2023 Trek District 4 Equipped Stagger

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Long post. Sorry I'm not known for my brevity.
TL;DR: I've bought a new bike (as per title). I'll report back on how it performs over the coming months.


I've traded in some wife points today and ordered another new bike.
That's two so far this year. And 6 if we include the second hand bikes bought since I started cycling again last year.

One of those second hand bikes, a decade old road bike, is on long-term loan. And if the loanee doesn't buy it, it will probably be making it's way to the for sale section in due course. My original plan, having sourced some non-worn out wheels and replaced the chain and cassette on said bike, was to use it as a summer bike.

I'd picked up an 'audax' bike to use as a winter bike, trying to do things on the cheap. That turned out to be well past it's best with a frame that flexed so much, the mudguards rubbed on the wheels no matter how much they were adjusted, even after re-shaping the mudguards several times with a hot air gun. The frame has by now, hopefully, been made into soft drink cans.

After having spent more time fettling bikes than actually riding them, I ran out of patience. So a Ribble CGR Ti was ordered. And that is a mighty fine bike. I'm planning to use that all year around, mainly for club runs. And perhaps not when it's actually raining or likely to rain on account that I'm time poor and bike cleaning is the first thing that goes out of the window.

After that came an MTB, courtesy of another forummer. I'm not much of a mountain biker, but I managed 25km on it yesterday over several muddy trails.

Sadly, as if to spite me, the old Ridgeback Gas Pipe Hybrid I already owned broke a spoke. After nearly a month, I still haven't gotten near the thing to pull another spoke out, in order to measure properly and order a replacement. And consequently, I've been walking/driving more and cycling less. I will get it sorted - maybe during the next bank holiday. Or the one after that.

Then the opportunity came up to acquire another hybrid, this time a B'twin Riverside 120. I thought the Ridgeback was heavy - this one really is heavy. It weighs almost as much as the Ridgeback without any of the adornments (muguards, rack, kick stand, toolkit, locks). It's also a 'one by' set-up with 7 gears. Very 'sit-up and beg' seating position. I think this will be an ideal bike for knocking around on and one that I'll not be too upset about getting half-inched, so I think it will be a future going-to-town bike, providing a bit of redundancy with the Ridgeback. I've managed 80km in a day so far on the Ridgeback. I don't think I'll be attempting more than 10 on this! I've got to address the loose headset, ticking front wheel, rusty chain and terrible braking first, and I suspect that I won't get started on that for a couple of months.

So why the Trek? Well, I wanted something low maintenance which I could just hop on and ride. Not only that, but something I don't need to worry too much about cleaning or oiling after a long soggy ride. As an added bonus, if my wife ever decides to try riding a bike, she should be able to jump straight on it and be relatively comfortable.

The 2024 flavour doesn't seem to be in stock anywhere yet.

The 2023 flavour is hard to come by, but I think I've found one at Mike Vaughan - which is a bike shop in Kenilworth IIRC. It was also discounted to ~ £1300. The £1750 RRP is a lot to justify for someone who doesn't even have a regular commute.

There were a number of other bikes I contemplated
  • Trek Distrct 1 / 2: They have roller brakes instead of disk brakes. It's just a little bit too hilly around here to risk overheating them; they are chain driven instead of belt driven; they have suspension forks
  • Trek District 3 Equipped: 100 lumens instead of 180 lumens from the equipped front light, Nexus 8 speed rather than Alfine 8 speed, Gates CDN components instead of CDX, 'Revoshift' shifter instead of trigger shifter - if it wasn't for the shifter, this is the model I would have plumped for.
  • Canyon Commuter 6 / 7 : 2.5kg lighter than the Trek, Carbon Fork (instead of Aluminium), more expensive, only very basic information about it's geometry published, lower system weight (120 kg as opposed to 135 kg), no supplied kick stand, Gates CDN components instead of CDX, has no rack lugs lacks some flexibility, looks a bit 'flashy' for a commuting bike
  • Canyon Commuter 9 Ltd: Very nice, lighter still but very spendy, looks too special to leave locked up
  • Cube Tavel Exc/Pro: Practically unobtanium at the moment although very well priced; Pro has great tyre clearances; 115kg system weight is a no go for me as I do like to load a bike up occasionally
  • Ridgeback Supernova Eq: Very well priced, being available for ~ £900 and the only thing I found it lacking was the belt drive. If it wasn't for the colour not hiding dirt very well, this could have been it.
  • Boardman URB 8.9: Not an equipped bike but it is at least belt drive and the RRP of £899 would mean it could be similarly equipped as the Trek and still be cheaper; however, difficult to find any current stock
There we a number of other contenders I looked at but they are now fading from recent memory.

