Sleek, high-tech bikes are all very well, but what if you want a bike that doesn't require special clothes and clickety-clackety shoes? I set out to make a practical bike that used the best of modern technology.
I was chatting with bike company media manager Chris Garrison at a bike show and the topic rambled round to how inconvenient us bike geeks make cycling. She’d had a revelation while riding an electric bike that was kicking around her office and loving the sheer ease with which you could hop on it and do stuff. In my case it had been borrowing my step-daughter’s B’Twin Hoprider 520 hybrid (£320) for nipping to the shops.
Both the bikes we’d been riding came with all the trimmings: rack, mudguards, lights, chainguard, a built-in lock and even a kickstand. That means riding them is as simple as getting them off the rack and setting off. No looking for shoes, no swapping lights from another bike, no worrying about getting soaked from road spray if it rains, no need for special trousers, no need even to lug around a D-lock if you’re just stopping at the shops for a few minutes. The B’Twin even has a basket (not a stock item but dirt cheap to add) so small shopping trips don’t need panniers.
This, it turns out, is brilliantly liberating. Step-daughter rides her B’Twin to school every day. She just pops her backpack in the basket and away she goes.
I had to have something as simple and practical. Project Practical was born.
The advantages of belt drive
The starting point was a Raleigh hybrid I had kicking around because it had been discontinued before I had a chance to review it and I hadn’t got round to sending it back because I’m a slackarse.
What made this bike perfect for Project Practical was its combination of a Gates belt drive and SRAM Automatix two-speed hub.
The Gates Carbon Drive, to give it its full name, is a toothed belt that runs between wide sprockets in place of the usual chainring and rear sprocket. It’s clean and silent, needs no oil and doesn’t have spiky bits that’ll eat your trousers, so you don’t need a chainguard. It needs a hub gear if you’re not going to run a singlespeed, but you can get sprockets to fit just about any hub gear you can think of. It’s brilliantly simple.
You might be wondering why you don’t see Gates belt drive bikes more often. The belt and sprockets are expensive, and the frame needs a separable seat stay so you can change the belt when it wears out. As Raleigh product manager Terry Blackwood puts it, “I want to make a bike like this as a £300 three-speed, but by the time you’ve put on the belt you end up with a £600 bike.”
This is a pity because in use the belt drive is indistinguishable from a chain, except for the lack of greasy marks on your jeans and frayed right-hand cuff.
Raleigh still makes a chain-driven version of this bike, the Strada 4, which can be found for as little as £440. If you fancy a belt-drive bike and need an 18in frame, there are a few of the belt-drive version still in retailers for £450.
Two-speed self-shifting
The Automatix hub is similarly convenient. It’s a two-speed epicyclic gear with a centrifugal clutch to do the shifting. You get to about 10mph and it shifts up for you, which means no thinking about gears and no shifter to clutter up the handlebars.
In many places that wouldn’t be very practical, but it’s fine here in Cambridge where all you really need is a getting-started gear and a cruising gear. It’s only downside is that, for me, it shifts up at a bit too low a speed. It’s possible to modify this, but it involves taking the hub apart and bending an internal spring so I’ve not yet been brave enough.
Aside from that, though, the Raleigh is a typical striped-down British hybrid. I’m told by various bike industry contacts that attempts to sell fully-equipped bikes in the UK fall flat. Even when it’s a bike for simply getting around, people don’t want to pay the extra for mudguards, a rack and so on.
This is, I submit, utterly bonkers.
If a bike comes with a rack and mudguards, the extra cost will be less than adding them later and your arse will be dry from day one. Taking at face value the claim that people don’t buy full-fat bikes, you have to wonder what kind of delusion of everlasting sunshine these people are living under. This is Britain, ferchissakes. It rains a lot.
Evans Cycles has a big range of hybrids compared to most online retailers. Counting bikes at Evans’ website, only about a fifth of hybrids have mudguards. So there you go; 80 percent of Brits are delusional about the weather.
I don’t like a wet arse, so I set about turning my Raleigh into the ideal round-town bike.
Building Project Practical, part I
Equipped with a determination to have a get-on-and-ride bike, I gathered the first set of parts necessary to turn a bare bike into something useful for everyday riding: mudguards, rack, lock and lights.
