Simple Thought on Democracy

Urban Attack Vehicle: Belt-Drive Proletariat

When I first saw a belt-drive bike it made a lot of sense to me: No chain, no oiling, no greasy mess, smooth and quiet operation. Belt-drive bikes rely on internaly-geared hubs which, by themselves, offer several advantages: Ease of shifting, completely contained from the elements, low maintenance, and simplicity of operation. These are all qualities every bike should have and it would seem the average person thinks so, too. The most common reaction from people who see my belt drive bike when I ride on BART is "Why don't all bikes have belts?" Why indeed.

I acquired my full-size belt-drive bike before my belt-drive Bike Friday Future Tikit and am therefore doing these reviews out of order, but there you go ...

I briefly considered modifying my existing Cannondale frame for a belt drive, but that would have involved cutting the frame's rear triangle since the belt is continuous and can't be opened the way a chain can. In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't try that route and just sold the Cannondale instead. A frame designed for belt-drive from the ground up is the way to go because precise alignment between the rear and front cogs is crucial. When things get out of alignment in a chain-drive, the chain just flexes. If things aren't aligned with a belt-drive, the belt may slip and that's B.A.D. Belt-drive bike frames also need to provide a mechanism to appropriately tension the belt, usually done with an eccentric bottom bracket arrangement or special dropouts on the rear of the frame.

Stop Cycles Proletariat with Gates Carbon Drive

Web research led me to Joe Bike, a brief and enlightening email exchange with store owner Joe Doebele, and shortly thereafter I took the plunge. The Stop Cycles Proletariat with an eight-speed Shimano Alfine hub and the Gates Carbon Drive belt system arrived via UPS within a couple of days and soon I had it assembled with my pedals of choice - Crank Brothers Egg Beaters.

Since receiving the Prole last October, I've added an Axiom Streamliner Disc rear rack and SKS P45 fenders. The rear rack lets me use the Ortleib Downtown pannier as my flight bag, holding my headset, iPad, and other essentials. While I wish the bag had more compartments, it is waterproof, quickly attaches/detaches from the rack, and has a nice shoulder strap. As for the fenders, some folks have complained than SKS P45 can't be installed on bikes with disc brakes. Some bending is required, but I beg to differ.

Front fender stays need some trimming and bending ...

Some creative bending of fender stays required to clear the caliper ...

These additions, combined with the beefy tires and excellent frame, make the Prole an ideal urban attack vehicle for the streets of the East Bay. Potholes, broken pavement, detritus in the bike lane? Fugetaboutit!

Having logged around 600 miles, I finally went for a ride with my wife and noticed something odd. Pedaling more slowly and lightly that I usually did, the Alfine hub was making weird sounds. If I pedaled harder (the way I normal would while commuting), the sounds went away. More web research led me to the very thorough hubstripping.com site and revealed such sounds are commonly reported by Alfine 8 owners. There are two approaches: Assume the sounds are normal and ignore them or give the Alfine 8 hub internals an oil bath. Shimano even has an oil made expressly for this purpose that runs between $80 and $120 per liter!

Some enterprising bike mechanics noted that Shimano's secret sauce bears a remarkable similarity to plain ol' synthetic automatic transmission fluid. Many Alfine 8 owners report that soaking the Alfine 8 internals in synthetic ATF every 800 to 1000 miles makes the funny sounds and occasional shifting hiccups disappear, so I decided to give it a try. After removing the rear wheel, this was the disassembly sequence. Don't try this procedure yourself unless you have the requisite skills and tools. If you do something dumb or break something, you were warned and don't blame me.

Removing my brake rotor required a spline tool, yours may be different.

Loosening the retaining nut to remove the rotor.

Removing cone bearing - requires 16mm cone and 18mm open end wrench

After turning wheel over to the drive side, removing C-clip (expansion pliers make this A LOT easier).

Removing the Gates belt cog.

Prying off the dust cover.

Loosening the case on the drive side with a strap wrench - LEFT-HAND (clockwise to loosen) THREAD!

Carefully opening the drive side

In a CLEAN working environment, carefully remove the innards.

Sloshing/soaking for a few minutes in synthetic ATF (modified soda bottle works nicely).

I did not do any disassembly of the internals of the Alfine 8 - I just sloshed and soaked for a few minutes, allowed the excess fluid to drain, then greased the bearing races and reassembled. My results with the ATF bath have been quite good: Shifting was noticeably smoother and the odd noises disappeared. Having ridden 50 miles since this service the shifting is still buttery smooth and the hub is still quiet. Time will tell, but it appears my Alfine 8 is good to go for another at least 800 to 1000 miles.

