Breezer Uptown 8

Breezer makes a line of fully dressed commuter bikes. The Uptown 8 has a Nexus red-band IGH with 8 speeds, fenders, rack and dynohub. It even has a full chaincase for trouble-free commuting. The frame is aluminum with a sloping top tube. 

I like that the B&M lights are both wired to the dynohub and have standlights (stay on after you stop). How many other bikes can you find that come stock with a ring lock, too? Oh, and thank you for making this bike with a proper quill stem so I can adjust it more than once.

I found this Uptown at my local Breezer dealer, Bikes@Vienna.

Workcycles Fr8

Fr8, the family version. Credit: Workcycles.

The Fr8, from Workcycles, is available from Clever Cycles for $2200, without racks or child seat.

The Fr8 is the "do-anything bike" at its finest.  Here's how Workcycles describes it:

The Fr8 (pronounced like "freight") is our modular, city-utility bicycle system.  It can be configured and outfitted for many heavy-duty purposes: delivery, industry or carrying kids and groceries.  Thanks to an enormously stiff, low instep frame, robust construction, sophisticated geometry and special carriers it does it all with ease.

According to Workcycles, the load capacity is 250 kg, or "one parent, up to 3 kids, and lots of groceries."  In other words, the Fr8 may be able to replace your minivan.

The Fr8 has been mentioned and photographed by EcoVelo and Brooks England. Also, here's a great write-up by Fr8 owner mamafiets.

Here are some specs:

• "Adaptive Seat Tube" quickly adjustable for riders of about 160-200cm


• TIG welded Chro-Mo frame and fork

• Heavy duty wheels with aluminum rims, 13g stainless spokes

• Vredestein Moiree or Schwalbe Big Apple tires w/ Kevlar antiflat belts

• Shimano front roller brake

• Hub dynamo, halogen headlamp, LED taillamp with standlight

• Fully enclosed chain-case, painted stainless steel fenders

• Wide double leg centerstand

• Stainless steel handlebar, stem and all hardware

For options, Workcycles says there are too many to list.  Here are a few important ones: Shimano Nexus 3-speed or 8-speed internal gear hubs; coaster or hand rear brake; Brooks leather saddle; city front carrier; long rear carrier; lock box; child saddle on frame behind handlebar; Trelock defender wheel block; bell.

In other words, Workcycles took everything useful and put it all on one bike.

A Short Take On The Disc Brake

Is there a rotor in your biking future? Credit: biking.com

Disc brakes are the hot new trend for 2012 bikes for the rest of us.  For example, the 2012 Felt Verza City 1 comes standard with disc brakes, front and rear. 

The Verza City 1 - it's got all the latest gadgetry. Credit Felt.

Many other '12 models, especially cargo bikes, come with front only disc brakes (your stopping power is in the front).  And for the first time, Surly is offering its venerable Long Haul Trucker with disc brakes - the Disc Trucker.

A look at the Disc Trucker's rear rotor. Credit: Surly.

Of course, disc brakes have been around for awhile now on mountain bikes.  But for transportation bikes, this is something new.  In the midst of this change, Tyler at Bike Radar has raised some important questions, one of which is whether the trend toward disc brakes is driven by consumer demand or actual performance gain.  Interestingly, in introducing the Disc Trucker, Surly said it was responding to consumer demand, and said nothing about improved performance over rim brakes.

Here are a few reasons why, even though you've been getting along just fine all these years with ordinary rim brakes, you might want to consider a bike with disc brakes:

1. You ride in a place with a wet climate. Ordinary rim brakes don’t work as well when wet.

2. You ride in a place with hilly terrain. Disc brakes should help you stop better on a steep descent. "Should" is the key word. More on that in a moment.

3. You ride quite a bit off-road.  Mud and dirt can come between your rims and brakepads and diminish caliper brake performance.

4. You will be carrying heavy load and could use help bringing your fully-loaded rig to a halt. This is why we've been seeing front disc brakes on 2012 cargo bikes.

