I didn't feel any "heaviness" in the drivetrain, which surprised me a bit. The bike itself is a bit heavy (in the rear, mostly) perhaps due to the shaft drive and internal hub gearing. The only time I noticed any "heavy" feeling was when climbing one particularly steep grade that my fixie goes up a bit easier. I could have downshifted, of course, but I was pushing a similar gear to my fixie and I wanted to see if I could notice any differences in climbing... I did notice I didn't get up the hill as quickly with the Biomega. The difference wasn't night and day, though.

Of course, the Biomega Copenhagen is a flat bar bike, and has no bar ends, so I get more leverage on the bars riding my Giant Bowery fixie. And I didn't have clipless pedals on the Biomega, so no pulling up. And, of course, I didn't shift the Biomega down a gear or two, which is what rational folks would do. LOL. So not a totally fair comparison. But there it is.

In general, I achieved a very similar average speed on the Biomega to my fixie. I suspect with clipless pedals and a real "fit" I would see real-world numbers similar to my other bikes.

I ride at a 16mph average speed on my 14-mile commute, so take the above in that context. The day I rode the Biomega I did the commute x 2, so 28 miles. I was not riding the Biomega to test it's top speed, test whether I could maintain a 24mph average up 20% grades, nor did I use it for mountain biking (although I did ride a few dirt paths which I also do on my 'cross gearie). I only "tested" it as a commuter.

To be honest, with all the negatives I've read about shaft drive over the years... And thinking the Biomega was just a design statement, not a real bike, I was quite pleased to find that it is a real bike indeed, and it might just be a perfect commuter for my needs.

I want to find out if "fatties" (2.0" and up tires) fit the Biomega, ride some more bikes, and I'm not in any hurry until the weather turns cold... But it's still on my "list."