mikhalit

Rohloff has a quick release option.

Ferrous Bueller

One of the features of modern IG hubs is the uninterrupted power as you smoothly shift through the gears.
I'm left to assume you rode faulty ones. I know they have their flaws, but poor shifting performance isn't one of them.

fietsbob

FWIW , Joe Breeze is one of those Guys that got Going in the Bike Biz in the 60s,
with the Fishers and Richeys and the WTB stuff ,
all went to having Asia make their stuff, and are now running an importer distribution company.

People who start companies like to name it after them selves.
Joe, decided to aim at a different Market sector..

Breezer rolls off the tongue better than Sinyard-something .. [SBI]

acidfast7

Proximity to the Taunus. Gotta do another Skype interview. Hate the time difference. Back in a few.

KonAaron Snake 

I've used SA 3sps and an 8sp SRAM IGH - which did have an odd rhythm and didn't shift well while pedaling through. The SRAM IGH required more adjustment than my derailleur bikes and I often got mis-shifts with it. Every time I discuss my ample experience with many IGH bikes, I am told it must not have been adjusted properly. If that many weren't adjusted properly, they're too difficult to adjust properly. You are welcome to like them and I am not saying that you're wrong. Based on my experience of owning and using IGH, I find them fit only for use as ballast.

I've heard Rohloff is the exception - but have also heard the QR doesn't work that well and the frame must be designed for the rohloff for it to work.

mikhalit

Ah, come on, don't worry about it. Wish you a successful interview, that is the stuff that actually matters.

acidfast7

All is cool. I'm waiting for them to "call" and I find BF a nice distraction.

ThermionicScott 

+1 for hoping the interview goes well.

spare_wheel

the average distance biked in cph and ams is only a couple of km. the average distance biked by the ~2900 people signed up at my employer's bike incentive program is 9 miles.


*sigh* the old if you ride a bike you must be poor canard. the census ACS specifically excludes people who cycle occasionally but drive or bus more. and somehow i don't think the census is accurately counting the people ILTB is talking about.


for someone who only bikes short distances...sure. however, most cyclists eventually want to ride to the shop/restaurant/theater across town. in this case, the beezer is often unsuitable for the job. everyone i know who buys one of these city bikes either gets rid of it or eventually supplements it with a lighter geared biked. in fact, you can see this trend on the fangirl blogs -- the pashley princess is long gone and in its place is a light and derailleured brompton.

fietsbob

have a couple Rohloffs , and had 3 speeds . AW3 / BSR in Brompton's of late.

Rohloffs gears to syncro like shift are rounded edge teeth, Sturmey's are square cut.

But the sun gears dont Move on a 3 speed , the 5's as in those videos dont either
its the pawl selectors as to which one is engaged and driving or driven..

I find the QR works well on mine , just as well as any other ,
But Planetaries have torque reactions so the torque developed in the hub ,

all those rotations and counter rotations, have to go to somewhere on the frame.

[ being 10 reduction ratios and, just 3 overdrive ratios the torque generated, is significant.
hence the warning about not using smaller than spec, external chain drive ratios]

Tidiest is a dropout tab, there they give 2 options; 1 the dropout slot is extended ,
the other one there is a fork that settles over the lower mounting bolt location, of an ISO standard disc mount.

the remaining one is s strut to a frame clip, the user installs, retrofit,
there are QR solutions for that and the shift cable,

but you just have to do a few more 'Badda-Bing' reps as you use those..



one way to adapt to having fewer ratios is just keep the pedaling effort the same,
and let your cadence and speed drop a bit if it doesn't feel right..
spin too fast ?, slow down..

acidfast7

Done! Time for some Sekt. Personally, it seems like a bad fit for my research as they seem super chemical where I'm more biochemical (it is a biochem prof position). Enjoy the debate about bikes. And, for what it's worth, I see whiles locked outside all of the time on the street

Steely Dan

my foul-weather commuter has an alfine 8 IGH and it indeed does require a slight stutter to the pedal rhythm when shifting to keep the gears from grinding. it was a bit of an adjustment to get used to at first, but i've grown so accustomed to it that it's brainless now. it's kinda like operating the clutch on a manual transmission, it's hard at first and then after a short while you don't even think about it, it just "happens".