First, mudguards. There are a lot of options out there, but if you want to stay as dry as possible, SKS Longboard guards (£23.99) provide maximum coverage. The front guard almost touches the ground, so your feet stay dry, and the rear keeps spray off anyone behind you.
The Raleigh has disc brakes, so its mudguard eyes are in unusual places. That meant some careful bending of the front stays to get them into the clamp bolts, but the rear stays just weren’t long enough. Fortunately I had a Bontrager NCS mudguard kicking around with adjustable stays. A few minutes’ work with a Dremel cutting disc and I had a stay that was long enough for the job.
A practical bike needs carrying capacity, so on went a rack. Another niggle: the rack eyelets on the frame were oddly positioned so I grabbed a seat clamp with built-in threaded holes to put them in a more sensible place.
Going Dutch
One of the things I liked most about my step-daughter’s bike was not having to lug round a lock because it has one mounted on the frame. Variously called a Dutch lock, frame lock, wheel lock or nurse’s lock, this is a horseshoe-shaped contraption that mounts on the seatstays. Some frames have threaded mounts for a Dutch lock, but they’ll fit standard frames too.
Axa and Abus are the big names in Dutch locks. My step-daughter's bike has an Axa Defender (£17) so for variety I went for an Abus Amparo (£27.47) on the Raleigh. Both offer the option of a key that stays with the lock when it’s open so you don’t even need to find your keys when you’re nipping to the shop.
A Dutch lock isn’t as secure as a top quality D-lock but it’ll stop a casual thief from riding away on your bike. If you want more security, you can get add-on chains and cables that slot into the lock so it can be attached to a fixed object. The Abus Amparo chain (£18.22) comes in a pouch that hangs on your rack.
Blinded by the light
That leaves lights. Trying to keep the cost of the changes under control I slapped on an old Exposure Maxx-D I had kicking around, with a Red Eye cable rear light (£27.99) that runs off it. (My Maxx-D's a Mk 4 or thereabouts — the much brighter and cleverer Mk 8 is £269). I know, not cheap if you’re buying from scratch, but the Exposure system has the big advantage that you only have to remember to charge one thing. Nevertheless, the Maxx-D is overkill for the road. If I were buying new, I’d get an Exposure Strada (£202.46) for its road-specific beam.
Exposure isn’t the only system that will run both front and rear lights from one battery. Magicshine offers a set of its MJ-858 front light, 4.4Ahr battery, MJ-818 rear light, cabling and charger for £84.95. A separate battery isn’t as elegant as an Exposure set-up, but you can hardly gripe for the price.
If staggering rear visibility is the most important thing to you, then you can run a Hope District Plus rear light (£59.99) with Hope’s R2 Epic front light and four-cell battery (£179.99).
And there Project Practical rests for the moment. I have a few ideas for tweaks, improvements and extra features that I'll come back to in a future part two. Meantime, feel free to share your favourite practical bike ideas in the comments.
Our official grumpy Northerner, John has been riding bikes for over 30 years since discovering as an uncoordinated teen that a sport could be fun if it didn't require you to catch a ball or get in the way of a hulking prop forward.
Road touring was followed by mountain biking and a career racing in the mud that was as brief as it was unsuccessful.
Somewhere along the line came the discovery that he could string a few words together, followed by the even more remarkable discovery that people were mug enough to pay for this rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work. He's pretty certain he's worked for even more bike publications than Mat Brett.
The inevitable 30-something MAMIL transition saw him shift to skinny tyres and these days he lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
38 comments
Why not a dynamo, then you could use road specific front and rear?
I'd agree with oldstrath - Dynamo is the way to go, hub generators are reliable and affordable.
I would also question the belt drive over a traditional chain plus chainguard if you are trying to costs manageable.
A two speed hub might be fine in Cambridge, but even in relatively flat Leicester I sometimes find a three speed rather demanding!
confused as to why you wouldn't go with a dynamo setup as well... I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving an expensive light attached to the bars.
the mod on the automatix hub is dead easy, I did it on my norco city glide. I found that the shift point was completely wrong, changing up after a few turns of the pedals. it's a shame it's not externally adjustable. otherwise it's a pretty good option.
