[carthick1000]

When you come to the Netherlands, what you cannot help but notice, are BICYCLES. In various sizes, shapes and quite a LOT of them. The other LOT you might notice are the tall Dutchies. In fact, the tallest population in the world.

Throughout my life (childhood to my early 20s) in India, I was pretty much an outlier and was much taller than an average Indian. This brings in both advantages and disadvantages. Instead of advantages, let me focus on the disadvantages, as this is more relevant for the topic :

• Limited designs of apparels
• Always reserved to last bench
• Reserving only last row seats in theater/cinemas/auditoriums etc.
• Limited options of cars with seat adjustment
• Getting looks from strangers while walking in busy sidewalks
• And so on...

But when I came to the Netherlands in 2011 for my Masters, that is the first time in my life, I felt normal. Just so normal that, I have to sit in last-but-one row of the classroom desk, otherwise my classmate who is taller than me will hide the blackboard. What a relief!

It does not stop there. Every disadvantage I ever faced in India due to my height turned into an advantage. It was one of those happy experiences I still enjoy in my day to day life. And one among the most precious advantages is the bicycle frames for taller people! I could find all varieties of bicycles with frame sizes suitable to me. Be it city bikes, road/race bikes and a lot other variety of bikes.

As a student, during the initial years here in NL, I bought an inexpensive used city bike for €100 and used it throughout university and few more years while I worked. In 2015, I decided to upgrade my city bike. By this time, I learnt about the Dutch cycling industry fairly well and have formed a taste for city bikes. So, I set some requirements for a city bike and started looking around. The requirement list is based on 4~5 years of driving (~2500-3000 kms/year) a used city bike and repairing it quite a lot of times during the course of ownership years.

Almost every requirement stems from thinking over what I missed in my old bike, what is good, what broke often and what should I have in the new bike to hold it for atleast 1 or maybe 1.5 decades if possible. I wrote them all down in my notes, which I will summarize here.

Requirements and why?

It has to be simple, functional and straightforward. And it has to be a local brand, because I personally think the Dutch know their weather, landscape, usage patterns and user behavior much better when it comes to product design. And the frame sizes will not be a problem at all.

Frame

I wanted to have either a steel or aluminium frame. City bike frames are predominantly made from steel, aluminium or chromoly (alloy steel with Chromium & Molybdenum). Most city bikes from budget brands have a weight rating of upto 100 kgs and only certain expensive / legacy Dutch brands (Koga Miyata, Gazelle, Batavus, Giant) with top end city bikes at bigger frame sizes, have weight ratings until 130-150 kg. I am 1.93 m tall and hover between 90 and 100 kgs depending on the season, when I m running outdoors or lifting indoors. So I need a pretty solid frame to carry not only my weight, but also the occasional grocery shop runs and backpacks. My previous bike was an aluminium one which tend to flex sometimes when I am riding uphills with a bit more effort. So I was more biased in getting a steel frame.

Power transfer

Next comes the power transfer from my legs to the road. With using previous city bike for few years, which has a chain and hub gear, I noticed certain things which are always annoying. If I wear a nice pair of trousers, esp. the day after I do the routine maintenance of chain (clean with an old toothbrush, wipe with cloth and then oil it), I have to be super careful and roll up right trouser legs, inspite of having a chain guard. This is pretty annoying. Also during rains, which is almost always in the Netherlands, the chain tend to spray muck. This made me look for alternatives to chain. The other new technology coming up in city bikes at that time was belt drives (Gates carbon drive). But they were quite expensive, which made the bicycle also expensive. The other alternative I stumbled upon is shaft driven bicycles. For people who have not seen it before, here is how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKfXyPcddc0

This is not a new technology. It is more than 100 years old, but due to the deraileur type gears, this did not become very famous. But it has inherent benefits like very low / almost no maintenance as the shaft is enclosed. A small Dutch brand called Brik bikes were making shaft drive bikes. They have a setup, where the driveshaft hardly requires any maintenance. It’s a closed system and the oil (HPG SAE 80W-90 GL5) in the system has been adapted accordingly. Since there is no dirt or moisture in the bottom bracket, this oil never has to be replaced. Only it needs a bit of greasing at the wheel end bevel, if there is more resistance felt while riding. The maintenance too is very simple. Takes much less time than for chained powertrains. (Inspite of Dutch subtitles, the videos are self-explanatory)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD1gtC32HW0

And removing the rear wheel for any replacement of tubes or tyres is also a piece of cake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m-4mnQgv0

