so often -- that's part of why I listed them first!
Also: obligatory 'sick Surly, bruh'.
Just a heads up that faux leather is just plastic. Truly the worst of all "fabrics".
Allegedly the Brooks C17 is made from vulcanized rubber and organic cotton! So I assume it isn't petrol-based. But that is an excellent point.
Sidenote: I wish I could get a phone case of the same material. Why are all phone cases made from such awful material?
A one-by drivetrain (as in one chainring up front, no front derailleur) is my number one must-have feature on a bike, especially if paired with a rear cassette with a decent number of gears. No more screwing around adjusting front derailleurs, huzzah!
Even better if it has a clutch on the rear, makes it almost impossible to drop the chain when you hit a bump or come off a curb too hard or whatever. My old bike had a 3x8 drivetrain and it would drop the chain on the regular. My current bike has 1x12 and has never once dropped the chain on me in about 3000 miles of riding.
This is a great post, and if I can bother your bike expertise just a bit more -- I live in Europe, so I can get a Dutch bike more easily, and I need something that basically a Grandma can ride. Do you know anything about the market outside the US or brands that make Dutch bikes? I also refuse to get a bike that I cannot brake by pushing back on the pedals (the way you can on bikes for kids in the US) -- do you know if there's a name for this so I can use it when searching for bikes online?
As @DynamoSunshirt says: Omafiets. Oma fiets directly translates into grandma bike and not for no reason. You can't really go wrong with an omafiets from brands like Gazelle or Cortina. That said, most of these types of bikes are so stupidly simple that there's little wrong with odd brands. I don't even know what brand my bike is (or even how I got it or how expensive it was, secondhand store for 50-75 I'd say?) but this thing is pink and indestructible.
I'd argue most elderly nowadays get a fancy newer e-bike rather than a scrappy omafiets, but they're incredibly basic bikes anyone can drive that function well for anything inner city nonetheless.
Most have backpedal braking, but not all. It's usually listed.
I'm sure someone in NL can answer with specific brands and recs in your country, but that specific brake design you're describing is called the coaster brake. I've only seen them on children's bikes in the USA, allegedly because they don't provide much braking power. Supposedly the lack of hills and generally slow cycling speeds in NL is responsible for their popularity there. If you like controlling your brakes with the pedals, seems fair to me! As a closed system, they're allegedly quite low maintenance... and the popularity in NL certainly suggests they work OK.
I would look for a smaller bike shop near you and just pop in asking for a bike. Omafiets is likely the key term you need to use -- IIRC most of those use coaster brakes.
I more or less stopped cycling right at the stage where bikes stopped having those types of brakes (I grew up in the US) and the lack of the ability to brake with my feet that way was really unsettling to me when I grew old enough for bikes without them. That also coincided with me spending a lot less time biking for leisure (I was an indoorsy tween/teen) so I've still got the muscle memory that "push back = brake".
Rücktrittbremse is apparently what they are called. There are only two languages that have wiki articles about them, the Dutch and German ones.
Basically, if you want those you are looking at a bike without gears. Funnily enough given your requirement "oma fietsen" translating to "grandma bikes" are really popular bikes in the Netherlands and fit the bil.
Can you expand on this? I have the mountain bike pedals and shoes and i absolutely see the benefit in being able to pull and push (especially up hills). I'm far from a pro or even expert, I'm just surprised to read this point.
There's a lot to unpack here, but think of it this way: your cranks (the bits the pedals attach to the end of) face opposite directions. You are always pushing on one of them. Pushing is a lot stronger than pulling, especially if you aren't working at Olympian levels.
There's been a lot of research done on this subject, and as far as I can tell, the jury is still out on whether or not clipless pedals (that's the confusingly named pedals that DO attach to shoes) increase power, speed or efficiency. Unfortunately the annoyance of special shoes and occasionally falling over makes that lack of proof damning: if the benefit is unclear, why deal with the pain?
Doubtless there are people out there who do better with clipless. Personally I hate it because I want to wear normal shoes. But I have friends who like them "because it's funny to click around when you walk in the shoes." Which is totally valid! If you enjoy them in some way, or they feel better to you, it's unlikely that they're worse. But at the end of the day it's more gear to buy, more technique to learn, and possibly no benefit, so I don't recommend it to the average cyclist. IMO they're a bit like playing rhe ukelele: neat, I won't hate on it, but not my jam.
What are your thoughts on Worksman Cycles, assuming you have any? I’ve been thinking about buying one from them because they are one of the few manufacturers who cater to heavier riders.
So how do I repair these? Can the frame be opened at all?
You pull the old cable out, and run the new one through, ideally at the same time. It's much less user serviceable.
It's really not very hard though. At worst it's fractionally more awkward than externally routed cables, but only fractionally. I just set up my kid's new bike which has internal cabling and I didn't notice it being any harder.
