I am going to start using the Windsor as my full-time commuter for a few weeks (assuming the weather cooperates) and see how I like it so I'll be reporting how it goes. I'll pay attention to the seat post possibly slipping. If I really like how this little pony rides I'll upgrade it one way or another.

I like that Soma alot with its canti brakes. I'll be interested in what all BD does with the mini velos in the future.

Are there any manufacturers selling mini-velo framesets yet? I have nice BMX wheelset collecting dust, & dieing for a new life.

I was dropping off the wheels from my Shetland at the LBS today (Campus Bike Shop, I love these guys) and was talking to the service guy and I noticed two things:

1. Maybe I didn't bend my rear hub body. The cassette wobble I saw on Sunday isn't there now.
2. They had a flat-black mini-velo (looked like an 8sp with flat bars) sitting on the shop floor. I do not remember the manufacturer, but will check when I pick the wheels up. It also had the exact same wheels (different tires, though) as the Shetland. The tag said $699. I thought it said Biria on it, but the Biria site doesn't show anything. At any rate, it's apparently catching on.

As for upgrades, I do have a Sora FD laying around in case I get the itch to dump the 2300 unit on the Shetland. Other than that, the tires would be the only thing I'd dump. I especially love the brake levers. They feel very good in the hands and are a good deal more substantial than the Tektro V-brake road levers on my Nashbar.

Not that I know of.

I double-checked. It is indeed a Biria mini-velo on the showroom floor, with Tektro road brakes, SRAM X7 RD and a double crank in the front, so it is either 16 or 18sp, with flat bars, sort of a urban-performance-hybrid setup with nice matching leather-brown saddle and grips.

Soma Fab's drop bar mini velo looks like a sweet ride! :)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hTyj3OL-9C...e_minivelo.jpg

The price may be more than some people want to pay for this bike. I have no doubt its a rocket on the road!

I took my little Shetland pony out for a couple rides one yesterday and one today totaling at least 30 miles. It was a blast. Here are some thoughts.

1. I have been trying to get the right seat height for all my bikes and I must have accidentally got this one just right. It felt really good and it was such a stable ride. I was actually able to take my hands off the bars for a a second or 2 which I never feel comfortable doing. It feels like I could go almost anywhere on this thing.

2. One of the main things I wanted to decide soon what whether or not I could live with the head tube shifters. I liked that they are simple already on the bike etc, but I usually prefer the shifters right my the brake levers. with the stable feel of the bike it seemed like no big deal to reach down and it shifts great. I think if I ever change my mind a pair of bar end shifters would be plenty to add to this. For $60 thats cheap enough. The placement of the shifters on the head tube is a great spot imo. One thing I noticed on mine is it seems like the bosses where put on there a little crooked instead of exactly perpendicular to the top tube they are a turned a little left. Its no big deal and you can't notice it unless you are looking right down the head tube while riding or standing over the bike.

3. The brakes could be better. I don't know if thats the painted rim surface, pads, not many miles of the setup, or lower end calipers or obviously some combination of all the factors. The worst case scenario is upgraded calipers, but I don't I'll need to go that far.

4. I might put a different drop bar on it, but I have decided a drop bar is what I want. I had tinkered with a origin 8 tiki bar, but while i liked the bar it wasn't for this bike. I want the bars just a bit higher I think so I might try a different stem or get a quill stem riser after all.

5. I love the bike alot. It seem comfy fun to ride and i never feel like its a small bike at all. I am going to make this my main commuter and road bike. I'll keep a mountain bike for hitting any serious trails and probably another beater mountain bike for winter commuting, but this bike is really fun to ride. N-1 is seriously going to be happening around here.

6. I am pretty impressed with this bike from Bikesdirect in general. I am going to be watching their mini velo offerings because I might buy another mini velo. I would like one with canti or V-brakes. Maybe I'll buy one with a bigger frame and outfit it with straight bars.

As mentioned, the re-design due to come out in May had been made with user requests in mind to allow 406 mm tires to be used and it will also accommodate wide tires so if you want to go off road with it, you'll be able to do it now.

Does take care of Toe clip overlap, nicely.. makes wheel diameter less.
And 53/11 is a reasonable gear with a 20" wheel..

I have zero toe-clip overlap with 451... or 26" for that matter. MUCH better than 700c in an environment that requires maneuverability... or if you lack coordination like I do. :rolleyes:

Next week, we will see how the bike handles with properly-adjusted hubs. I can't wait.

