Cycling UK Forum

Hi Valbrona,

That's a good point and I guess that Day One does stick out as being the only one on my shortlist with drop bars. I guess that there are probably more flat bar bikes on my list because when searching for a commuter ready bike with things such as mudguards and rack etc. it seems that more flat bar options come up as opposed to drops. It's not that drop bars won't necessarily be a good option it's just that I'd need to add more things after market compared to some of the flat bar bikes coming more commute ready from the bike shop but that's not a problem if it means a better bike in the long run. I've never owned a drop bar bike before, not through any dislike of them but that's just how it's worked out, with having two mountain bikes when I was younger followed by buying the Trek hybrid from a friend when I wanted something better than the MTB for riding on the road. Luckily I do have shower facilities at work so I don't have to stick to slow and steady in the work clothes trying to avoid working up too much of a sweat. One thing if I go for a drop bar bike such as the Day One do you that this will still be suitable for towing a childs trailer when compared to the more sitting upright style of the flat bar bikes?

Hi Brucey,

Thanks for the nod in the direction of the Day One.

John

Hi All,

I am looking for a new bike and I'll be grateful for any thoughts & advice that people have about the bikes I'm considering.

I've been cycling for years but I've not had many bikes having owned two Raleigh mountain bikes when I was younger and I currently have a Trek 7.1 FX which I bought second hand. I think that the Trek is from somewhere around 2004 and I got it from a friend who is taller than me and so it's not the perfect size for me which is one of the reasons for wanting a new bike.

Firstly I thought that I should describe what I'm going to be using the bike for. It's primary use will be for 20 mile round trip daily commute which I do all year around whatever the weather. The route is pretty flat and is on a mixture of rural plus urban roads. The rural roads are in the main completely unlit with some being small single track roads and another part of my commute is on a main B road which is a 60mph road and also unlit. The bike will be used to commute all year around in all weathers so I'd like it to have good lights and also with two young children I unfortunately don't have as much time for maintenance as I would like so ideally it needs to be as low maintenance as is possible. In addition a small amount of time the bike will be used for family cycle rides which could be on a mixture of country roads and off road cycle paths. In respect of the family cycle rides I'm planning to get a trailer and so the bike would need to be capable to towing a trailer.

The four bikes that I'm considering are as follows:-
VSF Fahrrad Manufaktur T-500 ( http://www.fahrradmanufaktur.de/katalog/trekking?product_id=673 )
Cube Travel SL RF ( http://www.cube.eu/uk/bikes/tour/travel/cube-travel-sl-rf-anthrazit-green-2015/ )
Genesis Smithfield ( http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/urban/bridge/smithfield )
Genesis Day One Alfine 8 ( http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/urban/urban-cross/day-one-alfine-8 )

One obvious main difference is that the VSF and the two bikes from Genesis all have a steel frames wheras the Cube is aluminium.

When it comes to being ready for commuting ideally I'd like dynamo lights, so I'd need to add those to the Genesis bikes. Also I'd need to add a rack and mudguards to the Genesis Day One Alfine 8 if I went for that bike. On the subject of lights the fact that the VSF comes with dynamo lights is a bonus but unfortunately having looked at the beam pattern on this website ( http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp ) I don't think that the B&M Lumotec Lyt would be powerful enough for my requirements. I'm sure it would be fine as a 'be seen' light on the urban parts of my ride but it would not be sufficient on the unlit rural parts of my commute whereas the B&M Eyc T on the Cube would probably suffice.

Having tried to look at the cost of components and using the example of the Cube versus the VSF the Cube components do seem to be of higher costs individually when compared to the VSF but perhaps the other side of this coin is that more money has gone into the VSF frame. With respect to Genesis the frames are a Genesis own brand and so I don't know if it's easy to compare the frames of these bikes with one another.

With respect to braking ideally I'd like disc brakes which the VSF doesn't have although I'm wondering if the other features of the VSF T-500 outweigh the fact that it doesn't come with disc brakes. The reason that I am keen to pick a bike with disc brakes is because I commute in all weathers and at least from what I've read the performance of disc brakes in the wet is better than V brakes and in addition with the mileage that I do the wear on the rims with be less on a bike with disc brakes meaning that the rims don't need replacing as often.

When looking at the bikes not one of them seems to tick every single box and standout as a clear front runner in my mind. That's one reason for asking for any thoughts/advice from people but in addition it's not going to be that easy to get test rides on the bikes from my shortlist.