Gearing
With chain out of way as a powertrain option, I have to choose for hub gears as the deraileur type mechanism works only with chain, but not with belt and shaft by nature of their design. If you have not known how a hub gear works, you must see this ~3min animation where it is explained very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUyv7mLgCFQ

Also in the few years of using the previous bike, the only 2 things which did not give any problems was the hub gear with coaster brakes (pedal reverse to apply brake). So I wanted to have that same user friendly setup in the new bike. Hence I thought of going for either 3,7, 8 or 11 speed hub gears from either Shimano or Rohloff. Both are renowned brands. Here Shimano had a budget 3 & 7 speed nexus hub hears, expensive 8 & 11 speed Alfine and Rohloff's premium 14-speed. The difference between Shimano Nexus, Alfine and Rohloff is that, Alfine and Rohloff contain oil in the housing, which reduces friction, while Nexus don't. I had a 3 speed hub gear in my old bike and that worked like a charm in the almost Flat Dutch landscape. The highest point in the Netherlands (mainland excl. the islands in caribean) is only 322 m. So I am pretty good with 3 speed (Ratios 0.733 : 1 : 1.364). Why spend unnecessarily and complicate a simple bicycle.

Brakes
This is one part I had to make a small tradeoff. Though I was okay with coaster brakes from my previous bike, I thought it would be nice to have disc brakes. But then this increases complexity and number of parts I have to clean /maintain the long run. And also, I just was okay with having a coaster brake as I don't exceed 20 kmph and I am not driving in busy Amsterdam to apply sudden brakes, but in a small village-city in the east of Netherlands. At this point, I know more of less I wanted the brik bike. But still there was room for other options.

Saddle
The previous bike had a soft foam saddle, which is very cushy, but feels a bit strange and gives a feeling of floating esp. when pedaling. It is like you are sitting in a tall cushy riding SUV and not very sharp like a low slung sedan. I did some research and found out leather saddles are the most comfortable and very user friendly. They just last a lifetime. I settled for a Brooks saddle, as Brik offered an optional upgrade at that time.

Handlebar
The previous bike I had a curved handlebar which made the rider sit erect. This was not very handy on windy days and in the Netherlands it gets quite windy due to proximity to sea. So I wanted to have straight handlebar with riding position a bit more sporty. Luckily most decent bike manufacturers have options to choose the type of handlebar. So this is settled for a straight/almost straight one.

Hand-grip
On very cold mornings and evenings, if you ride a bike, you will know the importance of a leather or fabric handgrip. As plastic or any other hard materials tends to be either very cold, if you have no gloves or slippery with gloves. So I was okay with the upgraded Art. leather handgrip Brik was offering.

Tires -
From a decent brand with low rolling resistance was okay. Most reputed dutch brands were offering good quality tyres and Brik is not skimping on it either.

So I finally settled for a steel framed Brik sec, which has a timeless design, 3 speed shimano nexus hub gear with coaster brakes, ergotec handles and a low maintenance shaft drive. Just like some BMW motorcycles

This is yours truly 6 years ago on a summer evening somewhere in Arnhem, Netherlands:



And this is last year pre-covid, when my car was at service and I have to visit a place with less frequent last mile connectivity :



How long so far?
I average yearly about 2000-2500kms and in the last 6 years I have driven is between 12000-15000kms in total. Almost everything works as designed and I have not faced any issues at all. In the past 6 years, I have changed the tubes and tyres 3 times in total. They are more of preventive maintenance except for 1 time I had a puncture followed by leak near valve. Every 5~6 months, I grease the bevel gears in the rear and apply silicone spray to the areas needed. I have adjusted the hub gear a few times. And changed the battery of the front and rear lights a few times. The next maintenance is probably tightening of the Leather saddle and the front handlebar to head tube lock nut, as I see some play. But for the rest, it is a very robust bicycle. I think I can easily keep this until 2030.

The closest contender I had when choosing my bike was a aluminium framed Schindelhauer Ludwig VIII pictured below. It comes with either 8 or 11 speed shimano alfine with belt drive and V-brakes.



The reason I did not choose this one is:
1. Size not available. Brik sec had a 65cm model, whereas Schindelhauer stopped at 62cm frame size. Being a German brand, they focused more of German population's average height
2. Price - Twice as expensive as mine when I bought it. Now-a-days only 1.5 times more expensive, as the belt drive prices dropped and Brik bikes increased the prices

Inspite of having cars, I always loved using bicycles for errands, weekend outings with wifey, friends and would like to keep riding as long as physically possible. Happy to share the story with fellow bhp-ians.