Future Tikit: Ride Report

Before putting my Bike Friday Future Tikit to the test on the mean streets of Oakland and the politically-correct (but just as mean) streets of Berkeley, a shake-down ride was in order. Sunday provided an opportunity for a short, but thorough test that uncovered some good things, some not-so-good.

Cruising along it's easy to forget the Future Tikit is a folding bike with smallish, 16" wheels. It feels much more stable than the Brompton I owned for many years and even the Dahon with 20" wheels that I've test ridden. Climbing hills and standing in the pedals reminds you the Tikit's wheels are small, but you can stand in the pedals and climb hills. For stability and rideability, the Tikit is hands down the best folding bike I've tried.

The Tikit's Nexus 8-speed internal hub is quiet, smooth, and simple. The only change in riding style is that you need to slightly reduce pedal force while shifting. Unlike a derailleur system, if you have to stop unexpectedly with the Nexus you can downshift (or upshift for that matter) while stopped.

Instead of the more expensive Gates Carbon belt drive system that is installed on my Stop Cycles Proletariat, the Future Tikit uses the CDRIVE made by a division of Delta Cycle Corporation. CDRIVE is less expensive because the front and rear sprockets are precision molded plastic rather than machined aluminum. The CDrive is not suitable for mountain biking applications and it stands to reason that plastic components are not as durable as aluminum when it comes to stump-jumping and abrasion from mud. Plastic components may give some cyclists pause, but for a commuter bike all I can say is so far so good.

I'm 5' 11", 32" inseam, and 34" sleeve so I ordered the large frame size Tikit. After a short five mile ride, it was clear a longer handlebar stem was needed to get some weight off my wrists and get my lower back more engaged. While Bike Friday's manufacturer says that handlebar stem replacement/adjustment is covered under warranty, I was hesitant to get into it with them after the schrader versus presta fiasco. By the way, I've not heard a single word from the company since I received my bike. So I did a quick trip to REI and had a new, longer stem for $20 that same day. And the results were immediately noticeable.

The only thing good thing I can say about the Bike Friday minimalist foam handlebar grips is that they are lightweight. For my purposes, they are worthless and while I was at REI, I procured a pair of Ergon GP1 grips. I had installed Ergons on my old Brompton and found them a great addition. The Future Tikit has a Shimano Nexus grip shift so some modification of the right Ergon grip was required. I already had experience trimming Ergons when I installed them on my Brompton. The best tool for the job? A PVC pipe cutter!

Before Cutting ...

Cut wisely, Grasshopper!

Viola!

Ergon installed

Bike Friday makes a folding rear rack for the Tikit that provides the ground clearance to carry a full-size pannier. The rack folds ingeniously and doesn't interfere with folding the bike. I've been using the Ortlieb Downtown 2 as my flight bag and while it's not ideal, it holds my iPad, my headset, and various supplies. It's also waterproof and it quickly snaps onto the Axion rack on my full-size Proletariat bike. Unfortunately, the Ortlieb bag bottom clip doesn't engage with the Tikit's folding rear rack. For now, I carry a bungee cord to secure the bottom of the bag to the rack, though there may be a better solution for the long-term.

Inelegant, but workable

Yesterday provided the ideal opportunity to integrate the Tikit into my work day. I was scheduled to teach at the Oakland Airport from 2pm to 4:30pm, but then needed to be at the Livermore Airport to teach at 4:30pm. Even if I pushed the lesson in Livermore to 5pm, there was no way I could make it in time through rush-hour traffic. The solution:

1. Ride Tikit to the nearby North Berkeley BART station
2. Ride BART to the Fruitvale Station
3. Ride Tikit from Fruitvale to the Oakland Airport
4. Load Tikit into the Piper Arrow for the first flight lesson
5. Have first student drop me at the Livermore Airport
6. Store Tikit in my second student's car
7. Teach the second flight lesson
8. Have second student drop me at the nearby BART station
9. Take BART back to Berkeley
10. Ride Tikit home

For pilots who want a bike they can take with them on a small plane, the Tikit will work with some caveats. One advantage of the Brompton is that it folds small enough to easily fit through the baggage door of a Cessna 172. Not so with the Tikit, though it will fit easily through the front doors and can be strapped onto the back seat.