on this our experiences with IGHs have clearly diverged. in the nearly 2 years i've had my IGH, it's required one lone minor cable tightening adjustment. other than that, it's performed flawlessly. i'm not gonna tell you that you have to like IGHs, but from my perspective it sounds like you had the bad luck of using some pretty crappy IGHs. IGHs do have their downsides in my opinion - slower, heavier, a little more work to remove rear wheel - but being difficult to adjust and maintain has not been remotely close to my experience, just the opposite in fact.

but to each their own, if you hate IGHs, more power to you, it ain't no skin off my back. ride what you like and ride on!

fietsbob

Spare wheel's experience is living in an American Sprawl city model, I guess..

if the city centers are not left to decay, people dont feel so compelled to get away from them.

Places like San Francisco didnt have anywhere to sprawl to..
manyEuropean cities just chose to not sprawl , NL farmlands were difficult to create from Marshy lands
so even the Farmers lived in the Villages.

GeraldF

Shifting the convo away from the 50 pound Dutch bike, but keeping with my original statement about chain cases and dynamo lights, I have this to say:

Does it not make sense to have chain cases (or at least chain guards for the top half of the chain) and dynamo lights on ALL commuting/utility bikes? This can include road bikes and single speed bikes. The idea is that people biking to work or the grocery store won't have to roll up their pant legs or carry around straps for their pants. Similarly, regarding lights, is it not more convenient to not have to remove lights every time you park your bike? Imagine if you had to strap your pants and remove/attach right and left-turn blinkers from a car every single time you used your car. That would be highly annoying.

Many bike shops I walk into have dozens of high end road bikes, perhaps some folders and mountain bikes. Then they have one or two models that have fenders and a rack. Hardly any bike shops, even in urban areas in the U.S, can accommodate a customer who wants to purchase a new bike with a chain case or dynamo lights.

My frustration is coming from the fact that I live in a city (Washington, DC). BTW, the average trip distance for Capital Bikeshare users is only 1.4 miles. That says something about the needs of utility cyclists in cities.

KonAaron Snake 

Nope - for me neither is at all worthwhile.

I have a reflector pant strap that takes all of 5 seconds to use, so to me chain guards are one more thing that adds weight and needs to be adjusted from time to time (and which makes maintenance on the chain a PITA).

Given the quality of rechargeable lights - no - I don't think dynamo lights make any sense, especially if you have more than one bike. It's more money, heavier, less flexible and easy to move, use a little pedal energy, can't be placed on my helmet, involve more wires (one more thing to go wrong) and have an annoying flicker. If you're riding a randonneur event - sure, they make sense.

I think people are smart - and the reason they don't want 50 lbs recreations of a Raleigh sport is that there are better options. People don't want the hassle of a chain guard when there isn't much advantage. Dynamo lighting is really an inferior option for most people - and it's more irrelevant every year as batteries get better. Every shop has racks and plenty offer bikes with eyelets.

Steelydan - it's all personal preference - ride well!

GeraldF

I agree that pant straps take 5 seconds to use. The issue, for me at least, is less about time savings, and more about hopping on a bike carefree, not having to remember to put on and take off the pant strap. BTW pant straps are a hassle if you have a heavy bookbag on your back. Again, my car analogy.

A full chain case means you only need to service your chain ~once per year. Without the chain case you have to wipe down and oil the chain at least monthly. With good puncture proof tires and tubes, flat tires are a rarity on utility bikes. If I get a flat tire once a year on a utility bike I'll gladly have a bike shop fix it for me and use a spare bike in the mean time. The extra $ spent here is countered by the savings I'll get by not having to replace/recharge batteries for removable blinkies. Speaking of blinkies, it's not uncommon for people to have a blinky die on them while riding at night. If it's the rear light, the rider won't even know until he gets to his destination ... Not safe!

Again, this is coming from a city rider who makes numerous trips in the 0.5 to 3 mile range, like most people who bike in cities to get from point A to point B. Just my two cents.