Because not one of these bikes is a clear standout winner I'm wondering if I should stick with the Trek 7.1 FX for now and save for longer to hopefully get a bike of higher quality in the interests of it being a sturdy, reliable and long lasting bike. If I saved, for what might admittedly be quite a lot longer, I might consider something such as the Condor Fratello Disc or a bike from the Tout Terrain ( http://www.en.tout-terrain.de/bicycles/ ) range but it would be a long wait to save enough.

My apologies for writing such a long email and any thoughts/advice from people will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John

Hi JWPT29,

I'm not an expert and so please don't make any decisions based on my thoughts and there are loads of other really helpful people on this forum with greater knowledge than me who will send you plenty of good advice & options for you to consider.

The reason that I thought I'd post a message is because reading that you're in Cambridge I thought I'd mention a shop that might be worth going along to to try some bikes to see what you think of them & get some advice. The reason that I've heard of this shop is because I'm also saving up for a new bike for commuting duties and one on my shortlist is made by VSF.

I'm not sure that these bikes are extensively available so if you went along to see them you'd maybe see something a bit different from other brands plus the VSF bikes seem highly regarded for commuting duties by the people who own them judging by the bits I've read online so far. However the VSF bikes might be a bit over budget but another reason for mentioning the Chris Bikes shops is because when I've been looking at VSF bikes on their website I also saw that they sell Giant bikes and with you having a Giant bike on your shortlist they may have that Giant bike there so you could compare & contrast to others and get some advice.

Anyway if any of this is of interest a link to their website is below:-

http://www.chrisbikes.co.uk

I hope that some of this helps and good luck in your search and for finding the right bike for you!

John

Hi all,

I don't want to comment on the legality at all because I'm no legal expert by any means at all so will bow to the knowledge of others because I'm not going to comment where I don't have any expertise.

However for those who just wish to take a look at what the lights look like there are some videos online.

They were include as a very short clip, about 5 or 10 seconds, on a Cycle Show feature and it can be found on the Cycle Show website, link below, and if you scroll down (not too far) underneath the "Features" heading there's a link to "Light Safety":-

http://thecycleshow.co.uk

There is some info in the cycling press:-

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/see-sense-intelligent-bike-light-141829

http://road.cc/content/news/131641-seesense-intelligent-bike-light-automatically-flashes-brighter-and-faster

There are videos on YouTube:-

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtd3f1EGxct7YiNf-e_P4AA

Plus some on the company website:-

http://seesense.co/videos/


As mentioned I'm not a lawyer, solicitor or legal expert so I'm not the person to ask about legality and so I don't make any comment on that and will defer to others who have far greater knowledge than me. I didn't have any of that advice when purchasing but having purchased them they do seem to have worked well for me in my primary aim for them as a be seen light which is staying alive whilst cycling on some very busy roads in my daily commute year round.

Hope that everyone has a good weekend.

John

Hi Dad_Wagon,

Thanks for letting me know.

John

Hi,

A quick question re: Halfords flash sale which is does anyone know if you reserve an item using the click & collect service do you get the flash sale price with the extra 10% off or if for example you collect when you can in a day or two does the price go back up without the extra 10% taken off?

Thanks,

John

Hi mark a.

I'm afraid that I can't comment yet on what the See.Sense bike lights are like when placed on a childs trailer but I do have them and use them on my daily commute.

I got the lights this year because prior to a house move earlier this year I lived in a city with only about a two mile well lit urban commute on quiet residential roads without the need to use any main roads at all. This meant that I had scrimped a bit on my financial outlay on lights and relied upon some fairly out dated and pretty cheap lights however they served me well for the purpose so I'm not complaining.

However since moving I now have a 20 mile roundtrip commute using a mixture of unlit rural roads, busy main B roads and main commuter A roads into a city. Basically my entire route is busy with traffic and some of the roads I use are 60mph limit roads and so in the interests of personal safety I decided to spend some money on improving my lights.

I bought both the front and rear See.Sense lights as a be seen light and I've been really impressed with their performance so far throughout the winter! I would not use them as my only light but I have a Trelock LS950 as my main headlight to see with, an additional rear light on solid always on mode plus a helmet mounted light. As a be seen light I think that the See.Sense lights do a really good job in alerting other road users to your presence. Also the fact that they operate intelligently this does seem to save battery life when compared to my other rear light which is a Moon Comet and on which the battery life is not very long however maybe I'm being slightly unfair because the Moon Comet is on permanently and not flashing but I do seem to have to constantly charge the Moon whereas that doesn't feel the case with the See.Sense light.