Brilliant, and timely. This is the sort of bike that people will ride come the “cycling revolution”.
Personally, I’d go for a hub gear with a chain and chainguard. Hub brakes would complete the low maintenance ethos.
I’ve always though that the "British" take on a Dutch bike offers a good compromise. You don’t mention tyres. With hub gears/brakes wheel removal is more difficult so some serious puncture resistant tyres are a good idea (Schwalbe Marathons?)
For lights I prefer the ease of removable battery lamps. They’re cheap and powerful. I keep a pair of Knogs (madam!) in my pannier for emergencies.
Not bad, but for hop-on-in-any-clothes a stepover would be better. Not rigid enough for you? Moulton has the answer...
And the folk saying use a dynohub are entirely on the money IMHO: no fuss means no faffing about taking your lights on and off and charging batteries.
I can see how a frame lock like that could be handy for quick off-and-on stops in quiet (safe) locations. I used one on a hire bike in Copenhagen, where the bike was fairly un-enticing to a thief and there were millions of bikes everywhere.
But there's no way in the world I'm going to rely on it for even a minute in the kind of inner city locations like the ones where I use my bike, and even in a quiet village I'm not going to leave my bike locked like that while I disappear off for a few hours.
Then I struggle to see how your "more secure" chain is any lighter, more convenient, or more secure than a d-lock on a bracket on the frame. It looks less secure. I want my chain or d-lock going through the bike frame (and not the bit which now comes apart!).
So if I'm going to carry a sturdy (but heavy and slightly more fiddly) lock anyway, then I might as well not bother with the additional expense and faff of a lock I don't need, even if it is attached permanently to the bike.
I'd agree that sturdy tyres are worth a mention. I know some people find the marathons slightly more sluggish, but I haven't really noticed, and the peace of mind is totally worth it.
Love this bike for the fact its a bike you can just use. As my username suggests long rides are a rare luxury but have done 20 miles this week on my pannier rack fitted on-one inbred on school run etc. Think the big thing is pedals ypu don't require specific shoes for.
Ref the dynamo lights can you get ones which stay on for a while when you stop. Im sure I have seen them but lbs denies existence.
http://road.cc/content/review/113758-kona-dr-good-utility-bike used to fit the bill.
Though quite heavy, the front rack can carry a couple of shopping bags or a work bag, without needing more specific bike kit. Carrying 10kg is perfectly possible. Mounting the rack to the head-tube would be better, especially if an open standard QR mount (IKEA?) could be used.
B'TWIN 500 Dual Platform leisure bike pedals or similar, allow for using both street shoes for short distances & spds for going further.
Fit wide tyres to cope with going over the inevitable pothole, without puncturing.
In my opinion spending upwards of £200 for a set of lights on a bike that you just want to ride around town is crazy money. LEDs are simple and cheap technology and for £50 you can get a pair of USB rechargable lights that have more than enough firepower to light up the road ahead and are easy to whip on and off while you go to buy a newspaper and more like around £20 for 'be seen' only lights.
Got Busch & Muller dynamo lights on my commuting/touring bike and the front has a small battery that keeps it on when you stop (in fact I got the upgrade so it can also output via a USB socket to charge batteries while on tour) while there is a capacitor in the back light that also keeps it running too. The back also works as a pseudo brake light, picking up when you slow down from information from the dynamo & chucking out extra light.
Not cheap, but it means I've always got good lights available on the bike.
Yes - I think most decent ones do this. I quite like the Philips SafeRide LED Dynamo as a front light - very bright, efficient and with a good illumination pattern and has a "stand light" which is what you are after - soemthign that stays on for a while after stopping. The mounts that they come with a terrible though and the wire they use needs very careful looking after if you don't want loose connections.
Almost anything by Busch & Mu:ller will be great as well. http://www.bumm.de/produkte.html
I currently use a Supernove E3 Pure 3 (if thats the correct name) paired with a E3 rear light. http://supernova-lights.com/supernova-e3-pure-3 They came with my bike and seem pretty good. I prefer the large illuminated area of the rear B&M lights but its plenty bright enough and has a standlight. If I am mostly using my lights to be seen by (rather than when riding on unlit roads) then I can run my USB charger in paralell from the dynamo with a commensurate drop in brightness.
