no1mad 

Oooh, I like!

Question- if you got a tape measure handy, do you mind taking a couple of quick measurements? BD just gives a "if your this tall, go with this frame", but I'm wondering what the chain stay length is and the wheelbase is as well.

Scooby214

The wheelbase measured 110cm for me. Chainstay length measured 44.5 cm for me. Hope this helps.

no1mad 

Let's see if I remember my metric system from decades back... 1 cm= 10 mm, so add a zero to your measurements, plug them into a mm to inch converter that I have bookmarked... 17.5" for the chainstay and 43.3" on the wheelbase- both good numbers in my book.

Thanks!

jenny j

Thanks for the report & updates. I just got my Windsor Kensington from bikesdirect. It is going to take some adjustments to get the fit just right, but it is a really nice looking bike.

JiveTurkey

The word "decade" is metric.

Also 1" = 2.54 cm = 25.4 mm. If you'll do any work on bikes, commit this to memory!

Scooby214

After riding the Windsor Oxford 3 speed for a little over two months, I thought I'd give a brief update.

I still love riding the bike! I'm glad I switched out the handlebars, though I think the original bars were growing on me before I took them off. I tend to tinker, so I may put them on again at some point.

I've switched out the brakes for some Kool Stop salmon pads, as we've had quite a bit of rain lately. I'm still pondering an eventual upgrade to drum brakes, or at least a coaster brake Nexus 3 hub. The freewheel Nexus 3 hub that came on the bike works well, so it is hard to justify the expense when talking with my wife about upgrades.

I find I go to the 3 speed for commuting about 80% of the time, and use my road bike (Spec. Allez Steel Double) for the other 20%. I still get the road bike out when doing group rides, but I prefer the 3 speed when riding with the family.

I have varied routes for my commute, with my longest route being 28 miles one way. The 3 speed has proven comfortable to ride on all of my routes, as long as I don't feel the need to hurry. I am a little faster on the road bike, though stop-and-go traffic tends to be the limiting factor on either bike.

If I had it to do again, I'd buy the bike again. I wish it came with the Sturmey Archer 5 speed drum brake hub, though the Shimano Nexus 3 speed works well as a low maintenance solution for commuting in rainy weather.

no1mad 

Glad to hear that it's worked out so well for you. I came real close to pulling the trigger on one myself, but then got laid off. New job is only 2.4 miles away via the direct route and thinking about 'rewarding' myself with a 3spd if I make it past the probationary period, but I'm leaning towards one sourced from the LBS. Actually there are three contenders at the moment- KHS Green, KHS Cidi 3, and the Giant Via 1.

Zrane

How do you find the 3 speed holds up on the windy days? I ride mostly e/w, so frequently have to content with some pretty nasty headwinds and am usually dumping gears to get moving. I haven't rode a bike with less than 18 speeds in years, so I don't know how the ratios are set up.

Thinking about getting my wife a Public C3 for tooling around on, but the "moar gears bettar" side of me says 3 isn't enough.

Scooby214

I have my bike geared fairly low, so that third gear is my cruising gear when not dealing with wind. With this setup, I have two hill climbing/wind/accelerating gears, and one cruising gear. It works pretty well, though there are certain situations when I have to make the choice between an easy second gear or a third gear that is just a little too hard.

Okla. City has prevailing southwest winds, and my afternoon commute is toward the southwest, so wind advisory days have me down in second, or standing and pedaling through some stretches when in third gear. I see you are in Okla. City, so if you've ridden in the area around Lake Hefner, N. Independence Ave. near Baptist Hospital, or by Quail Springs Mall, you know what kind of wind I ride the 3 speed in.

With my current gearing, the only time I want more gears is when going downhill with a tailwind. I then wish for an additional gear so I can pedal my way down the hill instead of coasting.

ryanhulce

Scooby your post helped me make the decision to buy this: https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ensington8.htm

Scooby214

Yay! I hope you get a lot of use out of it! I bet the 8 speed hub will be nice.

ryanhulce

Yeah I think I will. I have been putting a lot of miles already this year on my Single Speed Crusier, and my Cervelo road bike. My goal is to start commuting part of the week. I will be a fair weather commuter

monsterpile

That Kensington 8 is a nice ride. Its tempting, but I don't need it at all.

a1penguin

My older road bike is a triple and for my commute (and most of my riding) I only use the middle ring. If that bike has similar gearing, it will be a GREAT BIKE! It's a nice looking bike and the racks give it added value. Get the red one :-)

thiocyclist

Ran into this thread by chance and thought I'd zombie it just to say, I've been riding my 56 cm black Oxford for something like 4 or 5 thousand miles now and with regular maintenance it has done fabulously well. The original chain is still going strong. I got a blem model so the paint job is not perfect and I put a couple dents in the front fender, but other than that it looks about as good as when I first pulled it out of the cardboard box from Bikes Direct. I got the optional rear rack which has worked out great. This morning on my commute a guy on a Windsor Wellington pulled up alongside me (unlike me it was just a guy on a bike, not my formula of man + bike + backpack + coffee thermos + rear rack with lunch bag and tools) and I thought he was going to smoke me but he ended up eating my dust a half dozen times because he kept getting in front of me after I'd stop at a light. It was a fun little vignette. I don't think he expected to be thoroughly outdone by a guy on an old-timey looking three speed!

lewtwo

>> 56cm Windsor Oxford, 6' 1" body <<
Bikesdirect is run by Mike Spratt who also happens to be the principle for GLOBAL VELO, INC. that owns the US registered bicycle trademark for 'Windsor'.

I have been looking at ordering one of these but I am a bit concerned about the size and Bikesdirect has no clue as to the geometry. Even though I am six feet tall the last time I got a bike from them based on their subjective sizing chart I could barely get my leg over the saddle at its minimum height. If you are still following this thread could you perhaps provide some more basic measurements ? Top Tube height, Top Tube length, minimum seat height.

Thank you.