Does this bike exist?

markp2

I am looking for a new 'fast' commuter bike to replace my trusty (but oh so heavy) Saracen Hytrail.
I am looking for the following features;
Lightweight (less than 12kg)
Hub gear system with 8 or more speeds
Hydraulic disc brakes
Carbon forks
700c wheels to take approx 28mm tyres (tubeless if poss)
Holes for mudguards and rack
Toothed belt drive rather than chain.

All for around £1k (to take max benefit from R2W scheme)

I have seen all the bits or a combination of them on a variety of bikes, but not all at the same time.

Does this bike (or something pretty similar) exist?
Cheers,
Mark

Jay dubbleU

Only in legend....................

Giant Escape R Sub Zero ?

Specialized Crosstrail Pro ?

Charge Tap?

Levi_501

Do you really need disks ?

£1,000 on a commuter IMHO is a lot as you will at one point want to leave it outside.

Best bet may be a Cannondale Bad Boy, or perhaps a Cyclos bike.

Getting belt drive and disks brakes may take some doing.

Stuey01

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/urban/soho/soho/

Trek Soho?

markp2

Thanks for the suggestions. What is a Cyclos bike? Can't find any reference to it on the web.
The closest I have got to my ideal spec (on paper) is the Ridgeback Flight 05, but that still has derraileur gears

Stuey01

I think you are going to have to compromise on something.
Do you really need belt drive? if so you are limited pretty much to Trek.

If you can live without belt then you have the cannondale badboy, the ridgeback, the charge mixer, probably more.

Cyclos I think is referring to a cyclocross bike, like this:

markp2

My aim is to find a commuting bike with as low a maintenance cost as possible. I live and ride in rural Devon where the local combination of sandy soils, cow sh*t and frequent rain conspires to wear out drive componants in quick order. Chain, cassette, bottom bracket and chainwheels all wear out in about 2000 miles - and that is using decent quality bits (XT) with weekly cleaning and relubing.
I need a reasonable number of gears as there are a number of 20-25% hills on my regular routes.
Thanks,
Mark

jeepie

Hi Mark,

I think you should ditch the requirement for a belt drive as this is only available on a few bikes. I've got an Alfine Hub and can't understand why a belt is needed WITH the hub. A chain is fine - just a few drops of oil once a week (or less!)

I've got a Genesis IO ID which I love but will be too heavy for you. Perhaps you could get a bike shop to build you something like this?

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source ... CmFn_l5y1g

Cheers

J

P.S. Absolutely love my Genesis IO ID. Commuted on it all year and spent £15 on it in total.

bomberesque

belt drives are still very much in their infancy. Ask the same Q in 2-3 yrs time and I think you'll get loads of answers. For now you should be able to fulfill your wishlist with a chain driven one. That said, that Trek Solo that Stuey linked ticks most of your boxes. drum brakes instead of discs but they're great too and potentially even lower maintenance.

My cotic Road Rat has discs (cable ones, BB7) drop bars, alfine (8 sp hub gear) and cost just north of 1,000 ... but I don't think you could build it on C2W, it was a custom (and somewhat esoteric ... getting the alfine to work with drop bars) build. I agree that the hub gears are superb for low maintenance commuting; I put some oil on the chain every couple of months and that's it really.

It is certainly >12 kg but it is easily touring capable and had full rack/m-guards

That said, there are loads of chain driven flat barred alfine commuters out there, they are very popular over in M-land europe, but where you'd get them in the UK I'm less sure

glamrox

markp2 wrote:

The closest I have got to my ideal spec (on paper) is the Ridgeback Flight 05, but that still has derraileur gears

Have you looked at the Flight 04? that has hub gears and discs

DevUK

How about the Cube Hooper:

http://www.cube-bikes.de/xist4c/web/HOO ... 31101_.htm

Hasn't got the carbon forks or belt drive, but ticks a lot of the other boxes, if not all.

UndercoverElephant

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... i8-d-33752

Merida S-Presso i8?

lardboy

bomberesque wrote:

My cotic Road Rat has discs (cable ones, BB7) drop bars, alfine (8 sp hub gear) and cost just north of 1,000 ... but I don't think you could build it on C2W, it was a custom (and somewhat esoteric ... getting the alfine to work with drop bars) build. I agree that the hub gears are superb for low maintenance commuting; I put some oil on the chain every couple of months and that's it really.

Wow! That's cheap. I asked Brixton Cycles about pretty much the same bike (Discs, drops and hub on a RR frame) and they suggested about £1,800 for the complete build. Once I'd picked my jaw off the floor I left.

jairaj

markp2 wrote:

Chain, cassette, bottom bracket and chainwheels all wear out in about 2000 miles - and that is using decent quality bits (XT) with weekly cleaning and relubing.