Thanks guys. Seem to be a niche market had a look at websites of big three cycle retailers and hardly anything on there for dynamo lights. One did the generator but no front light which seemed odd.
Niche here but everyday item across the channel (compulsory in Germany for example)
Rose Bikes or eBay are a good source for dyno wheels and lights and it needn't be expensive. The lights are fit and forget and its really liberating not having to charge them on a regular basis. Had them on my commuter bike for this winter and there's no going back now. Bright, don't dazzle oncoming drivers, secure as there is no market for them yet, and one of those things that "just works". Have transformed my winter commute, I can see potholes in town due to beam pattern and extend rides out to the country if I want to. Easy to see far enough ahead to ride at 20mph+
Got my front wheel and light (a battered old Cyo Plus with standlight capacitor) for £45 on eBay, took twenty mins to fit. There are bargains out there, particularly this time of year.
Have since found a few on ebay that look promising. It does seem that while we are at the forefront of competitive cycling in the world we lag behind in the bike as a everyday vehicle.
Yep. For mostly urban riding you don't need anything fancy light-wise (or hub-wise for that matter). Easy enough to get a brand new wheel, dynohub, and light for under £100 from Germany or Holland. UK prices for the same are a joke. I could have gone down the route of spending £90 on the latest and greatest front light but you only really need those for trail riding at night.
That's one tiny pannier. Or possibly an enormous bike.
Ah. Just spotted the lock reference.
"doesn’t have spiky bits that’ll eat your trousers, so you don’t need a chainguard"
I challenge this - if you have flapping trouser cuffs, or a skirt, what's to stop it getting caught? And belt drives like this are still exposed to *everything* the wheels throw up. They will get mucky.
Also, what does one of these belts cost? Seems to be about £50. You can buy a lot more than 3 chains for £50. For lower spec ones, I'd say 6-7 at least, more for a 1/8th bog standard singlespeed chain. That's 30,000km+ of utility cycling, minimum.
I'm not against belts per se, rather that the justifications in the article don't quite seem to...er...justify themselves
I would imagine the benefit of a belt drive would be the lack of maintenance, rather than the cost or longevity? also, no wear on the chainring or rear sprocket.
Sounds about right - the quietness sounds good. I bet the belt is less noisy over cobbles.
One good addition to a rack is an elastic cord - lets you add a loaf of bread without preplanning. I borrowed a pal's shopper bike. The front basket was sooo useful. And you can see your stuff whle you pedal. I just can't quite bite the bullet to put a basket on my own bikes!
I did something similar 6 years ago - converted my Pompino by cold setting the rear triangle so I could fit an 8-speed Alfine hub and added Versa shifters, a dynamo front hub with disc brake, rack and full mudguards. It is heavy, and having a full length gear cable housing cable-tied to the frame because there are no cable stops causes the shifting to go out of index very often. I was intending to commute 30 miles each way on it frequently but I've tended to use a different bike because of the weight and the shifting. It works very well as an everyday bike for popping to the shops or riding to the station though.
Bang on. I run two Moultons as 4 season commuters set up in this way, with full guards and racks. The Moulton ws designed as a transport bike. the integrated racks and luggage are brilliant as is the suspension.
Both of mine are fitted with relatively budget dynamo lights for less than £70 per bike including a new wheel with generator bult in - http://cyclingsouthtyne.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/dynamo-lights-on-budget.html
A couple of years ago, care of a special offer on Wiggle, I managed to get a Avanti NIC2 which comes with a Alfine 8+Gates Belt drive and I bought it because for years I had wanted a as zero as possible maintenance commuter bike that I could always rely on.
The only changes I have had to make are replacing the cable disc calipers with some Shimano SLX's I had around and then replacing the front wheel with a dynamo wheel+B&M lights+SKS Longboard Mudguards and then fitting some of Schwalbes supper cushy Land Cruiser tyres to cope with all the potholes that get worse each day.