The concerns that I had before buying the light were mounting it on my bike and I thought that it's worth mentioning because you want to mount it on a childs trailer. The front is easy because it's a tool free design and the rubber strap just goes around your handlebar. You could do the same with the rear on a seat post but this was not an option for me because I use a pannier rack with a rack top bag which totally obscures the seat post from view. I was told that one option that I could try was to use a moulding agent called Sugru (there's info about it on their website http://sugru.com/guides/mount-a-see-sense-bike-light-to-an-aerodynamic-bike-frame ) to make a mould which would then fit onto the back plate on my pannier rack. However whilst this should in theory (because I've not actually tried it myself) work for some people it didn't suit my needs because I wanted to be able to use the light on two different bikes which have different pannier racks and different plates on the back of each pannier. Also I had the Moon Comet fixed to the rear pannier plate at the back of the rack anyway.

Therefore I actually use the supplied rubber strap to attach it to a strap on the back of my rack top bag and through 4 months of daily winter use so far it's performed well and I'm very pleased with it! I'm not a cycle magazine review and I've not had tonnes of lights over the years so I don't have a wealth of other lights to compare it directly against from personal experience so I've no idea whether it's better or worse than other light options.

However as you asked a question about this light I just wanted to say that having had this light for several months now I'm really impressed with it as a be seen light and for me supporting a UK company was also a bonus. I am planning on trying to get a childs bike trailer in the future and so if that plan works out I'll report back one day on how I get on using the See.Sense light on a bike trailer but my apologies as that doesn't help you right now.

I for one am a happy customer and I'm glad that I gave the See.Sense lights a chance because I've been impressed with their performance as a usb chargeable be seen light.

Good luck with finding the right light for your childs bike trailer!

John

Hi robing & bikes4two,

I've not actually done this myself and so apologies if my post isn't as useful as the other posts above with photos etc..

However I have seen some websites talking about making mudflaps for mudguards and the links are below but please excuse the fact that they're US websites so there's a lot of references to fenders.

http://www.mgagnon.net/velo/garde-boue.en.php

http://phred.org/~alex/bikes/fendermudflap.html

Good luck getting yours sorted.

John

Hi barrym,

Following on from what don1 said I'm also 5'11" and the 2014 Genesis Day One Alfine 8 that I tried was a 56cm and I seemed perfectly comfortable on it.

I don't know how the 2014 Day One Alfine 8 compares geometry wise to the Smithfield but it has details in the 2014 catalogue of the geometry if you then want to compare it to the Smithfield.

Good luck managing to figure out the frame size for you.

John

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/img/uploads/files/genesis_cat2014_web.pdf

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/urban/bridge/smithfield

Hi Barry,

The thought of a belt drive appeals to me as well and they're fitted to quite a few of the bikes made by Tout Terrain but they are sadly out of my budget.

http://www.en.tout-terrain.de

The Paper bikes are nice looking and I think that you'd have something different to stand out from the crowd. I agree with you that for a commuting bike being lightweight is not the most crucial thing on the specs list as in my humble opinion there are more impotent things like being sturdy, having longevity, mudguards, rack and for me having to commute in the dark things like dynamo lights are a real plus.

Good luck finding the right one for you as it's never an easy task trying to narrow it down to the final one but part of the fun is considering the options and figuring it out.

John

Hi barrym,

I think that the Genesis Smithfield looks like a really nice bike and if you do end up buying this bike it'll be good if you can post some feedback as it's a bike on my shortlist for a commuting bike.

I've got three steel bikes on my shortlist and one aluminium frame for a bike that'll be mainly used for my 20 mile roundtrip commute which is done in all weathers all year around.

As well as the Genesis Smithfield I'd also shortlisted the:-

The VSF Fahrradmanufaktur T-500 http://www.fahrradmanufaktur.de/katalog/trekking?product_id=673
Ignore the fact that the photo on the manufacturers website shows the step through version because it's available in both frame styles.
You can see photos of it on this bike shops website/blog http://blog.chrisbikes.co.uk/2014/02/vsf-fahrrad-manufaktur-t500-alfine-8.html

The T-500 has a steel frame and in addition to mudguards and a pannier rack also has a hub dynamo and dynamo lights. I appreciate that there's many opinions available on the pros and cons of battery, usb rechargeable and dynamo lighting and I'm not going to go into that here because everyone with have their own personal preference and opinion but I just thought I'd mention that this bike has dynamo lights. I don't know anyone who has owned a VSF Fahrradmanufaktur bike but from what I've been able to read online about them the quality is generally regarded as being good.