I'll be putting any and all upgrades to my current rig on hold until these mini's come out. Hopefully, my wife hasn't spent all of the tax refund by then...

I went on another ride this afternoon. I don't think there is anyway I could have issues with toe overlap on this bike. I kinda tried. =) I noticed I never really got out of the saddle to pedal hard it just didn't seem like it felt right. On one path that is a steep hill I intentionally tried going up it to see how the gearing would work out. Lets just say I would have rather had my mountain bike, but I could get up it. I tried coming out of the saddle just to see what it was like and it felt wobbly. Like I said before every time I have wanted to really put the power to the pedals I can do it just on the saddle. The bike feels plenty fast and I can't believe how easily I have adjusted to the headtube shifters. I have put about 45 miles on this little bike since Friday afternoon and I can't wait to do more.

I can't wait to see BD minis. I am already saving a Shimano 105's fund to fully upgrade this mini if it comes with good geometry and nice color choices.

I put another 20 miles today on my Windsor. Its just great. I have gone through alot of bikes and gotten plenty of deals over the years, but I really like this bike alot. I am thinking of building up a somewhat mini velo out of a surprisingly 19" frame 24 inch wheel size Peugeot US Express mountain bike I have.

I take it that these will come in at least 2 different sizes, like S/M and M/L? Any of you that got the "prototypes" care to measure the wheelbase and overall length?

Correct on the sizing. If I remember tonight, I will whip out the tape measure. I have an M/L size.

I have the S/M (dare i say smedium? LOL)and the wheelbase is 36" and the overall length is around 56". Both of ours are the Windsor aluminum frames and I was under the impression that they were going with the steel framed Merciers for this first run. I suppose our measurements will give you a basic idea of how big these little bikes are. If you want to ask the owners of the Mercier bikes some measurements they posted in this thread.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...er-Tires/page8

The monster cross for $600 is interesting also, but I certainly don't need one of those but if I was cutting down to just one bike I might have check to check one out.

I'm riding the Mercier Nano, S/M.

Been a long Winter here in S. ME, so I have not been putting much (any) milage on the poor beast. But I got stranded at the store Saturday and the bike was my sole transport home.

Roads are a mess up here. We are undergoing our annual Spring melt after a Winter with a lot of precipitation. Roads are ripped up, with potholes, frost heaves, cracks, and rocks pushing up from below. Sides of the roads are all gravel, sand, rotten leaves, and still enough snow and ice to make things interesting.

Not what I was hoping to test the Nano on for it's first commute voyage, but it's what I had...

I really like the bike. 19 mi commute to get used to it. The gearing, with a standard road double up front and not a particularly wide cassette out back is just about right with the 20"/451 wheels. I was concerned about the narrow tires at pressure, but the steel frame and probably length of seatpost necessary to fit pretty much made it a fairly comfy ride, even with typical Mud Season roads.

The small wheels especially are a hoot. They spin up so quick. But of course don't carry any momentum -- you'll coast up less hill on your approach, but once you kick in some power, you'll be delighted. Instant acceleration.

Bike was a bit twitchy and handling was interesting at first, but I soon got used to it and came to appreciate the light touch needed at the handlebars. Couple hills on my ride are real steep but short killers, so I stood to jam up them. A bit more care is needed on steering input when out of the saddle, but certainly doable. Also, I'm running a steerer extension to get the bars in even a semblance of reasonable height, so there was definitely more flex than wanted off the front.

One mishap. Commute home was at night, I haven't been bike commuting regularly recently, and this was of course a new bike. At one point, I went off road, thinking the dirt I was seeing was simply gravel on the roadway, not the shoulder with soft gravel over ice... Front washed out and *splat* down I went in the roadway. Dang. My fault for going off road, not sure I'd have stayed upright on my usual commuter running 26 x 1.25" tires, but might have had a bit more chance than the skinny 20"s on the bike. I'm taking responsibility for this and not blaming the bike at all.

Still excited about the bike. I recently came into possession of a Dura Ace 7400 8sp drivetrain that might go on it... Not particularly the correct tool for conditions the other night -- the next day I commuted in on my standard commuter, which has studded tires for the winter... Also not sure it's the right bike for my rural commute. I'll be checking it out in an urban setting when I'm down in Boston for the week, starting the 20th.

Anyone in Boston interested in taking a test spin on a Mercier Nano mini-Velo? I'll be down in Boston -- staying in Somerville; days in Allston -- Mar 20-26, PM me if you want to get out on it... or even buy it...

