Recreational & Family - Townie 21 vs Specialized Expedition - Thoughts?

I had a little free time today to ride both these bikes, the Townie Original 21 and the Specialized Expedition Sport. I would have liked to ride the Specialized Crossroads Elite (one of my leading candidates) but this LBS did not have one in stock.

The Townie is a crank forward design and the Expedition is a conventional crank position. For my knees, the Townie was more comfortable BUT the crank forward position seemed to require me to use my thighs much, much more to power the bike, especially on hills. The Specialized was not nearly as comfortable for my knees BUT it was no stress at all on the hills.

Seating posture on the Townie was very comfortable but I thought the handlebar rise was a bit higher than I like. I do think this is easily adjustable though. The Expedition had an optional aftermarket seat on it - it was an Odyssey (I think) and not the usual wide comfort saddle.

The Townie has trigger style shifters; the Exedition has twist grip shifters. I liked both but am more used to the trigger style. Both were equally smooth and transitioned easily and quietly through the gears.

Overall, I was very impressed with both bikes. While the Expedition was a little more painful for the knees, I did like it a lot.

Do I need to worry about the crank forward position? Our locale is not 100% flat with a lot of variation; no major hills but not all flat either.

I still want to ride a Trek and a Cannondale so hopefully that will happen in a few days. (I'm also posting this in the Clydesdale section for review.)

The bikes you have listed have very different geometry, one crank forward and flat footed, the other more traditional. The choice between them is highly personal. The crank forward puts more weight on your seat, and less on your hands, and allows flat footed stops and starts, but at the cost of perhaps some hill climbing ability (some argue the opposite). The traditional geometry has a more even weight distribution, and has your weight more over the cranks to allow the use of your body weight. As you noticed, they use slightly different muscles, but you will likely quickly adapt to either one.

Your knee pain is troubling. Often knee pain is caused by using too much pressure when pedaling. The cure is usually to gear down slightly and spin faster. I've always heard to try and keep cadence between 60-80. If you naturally pedal slow as I used to, its hard to get used to, but worth it to save your knees. If your struggling with it as my wife did, a bike computer with cadence really helped her learn, and now she doesn't need it.

For the record my wife switched to a Townie to alleviate hand numbness on longer rides. I agreed mainly for the company on rides, but secretly not sure if I liked them. After riding her's, I'm considering taking something with similar geometry, like a Sun Ruskin Sport, and upgrading it with road wheels and solid gearing for a rail trail bike.

My advice is to test ride the bikes until you find one you love, as each person is different.

Add Breezer to your list. Their Town and Range models pretty much have everything included (fenders, rack, lights, etc).
http://www.breezerbikes.com/index.cfm?CFID=53417426&CFTOKEN=69461833

The new Breezer Finesse looks interesting.

Day 6 Dream
flat-footed
21 speeds
$700
http://www.day6bicycles.com/dream21.html

I have ridden a pedals forward bike and they are ok for short trips. if you encounter a hill that requires more power than you can provide from a seated position you'll find yourself pushing it up the hill because you cannot stand up to pedal. You cannot even stand long enough to take some pressure off your backside like a regular bike.

I typically ride 8-13 miles at a time on a crank forward bike (Giant Suede 7 speed). Our terrain is mostly flat with some hills. They are not a problem once you are conditioned for the season. Standing up while coasting is not a problem for me to relieve the seat once in a while. The crank forward position on the Suede is probably not quite as forward as the Townie. Love this type bike for errands, exercise, fun riding.

I have ridden a pedals forward bike and they are ok for short trips. if you encounter a hill that requires more power than you can provide from a seated position you'll find yourself pushing it up the hill because you cannot stand up to pedal. You cannot even stand long enough to take some pressure off your backside like a regular bike.

Not true. One of the advantages of a crank forward is the ability to stand and power up a hill or from a start. Any decent rider can do this with a Townie, or in my case a Trek Sole Ride or Pure. What you say is true with a recumbent, but not a crank forward.

As for the OP, you're comparing a Lincoln with a Sable. Both nice, but both different enough not to in the same category.

I had a little free time today to ride both these bikes, the Townie Original 21 and the Specialized Expedition Sport. I would have liked to ride the Specialized Crossroads Elite (one of my leading candidates) but this LBS did not have one in stock.

You are aware the Specialized models Expedition and Crossroads are not continued into 2009.

You knee pain on the Expedition is likely result of seat not adjusted to the correct height. This modle is being replaced with the Carmel model, two versions a 26" tire and a 700. http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCExperience.jsp?eid=208

I do have a Crossroads sport and chose it over the Townie as I preferred the conventional bike geometry style, so did my wife. The geometry of the Specialized frames do tilt the seat post back over the rear wheel and allow for the crank to be slightly forward, not enough for flat foot stops, but enough for allowing good leg muscle use and allow better weight distribution for longer rides. The bars can be adjusted for a upright position and can be adjusted for more forward position to improve hill climbs. I like the Crossroads, prefer the grip shifters, reduces clutter on the bars.

The last two years I have ridden this bike for several hundred miles (just over a 1,000 since computer installed) and the only modification I made was replacing the seat with a Brooks B17I, then later a B68 after moving the B17I to my Schwinn Continental. ( I split my ride time presently between 3 bikes, each different).

I like the convention position, and even distribution of body weight for my riding routes and for varying elevations even though small, enough to wind you if not positioned correctly for a steep climb or a longer climb on moderate climb.

Here is a picture of my set-up -

Not true. One of the advantages of a crank forward is the ability to stand and power up a hill or from a start. Any decent rider can do this with a Townie, or in my case a Trek Sole Ride or Pure. What you say is true with a recumbent, but not a crank forward.


Not with the frame and handlebar geometry of a Pure. I am in pretty good condition and am pretty agile and I find standing to pedal my wife's Pure to be awkward or unpleasant at best. Raven, from previous posts is a large man with, if I remember correctly, some back issues. There's no way someone with "extra baggage" is going to stand up to pedal up a hill on a Pure because the bars and BB are much closer together than a traditional bike.

Lot's of wisdom already - . I have about 2 years of year-round commuting and recreational cycling on a crank forward Raleigh Gruv 2.0 and love the low pressure on my wrists and the phenomenal braking (cg low and rearward, nice strong v-brakes). The relatively low seat is especially nice commuting through our midwestern ice. In the summer I run narrow high pressure slicks and the bike reasonably quick. I can stand to climb, but do find it harder than standing on my singlespeed Schwinn World Tour conventional geometry bike. Sunflowerflyer's comment about it being very personal is a good one - so take my next comment with a grain of salt (or entire salt lick): I'd probably go with the slightly more standard geometry of the Specialized. -- Good luck!