It's ironic, that in the time it's taken to write this post, I could have pulled that spoke! I've composed this in small fits and starts during the course of a couple of days - mostly whilst waiting on jobs that take a couple of minutes to run.

I also appreciate, that I could have bought a much cheaper bike with one or more derailleurs, asked the LBS to fix it when it goes wrong and still be quids in for quite a few years. Thing is, I've always worked on my own bikes and I've found bike shops don't generally do a better job than I do. Admittedly, when a hub gear goes wrong, it's not nearly so easy to fix. And p*nct*res ... well I'll try my luck finding and repairing them in situ rather than changing the tube. Or lose an hour somewhere trying to work out how to get that back wheel out and back in and think about whether that's something that can be done on the road. It may be that I've solved one problem by creating another. Or maybe my usual luck will hold out (I've seldom punctured).

I've also gone for the staggered frame. The conventional framed step-over version is even harder to get hold of, and where it is still available, it is not discounted. I don't think I'm going to mind this too much and it might make it more appealing to the chief of the household, such that she might try it.

Hoping that the tyres adequately soak up the bumps, given that the District 4 has aluminium front forks, the only compromise I feel I've made that I might be unhappy about, are the back swept handle bars. I read that they make climbing more difficult and although the terrain around here is not mountainous, there are some definite lumps. We will see how that pans out.

This is my first hub-geared bike and first belt driven bike. I'm looking forward to it and I'll also look forward to reporting back on how it goes.
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

Senior Member
Good news. The LBS I've ordered the bike from have managed to lay their hands on one and ship it from Europe. (Their website inferred it was in-stock but I was sceptical as these are showing up out-of-stock with many retailers and the Trek UK website). I've agreed to go and collect it on Saturday as it's really not that far away.

It also means I didn't write all of the above for nothing.

The not so good news ...

I dug out the service manual for the rear 8-speed Alfine hub. It's not actually as low maintenance as I was expecting, the marketing around the Nexus/Alfine geared hubs.

These hubs need an oil change at 1,000km and then every 2,000km there after. This is a slightly involved process which involves removing the back wheel, removing some external components and then removing the axle/core from the hub.

Sticking to that servicing schedule could be interesting on a long tour and for regular cyclists probably means that conventional derailleur gears are possibly less effort, depending on how you maintain them.

My other experiment for this year is immersive waxing for the Ribble CGR so it will be interesting to see how that compares with Alfine hub's oil changes for maintenance. It is a shame they don't have a drain plug and a fill port.
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

Senior Member
Picked the bike up today, from Mike Vaughan Cycles in Kenilworth. I must say, they were absolutely excellent.
I took it for a 14 km 'test' ride in the vicinity and the bike is absolutely spot on in terms of assembly.

First thoughts:
  • I can't imagine they sell may of these in Kenilworth; I found myself on a 40m climb and it definitely felt overgeared (I was expecting that).
  • The position is very upright and relaxed - perfect for sight seeing.
  • Depending what gear the hub is in, the only sound audible from the bike is the tyres. Some of the gears do sound a bit like there's a chain whirling around down there somewhere but the majority are silent.
  • Paint finish is seems to be very nice indeed. And the decals are much more subtle than they appear in the stock photos.
  • The bike is said to weigh around 13-14kg and I'd say it was commensurate with that. Not as light as Canyon's offering but I'd say it was pretty good considering all the standard kit and the hub gear.
  • I like the backswept handles bars for relaxed riding and the ergonmic locked on grips compliment this well. These bars didn't seem to bother me as much as the lack of an extra gear or the very relaxed sitting position when climbing - they were noted as a detraction in one of the prominent reviews for it
  • Saddle seems fine, to my well worn in backside. It's quite broad and well matched to the upright sitting position.
  • The bike is very assured and stable, with very little knocking it off course
  • It would have been nice to have 172.5mm cranks on the medium size - I'm surprised but I can definitely tell I'm on shorter 170mm cranks. The Gates crankset is only available with 170mm and 175mm cranks.
  • It doesn't not come equipped with the DuoTrap 2 ANT+ compatible speed/cadence sensor but does have the facility to accommodate one.
In summary, it seems like the ideal bike for pottering around, sight-seeing and relaxed riding. I think it is going to be my default choice for the regular 'recovery' / zone 2 rides I'm doing interpersed with faster and off-road rides on the other bikes.