Two years later, just as I had hoped, its been a zero maintenance ride and a joy to own. Keeping the drive train clean, which used to be a chore of constant chain cleaning and regular replacement... reduced to a few seconds wipe down with a damp sponge and nothing more. The belt still looks like new. The chainring and sprocket have only surface burnishing and nothing like the amount of scouring and damage I had experienced previously... oh and did I mention the most wonderful feature of all and one that I hadn't actually considered before making the purchase decision - it is the most silent bike I own.
As to tyres: no need to go to the heavy and sluggish standard Marathons. The Marathon Supreme is a folder, much lighter and better-handling, almost as puncture-resistant, and available in a variety of sizes for 700c and 26-inch. The now-obsolete mark 1 model is being sold through at very keen prices. A utility bike can still have enjoyable handling!
My dream commuter bicycle would be belt-driven with internal 11speed hub, hydraulic brakes equiped road bicycle, that can clear a 32c tire with fender and a geometry that resembles more like a touring bike rather than a racing bike. May it be steel or aluminium, and if it was made from titanium it would simply be something to drool over. No carbonfibre lover for commuting here, even about fork only. I don't care about the label, as long as the price is sensible, Pinnacle and Plannet X would be perfect!
Unfortunately, I think there are no brifters for hub gears AND hydraulic brakes as we speak.
@L.Willo
I wasn't aware of this cool bike. I love the paintjob and the smooth welds, the tires are a bit of an overkill at 42c but they can be replaced. The price I find it at bike24 (1500euro) is a bit steep, but apart from drop bars, everything that a commuter needs is right there. If it was sold at this price with drop bars it would be a great temptation!
Well there is actually a cable STi shifter for Shimano hubs but it is not a Shimano product http://www.sussex.com.tw/versa.html . But even if works good with the hub, it will not work with hydraulic brakes and since we are speaking about dream bike, hydraulic brakes would be more than welcome. I am Shimano fan but I cannot understand why they have gaps in hydraulic road brakes such as in 9speed brifters or hub gear brifters. I hope they will make them soon...
@L.Willo
Not really interested in replacing my bike, but its nice to make bike dreams
I cannot see accurately the existence of fender mounts, but the lack of them would be a dealbreaker indeed.
My daily commuter is a Cannondale Bad Boy 1 with a Shimano Alfine Di2 11 speed IGH drivetrain and XTR disc brakes. Also run Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. Absolutely minimal maintenance, don't ever need to fiddle with cables. Just lube and clean chain once a week or so. IGH oil may need to be replaced at some stage but I'm not there yet (simple procedure). I've pulled 5mm nails out of the tyres without any punctures.
Overkill perhaps, but I freely admit to being a gadget/gear freak and I love riding this bike to work!
I basically had the same set-up with a Pompetamine frame. Yes, it made for a heavy bike but I still enjoyed riding it. My main issue was the faff when you got a rear wheel puncture. I found it hard to get the wheel back in, get the chain tension right and the disk rotors aligned on the side of the road. I went for heavy-duty tyres but this just made the bike even more sluggish. I've since rebuilt the setup onto a Kaffenback, which solves the rear wheel alignment as it is a vertical dropout. I managed to get the chain tension right with a half-link but I have an eccentric BB to fit (yes such a thing exists for standard english 68mmx24) when the chain stretches a bit. But I've not bothered with rack and mudguards and just use this bike for fun on trails and sustrans routes when the sun is out.
I cannot say the full length cables on my previous (Pompetamine) bike seemed to affect the indexing though. It also helps keep the muck out (I have an 11 speed Alfine and Versa shifters but I don't see how this would make any difference).
I do use a dynamo hub and lights on my proper commuter in the winter and definitely think they would complement this build. Perhaps a pump seatpost (such as the Dahon one) and basic tools would be a good idea too? Oh and my gold chain cost £6 and it shouldn't get so mucky to be a problem if you keep your bike clean! Some trouser clips are also a rather inexpensive solution if you cannot manage this.
Kaffenback 2 Alfine.JPG
I bought a Ghost Panamao 2 from Chain Reaction which came equipped with a hub dynamo and a rear light which runs off the front. The rear stays illuminated for a time after coming to a stop so these lights are out there.
Still toying with the dynamo idea. Is a hub generator necessary as bottle type means I can keep my old but still decent hope disc hubs
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