Hi,
last year I got a cheap single speed bike from decathlon and absolutely fell in love with it.
I normally use it to commute to anything and also do some ~30-50 km (~18.6-31 mile) rides on roads / paved paths. Also, aside from bridges, there is barely any elevation here.
However, I have some problems with my current bike / situation.
1. Since the bike was like €/$230 the quality if obv. not the best. The parts a cheap and the frame is not a good base to start customizing it. After an active year, the fork starts to creak and some more small faults…
2. The bike just isn’t build for the sort of long rides I currently do, and I start to hit the absolute maximum I can get from it. However, I want to go faster, and possible, longer.
3. While I absolutely love riding a bike, I, in an equal amount, hate maintaining it. It is the main reason for getting a SS in the first place. No gears means one part less I have to check / repair / clean / etc…. Now, I do all that anyway, but any option to reduce my time spend on maintaining the bike instead of just riding it is greatly appreciated.
Long story short, I’m currently on the lookout for a new SS bike, from which I want mainly 4 things (sorted by importance):
1. Available in the EU
2. On the smaller and nimbler side
3. A belt system to reduce maintenance
4. Gear ratio for faster speed, I’m fine with switching the pully / crank set to archive this.
I fear that 3 and 4 are not realizable together, but anyway, one can dream.
Sadly, as it is often the case, I can’t really find anything that ticks all or most of the boxes.
The [Rally SS](https://spotbikes.com/collections/bikes/products/rallye-ss-bike) by Spot Bike looks good, but while they ship internationally, the import would break the bank for me.
Does anyone know a bike that fits my wishes?
Tl;dr: Do you know a smallish, nimble SS with a belt that can go fast and is available in the EU?
by Ltmeo
3 Comments
So, I don’t often post and pressed “save” on the big editor, didn’t know that directly posts. Well now I’m stuck with that title, rip.
Priority ace of spades is a great belt drive SS for under $1000. Belt drive parts are all Gates so the quality is good. The gear ratio is 20/55 so a little bit higher than most SSs come with by default. Not sure about their shipping though but since the price is so much lower it might be worth it even with import costs.
I don’t have a specific recommendation, but you can check out a number of brands who use Gates belt drives on their website:
https://www.gatescarbondrive.com/bike-brands?biketype=off%20road&bikeregion=europe