noglider Agreed pretty much entirely. What surprised me was W 14th St to / from the Upper Left Side regularly / reliably takes — within 1 - 2 minutes — the same time in either direction no matter the wind or model of Citibike. None of the models is fun, but the Shimanos have, in my experience, been the most reliable. Good news about being able to now rely on the Sturmey Archer top gear. FWIW, I seem to recall the geometry of the v1 frames (with the Shimano hub) is slightly different from the v2 frames with the S/A and Nuvinci hubs. I'm at a loss to say what the difference is.