Still riding my 1992 Gary Fisher "Super Caliber".
Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
191–200 of 298 posts
Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
#192Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
#193I've been keeping an eye on this bike's development for a while, and I'm not disappointed with the outcome. It's still more expensive than a box-store bike, but I hope that availability at IKEA will make it more appealing to college students. Internal gears and a belt drive will make for more interesting maintenance, but anything beats the hi-ten 18-speed monstrosities that currently dominate college campuses.
My favorite bike for daily short commute -- jump on, jump off, no special gears, no maintenance, dirt cheap: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/gravity/g29ss.htm The wheel size and choice of fixed gearing largely just works, like a BMX was all you needed as a kid.
Looks fragile to me. Cheap disk brakes. Hand brakes. Gears? Expensive tires (why mountainbike style tires on a normal road?) I bet my €50 franken bike lasts longer. Its an (i guess) ~20 year old ugly bike with rear brake. But most important: it is a sort of decent brand (batavus). Most of the stuff fell off, lights broke etc. Front fender is partially broken but rear fender still ok. Except for some oil on the rusty chain and a few flat tires no maintainance at all. Its outside 24/7 for the last four years now. Will serve me fine for another few years but i need tires. Also the frontfender should be fixed. I might buy me a "new" one somewhere in 2017...
It is very comfortable to ride! I use it to cycle to my parents which live 12km away from where i live! faster than public transport :)
Bought it here and it is a bike like those ones on the photo. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--CYh7a1OuUk/VDVXgX2RiaI/A...
Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just have a tough time believing a belt is better than a chain, when I've had two cars with timing belts break before the suggested replacement mileage, but never had the problem with a timing chain. It seems like the same would be true of a bicycle.
Chains are great if you drive a car to 125k miles and junk it, but I've recently started preferring belts since I try to make mine last 200. Eventually the chain tensioners wear out and changing a chain is enough work that I usually scrap the car at that point. Belts are much easier to change, and perhaps more importantly, inspect.
Not to mention that a lot of chain-drive cars often choose cheaper or substandard materials for chain guides.
You end up with a choice between sounding like it's broken and having to spend a good chunk of a weekend dismantling it.
Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here in Amsterdam, you can either buy a cheap Chinese made bike which breaks down often or an expensive but reliable Dutch bike. Needless to say, both are likely to get stolen within the first six months. ;-)
Why are bikes still getting stolen? So many bikes are stolen that you'd think the market for stolen bikes, and parts, which can't be THAT huge, would be saturated.
That's like asking "Why are people still manufacturing bikes, you'd think everyone who wants a bike would have one by this point". Bikes generally have shorter lifespans than people, and we're also making new people-who-want-bikes all the time.
Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
#196I used to be a bike mechanic, and have gotten to work 90% by bicycle for the past two decades, so I'll take a stab at some of the questions: - Belt drives are great. They're sturdier than chains, cleaner, and something I love, quieter. The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does. Which keeps it yet cleaner. You can ride to work without worrying…
Good point on the belt. I wonder if people paired that to a NuVinci CVT system: https://youtu.be/GHYGOIttuVM - no noise - no grease - no shift shock - no fixed gear I'd love to try a bike like this. ...
Grace makes an e-bike with this combination:
Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just have a tough time believing a belt is better than a chain, when I've had two cars with timing belts break before the suggested replacement mileage, but never had the problem with a timing chain. It seems like the same would be true of a bicycle.
A timing chain is wider, runs straight and most importantly is properly lubricated. Also a timing belt lasts 100,000 miles and runs a lot faster than a bicyle belt.
You might want to rethink that 100,000 miles. I've noticed a lot of car manufactures (e.g. Kia) that recommend a change at 60,000. I would not ignore that recommendation.
Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference is that cheap Dutch bikes are super simple: no gears and a coaster brake. The Walmart bikes aren't. They've often got 21 speeds, shocks, etc etc, all of which is pure crap and fails after minimal use. There's also the infrastructure to consider. If your bike fails in NL, you curse and coast to a stop on the bikeway. If it fails in the US, you may be in the middle of trying to cross a 6 lane road with n…
In addition to this, don't ignore survivor bias. It is amazing how so many things are ignored if they are normalized. An easy example, right on red. Statistically, this has been shown to be dangerous. Chance of convincing people of this... Pretty much nil.
I'm not sure anyone would dispute that there's some incremental danger to allowing right turn on red. After all, it wasn't the norm for a long time in the US. (It became widespread in the 1970s as a fuel-saving measure.)
Similarly, we'd certainly be safer with lower speed limits.
But we collectively make tradeoffs which may even be informed by some level of data.
Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
#199I used to be a bike mechanic, and have gotten to work 90% by bicycle for the past two decades, so I'll take a stab at some of the questions: - Belt drives are great. They're sturdier than chains, cleaner, and something I love, quieter. The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does. Which keeps it yet cleaner. You can ride to work without worrying…
A negative for belt drives, especially on a bike this price, is the cost of replacement parts. I think a shimano nexus 3sp would be a much more sensible option, though obviously it's not as striking and wouldn't get to the HN front page.
Re: Flat Pack Chainless Bicycle from IKEA
#200I used to be a bike mechanic, and have gotten to work 90% by bicycle for the past two decades, so I'll take a stab at some of the questions: - Belt drives are great. They're sturdier than chains, cleaner, and something I love, quieter. The angle of the belt doesn't change, the way a chain does, which means you can add a chain guard, as this bike does. Which keeps it yet cleaner. You can ride to work without worrying…
My belt driven Scott Sub 10 slips teeth under really high torque. I dont know if this is typical of all belt driven, but they seem less robust under torque genrally.
You should check the tension of your carbon belt. Gates has an app to help you do that. Usually is just a matter of loosening the back weel bolts, adjusting the screws that push on the axel and retightenig the weel. If your frame doesn't have the adjustment screws you should check your bike manual.