itstom

After nearly a year of torturing myself over the idea of getting a "commuter" or "city" bike, including the internal debate over whether or not to get a 'fixie' as a project (which I realized would probably take me forever to actually complete) I finally broke down and bought a Specialized Globe City6. In looking at (and riding) new bikes over this time, I had made for myself a fairly limiting set of criteria, in pretty much this order:

Upright riding position (comfort)
Shimano Nexus inter8 rear hub
Front hub generator & lights (no batteries)
not TOOOOO heavy (my commute includes a BART ride, so I have stairs to contend with)
Rear rack
Fenders & chainguard
Kickstand
Under $1,000

Ultimately I had decided that I preferred to buy the bike "fully loaded" rather than compromise on certain elements with the intention of having to add or upgrade them later.

I had pretty much narrowed it down to the Breezer Uptown8, and the Globe City6. The time came when I realized that I was going to have to do some work on my '86 fuji palisade, which has been my daily bike for the last couple years, and the Globe was on sale, so I bought one. I've had it for a couple weeks, and ridden it about 80 miles.

Here are my comments. Keep in mind, I'm not a super sophisticated cyclist. I don't have a great understanding of bike geometry, gear ratios, components, etc. I do have a pretty good understanding though of the basic mechanics of a bicycle, and can strip one down and put it back together (correctly) again.

First the plusses:
It is comfortable. I'm still tweaking the position of the seat and handlebars... I'm still not used to this riding position... but the saddle feels good, the cranks are the right length for me, I like the way it handles, and it's fast. In the high gear, I can cruise very comfortably at about 16 mph on a nice flat road, and 20 mph is definitely do-able if I want more of a workout. I live on a street with an 8% grade, and I can do this in 2nd gear... the steepest I've done so far is 13% (in the granny gear)... it was only for a block, but I was actually kind of surprised that I didn't have to get off and push.

The Nexus8 hub is a pleasure to use. I find myself shifting more than on my road bike... it's very easy to maintain a steady cadence, and while gaining speed and up-shifting, the change of gears is barely noticeable. The ability to shift while stopped totally rocks.

The hub generator is great. The headlight is a halogen BM lumotec, which really does a good job of lighting the road... the beam is much brighter and wider than the LED's I've been using. The rear is a BM Selectra plus, which uses three red LEDs, one in the center and one on each side. The rear light stays on, even when stopped. It has no switch, so it will remain on until the charge is gone, which takes about 10 minutes. The headlight only lights when the hub is spinning, but both front and rear get to full brightness at pretty low speed. There is some drag... When i lift the front and spin the wheel, it stops after about 30 seconds, but this isn't really noticable when riding.

The rear rack is sturdy and usable. It's far enough back from the seat, that stuff I put there doesn't interfere with my legs or feet, and it has brackets at the bottom for attaching panniers. I don't have them yet, but am looking for some.... recommendations welcomed...

The chainguard keeps my pants and laces out of the chain.

The kickstand is not just a convenience, but practically a necessity. The shape of the bars make it difficult at best to lean the bike against something easily. A nice touch on the stand is the rubber tip, which makes me feel ok about using it on my hardwood floor at home.

The brakes (I don't know what kind they are... they have no markings, although Specialized website says they're shimano), are smooth and sure. They aren't too 'grabby' or too soft. I felt instantly confident with them at fast or slow speeds.

Basically, it has the features I was looking for, so it's probably not surprising that those are the things I like best about it.

Probably most important, I like riding it. It generally feels good, and I've been surprised to learn that it's working different parts of my legs than the road bike, while being much easier on my back and shoulders. I also like that the size of road hazards that I have to look out for is slightly larger than it was before. A few days ago, i was riding past a construction site where there was a big pile (probably about 20' high) of rocks and dirt, so I decided to ride up it. I only had trouble at the very top, where it got a little too sandy, but the bike felt good under me, was easy to control, and coming down was no problem either. And my pants didn't get dirty.

Now the Minuses:

I'm not in love with it. I'd like to be, but there are a few issues...

First, the manual. Ok... this isn't the bike itself, which I'll get to, but I think it's an indication of how the big company regards it's customers...
The manual seems to have been written by the liability lawyers. It's a generic one without any specific information about the bike model or any of it's component parts, but mostly full of "Warnings!" and "Cautions!". Maybe this is the standard nowadays, but I find it really annoying.

Second, (and this is probably a personal preference) The handlebars "Specialized Event aluminum" according to the website, are not quite right for me, particularly the angle of the grips, which seems to angle just a little too far back. I'll keep tweaking them, but eventually I'll probably replace them if I can't get it right.

Third, the wires to the lights are routed through the forks and frame, which keeps them neatly out of the way. However, where they come out of the fork at the top to go to the headlight, there seems to be a little too much slack and they can make contact with the wheel. Likewise on the back, where they exit the top of the fender on their way to the rear light. I'm not even sure why this much slack is necessary, and I've secured them with Zip ties. This just seems like either sloppy design, or poor execution, or some combination of the two. I appreciate thoughtfulness in product design, so this, like the manual, really bugs me, especially because there's no good reason for it.

I'd like to see dust caps over the crank bolts. Maybe this is old fashioned, but I think it would have been a nice aesthetic touch, in addition to helping keep them clean.

My first impression of the pedals was that they were kind of goofy, a large oval shape with a globe sort of appearance. They are quite comfortable though, and easy to step onto... not having flat edges makes them easy to get into the correct position. My only gripe is that they don't grip quite as much as I'd like them to, as they're a little smooth. I might get some of that stair tread stuff to stick to them.

The high gear isn't quite high enough for me. I may replace the rear chainring with a smaller one if I think it won't make the hills too tough in the lower gears.

Since I spent a fair amount of time coveting the Breezer Uptown 8, and it has a few things the Globe doesn't I'll add these comments, ...

The Breezer:
uses a Busch & Muller LED headlight, which has a sensor that turns it on automatically, and it, like the taillight, stays on while stopped;

uses the Premium Nexus 8, which is about a half pound lighter than the standard one, and, according to Breezers website, has more durable components;

has a suspension seat post;

has a full chaincase, not just a chainguard;

has more durable tires.

I was willing to trade those things off for saving a couple hundred bucks (at the sale price), which I used to get a new lock, some raingear, a water bottle cage, spare tubes, a basket, and a few other accessories, and still have some $ left over. I think, (althought not entirely sure) that the Globe is a little lighter than the Breezer, which is an issue for me because I do have to pick it up and carry it on a daily basis. Overall, i'm happy with my purchase. We'll see how it goes as I make this bike my daily ride.

d2create

Owner's manuals are useless. It's not just yours.

itstom

even the rivendell? now that would really annoy me!

harleyfrog

Aren't those written in Sindarin?