IMG_20240518_130403.jpg
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

Senior Member
Well I've found a very minor issue.

The MIK compatible rack does not work with the Altura panniers I have. The rack is made from some fairly substantial section aluminum and the clips on the panniers don't accommodate it.

As you can also see from the pictures, the supplied rack doesn't haven't any stays, attaching instead to the mudguard. There are lugs in the seat stays for conventional stays but they are going to intefere with the rear wheel lock.

Temptation here is to lose the wheel lock, get another Topeak Super Tourist DX rack and then as well as using my panniers, I can also use the MTX trunk bag which lives on the Ribble CGR.
 

almostvegancyclist

Active Member
Location
Wales
Nice photo and congratulations on the new bike. How does it work in terms of roadside puncture repairs (back wheel)? How do you detach the gear cables from the hub? How do you like the swept back style handlebar?
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

Senior Member
Nice photo and congratulations on the new bike. How does it work in terms of roadside puncture repairs (back wheel)? How do you detach the gear cables from the hub? How do you like the swept back style handlebar?

Thank you.

Roadside puncture repairs - well much to my chagrin, I've found that the sliding adjusment for the rear drop-outs (2 bolts each side on which sites the hub, the cassette joint end and the calliper mount) are torx bolts. Also, oddy, the bottle bosses had torx bolts in too. I haven't figured out how to get the wheel out without sliding it forward in order to release the tension on the belt - much like you would with a fixed gear or single speed. I'm not going to worry about it too much as I'm not going to be doing mega-long distances on this bike, so if I do puncture the rear wheel I won't be too far from home.

When the hub comes out for it's first service at 1000km, I'll probably bet a clearer idea.

I like the back swept bars, so far at least. They are in character with the bike. I like having something in the fleet that I'm don't feel compelled to ride as fast I can possibly can!
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

Senior Member
I used the bike this morning for my regular 10 mile 'faux commute' - which will be it's main duty in rotation with the Gas Pipe Hybrid when that has regained trust following the dodgy wheel truing debacle.

This route is a mixture of road, cycle track, gravel and it has a few inclines - including a couple of short ones I knew would be challenging with the gearing.

I've been doing it on the last two weeks with the hard tail mountain bike - only taking a slightly different route on that most days which goes along some canal tow path and features house bricks and stones the size of house bricks sticking up at all angles out of some of it's surface.

The good news was that on average, this bike was no slower compared to a similar effort on the mountain bike. There's a longish gentle ascent at the begining of the ride along a main road which I took in leiu of the tow path, theoretically giving some speed advantage but, the mountain bike is turned out to be faster on these sections as well as the gravel sections thanks to it's suspension, wider tyres and slightly more assured handling on the loose stuff.

On the down hill bits, I was pulling about 20 mph and I didn't feel like I would spin out, with one gear to go before I hit the bottom end. Ironically, on the first down hill section I mentioned above, the mountain bike has been quicker - the few times I've used it to go that way.

On flat sections of road, I get along quite nicely at 15-16 mph. This feels like pulling evens on the Ribble CGR. And compares favourably with the mountain bike which was around 1.5 mph slower.

On the gravel, the 40mm tyres seem like a good compromise. I found it much better than the Gas Pipe Hybrid with it's 35mm tyres and save for a couple of sharp corners where the bike felt almost skittish, it was a more confident ride if not as carefree as the mountain bike.

There are a couple of inclines on which I ran out of gearing and had to stand-up out of the saddle. My overall take at the moment is that the bike is a bit high geared for lumpy places, but not massively so that I'm wondering about making any changes. I reserve the right to change my mind when there's luggage involved!

The only drawback, quite obviously, with the relaxed upright riding position is the ability to get the power down. It's definitely not as fluid as other bikes. Which is fine, given it's not really what this bike is about.

Finally, we reach a low point. When honking and when accelerating hard there's a very pronounced clicking from the bottom bracket area. Both on left and right pedal going down. The bottom bracket looks like a very cheap part and it is a standerd english-threaded cartridge with 68 mm shell, 120 mm spindles and a JIS taper. I'll replace that with a better quality part and if the issue continues, I'll check in with my local Trek dealer.