My first flight was in a Piper Arrow and while I could have gotten the Tikit into the baggage compartment, it would have required lowering the seat. Instead, I chose to secure the Tikit onto the back seat using the aircraft's seat belts.

To Have and To Fold

Two constant companions during my freight-flying days were my Libra de Potenza (aka Mac Powerbook) and my Brompton bicycle. Okay, there were the other companions - sleep deprivation and boredom. Anyway, the laptop enabled be to write my blog, Skype my wife, and generally keep boredom at bay during layovers. Having a Brompton allowed me to take a bike with me to work and provided mobility and exercise. Rather than sitting in a hotel room all day, flipping channels on TV, I was out riding. A year or so after I left the freight-flying world, I ended up selling the Brompton to finance the purchase of a full-sized bike. Lately I've found a recurring need for a folding bike, so I started investigating a replacement.

The Brompton was compact when folded, but it wasn't particularly light. Bromptons only come in one size and the frame always felt a bit small. I never liked how the Brompton felt squirrelly and unstable while climbing hills. And standing up on the pedals? Fagetaboutit! I already knew Brompton's characteristics so I briefly considered a Dahon Mu. I found Dahon's ride to be very similar to the Brompton, but with a much flimsier, lower-quality feeling. I got a chance to ride a BikeFriday Tikit Model T and liked it very much.

Having sold the Brompton to purchase a full-size Cannodale Road Warrior II, only to sell the Cannondale to fund the purchase of a Stop Cycles belt-drive Proletariat, I realized I had come full circle. And the Proletariat convinced me that my next folding bike would have to be belt-drive.

More research.

I decided to purchase a Bike Friday belt-drive Tikit, variously described on their web site as the Future Tikit and the Future's Tikit. Whatever you call it, I ordered it in February and it arrived last Tuesday. Bike Friday cycles are produced by Green Gear Cycling, Inc. in Eugene, Oregon. That's right, the frames are designed and fabricated in the USA. They seem to be an unorthodox company, in many ways.

Here's some of the un-boxing and assembly.

Held at FedEx for pick-up, the box barely fit in my 1st Generation Insight

Strategically placed ReadMe leads the way ...

Snip ...

Snip ...

Snip ...

Snip ...

Snip ...

Snip ...

Unfolding the handlebar stem

Unwrapping the bars ...

Installing the handlebars

Installing the front wheel skewer ...

Installing the front wheel ...

Attaching the front fender, some bending required

My pedal of choice, purchased locally ...

A little torque required

All said and done, remarkable little packaging, most of it recyclable ...

My impression of the company is that they are a bit ... quirky. Their web site seems a bit disorganized and purchasing anything requires a phone call. The salesperson I dealt with was nice, friendly, but not what I would call personable. And there were some miscues and missteps.  Virtually all communication with Green Gear was done by email and all but one message was initiated by me. It would take several weeks for my bike to make it through the fabrication schedule, I had some time to think and adjusted my order a couple of times by adding fenders and a rack. The sense I got was that my sales person was less than excited at the prospect of assisting me.

I get pretty excited about bikes and there are plenty of improvements I'd suggest. First, keep customers informed. If someone has plunked down several hundred dollars in advance, why not email them once every week or two with the status of their order. In fact, why not email some digital photos of each customer's bike as it makes its way through the fabrication process?

Second, when a customer calls, the salesperson should at least appear willing and able to assist. I had the nagging feeling that I was a more of a nuisance than anything else. The one thing that really rubbed me the wrong way the response to my request that my bike's wheels be built with presta valves instead of schrader valves. When I made this request I was told it was too late to change, that my bike had "hit the fence" - all the parts had arrived and though the bike was not yet assembled/built, they didn't want any changes. The salesperson offered to include two presta valve tubes with my bike at no charge and, to his credit, he did. Seems like shipping a bike with unwanted material would be counter to Green Gear's philosophy of being environmentally conscious. So apparently it would have been a too much of a hardship to change out the tubes before installing the wheels. Fascinating ... But check out the way this schrader valve tube was installed by the factory.

Bush league tube/tire assembly, oddly out of character for the rest of the bike.

The bike appears very well-made, the power-coat finish expertly applied, the design both clever and functional. After assembly and test riding, I emailed my salesperson saying that I'll most likely need a slightly longer handlebar stem. Swapping out handlebar stems is supposed to be covered under a 30-day warranty. I'm still waiting for my salesman's response ... Odd, really odd.

For a Future Tikit ride report, click here.