Civia Prospect impressions
 

Wasn't sure where to put this, so feel free to move this if it's in the wrong place. Civia describes it as a commuting bike so...

My girlfriend just bought a Civia Prospect and since these are fairly new on the scene, I thought I'd share our first impressions for those considering one.

This is a versatile bike that can do most things mostly well, including light touring (hopefully... we'll find out). The kind of bike you can buy, keep, and use for all your normal riding without wondering if you need another bike. A good bike if you're only going to have one bike.

How does it ride?
The best way to describe it is probably relaxed, long, and low geometry of the LHT (but not quite as long and low) with lighter gentler tubing like the Crosscheck. Some may doubt the significance of these subtle differences, but I find them pretty noticeable in a test-ride. The LHT is noticeably more stable, while the Crosscheck is noticeably less harsh over bumps unloaded. The Civia is noticeably both.

Components
The bike comes with a totally smart choice of components. 32mm tires, good for the kind of riding this bike is meant for. Fenders, because is anyone seriously going to buy this bike and not put fenders on it? A rear rack, rated to 40lbs I believe. It has STI shifters, probably making it a better value than the similarly priced options from Masi and Surly, assuming you actually want STI. I think the ease of shifting during normal riding every day outweighs the hypothetical incident of a crash disabling the shifters (not for third-world or wilderness touring, of course). It has a double up front, a 9 in back. Front der is low-priced Shimano Sora (my understanding is most front Ders work fine, even low-priced ones). Rear Der is Deore. Alexrims. Hubs appear to be Civia brand. The seat is crap, I think. She swapped the black bar tape for cork which looks beautiful with the frame. See Pics. Pedals not included, which is the way it should be, IMO. She went with Brev retro pedals that are green matching the frame and dark brown leather straps, another beautiful combination. See Pics.

The frame
First of all, contrary to the picture on Civia's website, this bike came with a curved fork with a lowrider mount of some sort. The frame takes caliper brakes. Two water bottle mounts. The rear dropouts are forward facing horizontal, which makes the most sense IMO. Now it's compatible with singlespeed or IGH, just in case. It looks like there's room under the fenders for bigger tires, and without the fenders, bigger still. The paint (I assume powdercoat) is a dark green with some sparkle in it. Looks great with the split-pea soup decals. The headbadge appears to be metal and screwed on, not glued. This is a rarity at this price point, if I'm not mistaken. See pics. This one's a 56. At first she felt a bit stretched out compared to the 56 LHT, so swapped the 10cm stem for an 8cm stem, which solved the problem.

Hope this helps someone and hope you enjoy the pics! Sorry about the focus. I'm still learning how to use a camera. Doesn't help that I need new glasses.

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Great review. It's kind of surprising Civia will announce these bikes way in advance and then it takes them forever to get to market. I am picking up one of their new models (not the Prospect) this week and I intend to write up a little review or blurb about it. AFAIK, I'll be first to press.

That's a very nice looking do it all type bike! Congrats!