cycling spokane forum

I am looking to buy or build a city bike.

I will use this bike for short utility rides....commuting to work (2 miles each way with hills), grocery store and other trips under 10 miles in distance.  I have a touring/road bike for longer rides.  Riding mostly on pavement, but I want to be able to go on dirt/gravel roads/trails and handle Spokane's winter roads without any problem.

My preferences are a sturdy bike with an upright riding position, internally geared hub, swept back bars, rack/basket on front (and the geometry to ride well with a front load), clearance for fenders and larger tires (40ish max). I don't have a strong preference on wheel size...either 700 or 650b.  Disc brakes (at least one) are preferred.

My target budget is about $1,000 but I know I will probably go over this as I add all the bells and whistles I want...well, maybe only bells.

My research has found three options. The Kogswell P/R, a Surly Long Haul Trucker frameset with non-standard components and the fully built Gary Fisher Simple City 8 (possibly with a switch of the handlebars).  I also have taken a look at some of the Dutch bikes (Azor Opa and Secret Service in particular), which are appealing in a lot of ways, but they just seem too heavy, and too expensive.

Does anyone have an opinion on any of these bikes individually or compared to each other?  Are there other bikes that I should be considering?

Thanks for any feedback you can provide.

 Andy

The bike you have in mind sounds like fun.  I've been checking out the Simple City 8 myself this week - there's a lot to like about that bike at that price (not that I need another bike right now.)  I don't know enough about front load geometry to know if it's right on that bike.  The bars might actually have pretty decent sweep.  Hard to tell from the website.  It would definitely keep you close to your target price, since it looks pretty ready to roll, with fenders, rack and hey, a chainguard!  Too bad it doesn't have discs, but I'm told that the roller brakes are not bad.  The Kogswell or Surly would be cooler for sure, but would probably end up putting you closer to the $1500-2000 range, I would guess.

Another one that appears to have good bang for the buck is the Specialized Globe San Francisco 3, which does have discs, but probably not the front load geometry you're after.  That and it's a 26.  It's kinda sexy, though, IMO.  I would have seriously considered this bike except that I wanted to run fatter tires for snow and there's no clearance for them.

http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?sid=09SanFrancisco&eid=178 

The 700c version doesn't have discs, but it does come with fenders and a generator hub, which is kinda cool, and 38 mm tires.

http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?sid=09ViennaDLX&eid=178

Good luck and have fun.

Pat,

Thanks for your insights.  It's fun to consider all the possibilities.  Of course, it will be even more fun to actually ride the bike.

Andy

Andy,

There are some hard requirements there that make an off the shelf bike difficult.

The biggest limiter is "the geometry to ride well with a front load." If that's a serious criterium then you're looking at a very small number of production bikes:

-- Kogswell P/R

-- Raliegh One-way

-- other small makers that make low-trail semi production bikes

None of which are good for the fat tire or disc and likely not to come in under $1000 with an internal hub set up.

If you're thinking front basket, instead of front rack, low-trail won't matter hugely anyway, given the position of the load in a basket that cantilivers off your bars vs a load that sits right above the front wheel on a rack.

I think the Pat and Jeff bikes are hard to beat for value, versitility and toughness: Pat built up a Karate Monkey and Jeff built up a Redline Mono -- both builds use the new Shimano Alfine 8-speed internal hub with disc. Both are sturdy, high-value frames. The crazy high trail on them is a deal killer for me -- that's why I went with the Rawland, but I've become a low-medium trail elitist. Crazy high-trail handles a front basket just fine. I rode the turd like that for a couple years.

I think it will be difficult to come in under $1000 for this build.

 John,

Thank you for the input.  It dosn't sound like there is a perfect solution.  As I think about it, I realize that, although I will often carry things on this bike (work bag, groceries, etc), I probably won't have heavy loads.  For any serious loads, I use my Ute.  Based on your comments, I realize that if heavy loads are not expected, the front end geometry is not as big a concern.  I'm still a few months from making any decisions, so I'll keep pondering.   Thanks.  -Andy

admin:

Andy,

There are some hard requirements there that make an off the shelf bike difficult.

The biggest limiter is "the geometry to ride well with a front load." If that's a serious criterium then you're looking at a very small number of production bikes:

...

Did I really use "criterium" like that? Wow. Racing on the brain I guess. And Ken: you let that go? I'm disappointed in all of us.

I meant: criterion dammit!