The only aluminium frames bike to make my shortlist is the Cube Travel SL RF 2015 http://www.cube.eu/uk/bikes/tour/travel/cube-travel-sl-rf-anthrazit-green-2015/
The reason that the Cube appealed is because the spec of the components seems to be good when compared to the other three bikes on my shortlist. However the thing holding me back an making me think twice about it is the aluminium frame. That might be part of the reason for the components being of higher spec than on the three steel framed bikes on my shortlist because the aluminium frame itself is perhaps cheaper than the steel ones on the other bikes. However, and this is my personal preference only and I appreciate that there are lost of views out there, but for me I don't like the large oversized tubes on aluminium frames and aesthetically I just don't seem to like most aluminium framed bikes that I see and I prefer steel framed bikes.


The other bike on my shortlist is the Genesis Day One Alfine 8 http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/urban/urban-cross/day-one-alfine-8
Compared to the Genesis Smithfield you'd have to add mudguards and a pannier rack so perhaps when compared to either the Smithfield or the Genesis Tour de Fer (http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/adventure/expedition/tour-de-fer) the Day One Alfine 8 will end up more expensive.


For me I definitely want an internal hub geared bike for my commute. The only bike of the 4 above that I've so far been able to rest ride is a 2014 model Day One Alfine 8 and I really liked it for my pretty much flat commute. For me I was really impressed with it but if you can find a LBS anywhere to try an Alfine 8 equipped bike it would be a good idea to give one a try to see what you think for yourself.

Following on from the comment by hercule I'd also want longer mudguards, a reflector on the rear mudguard would be nice and on the photos it's not really possible to see clearly but I think that I'd personally have an issue with the rack because it does't look to me like it has a plate on the back of the rack to attach a light to. However these are minor quibbles and I guess it would be possible to add specific longer mudguards and a certain rack type to the Day One Alfine 8 but the cost would be higher than the Smithfield.

Anyway as I mentioned at the start the Smithfield looks like a very nice bike and if you buy one I hope that it serves you well and I'd look forward to hearing any feedback. As I have a similar search for a commuting bike as yourself I just wanted to share the other bikes that I'm considering just in case they're of any interest to you.

Best of luck getting the right bike for you!

John

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all of the replies which is greatly appreciated and very helpful!

There were several balance bikes mentioned that I'd not heard of before and so I'll check them out. I'll also scour Gumtree and eBay to see if I can find anything before his second birthday at the end of the month.

Also whilst searching cycling news/review websites to see if any of them carried any balance bike reviews/tests I saw this story about a balance bike project seeking funding through Kickstarter. I think that I found it interesting having looked at the video purely because it seemed to offer something slightly different from the other balance bikes that I've seen so far. However being new to buying a bike for a child and also completely new to buying a balance bike I've no idea whether different to some of the competition is a good thing regarding the childs riding experience or ability to learn to ride & balance.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/zumzum-balance-bike-claims-coolest-ever-video-150613

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1283642724/zumzum-the-coolest-balance-bike-with-natural-suspe?ref=nav_search

I think that the aesthetics just appealed because I thought that it looked great. However ideally I want to get a bike before the end of the month in time for my sons birthday and so even if people thought it was worth considering as an option I don't think that it would arrive soon enough.

I'll now go and read up on the other bikes mention and look at Gumtree plus eBay.

Thanks for all of the advice.

John

Hello All,

I’d like to buy my son a balance bike for his second birthday at the end of the month.

I just wondered if anybody has any experience of buying balance bikes for their kids and have any recommendations?

From info that I’ve started to read about getting a childs first bike one point that gets mentioned quite a lot is making sure that it’s light because they’ll be more inclined to use it if it’s not heavy and hard work to move. Having searched online we’d pretty much narrowed it down to two but having watched some balance bike videos online we’ve now added another to the short list.

