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Planning on getting a cargo bike and like the look of the Bullitt from Larry vs Harry. Anyone else got one and are you happy with it?
I'm off to see one later which has Shimano's Steps e6100 and Alfine. I've never used Alfine but reviews seem ok, unless I'm missing anything?
Hoping it will help us to really cut down on car use, should be great for ferrying kids / dog / shopping / recycling etc. We're in Stockholm so no massive hills to worry about.
Alfines just work. 8sp or 11?
the 8 seems stronger. YOu can improve its drag by degreasing and using ATF rather than relying on the grease but then you need to do it every year
As TJ says - they just work.
I have two (8 speed) that have been shown very little love in the 10 plus years I have run them albeit not used in the way that you are planning on using one.
Out of interest where are you seeing one? The ebike version is out of my budget but the std version has always interested me.
I have borrowed one a few times, didn't like it. Top tube is far too high & no bottle mounts. Sounds a bit trivial but the other half isn't especially short however couldn't use it because of the high stand over & stopping to catch a bottle rattling round the bucket or adding strap on mounts is not acceptable for such an expensive bike, the handling is a steep learning curve too.
As for alfines, bloody love them to bits.
We trial
We trialled an alfine one, but ended up buying 2 x M8000 ones instead.
Ed is 5'8" and had non of the issues the previous poster mentions even when he rode back from Copenhagen to Hebden, via Berlin.
Andy who has previous with Riis and Muller bikes says our Bullitts are like rocket ships compared the more lumbery cargo bikes he's tried in the past.
Love them, but wouldn't get a 6000 series alfine one for the hills and loads around here.
That said the Amsterdam and CPH lads seem to get on OK with pedal power alone.
Film here -
https://hebtro.co/bike-the-bullitt/
The handling is a “trial” on first use, but people I know that own them (and therefore got used to them) seem to be able to get them to go anywhere anyhow anyspeed. So it’s more that the handling is not immediately intuitive, rather than poor… the handling is great, but there’s a bit of a learning curve.
Test
Alfine 11s aren't weaker than 8s, it's just that they're more sensitive to cable tension than the 8s. They tend to get damaged when they don't shift correctly and people try to put load through it when it's not fully engaged with the planetaries. I ran two Alfine 11s (one cable, one Di2) for 42k km with no issues at all and one of those was over 36k km and was still running perfectly when I sold the bike - that one was Di2.
With the right combiation of gearing, you can get up a lot. I ran 40/20 and was able to pull my 5 year old daughter (+ toys, food, locks, etc) in the Chariot up Cheddar with a bit of effort.
Thanks for the input, I’m off to see it now.
It’s a 10km ride back home if I buy it so I’ll report back how I get on with the learning curve!
LMTTM: The bike’s in Hässelby, north of Stockholm.
Well I bought it. It's a lot of fun to ride and way more nimble that I expected. I've never ridden a Steps ebike and it feels a but less industrial than a Bosch that I've tried previously. I like that the Alfine automatically moves to 4th gear when you come to a stop.
The turning circle will take some getting used to and you do need to turn a bit earlier than a normal bike but I'm very happy so far with the short spin home. Happily flies along at 25 km/h, it will be quicker than the car for nigh on all journeys we do locally.
Couple of pics from last night - it certainly makes you smile.
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