Finished this last summer got a few cross races in before I had to move back to Chicago. For now its my big city commuter, I’m dying to get back into road riding but am holding out on adding to the fleet until I know my next move.
Those guys doing the mountain stages on fixies had to be juicing. OMG. Could they switch out gear ratios between stages at least?
Seeing that derailleur reminds me of the first time I rode with clipless shoes and fell off. I think I would kill myself reaching down to move my chain.
I believe the introduction of the flip-flop hub into the tour was about 1911/1912? . There are different strategies, but what I have found is that on the flats, they would ride fixed. Prior to a climb, they flip the wheel to the freewheel side. Lower gearing ratio but more importantly, it allowed coasting for descents. Fixed up a hill isn’t so bad. Spinning out on the downhill side sucks.
Also, walking was quite common back in the day. The domestique was also known to literally push their captain up the climb.
Don’t care much for the aesthetics of the integrated front fender. And then they don’t even offer anything for the rear, probably look horrible with an SKS.
Belt drive and 2-speed SRAM is fine as long as you live in a flat city like NYC or Chicago.
Disc brakes at best are expensive and unnecessary for city riding.
The welding is clumsy.
The stem is simple and I like the reverse steer tube clamp but it lacks some refinement.
And are those foam grips? First thing I would change.
If you are looking for a knock-around-town bike, I like State for fixed gear, Linus and Public for gears. If you are going to spend Biomega money, I’d get a Shinola instead, but I find both to be spendy.
Cool bike. Not too terrible of a price. Long wheelbase, meant for plooting around town with comfort, not speed. I like it.
Although the 650C wheels are an odd choice. They want a smaller wheel, fine. But 650C is traditionally used for tri or time trial bikes. And your tire choices will reflect that, they will be narrow, hard and not for comfort. For city riding I recommend a minimum of a 28mm tire and ideally a 32mm. This bike comes with a 25mm tire. Less air to adsorb city road potholes and such. If they wanted a smaller wheel (700C is on most bikes out there), I would have gone with a 650B. Slightly larger than the 650C but a wheel traditionally for touring/randonneuring which translates well for city riding and great tire choices.
It looks like there may be enough clearance to swap to 650B but then you have the added expense of wheels and different fenders. I would also be sure to ask a dealer if there is clearance for the 650B,
I was looking at the propel-series for such a long while, before getting my current bianchi oltre.
Heard nothing but great testimonials of it, but please do share your experience!
My whip:
The jury is still out on if can afford new wheels or not this summer.
This is my first post here so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Aniruddha Gupte and I’m a Masters Candidate in Industrial Design at The Designskolen Kolding, Denmark. I’m also currently an Intern in a small ID studio called VE2 in Aarhus.
I originally hail from Mumbai, India and I’ve previously completed a diploma in Product Design in Bangalore.
I’m a rather slow learner and have a long, long way to go as a designer, so much so that I’m still a bit intimidated to post my work here after a year of silent stalking. So let me start with something I’m familiar with. I’ll move to doodles soon and then hopefully grow a pair and share some projects for critique.
I got this Frankenstein bike second-hand in Aarhus to ride to work. I have no idea what make the frame is. The components are a combination of old Campagnolo and budget Shimano. The drop bar and downtube shifters were replaced by the last owner.