If someone can't swap an internally routed cable then there's probably not a lot they are capable of doing on a bike at all. It's far more challenging to bleed brakes or trim derailleurs than swap out some cables, and those things need doing way more regularly. I've probably got 15k km on my current cables on my road bike and I'm not even considering changing them yet.
There is also the fact that internal cabling reduces the chances of cable damage so you will probably need to do less servicing overall.
Yeah, the first time was a little tricky, but a vacuum and some floss and it's easy. There are also little magnet kits you can get. It's really not much harder since you only have to fuss with it to get the cable cable routing in place, once that is done, everything else is the same.
I just shoved them in with my hands and it was all sorted in a few minutes. I spent way more time fiddling the grommets into place around the entrance/exit holes than anything to do with the cables themselves. I had to use a specialist "end of a screwdriver" tool and a highly skilled "copious amounts of swearing" technique to get those sorted.
Meanwhile my trail bike, which has external cables, is wearing through them where they rub on the frame. I need to sort that out before I have to replace the cable sleeves (and before I snap a cable somewhere deep in the woods...)
I imagine it also makes them more visually appealing. Thinking about non-motorized bikes, at least, it is not that uncommon for them to require simple fixes and adjustments during use. So that could put someone in a bad situation, stranded several kilometers away from home and without the necessary tools.
Yeah. There's definitely an ongoing philosophical divide among cyclists regarding what a bike really is for them. Especially on the e-bike end of things, it's closer to a modern car; if you want it repaired, you have to take it to a mechanic unless you're an expert yourself.
On the other end, there has been something of a renaissance of steel frame bicycles with simpler mechanics that are user serviceable for people who have more passion for bicycle mechanics. Something you could actually disassemble, clean, and put back together yourself. Fixies are maybe the purest expression of this, but there's a whole spectrum.
My ebike is functionally my car, and I do all the maintenance myself, but I wouldn't consider myself an expert. Most parts are perfectly serviceable with some Allen keys and a pair of pliers.
There's nothing about an ebike that necessitates it being harder to maintain, it just takes a thoughtful designer/engineer. My kit needs no phone app or proprietary battery, and replacement motor parts are easy to get, it's wonderful!
I didn't see it elsewhere, would you mind sharing your setup? Is it a 'traditional' bike upgraded to electric or is built model?
Sure! Here's a picture:
https://i.imgur.com/AL22hRW.jpeg
It's a Giant hardtail (2018/19 I think) with a To7 mid-drive motor kit and battery from Greenlance. I upgraded the brakes to Magura MT5e for the motor cut-off levers and swapped+rearranged the rear cassette for a better chainline
I've been interested in getting an ebike, but I don't know where to start. If you have any suggestions/resources, I'd love to hear them.
I'd say if you're not comfortable working on bikes and you have the budget, look for a premade one with a belt drive and internal gear hub (IGH), they are incredibly low maintenance and very simple to use.
Remove the belt and IGH and it'll be more affordable, though IMO current ebikes are waaay overpriced. The UK has a cycle-to-work scheme to purchase stuff as a salary sacrifice so you save a bunch (works for components/clothing too!)
In terms of DIY kits, I'd recommend a mid-drive over a hub, good ones are torque-sensing so feel much more natural (they measure your pedal pressure and amplify it).
Mine is from To7motors, it's a small and new manufacturer but reliability complaints seem to be rare and the firmware is in a good place now (was a bit iffy at the start of the year). They can be used with any 36V-52V battery as long as the connector fits (or solder your own). Mine is from Greenlance in the UK.
If you get a To7, make sure you get the USB programming cables so you can update the firmware. Also the settings aren't the most intuitive/well documented so you'll need some patience to learn it.
The High Voltage Light Electric Vehicle YT channel has videos on the motors if you want to learn more, and a good Discord community.
The frame cannot be "opened."
Basically, if you need to run new cable, the easiest method is to detach the cable at one end, remove any rubber stoppers, wrap, tie, or tape the new cable onto the end of the old one and then pull from the other end. Once the joint comes out, detach them and your new cable is in.
Otherwise, you can magnet fish like other commenters have mentioned.
650 is wayyy beyond midrange if you're talking about general purpose city bikes. Admittedly, I'm Dutch and our range of options is expansive, but simple city bikes do not need shiny and flashy kit and a €100-200 bike gets you anywhere. Bonus points because they're often dead simple at that price point where the most complicated parts are the gears.
Which country? (I mean, you use miles, so the options are limited, but still)
Using £ as my currency might be a giveaway :)
The most annoying aspect with all these designers reinventing the bike is the lack of parts, especially when they inevitably go out of business. But if you get yourself a bike with software, it’s a whole ‘nother level of hell. Van Moof had this problem and now they are removing features that you technically paid that Van Moof premium for.
The bike is the epitome of a machine with replaceable parts. My advice to anyone is to make interchangeability a very high priority when buying one.