I may be wrong but isn't the deore range more durable? XT and above use more and more Alu while deore is mostly steel and harder wearing.

jeepie

For me the driver for getting the Alfine hub was the fact that my commute could get very muddy, especially in winter, and the endless cleaning and lubing in the dark!

markp2

The Trek Soho in the link looks like it could be a possibility. It has the most from my list so far. Does anyone know the weight of it?
The Cube and Merida are both worth looking at. Shame the Cube has 26" wheels because it has a nice modern style.
I had missed the Ridgeback Flight 04 because it looks in the pics like it had a deraileur due to the chain tensioner. Thanks for the lead.

Deore more durable than XT? That is interesting. I have always assumed that the further you went up the Shimano scale, the higher the strength.

Winter road 'muck' and the wear it creates is the driver for my interest in the Alfine. Are there any similar units I should be looking at?
Thanks for all the help,
Mark

jeepie

Hi Mark,

Well apparently the Nexus 8 speed hub was poor. I know this from the research I did and chatting to a few peeps on the forum. The Rohloff hubs are the absolutely business, but very ££££. I got the Alfine as it was supposed to be much better than the Nexus i.e good enough, but was a Rohloff on a budget. If you are loaded you are look at these puppies > http://www.rohloff.de/en/products/speedhub/

Cheers

J

jairaj

markp2 wrote:

Deore more durable than XT? That is interesting. I have always assumed that the further you went up the Shimano scale, the higher the strength.

Sorry not necessarily true. The SLX crankset is 100% stiffer than the XT crankset. But the XT has better performance than the SLX so is still worth the extra money.

Roastie

The Trek Soho is the only off the peg option I know of that ticks all the boxes.

Otherwise, a good shop could probably put something together for you based around a Cotic Roadrat to that spec (minus the belt drive)...

georgee

look at carbon drive (who make the belt compnonents for the trek) for some ideas and frame suppliers and solutions, I think the nexus and alfaline hub integration would be fairly standard..

www.carbondrivesystems.com

Stuey01

jairaj wrote:

markp2 wrote:

Deore more durable than XT? That is interesting. I have always assumed that the further you went up the Shimano scale, the higher the strength.

Sorry not necessarily true. The SLX crankset is 100% stiffer than the XT crankset. But the XT has better performance than the SLX so is still worth the extra money.

Define performance.

All the crank does is hold your pedal a certain distance from the axle, stiffness and lightness is pretty much all there is to define the performance. The SLX is stiffer, and only marginally heavier.
If you are talking about shifting performance then I don't buy that either as shimano rings are pretty much just shimano rings, made out of different materials for durability or weight. besides, how often to you change gear on the front? not very.

Bottom line is that as far as cranksets go there is no reason to upgrade to XT unless that 80g or whatever it is really means that much to you. SLX crankset is now so close, and infact exceeds XT in some areas, that the XT is almost redundant for your average punter.

markp2

Thanks for the Gates belt link. i think that this is going to be the way forward for the future. Have you spotted the weight quote? 80g for the belt as opposed to 400g for a chain. The 'sprockets' also look much lighter than the metal ones.

Stuey01 - for me, performance means not being worn out too quickly. The teeth on my big and middle rings get undercut by the chain and look out of shape at around 1000 miles. The small ring is always pristine because I never use it!

Stuey01

markp2 wrote:

Thanks for the Gates belt link. i think that this is going to be the way forward for the future. Have you spotted the weight quote? 80g for the belt as opposed to 400g for a chain. The 'sprockets' also look much lighter than the metal ones.

Stuey01 - for me, performance means not being worn out too quickly. The teeth on my big and middle rings get undercut by the chain and look out of shape at around 1000 miles. The small ring is always pristine because I never use it!

Deore and XT both have a steel/carbon composite middle and an aluminium outer. should be little if any difference in durability.

jairaj

Stuey01, I wasn't trying to sell the XT over SLX. I'd prob go for a SLX over XT if i had to upgrade. Sorry it was a bad example. I was just trying to say that SLX is stronger even tho its lower down the model range.

markp2

Update on my quest. Had a look at the Trek Soho. Ticks all the boxes (apart from looking pretty boring) except the rear hub is a wretched Nexus unit. It has Alfine control gear but the actual hub is Nexus.
Not good enough on a £700 bike.

Johno68

http://www.simpel.ch/

Gates belt drive - check
hub gears - check
dynamo hub - check
disk brakes - check

under £1,000 no chance!!!

UndercoverElephant

Johno68 wrote:

http://www.simpel.ch/

Gates belt drive - check
hub gears - check
dynamo hub - check
disk brakes - check

under £1,000 no chance!!!

Light? No chance either!