New Swobo Crosby - Ultimate Commuter bike?
 

Drop bars? Check
Horizontal Dropouts with space for derailleur hanger? Check
Eyelets/Brazeons for fenders and rack? Check
SRAM Torpedo for easy SS/FG config? Check
Braze-ons for disc brakes? Check
Carbon fork with alu frame? Check
Under $1100? Check
700 wheels? Check

Looks really good to me, almost enough for me to ditch my Swobo Dixon as last year's old & tired has-been.

http://www.swobo.com/catalog/product...cPath=201_1472

Look's like Sky is pulling from her Bianchi San Jose bag of tricks. Now if they could just make that fixed/free hub work with an on bar shifter. That would be cool. Not sure if I would want disc brakes on a carbon fork...

Nice. But wish they'd put the rear disc mount inside the stays for easy fender/rack mounting.

Like the Baxter too,except why did they 'downgrade' from the Dixon's iMotion 9 to the Alfine?

You mean like they do on Trek Portland's,and Jamis Coda Elites,and a whole bunch of other bikes? :rolleyes:

Impressive. I like the Novak model. 25#'s is pretty good.

Oh, I'm not saying that it wouldn't work. I guess I am just a little gun shy of trusting carbon fiber. I can assume that you have had good luck with your Portland and Coda Elite. I'm also curious how Swobo can offer that bike at such a reasonable price with a carbon fork. I just hope the quality control was good where it is being manufactured.

Color is hideous, especially with those wheels and tires. Teal will forever remind me of early nineties ski-wear. Cool bikes though. I liked last year's Sanchez and Dixon.

$1050 for a singlespeed? Naw.

Crosby seems overpriced compared to the Baxter. Frame looks to be an improvement over their initial models, though I have mixed feelings about the sliding dropouts. It's good from an internal hub/disc brake standpoint, but it blocks the rack mounts.

I'd think the look (of the unnecessary disc mounts) would be unacceptable to most of the fixed crowd.

The Baxter looks good to me too. In addition to the geared hub switch, they also changed the discs from Avid to Shimano. Cost savings?

Also, is the Dixon that much beefier such that it weighs 5lbs more?

Cannondale Vintage 8 Ultra is still the ultimate commuter. IMO.

http://video.cannondale.com/images/0...2/9VS8_BBQ.jpg

http://gb.cannondale.com/bikes/09/ce/model-9VS8.html

Not if you want any kind of speed it isn't. Sure it's probably a plush ride, but the Crosby weighs 20lbs and has drop bars for those windy days.

Why is it that so many "commuter" bikes are painted to look like military surplus stuff. Is there something wrong with actual colors?

Edit: I'm not saying they need to be gawdy, - my road bike has the word "Specialized" plastered on it in no less than 6 places, but there has to be a happy medium.

I don't get that dark theme for urban bikes either. Seems pretty silly.
A commuter bike built from a cross bike? Never seen that before.:)

Steel? Cross-Check

^^^ Oh Snap!

With the exception of the disc mounts, rack mounts, and sliders, that frame and fork look almost identical to my 2007 k2 cross bike. Nothing new under the sun...

That said I rather like the k2. It's a pretty good geometry for a causal cross racer and all rounder. I just might be tempted to swap parts over to one of these guys.

EDIT; This one has top tube cable routing too. Even better.

EDIT 2: Complete bike only. Bah.

Should have been steel. I thought Sky understood the market better than that. Swobo is targeting hipsters----and hipsters DON'T LIKE ALUMINUM. The rest of the spec is great, but it shoulda been steel. The market hasn't seen an affordable singlespeed commuter made from good steel. How about a nice 853 frameset?

I must admit, the torpedo hub really doesn't do it for me. It's an awesome piece of engineering for sure, and I think it's pretty darn nifty that it can be done. However, I don't think its worth the premium for making a flip/flop hub that uses a screwdriver instead of a 15mm wrench.

If you could shift while riding though...that would be something else.

I like aluminum.

EDIT: misplaced evangelism aside, I have two aluminum bikes. One, the K2 cross bike I mentioned, rides more smoothly than similar steel bikes I have owned. The other, a 29er, has the characteristics one more often associates with aluminum (very stiff, tracks well, not compliant) which leads me to conclude that the implementation of the material is a lot more important than the material itself.

They're not even close. My ultimate commuter needs full cable housing on the brakes, Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes, a good eccentric bottom bracket, chainstay-mounted disc tabs, and cool graphics in addition to all the things they got right. A front dynamo hub wouldn't hurt either.

I took the Breezer Finesse for a ride the other day, and it's very nice. It is $800 more than the Baxter and Crosby though, and it doesn't have cool graphics, chainstay-mounted disc tabs, or drop bars. The Shimano hydraulic brakes that it comes with are probably better than BB7 brakes, but I don't really know.

Well of course ultimate commuter varies since people have such drastically different needs though.

What don't you like about the sliders though?

I've never used sliders before, so maybe they're easy in practice. They seem clunky to me though. The eccentric bottom bracket appears to be a simpler solution. Looking at the Crosby I notice that it would accept full brake housing. It's unfortunate that it's too ugly and expensive (because of changes I would make) for me. The frame is closer than I first thought to what I would consider ideal. It just doesn't fit my needs off the shelf.

The Baxter is even better. It just needs drop bars, Avid BB7 road disc brakes, J-tek bar-end Alfine shifter, and fenders. Hmmmm..... I take back what I said. I like the Baxter a lot, and the Crosby is a "meh".

Nice... Swobo? That's not their market.

Have you actually LOOKED at one of their frames? They're the masters of sprinkling hipster-cool on bargain basement frames.


-----------

Whatever. I won't buy one of their bikes, but it must be working for someone.

Ultimate commuter?













You should invest in the new Trek Madone commuter edition, complete with rack, fenders, partial chainguard, and platform pedals for only $10,000!

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1238723655