All in all, very pleased with the bike.
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

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I took the 'faux commute' again this morning, this time on the Gas Pipe Hybrid, so named because it is heavy but perhaps that is not all down to the frame. Perhaps I should start calling it Boat Anchor Hybrid instead.

Anyway, I thought it would give a reasonable comparison. I averaged something approaching 1 km/h faster over the course, with top speeds that were 5 km/h faster. And that's with on average, 5 bpm lower heart rate.

This bike has a much more aggressive riding position, which is closer to the Ribble CGR, if ridden on the tops. Rim brakes though, which means slowing down sooner on the corners.

No surprises with this. Looking at my history in Strava, I think it's safe to say it's a smidge faster than a hard tail mountain bike but a fair bit slower than a middling (in terms of riding position) hybrid bike.
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

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Just a quick update.

Nearly 200km covered on the District so far and it's become the default bike, despite not yet having any luggage that fits it. I do need to remedy that soon. For zone 2 / recovery rides, I absolutely love it. Unless it's windy, in which case the upright seating position makes the wind much more pronounced.

I've had to tweak the barrel adjuster on the gear shifter a few times to ensure smooth shifting and indexing. There are two indicators - one on the cassette joint and the other on a component I've not learned the name of yet. Put the hub in '4th gear' and twiddle the adjuster until the two line up. Much easier than adjusting a derailleur.

I think the gearing is still too high. I've not spun out yet on any down hill sections, reaching 26 or 26 mph with still a gear left. I've not found any local hills I can't climb yet but some are without doubt out of the saddle jobs.

I feel that there's plenty of range from the Alfine 8 speed hub and the steps between the gears seem sensible. The biggest noticeable jump is between first and second gear.

After five days of almost exclusively using the District, I was surprised how noise a conventional chain-drive bike sounded. The quietness of the belt / hub gear combination really makes rides much more relaxing.

I did a couple of longer rides, sans padding, and at 26km I think I'm just getting a bit of rub from the stock saddle. This might be replaced with a Brooks saddle at some point. For rides up to this length, it seems absolutely fine and I didn't really get this bike for anything more than local use anyway.

The front light seems more than adequate, but could be placed either further forwards or a little bit higher up so the front side of the front mudguard doesn't cast such a shadow across the headlights beam. The rear light - I think this could do with being a bit brighter but I supplement it with a bright rechargeable LED anyway.

Cable rub - cable routing is semi-internal but theres a lot of potential for cable rub around the top of the forks and the head tube. A lot of frame protection stickers have been employed in this general area. The dynamo lighting cables (in and out of the front light) are a particular point of concern in regard to this.
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

Senior Member
Nearly 250 km down now. Slowed down a bit due to a dog walking induced injury, involving a squirrel.

Couple more things to add.

Bottle cage mount ... it's a tight squeeze getting bottles in and out of there (between the top and the down tubes). Some extra bosses, either on the seat tube, the sloping top tube or the bottom side of the down tube would have been nice. I did try a fidlock twist bottle/mount but the single set of lugs on the down tube are too close to the seat post for that to work.

I've learned that the Nexus Alpine 8 speed is really four gears (3 different size sun gears and direct drive) driven through an optional reduction ring which gives the second set of four gears at lower ratios. There are quite big jumps between 1st and 2nd (quite welcome) but because of the reduction ring, you have quite a big jump between 4th and 5th. 5th is direct drive (and by far the most efficient gear) with 6th, 7th and 8th been over drive.

4th is very inefficient - so much so that often it does not feel like there is any progression switching from 3rd to 4th. I'm finding myself increasingly just using 3rd or 5th for cruising. 3rd is quite useful on the flat into a headwind or on a long, gentle ascent. Or when I'm trying to stay within zone 2. 5th is fine on the flat, or slight descent or even slight ascent with a tailwind. It comes up at around 15-16 mph which feels a bit fast for most of the cycling infrastructure around here, but is fine on road. I think this is the singular worst thing about this hub. The lack of progression between 3rd and 4th and the jump between 4th and 5th just dulls what is, otherwise a fine compromise over derailleur gears a little bit more than I would like. Not so much, that I wouldn't buy the bike, but enough that this type of IGH is not going to be a good choice for other bikes.

