Belt drive commuter bike

Quango Unchained

I'm thinking of getting a new bike on the bike to work scheme for commuting 16km each way on mostly flat terrain but one steep hill for a few hundred metres.

Would the belt drive and hub be too sluggish for this distance?

The Boardman Urb 8.9 or Canyon Commuter 5.0 look like good low maintenance options. Does anyone have experience of these? Don't need panniers but would install full mudguards.

If I got a flat bar bike I'd probably narrow the handlebars and add bar ends for extra hand positions.

I currently use a road bike with standard chain and 28mm tyres. It's nippy enough but a bit uncomfortable and I have to be careful of sunken manhole covers, potholes and debris. I almost never use the drops. I clean the chain and bike about once a month - and it nearly always rains first time out after I do.

padjocollins

i’ve got a cube travel pro (live in germany) with a gatest cdx (more robust version of cheaper cdn standard belt) belt drive an shimano nexus 8 gear hub. it’s a great bike, almost zero maintenance, pump the tyres and change the disc brakes once or twice a year. Totally silent when u stop pedalling . I think you’ll love your bike. i cycle 30km x2 once a week into work which wrecks me as i’m getting on a bit but i love it .

kirving

I'd love a belt drive too, and may pick one up, but my main issue with the hub gearboxes I tried was that I couldn't drop a few gears at a time which I tend to do in city traffic - you have to click down multiple times.

I also like to have a little more finesse with the gear selection that the 8-speed I tried, but an 11-speed should be much better in that regard.

padjocollins

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848613#Comment_121848613

they have a shimano alfine 11 gear hub but it’s the same overall range as the 8 gear shimano (300%ish)https://www.sheldonbrown.com/nexus8.shtml

If money isn’t a blocker, loook at rohlhoff (500% ish range) , pinion , enviolo https://electrek.co/2022/06/20/best-mid-drive-electric-bike-ride1up-prodigy-xr/ or others but look at a hiplokd1000 (300 euro) to help protect your bike if it’s not caged in at work or safe at home . the hiplok d1000 is very angle grinder resistant but will give in after about 20 mins , as opposed to 30 seconds with other good brands

i live in a hilly enough area and i needed a lighter first gear so i ened up swapping in a different sprocked and belt drive after getting advice here

https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/75398/carbon-gates-belt-drive-need-to-have-lower-gears-to-get-up-steeper-hills-best

There is still one short hill that is too much for me but at least i can go up one 2km long one now . That’ll do . the bike cost 1,200 , 3 years ago , 5k on it. worth every cent .

the clicking , you get used to it, it’s very fast and i find the same on another derailleur bike i use . i just stop peddling for a split second and click to the gear i want but i could be wrong, i’m just imagining what i do automatically at this stage.

Quango Unchained

A rohlhoff or pinion gearbox would push the price way above the 1250 cycle to work limit making it expensive and at the same time more of a target for thieves. Would be nice though.

padjocollins

I live in south germany , in rolling hills before it head into the alps . I get away with the nexus 8 (ok, i had to get a bigger sproket to make 1st gear 25% lighter , helped a huge amount) gears. I love my bike . Just the silence of cycling along pedaling or not , complete silence . i’ve got nice wide low friction tires as well so i notice the bumps less https://archiv.cube.eu/en/2020/350200 . Keeping your bike safe is foremost on our minds . it’s in a locked shed with card access and cctv coverage and at home in the cellear there are ebikes worth a lot more . I’d be slow to cycle it to for example a uni in Ireland and not find it there one day when i come back . i’d be looking at the hiplock D1000 or something similar

you can also go with a normal chain and nexus hub , you’ll save a tonne of cash and you’ve still got a great low maintenance and silent bike . ok you’ll have to oil the chain but not a big deal. It attracts less attention from unwanted eyes . Disc brakes aren’t the be all and end all . you can fit vbrakes onto your bike very quickly and they work very well . i picked up a rabeneick (good german brand apparently) nexus 8 in great condition for 95 euros similar to this only bigger and for a male https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/rabeneick-damenfahrrad-28-zoll-nexus-rh-48/2693645403-217-26474 , second hand but as good as new after i tuned the nexus hub a little bit (easy once youtube video shows u) and changed the brakes. perfect run around .

Don Juan II

I have a Boardman Urban 8.9 - got it over a year ago. I fitted rack and mudguards myself. I also trimmed back the handle bars, they were 3cm too wide for me. I swapped the grips on my old commuter as I preferred them to the grips on the boardman (had bar ends as well).

Honestly the best commuter I've owned.

My previous commuter was also an Alfine 8 speed gearbox but was a normal chain (not belt). Had it for 6 years, used every day in all conditions. Never skipped a beat.

The bike it literally zero maintenance which is what you need from a commuter that's going to be used in all conditions every single day.

I posted this a month ago - at the time the Boardman Urban 8.9 was €900 but that bargain seems to have ended

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121714842#Comment_121714842

g0g

The 8.6 URB is reduced at the moment, might be of interest to someone

https://www.halfords.ie/bikes/hybrid-bikes/boardman-urb-8.6-urban-hybrid-bike-2021---s-m-l-frames-423974.html

padjocollins

The boardman 8.9 looks like a flyer of a bike , my cube travel pro is more of a tank in comparison but it’s still enjoyable and i can go at a decent enough pace on the flat . I wouldn’t touch a bike without a front wheel dynamo light . Too much fiddling with carry lights and taking them off in case they get stolen, charging them up . Not a huge thing but nice to have it on the bike in the first place and I get you wanted your bike as minimal and light as you could .

Quango Unchained

I think the Boardman Urban 8.9 would be a good option alright. And I could try it out in store unlike the Canyon.

Maybe in 4 years I could just buy a Rohloff on the bike to work scheme and swap out the Nexus 8, if that's allowed.

I thoroughly cleaned the bike and re-lubed the chain on Sunday and used the bike for the first time this morning - it lashed rain and bike is destroyed again.

padjocollins

The Rohloff is really for very hilly areas and/or people going on world tours with heavy loads. The nexus 8 should serve you very well and you’ll have to worry a lot less about getting it stolen . The hubs are built into the wheels so no easy way to swap hubs in and out and even if you could, you’d have to wire up and calibrate the rohloff gear change system.

look at getting a chain protector https://www.temu.com/de-en/1pc-bike-chain-cover-protector-case-various-sizes-40-46teeth-crankset-guard-bicycles-protection-accessories-bikes-parts-g-601099537124567.html?top_gallery_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.kwcdn.com%2Fproduct%2FFancyalgo%2FVirtualModelMatting%2F53822ac75072e7ebec4f3575b98dfc86.jpg&spec_gallery_id=4071822255&refer_page_sn=10032&refer_source=10016&freesia_scene=11&_oak_freesia_scene=11&_oak_rec_ext_1=NDQ5&_oak_gallery_order=1970469054%2C923620127%2C1323121971%2C1994036982%2C2029432074&refer_page_el_sn=200444&_x_sessn_id=sevjs353c7&refer_page_name=goods&refer_page_id=10032_1709652584819_zmo5e53qee , i don’t know much about them myself