Originally Posted by 10ch
Okay so based on the responses I've gotten, for a commuter, if I can't get disc brakes and an internal hub -- an internal hub is quite possibly the more desirable component of the two?
As visions of new bikes dance in my head night after night, I've thought more and more about how nice it'd be to have the internal hub and today I was tooling around the net and found a LBS that sells Bianchi -- both the
Bergamo and the
Milano.
So both have an internal hub component, and I just don't think the hills round here are crazy enough to warrant the extra gears on the Bergamo, but I'm definitely up for hearing opinions on that matter. My understanding was that the benefit of the internal hub was to a) avoid having to downshift before stopping and b) low maintenance. If I had the extra gears, both those factors would be null and void, yes?
Mostly I want to know this --> Whattya think of Bianchi as opposed to the former Cannondale Fifty-Fifty and Gary Fisher Cronus? Better? Worse? About the same?
Man, that is a good question. Actually, unless you ride in really sloppy snow and slush you don't need either. If you do ride in slush, then you need both.
One thing I know for sure is that a standard hanging derailure becomes nearly useless when they ice up. Brakes, though compromised a bit, still seem to work when wet. I guess it is because ice does not collect on the rims like it does on the derailure.
So.... If I had to choose, I might choose the internal hub. If you bike
If the bike had mountain bike type cantilevered brakes, that should be good enough - they work well for me.