Cheers,
Karthik

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Your bicycle is going to our homepage today

[Axe77]

What a beautiful read of an equally exquisite bicycle. Brooks saddles are truly marvellous and a work of art in themselves. Tasteful upgrade going in for them early on itself. I myself may consider splurging on a Brooks for my Brompton but only when I get a chance to travel overseas (whenever that is). In no pressing rush right now specially with the high acquisition cost of the bike which I am still recovering from.

I love the sheer variety of commuter cycles you get to see in NL. Specially with the range of added hardware like trailers, front luggage carriers, even kids strollers etc appended to them. They are an absolute delight to watch.

Do keep your thread regularly updated. I myself am trying to throw some commute based cycling into the mix into life in Mumbai but as you can imagine thats not so easily done in a city like ours - so it still counts mostly for leisure. Neither serious training nor serious commuting but leisure short commutes.


PS: That Schindelhauer Ludwig VIII too looks good enough to be a piece of art. Absolutely magnificent looking.

[papr23]

That is an interesting frame and powertrain choice! Any loss in efficiency from the shaft mechanism is offset by the fact that Netherlands is completely flat. So it is a great choice as it is reliable and requires low maintenance.
How is the Brooks ageing in your wet weather? Do you always carry a waterproof cover?

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by papr23

How is the Brooks ageing in your wet weather? Do you always carry a waterproof cover?

I don't normally carry any waterproof cover. Leather is very durable and it takes only a wipe or two with your hand to remove water droplets after a downpour. If it is still a bit wet, well I don't mind. For routine maintenance, I use Proofide (link), which I apply once every few months. Normally, I do it when I know for sure I will not be using the bike for 1 or 2 days. It takes a day or two in shade to get dried up as it gets absorbed by leather. And tighten the saddle, whenever I feel it becoming a bit loose. I might have done it maybe 2 times in the last 6 years.

Originally Posted by Axe77

Do keep your thread regularly updated.

Sure, will do. Given the very long maintenance intervals of the bike, I don't think there will be very frequent updates.

Originally Posted by GTO

Your bicycle is going to our homepage today

Thanks, pal. Can't appreciate more what you mods and admins do at Team-BHP to keep the forum in ship-shape. Kudos!

[Guite]

I read about shaft drive bicycle recently and was intrigued by the claim made that there is less loss of energy through friction, which is inherent in chain drive. Saving your thread for reading at leisure.

[ads11]

The only experience I have of a shaft driven bicycle was from the short lived bicycle rental scheme by Mobike in 2017. Manchester has the ignominy of being the first global city that the company pulled out from thanks to the creative ways in which some of the locals vandalised these (barely lasted a year). Here's what one looked like:


You can see it has a shaft drive and weirdly it had asymmetrical front and rear forks. If you look closely you can see the big black lock above the rear tire - well it didn't take long for some Mancunians to saw that off, sand off any identifying numbers and spray paint the bikes to have themselves what would at first glance pass off as any other bike. You can see why the company pulled out..

As you can imagine for a bike designed to be left out in the wild and used by countless folks it was built extremely sturdy and it's only saving grace being it handled like less of a truck compared to London's Boris Bikes (the only comparison I have). The asymmetry of the design was definitely something I felt in my short time using those. Manchester is fairly flat but I remember the gearing being a bit sluggish - I'm not sure if that's a feature of shaft drives or whether I had a bit of a knackered example that day.

As pointed out earlier, shaft drives are definitely easier to maintain, hence you can see why the designers of the original Mobike went with it.

The only other time I saw a shaft driven bike was from an e bike start up (https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/17/2...tor-price-date). I'm no real cycling expert in all honesty but I've hardly seen any other coverage from this brand versus the likes of say VanMoof or Angell (granted these are expensive niche products).

[sandeepmohan]

That is a frame design I have never seen before. Less chance of smashing your crotch into it

I always wondered how a hub gear system works. The only gear system I knew was based on a crank case set and nothing else. Seems like a far more reliable design compared to chain driven systems which needs attention from time to time for the derailleur. Once the alignment goes out, it needs a bit if fiddling to get it right. Besides; if you are someone who thrashes the bike, the crank case set will need replacement.