Brakes and shifting were adequate for what comes stock on the bike. I did swap out the stock handlebar w/ stem headtube shifters for bullhorns with bar ends. Love the new layout, with shifting at hand.

Got an e-mail response from BD a day earlier than I anticipated. I asked two questions:

Q1- What is the ETA on the mini's?
A= May/June

Q2- Max load limit?
A= "...see no reason to set a limit, but anything over 300#s may be an issue."

Did they mention a price for the Nano?

This tells me you are not really happy with the bike.

mconlonx,

is yours Alu or CroMo? I might be interested even though I am in Florida.

They have said in other threads they are determined to keep the price at or below $300 which is a pretty good deal if you a geared mini velo.

Missed the part where he mentioned 'steel', huh?

I will say that you won't ride CX with this bike, and standing out of the saddle with it fully loaded isn't something you should do for long periods of time. Climbing l'Alpe d'Huez? Maybe not (but I'd be curious to try Mt. Hamilton). For extended rough-road touring, you might want the production version with fat 406x40 tires on it. But it seems to do just fine with fairly aggressive suburban commuting with a set of panniers on it. It would definitely do well in an urban environment if the streets were in okay shape.

monsterpile mentioned the bars... I love that they aren't ergo-bend. They're the first non-ergo ones I've had and I like that the straight section at the bottom of the drops is longer (thus easier to grip) than the ergo bends on my other bikes.

I switched back from my Nashbar to the Shetland today. The hub adjustment made a pretty big difference. Here, I thought I was just slow, and it was grinding hubs all along. But that could happen to any bike and has nothing to do with the Shetland. The front and rear mudguards I added are goofy, and I hope I to find some proper 451 fenders soon.

The mini velo is quick and lively. Its more practical and comfortable transportation that than the BMX bikes kids ride and its not a folder, its a real bike.

Today I decided I would tackle the brakes and see if I could get their performance to be better. I rode in the rain last week so the surface of the rim was no longer an excuse. I wiped down the rims and the pads and went about adjusting the brakes and pads. After few miutes the braking is much more satisfactory. I am sure some nicer pads would make this even better. I'll order some next time I get some parts.

This bike has truely been a revelation in a couple ways. It fits pretty close to perfect (handlebars could maybe be a tad higher so I can more comfortably use the drops) and I have started to take the measurements from this bike and apply them to my other bikes to get them to fit. I had read about people that found these measurements and I guess all my tinkering around this winter and on the trainer has paid off. Its so nice to be able to easure a frame and know if its going to actually fit based on what I want to do with it. I tried dialing in a few bikes today, but I didn't get anything that felt as good as this bike, but I didn't have any of the bikes perfectly matched up. I'll try to do that over the next few weeks with a couple projects, but I am seriously considering buying another one of these. I just love getting on this one and riding around.

Ben I have been noticing the levers are really solid feeling as well. The feel nice and fat with a solid platform which I really like. Just to make sure I wasn't crazy and I measured and they are a tad bit wider than the other brake levers I have and I like that they are more squared off on the hoods. I think these from Bike Island are the same levers if you wanted to buy another pair. I might end up doing so if I end up really liking any of the drop bar mountain bike projects I am undertaking. I kinda like that I am now becoming picky abut what I like and don't like.

http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_S...ls&ProdID=2044

With a stem riser, the bars can be raised to a normal riding position. My Big Shot mini velo has an extended head tube but its not enough to get it near my height and extending the stem solved the issue.

I just bought a stem riser off Ebay for another project I have. It looks like it will work great. I seems lie the 80's Peugeot bikes had that smaller 21.1 steer tube so there is limited options of stems etc for them, but its working out.

With the Windsor I am going to just ride it a bit longer and see if I want to change to a different drop bar and see if I want to change the reach slightly. Once I know a bit better what I want, a different stem will probably do the trick.

It's a hoot, would love to keep it. Reason I'll be in Boston is to take a bike framebuilding class -- not cheap, need cash, will be coming away from the class with a new commuter bike I expect I'll be totally thrilled to ride. Afraid it won't get the saddle time under me it deserves, or proper, helpful, longer term reportage here.

If only they made them for my V-brakes on my other commuter.

I don't have the fit 100% yet... it's close, but I need a little more time. I think I need to raise the bars a bit and get the seatpost to keep the seat in the right place (back to the max line) for more than a week or so. Also, the ride in some places on the commute is a little harsh. So I am switching back and forth between the Shetland and the Nashbar at random now.

26x1.5 tires feel like giant puppy paws on the road after a few days on 451x28s. :)