glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
Today was my first commute on the new bike.
The riding style is very different to what I'm used to; it's very sit up straight riding with wide, swept-back bars. This makes the front end feel pretty twitchy as the slightest movement of the hands affects the steering. It's like using a tiller rather than standard bars. I'm not sure that I'll get on with this but I'll give it a few weeks to see if I get used to it.
Second thing I've had to get used to (very quickly, I might add) is that the front & back brake lever positions are reversed. I hadn't thought of that when ordering it from Germany - if I had I would have asked that they switch them to right-hand drive. Does anyone think it worthwhile to switch the cables around? They're hydraulic discs so I'm not sure I can be bothered faffing with bleeding etc.
The third surprise for me was the wheel size: 28". I had assumed they'd be 26" and hadn't spotted it in the spec. No big deal though.
Aside from the bars, I love everything about this bike. Every detail has been designed in, not as an afterthought. I'm talking about the way the rack sits in cut-outs in the frame so that only two securing bolts are needed. The same technique is applied to the kick-stand. Brake cables run through the frame as do the dynamo cables which even feed inside the rack tubing to power the rear light, cleverly incorporated into the rack's rear tube.
The mudguard uses minimal fixings too, with easily adjustable supports using small allen bolts. Which brings me to another appealing, geeky feature: almost every bolt is marked with its desired torque setting in Nm. For example, the little allen bolts on the mudguard stays show they are to be tightened to 2Nm. Don't you just love German attention to detail?
This is also the first bike I've had with Alfine hub gears and I am impressed with how slick and easy they are to use. It's a real plus to be able to select a new gear even when stationary - no more mashing a big gear after a sudden stop or lifting the back wheel off the ground to pedal your way to an easier gear.
Last thing before I bore you all to death is the front light, a B&M Eyc T Senso. It's tiny! It's still very powerful though (50 lux) and can automatically switch from night-time mode to DRL mode, or you can switch it off.
I did a lot of searching in the hope of being able to buy a bike of this spec locally but that proved impossible, both in terms of the features I wanted and the price: the Nighflight cost me £738 plus £80 delivery. Nothing available here could match it so I owe a big thanks to @2Loose for suggesting the Nighflight two years ago, I only wish I'd bought it sooner.
GC
The riding style is very different to what I'm used to; it's very sit up straight riding with wide, swept-back bars. This makes the front end feel pretty twitchy as the slightest movement of the hands affects the steering. It's like using a tiller rather than standard bars. I'm not sure that I'll get on with this but I'll give it a few weeks to see if I get used to it.
Second thing I've had to get used to (very quickly, I might add) is that the front & back brake lever positions are reversed. I hadn't thought of that when ordering it from Germany - if I had I would have asked that they switch them to right-hand drive. Does anyone think it worthwhile to switch the cables around? They're hydraulic discs so I'm not sure I can be bothered faffing with bleeding etc.
The third surprise for me was the wheel size: 28". I had assumed they'd be 26" and hadn't spotted it in the spec. No big deal though.
Aside from the bars, I love everything about this bike. Every detail has been designed in, not as an afterthought. I'm talking about the way the rack sits in cut-outs in the frame so that only two securing bolts are needed. The same technique is applied to the kick-stand. Brake cables run through the frame as do the dynamo cables which even feed inside the rack tubing to power the rear light, cleverly incorporated into the rack's rear tube.
The mudguard uses minimal fixings too, with easily adjustable supports using small allen bolts. Which brings me to another appealing, geeky feature: almost every bolt is marked with its desired torque setting in Nm. For example, the little allen bolts on the mudguard stays show they are to be tightened to 2Nm. Don't you just love German attention to detail?
This is also the first bike I've had with Alfine hub gears and I am impressed with how slick and easy they are to use. It's a real plus to be able to select a new gear even when stationary - no more mashing a big gear after a sudden stop or lifting the back wheel off the ground to pedal your way to an easier gear.
Last thing before I bore you all to death is the front light, a B&M Eyc T Senso. It's tiny! It's still very powerful though (50 lux) and can automatically switch from night-time mode to DRL mode, or you can switch it off.
I did a lot of searching in the hope of being able to buy a bike of this spec locally but that proved impossible, both in terms of the features I wanted and the price: the Nighflight cost me £738 plus £80 delivery. Nothing available here could match it so I owe a big thanks to @2Loose for suggesting the Nighflight two years ago, I only wish I'd bought it sooner.
GC
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