OK, but what about safety? That brings us back to Tyler at Bike Radar, whose disc brakes failed on a steep descent (scratch off reason #2, above?).  The first thing you'll see when you click the link in the next sentence is a photo of Tyler lying in a ditch with 5 broken ribs.  So...  Read Bike Radar first.  Then decide if disc brakes are for you.

Urbana Bike sans NASCAR

Most of the bikes in the US have some sort of racing heritage, born from downhill dirt races or circular tracks or high-speed races through the countryside. We have a NASCAR culture where it's not how we get from x to y, but how fast we get there. We want to make our bikes faster and lighter, creating compromises to eek out performance.

Here's where the Urbana comes in to the equation. This probably isn't the first time you're reading about the Urbana. If you've been reading Cyclelicious, Commute By Bike, or Lovely Bicycle you know it's a tough, fun alternative to your run-of-the-mill hybrid or mountain bike. So you want to know if it's heavy or fast, right? 
 

 
The Urbana is the first bike from the company of the same name out of Montreal, Canada. The key to the bike is the tough as nails frame that allows tires 2.6" wide to fit on the bike --with fenders. It's a step-through design out of aluminum with a love-it-or-hate-it look. The dropouts are modular for future upgrades to belt drive. The headset is threadless and the steerer is mated to a BMX-style 4-bolt stem. The handlebar is, again love it or hate it, a BMX type. Need to raise your handlebars? Just swap out the bars for ones with higher rise. If your 6 ft and like the bars a little higher than the saddle you'll likely need an 8" riser bar.
 

 
The components of the Urbana vary by model. My test bike had a Shimano red-band 8-speed Alfine IGH, a roller brake on the rear wheel and a cable-actuated disk on the front wheel. It's also equipped with an SKS Chainguard, and SKS thermoplastic fenders (would Bikes For The Rest Of Us ride it any other way?). The Urbana also had a tough rear rack with integrated grocery-bag hooks to make any disposable bag into a pannier.

How does it ride? Smooth. My regular commuter has 2” wide tires and a sprung saddle and the Urbana blows it away. The Nid de Poule (apparently a French term for pothole) Sidewalk tires soak up the bumps as you glide off of curbs or traverse gravel. Interestingly the tires don’t seem to sap my pedalling energy like I expected. The bike has some momentum to it but never feels slow.

What can you do with the Urbana? Take it grocery shopping, give a friend a ride (the rack can take it), commute to work or just cruise along your favorite gravel path or bumpy sidewalk. When equipped with fenders, chain guard and hub brakes there’s really no excuse to hop on a have some fun, regardless of the weather. I think one of the best uses would be bike camping along the C&O Canal towpath here in the DC area. The Urbana would just float over the gravel trail and let you enjoy the scenery. Besides, are you really in that much of a hurry?

Photos: Tom Wyland

Lighthouse Sequoia

The Sequoia is back!  Credit: Lighthouse Cycles.

The Lighthouse Sequoia, by Tim Neenan. According to his website, a new custom Sequoia is $1800 for frame and fork.

Neenan distinguished himself in the 80’s as Specialized’s first bicycle frame designer when he created the Sequoia, a sport-tourer, the Expedition, a touring bike, and one of the first mountain bikes, the Stumpjumper.

The Specialized Sequoia, a lugged, steel bike largely manufactured by Miyata in Japan,  is now recognized as a classic. It takes wide tires and was built to travel distances and to carry things.  It's an excellent commuter bike, as the blogger at "A Few Spokes Shy of A Wheel" can attest after putting 30,000 miles on his.  Neenan, with the blessing of Specialized founder Mike Sinyard, is now recreating the Sequoia at Lighthouse Cycles.  You can get it lugged or TIG-welded, your choice, with a custom fit.

Own the road! Credit: Lighthouse Cycles

Don’t have $1800? Here’s an alternative: find yourself an old Specialized Sequoia and lovingly restore it. Here are a few examples:

Mark Rosenberg on cyclofiend

Franklyn Wu on flickr

Kitchen Lattice on flickr

And for more on Sinyard, Neenan, and the history of Specialized, check out this Bike Rader article.

Do you own a Sequoia?  Tell us about it in the comments.