Eurobike: small or large exhibitors? It doesn't matter, Velomotion editor Stefan Curow goes in search of a needle in a haystack. Finding exactly the right bike for your very (un)special purpose in 14 halls at the Eurobike doesn't seem to be easier. A field report by a passionate touring cyclist who also wants to use his bike in the city, as a commuter and in a sporty way.
If you want to buy a new bike and want to look around for a real all-rounder, you have to plan two days at the Eurobike in order to have a real sense of achievement. Especially if you want to do without the ubiquitous electronic drive.
The question of the option of electrical support on the bike has only really been asked for a few years. Nevertheless, not having electronic support nowadays means that I want to earn my kilometers honestly and that I am therefore a sporty driver in the broadest sense. The right vehicle should therefore be fast but also versatile and comfortable in order to master short and long tours. A bike for quick daily commuting (commuting – as the modern German calls it) and for ambitious long-distance holidays (randonneur). Conversely, if you intend to do the latter, an e-bike is definitely the wrong candidate.
At the Eurobike I pass stands and products with a lot of potential. At Stevens, for example, I find many well thought out and attractive products in terms of wallet strain, components and refurbishment across multiple categories. But unfortunately one looks in vain for the commuter and randonneur division. The heart beats faster at Shimano, who donate hydraulic disc brakes to the 105 series (Velomotion – Eurobike 2015: Shimao Road – 105 disc brakes and new shoe series) - ideal for city traffic but also a necessity for off-road and heavily loaded long-distance tours. I'm also seeing more and more bicycles equipped with a Pinion gearbox. I find this a more than attractive alternative to the popular Rohloff hub gears. However, both manufacturers only offer twist grip shifters, which is why you need a divisible road bike handlebar (e.g. Van Nicholas VNT Alloy 6061 Drop) or parts from third-party suppliers for a randonneur. At Rohloff, my demand for "why?" and an alternative is pretty definitely ironed out. The company probably wants to remain unresponsive to customer requests and is therefore not planning any other types of shift lever. (* Rohlof company comment on this at the end of the text.)
I hardly find any all-rounder candidates at the large stands of the well-known and well-known manufacturers. However, to say that these were mostly limited to the mainstream market would not be fair. Companies like Cannondale or Cube have gigantic programs and yet you have to blame them a little bit for not having any real interest in the randonneur sector. Of the big ones, I've only discovered one wheel at Centurion, the Crossfire, that points in the right direction. The aluminum CycloCross bike with the "Crossfire D" frame is offered by the Swabians as 2000, 3000 and 4000 with different components. In the lowest category, Centurion adds a pair of mudguards and a pannier rack (Centurion Crossfire 150 EQ) for a fair surcharge of 2000 euros – for a total price of 1.249 euros – I like that.
The new Deveron from Van Nicholas (photo above) is not an all-rounder but quite clearly a touring bike. Finest titanium, of course, Pinion gearbox, hui, pretty strong optics, you want to touch that too ... but the price tag: from 5.690 euros! I guess I'll have to ignore the Dutch and save this dream for after I win the lottery.
Unfortunately, since I don't have the necessary small change but I'm still dreaming, I continue to Velotraum - a visit that is recommended to everyone. The Speedster 2 (with disc brakes), for example, is a suitable candidate with 26-inch wheels and is equipped and painted according to customer requirements. The total price for the basic equipment is already 2.370 euros – but that seems reasonable for my personal veto dream.
At the opposite stands of the Americans from Surly and Salsa I find a frame set that makes my eyes wet: The Surly Disc Trucker (26 inch) and also the Salsa Marrakesh complete bike (28 inch). Both bikes are not exactly omnipresent in German specialist shops, but thanks to the very active German distributor Cosmic Sports it should not be a problem for any bike dealer to order the bikes or frames. Hardly anyone cares about a delivery time of a few weeks - it can happen that the right frame has to be ordered fresh from the USA.
At Pashley, the booth will be much smaller, but the candidate will by no means become less interesting. On the contrary: with the Pathfinder, the British manufacturer offers a steel frame made of lugged Reynolds tubes, which is available equipped with Alfine hub gears under the name "Trail" or with Campagnolo Veloce derailleur gears as "Tour". This candidate is then really difficult to obtain in Germany and is quoted at a total price of £1.695 (Tour model without luggage rack).
As the stand size is obviously inversely proportional to the rapture I get, I find the most promising candidate accordingly at the tiny stand of the Finnish manufacturer Pelago, which was somehow not even placed in an exhibition hall but in the aisle between. The Stavanger steel bike on display comes with Shimano 105 derailleur gears, but can also be used with a hub gear due to the horizontal dropout. As with all candidates, a mechanical disc brake is part of the standard equipment. For EUR 1.795 you get the stylish and almost unlimited expandable all-rounder.
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* The following text comes directly from Rohloff and refers to the above text passage on the subject of hub gears and handlebar selection:
Of course we are interested in one Rohloff-Also to be able to offer riders the option of using a SPEEDHUB with racing handlebars.
Therefore, in the past, in addition to numerous diploma and study projects, there were also several own development approaches. In the end, the technically functioning solutions were clearly too expensive or not ergonomic or severely restricted the user in other ways. A large number of twist grip compromises followed from various small manufacturers - with the respective limitations already mentioned ...
Last year, Cinq5 came up with a thumb lever solution that can also be used with racing handlebars - BUT it can only be used in the top link position. With the Rohbox there is now the first "real solution with regular SRAM or Campa racing brake shifters" (or converted SRAM trigger shifters) for Rohloff SPEEDHUB is now available from Gebla (Georg Blaschke). The detent is removed from the series parts and combined with a separate switch box for SPEEDHUB. From our point of view a really good solution. For us, however, there is a dilemma in terms of sales - because we cannot remove the detent from a third-party product (SRAM or Campa) and then sell it. This means that sales are handled directly by Gebla.