Reading online reviews the Islabikes Rothan seems to get really good feedback from everybody who has had one. The stumbling block is the price is £129.99 which seems like quite a lot. However I guess that if it gets well used, acts as a way to get my son into cycling and gets used by my daughter when she’s old enough then it maybe money well spent.

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/products/bikes/item/rothan

Looking at a cheaper option we’d seen the Puky LRM Learner bike which less than half the price at £59.49

http://www.pukybikes.co.uk/learner-bikes/balance_bikes_lrm.htm

Then watching some online videos over the weekend about balance bikes a balance bike called the Strider came up a lot but that’s probably because it’s an American brand and lots of online videos were from the USA. The Strider sport model is £80

http://www.striderbike.co.uk/12q-strider-balance-bikes-new-range

Some specs to compare include:-

Frame material:-
Islabikes = Aluminium
Puky = Steel
Strider = Steel

Brake:-
Islabikes = Yes
Puky = No
Strider = No

Weight:-
Islabikes = 3.5 kg
Puky = 3.54 kg
Strider = 3 kg

One thing that caught my attention in respect of the Strider bike is that it has a footrest and on the website it states, “Unique, frame-integrated footrests are properly positioned directly below the saddle for natural bike balance. This position also fosters the advanced ability to stand while”.

Looking at the images of the Islabike I guess that the child could just put their feet on the frame if they wanted to but the website doesn’t make any mention of this being the intention. Looking at the Puky it does have a footrest but it’s out in front of the child so they'd be putting their feet in an unnatural position when compared to where the pedals would be and so may not help the transition to a bike with pedals when that day comes.

Anyway I’ve not ruled out any other balance bikes and so if anybody has any other tips regarding balance bikes to go for or any thoughts on either of these three bikes any feedback will be gratefully received.

Thanks,

John

I’ve not used the slime before but was interested in reading peoples thoughts because the thought of getting less punctures is always appealing.

Following the post from Elizabethsdad I took a look at the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. The video that is on the Schwalbe website is definitely interesting in terms of the tyres preventing punctures.

http://www.schwalbe.com/gb/tour-reader/marathon-plus.html

http://www.schwalbe.com/en/unplattbar.html

However I guess that there would be a weight and rolling penalty to pay for the reduced chance of punctures.

Hi Sweep,

Reading lots of posts about dynamo lights vs. usb rechargeable lights vs. battery lights there are lots of personal preferences and there are different lights that are right for different people in different situations. Whilst I’m sure that battery & USB lights work perfectly well and are the preferred choice for plenty of people I share the same frustration as you with constantly having to charge USB lights or batteries.

I commute daily and at this time of year I’m constantly juggling with trying to ensure that my lights are charged. Also to try and guard against the problem of a light dying halfway through my commute, which inevitably happens every so often, I have three lights at the back with one on my rack, one on my rack top bag and one on my helmet. I guess that this might be viewed as overkill having three rear lights but my commute takes in both urban and rural roads and the rural ones are unlit and 60 mph limit roads in some places. Therefore I can’t take the risk of having just one USB or battery powered light that may have unknown to me gone out.

However the constant charging of lights has led me to the decision that in the long term my aim is to get a dynamo hub and get my wheel rebuilt so that I can use dynamo lights hopefully safe in the knowledge that as long as I’m pedalling they’ll always be on with ride & forget reliability. That’s fingers crossed my plan & hope for a dynamo set up anyway.

Just briefly back to the subject of USB powered lights, and my apologies because I appreciate that this is off topic from the OP, but given that the subject of USB lights has been brought up I do have one light that I’m really impressed with in terms of both the light produced and battery length performance. Given the subject of this post I’m sorry because this is a front headlight but unfortunately I’ve found nothing even close to matching its performance in a rear light. I’ve been using the Trelock LS 950 and both the light and the battery performance from this USB light is really good.

https://www.trelock.de/web/en/produkte/fahrrad-beleuchtung/batterie-frontscheinwerfer/8002095_LS_950_ION.php

Admittedly I don’t have loads of experience of hundreds of different types of lights but for me I’ve been really impressed with this. Re: this front light I’m guessing that it has a slight unfair advantage over rear lights when considering battery performance because it’s a larger light than a typical rear light which I guess means that in the body of the light it can have a larger battery. Overall this front USB powered headlight appears to be a great performer and the only thing I’d criticise is the mounting bracket which is a bit flimsy. You also need to buy an optional extra different mounting bracket if your handlebars are over a certain diameter.

John