Cotic Road Rat: your thoughts again, please...

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Comments

  • Aapje
    Aapje Posts: 77
    Jonny_Trousers wrote:
    Apart from the advice I am reading above I do sometimes ask myself why there are not more drop bar/Alfine bikes out there if it is such a great combination for commuting.
    Drop bar/Alfine bikes exist in the space between serious road bikes and fast commuter bikes. It would be an excellent option for the first group as a winter/bad weather training bike, but most of them get hung up on the lack of gears and image issues (they are afraid of what their fellow roadies will say).

    Fast commuters are often afraid of drop bars, preferring flat bars for some reason. So drop bars aren't very popular with commuters either. The result is a lack of sales of a type of bike that makes a lot of sense, IMHO.
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    Whatabout the new pompetamine?

    Designed for alfine, build it up with drops and bb7 road discs?
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • Aapje
    Aapje Posts: 77
    StuAff wrote:
    LiT's not the only one who's had a hub gear die on her. ... So I got a SRAM DualDrive hub wheel ...until it disintegrated last June!
    Interestingly, both failed hubs are made by SRAM. My experiences with their kit are less than stellar (SRAM i-brakes on a city bike squealing like pigs on both wheels, so not a single lemon).

    My advice: stick to Shimano, Rohloff or SA hubs, skip SRAM.
  • Roastie
    Roastie Posts: 1,968
    Jonny_Trousers wrote:
    my ideal itboffin, but I seem to recall it is still some way off being put into production. Apart from anything, wasn't the frame carbon, which would put it right out of my price bracket? I may PM him anyway.

    We're probably still a few months rather than a few weeks away from being ready to launch, so (I'm guessing) too long a wait for you. The frame is titanium. We are also considering steel at a later date, but that is a long way off for now.

    From having looked at the Roadrat, it is a very nicely built bike, and seems to be very solidly built (not surprising given that the Cotic DNA stems from MTBs). That said, I'd go with the advice given by others here and try to ride one before you buy.
    David
    Engineered Bicycles
  • Salsamander
    Salsamander Posts: 53
    You should definitely pop into Brixton Cycles and have a chat with them, I am sure if they can help you they will
  • itsbruce
    itsbruce Posts: 221
    Aapje wrote:

    My advice: stick to Shimano, Rohloff or SA hubs, skip SRAM.

    Interesting. I work just round the corner from the Bicycle Workshop; they specialise in fitting hub gears with a strong bias towards SRAM, saying they're better quality than Shimano while still much cheaper than Rohloff. Have to ask them what they think about the reliabiity.
    Charge Mixer (2010)
    Schwinn Madison (2009)
  • jonny_trousers
    jonny_trousers Posts: 3,588
    Thanks for all of your advice guys. I have followed the very wise consensus (given what I want) and decided to forget about hub geared bikes. I also agree that it would be nuts to spend a lot of money on a bike that I have never ridden.
  • Aapje
    Aapje Posts: 77
    itsbruce wrote:
    Aapje wrote:

    My advice: stick to Shimano, Rohloff or SA hubs, skip SRAM.

    Interesting. I work just round the corner from the Bicycle Workshop; they specialise in fitting hub gears with a strong bias towards SRAM, saying they're better quality than Shimano while still much cheaper than Rohloff. Have to ask them what they think about the reliabiity.
    The experiences on this forum (and my experiences with their drum brakes) may not be typical, although I do have my doubts about their quality control when I end up with two bad drum brakes on one bike. Frankly, I would also skip Shimano 5 and 7 speed hubs, which are far inferior to their 3 and 8 speed offerings. For performance combined with reliability, Shimano 8 Red Band and Alfine seem to be very good.
  • chrism_scotland
    chrism_scotland Posts: 221
    Would you ride longer distances on a Roadrat?
  • bluefoam
    bluefoam Posts: 102
    I have a charge tap with an 8 speed nexus hub & love it. Its a point and shoot bike = no extra bullshit or faffing around. You forget its there after a while + theres nomissing gears,indexing etc...
  • jonny_trousers
    jonny_trousers Posts: 3,588
    All done for me. I have set my Road Rat fantasy to rest.

    I do think hub gears will become more and more commonplace over the next couple of years. As for Cotic Road Rats? Who knows...
  • System_1
    System_1 Posts: 513
    Jonny_Trousers wrote:
    I do think hub gears will become more and more commonplace over the next couple of years.

    I think they'll be a bit more commonplace but they'll never really take off until someone designs a drop bar shifter for them, a proper STI unit, negating the use for twist grips or bar end shifters, neither of which are ideal on drops bars.
  • O'Day
    O'Day Posts: 26
    System wrote:
    Jonny_Trousers wrote:
    I do think hub gears will become more and more commonplace over the next couple of years.

    I think they'll be a bit more commonplace but they'll never really take off until someone designs a drop bar shifter for them, a proper STI unit, negating the use for twist grips or bar end shifters, neither of which are ideal on drops bars.

    Done.

    vrs-8-road-shifter_lg.jpg

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