gna

They both look like nice bikes. They look like updated English 3-speeds, in fact.

If you do commute in a suit, be careful your cuffs don't flap into the chain or crank. Also beware the Brooks saddle doesn't stain your pants.

tar wheels 

Here's an update and some pics. I've been using the bike for commuting to work this week, and made my first bike beer run today! All in all, I'm pleased. The chain's a little noisy, but it's shifting pretty well. When I gave the Linus a test drive, before I ordered this one, the swept back handlebars didn't bother me. Now that I'm riding longer distances though, they need to go. I feel as though I have very little control with my hands all the way to the side. We just bought my wife a Felt Cafe 8, and I much prefer her bars. So, that'll be the first thing to be swapped out, and hopefully I can make it happen soon. I'm still a little nervous on the street, but I should gain a bit more confidence each day.

dyrmaker83

If the chain is noisy, then something's wrong and you may want to have your shop check it out. That is, unless you mean the Nexus hub is noisy.

That's too bad about the bars, since I love my Albatross style bars. One suggestion: they may be too low from the looks of the BD picture. You could experiment with a dirt drop style stem to raise them up higher, since they should optimally be at least a little higher than the saddle. That'd be cheaper than getting new bars, anyway.

irclean

Congrats on the new ride! It looks sharp with the Brooks saddle and grips.

The Ceres has been discontinued for 2012, and Norco appears to have given up on belt-drive bikes for the time being (citing low sales). For those of us with Norco dealers close by, there may be some deals to be had on leftover 2011 models.

blakcloud

Hopefully there will be some blowouts at the Toronto Fall Bike Show next week. I would pick one up if it was a just a little cheaper then the 1250 that I have seen it for locally.

PalmettoUpstate 

tar wheel you said: When I gave the Linus a test drive, before I ordered this one, the swept back handlebars didn't bother me. Now that I'm riding longer distances though, they need to go. I feel as though I have very little control with my hands all the way to the side. We just bought my wife a Felt Cafe 8, and I much prefer her bars. So, that'll be the first thing to be swapped out, and hopefully I can make it happen soon.

I was wondering if you did indeed make the swap out of the handlebars. One thing I noticed from your pics was that the bar ends seem to be almost parallel to the axis of the bike frame with a flare out of no more than 15 degrees I'd say...

I have an old Sears 3-speed in my stable of bikes to be resurrected and it has that same type of - I assume it's one Northroads variation - handlebars. The bike isn't in a rideable condition yet so I haven't tried them but those handlebars look like they would cause one's elbows to be sort of pinched inward toward the torso in an uncomfortable and unnatural angle.

But a number of our other 3-speed bikes, Raleigh, Miyata, Panasonic, etc. have handlebars that are similar - again, I assume they are all Northroads variations - but they have a more open angle in relation to the frame axis - with anywhere from 30 to 45 degrees of flare out - and I find these types to be very comfortable - including from the "control" standpoint.

Anyway, you might want to look at some of those if you still haven't made the change; I like them a lot.

PalmettoUpstate 

Here's something I came across that may be of interest to those following this thread.

Raleigh [of Canada] still produces a facsimile of the "classic" English 3-speed bicycle.
The "Sprite" model: https://www.raleigh-canada.ca/bikes/sprite.html

I had a bi-lingual friend conversant in English and French do some calling around and it appears that these bikes go from $300 to $350 in U.S. dollars.

Dealers: https://www.raleigh-canada.ca/dealerlist.html#on-e

no1mad 

Looks like the Sprite in Canada is known as the Classic Roadster here in the States.



And I would like to know about any bar updates the OP did. This makes the second report of people wanting to swap out the bars on the BD city bikes.

PalmettoUpstate 

You are right; seems to be the same bike. Only thing I noted different in a quick glance at the specs was that the "Sprite" shows a Hi-Ten fork and the "CR" shows a chromoly fork. That doesn't sound right; I suspect a mistake was made in the editing.

On handlebars, and particularly variations of the "Northroads" handlebars... I wonder if there is a thread explaining this difference in angles. If there isn't perhaps I will start one....

PalmettoUpstate 

NORTHROADS NORTH ROAD HANDLEBAR VARIANTS

Here's the best thread I could find on Bikeforums that discusses the variations in Northroads type handlebars: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...oad+handlebars

fadumpt

I know I'm resurrecting an old thread...but I'd be interested in hearing how the BD bike is doing (or did).

I checked out the BD link and it looks like the paint and some of the components would be some key factors in making it cheaper.