SlowRoller

I guess he could have named it the "Joey" : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Breeze

tcs

Okay.

dynaryder

And you can work on that thing yourself.

Had a couple with Dutch bikes come to my clinic last year. The man's needed a chain and rear tire,and he said he'd come back the next Sat to get them installed(I'll install simple parts,but don't sell anything). First,I had to do some homework to figure out how to deal with the roller brakes;they're a model Shimano doesn't spec on US bikes so I had to look them up on their Euro site(fun fact:Shimano's instructions didn't say anything about the silver spring bar that it used as a safety catch for the cable clip,you have to figure that out for yourself). Then when it came to just do a simple chain and tire swap it was,how should I put this?,involved. Maybe I should say interesting(as in the Chinese curse). It was fun enough doing in my clinic with a full tool kit and during daylight,but not the type of thing I'd want to deal with on the way home from a long day at work at night in the rain. A 'normal' bike with derailleur and say a V brake,chain and tire swap would take like 20min. This took about 45. And required 3 different tools(15mm wrench,3mm hex,Phillips).

The fact is that DC is not Copenhagen;we have bad roads with lots of FOD. Even Marathons with liners aren't going to guarantee you won't flat. Much easier to deal with a derailleur drivetrain when something goes wrong,to say nothing of the significantly wider gear range and lighter weight.

spare_wheel

i can see chain cases being useful if you are a snazzy dresser. since i like the look of a chain tatoo this clearly does not apply to me.
dynamo lights are just not competitive with led lighting. imo, the convenience of hundreds of lumens outweighs the convenience of having a light bolted on the bike.

dynaryder

Not really. If you just want to keep your pants leg clean,both Shimano and TruVativ make plastic rings that bolt onto your big ring and do a fine job of keeping your pants clear. As for maintenance,look at my fleet,whole lotta derailleur bikes in there. I'm not constantly working on bikes all the time,I actually don't have to do that much in the way of regular maintenance. I've ridden through every winter we've had since '05 and it's yet to destroy a bike. A touch of rust,chain not lasting as long as it should,no real big deal. And I've got enough gears to spin up Loughboro without destroying my knees and still bomb Mass Ave through Embassy Row without spinning out.

As for lights,mount 'em to your helmet. That's what I do when out with friends. I use a Blaze/Superflash combo for bad weather commuting,but otherwise a pair of Fleas on my helmet and another blinky on my bag and I'm good. And living in DC,lots of folks take stereo faceplates and GPS units with them when they lock up their cars in case it gets broken into. That's city life.

If you want chain cases and hub dynamos,hit up Bicycle Space in Chinatown.

mconlonx

People should like this style bike, bikes like this should sell in droves. But they don't.

Must be frustrating to be a bicycle product manager: the most vocal are the most picky and a vast minority.

GregTR

There is my favorite word again.... When the vast majority votes with their wallet I think the bicycle product managers get a pretty good idea as to what should sell. It can't be all marketing gimmick. It must be a bit of herd mentality and peer pressure....

GeraldF

I've biked somewhere in the range of 1,000 to 1,500 miles in DC on a bike with some pretty cheap, low quality mountain bike tires. I'm not familiar with this FOD term you used. I've yet to get a single flat. If I do get a flat, there aren't many circumstances under which I'd choose to fix the flat on the street, even in 65 degree weather with a derailleur bike. Instead I'd simply go to the nearest bus stop, put the bike on the bus bike rack, and fix the flat at home.

Now that we're in agreement that a Breezer type bike, with decent tires and tubes, can easily go a couple thousand miles without a flat in DC, I'd have very little issue with having a bike shop fix a flat or a chain in need of repair once a year or so.

There's nothing that says a bike with a chain case has to be heavy. In general, decent quality bikes with chain cases are very low maintenance. They don't require cleaning and lubing of the chain monthly, as no debris collects on the chain. I don't see why people on Bike Forums wince at the thought of a chain case, as if it's kryptonite.

GeraldF

Having hundreds of lumens has nothing to do with the word "convenience."