4th is also subtlely noisier than any of the other gears - although it's probably audiable just because of the quiet belt drive. Doubt you'd hear it over a chain clattering away. But you can just feel it too.

In terms of shifting, it is a boon being able to shift while stationary - it frees your mind up a bit when anticipating traffic movements. But I have to remember to anticipate when switching back to a derailleur geared bike - got caught out a couple of times today on the mountain bike. This bike doesn't really like shifting under any pedalling force. You need to ease right back on the power when you shift.

It can sometimes take a while for pawls moving the sun gears into position to fully engage so you have to make sure that the right gear does feel engaged before steaming on. If there is any delay in the pawls engaging, you get an audible metallic twang when they do - just like with a derailleur when the chain finally engages on the correct cog on an imperfect shift. The more force you are pedalling with, the louder the twang.

The other thing of note, is that a slightly heavier rider like myself (just shy of 80kg) standing on the pedals can exceed the rated torque for the hub. Something I didn't know until recently - and the Alfine version of the hub does have a mechanism to reduce any damage done with too much torque. But that's something else I'm now also conscious of and having to train myself out of.

I'm also thinking the bike would really benefit from a steel fork for riding on gravel and other less than ideal surfaces. There's a fair bit on my regular morning faux commute, and with the 40mm tyres (which I'm running at 50 PSI) it's not too bad, but the other bike (chromo frame) on it's 37mm tyres is a smidge more forgiving. I'm nit picking really though - the difference isn't huge.

Heading out for 25 miles on the mountain bike today, I really missed having back swept bars. The hand position just felt wrong!
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

Senior Member
I've now sorted luggage, at least for day trips.

A Basil MIK adapter plate and a cheap (Crank Bros) trunk bag were aquired and after some fettling, merged together. So at least I'm not cycling without a toolkit. Said tookit includes a 15mm pedal wrench for undoing the axle lock nuts and a set of torx keys which I'll hopefully have enough purchase on if I need to open up the drive side of the rear triangle to effect a puncture repair. Although, in the first instance I'll probably try and flop the tube out from betwix rim and tyre and repair it in situ.

I'm also contemplating adding some slime to the rear tube to try and make p*nct*res less likely.

I'm not sure what to do about a set of panniers. The MIK ready ones don't look like they'd work with a trunk bag. I might just lob a basket on the front instead - I think the most I'm likely to carry is a loaf of bread and a carton of milk anyway.
 
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PedallingNowhereSlowly

PedallingNowhereSlowly

Senior Member
No worries. There are people that do world tours with them. I can see the benefits, but I'm not sure I'd really want to. I suppose when you are 'bike packing', and the bike is geared down appropriately, it's okay so long as you are mindful not to deliver too much torque through the pedals by standing up on them.

I'm trying to find the actual torque figure written down somewhere - I've watched a few YouTube videos that have mentioned it. They are approved for e-bike use but can't be paired with hi-torque motors.

The other thing which I don't think would stand up to well on extended tours is the service interval. 2,000 km doesn't seem like huge distance between services. The current dealer manual (page 7) states 2,000 km. It looks like there was an earlier version that stated 5,000 km. So Shimano have revised this figure down quite substantially.

The 11-speed alfine hub does at least have an oil fill port, so you can at least do an oil change out on the road. In fact, from what I've read/watched, these tend to seep out a small amount of oil so they need to be re-filled periodically. The 11-speed hub is lubricated with oil. It looks like old 8 speed hubs were greased but the dealer manual make it seem like they are now oiled instead.

The 11 speed hubs were less reliable but the (again) unsourced information I have is that Shimano have improved components in them to make them more reliable. The 11 speed hubs also have more universal jumps between gears right through the range. As well as the wider range, of course.
 
I rode a bike with a Nexus Alpine 8 for a while, a Ridgeback Flight 04 (2016), I eventually sold it as I'd stopped using it. I found the orginal ratio a little high for me so you are able to swap the rear sprocket to give an overall lower/higher set of ratios as you need it.

Just something @PedallingNowhereSlowly you said about punctures, as the rear is little fiddly to remove (though once you have the knack its ok) I went for a combo of puncture resistant tyres and those self adhesive patches. Regarding servicing I was never confident enough to do the hub myself so I found a local dealer that did these hubs and got them to do it.

Just re-reading my post about selling it I remember loving the eccentric BB, you can rotate the BB to add chain tension as needed. Its a smart solution and I hope you have the same.
 
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