New Zealand is big of cycling but more the off road kind. A lot of hilly, rugged terrain so not encouraging to ride to work or as daily means to commute. Not to forget, ever changing wind conditions. There are folks who do but not as much as NL does. I push my son to get on his bike for the school run. We have a slight uphill section to negotiate and even though its only 300 meters in length, its enough to tire us both and take a break. Most city cycle riders opt for a hybrid set up with electric assistance as they can use it for steep hill sections of Wellington suburbs.

With fabric grips, how do you avoid them getting wet, when parked and in cold conditions (dew formation)?

[Jeroen]

Nice write up, thanks!

I must admit I have come across these BRIC bikes only once or twice. I saw one the other day with a belt drive system.

The Brooks saddles are the best in the business. I have had the more luxurious version with the two big springs at the back. BRIC offers these as well, or you can just go aftermarket of course.

Good to see your are doing a fair bit of mileage per year. And taking it on the train, Very Dutch. Of course, a real Dutch will have two bicycles. You should have kept your old university run about. Makes for good trips into town and you don’t worry about it getting stolen.

Me being Dutch own a Dutch bicycle of course: Koga. And my old runabout is Dutch make too and so is my wife’s bicycle (Gazelle).

Have a look

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...r-repairs.html

Jeroen

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

With fabric grips, how do you avoid them getting wet, when parked and in cold conditions (dew formation)?

You can't avoid . Being synthetic leather, it does not absorb/breath any moisture. So it just needs a wipe, when parked elsewhere outdoors in rain. At home, I park inside a closed storage space. Never faced any problems so far.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I saw one the other day with a belt drive system.
...
You should have kept your old university run about. Makes for good trips into town and you don’t worry about it getting stolen.

BRIK only had shaft drives in the past, but they expanded the portfolio with belt drive bikes as well in the last couple of years. They seem to focus on the low maintenance powertrains.

I donated the old runabout to a student. A normal wheel lock and an extra chain lock from ABUS is doing their duty well, so far. Have a good insurance too. Knock wood!

My wife wants to replace her old bike as well sometime this year. She might get a koga or a Gazelle belt drive as well.

Thanks, also for the link! Will check it out this weekend.

[joelstephen]

Here's a video that might interest you!

https://youtu.be/rgo-yEaXDzA

[RT13]

Nice bike man! Not sure I’d ever take something with coaster brakes, but that’s just me. Probably works alright in the Netherlands I suppose.

One thing - your old bike flexing doesn’t mean aluminium flexes more. It doesn’t. Aluminium frames across the board are stiffer than steel (cromoly or hi ten even), usually by quite a lot. In fact, it’s why there’s a bit of a movement back towards steel for touring and commuting - much more forgiving and less chattery/harsh of a ride. Was probably that particular frame which flexed when you laid down power.

Out of curiosity, what does the bike weigh? There seems to be just a little irony in branding it ‘Brik’ And how much did it cost if you don’t mind me asking.

For anyone interested in decently priced hub gated bikes, check out Priority. They have bikes with Gates belt drives with internal hub gears for as little as 500-600 dollars. Their more expensive models even use an unusual CVT hub.

https://www.prioritybicycles.com/products/continuumonyx

[dileepcm]

As some one who lives in Netherlands, uses cycle fairly a lot, very nice article to read. Thanks for putting this together.

I was behind chain less bike scene a while ago. I came across https://www.steedcycles.in/ who produces such bikes in India. I am not sure how popular they are, but looks like they have done some serious work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j9f...el=NagulDswamy

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by RT13

Was probably that particular frame which flexed when you laid down power.

Out of curiosity, what does the bike weigh? There seems to be just a little irony in branding it ‘Brik’ And how much did it cost if you don’t mind me asking.

Yes, the flex problem of the old bike's frame is not because of aluminium, but I think because of designed payload. Could not find a spec sheet as it was already few years old when I bought it. Hence for the safer side went for Steel frame. Also for the cofort and durability reasons. It weighs between 18~20kgs if my guess is good. Never cared to weigh it. It definitely feels heavier than a normal city bike, as I also have the biggest frame size too. I bought it new for €713. Currently, they dont have the complete personalisation anymore. Either you get a 3 / 7 speed Nexus without Brooks (OR) 8 speed Nexus with Brooks. With current pricing, if I pick a 3-speed with Brooks, it should cost ~€1100.

Note that the priority bike you shared did not specify which type of Gates Carbon drive. There is a marked difference between CDN and CDX series drives. The former has lower cost and lifespan (2500~3000kms) and is limited to commuters, whereas the latter has almost 5 times more lifespan (10000-15000kms). CDN is a polymer-carbon belt at a lower cost, made for city riders. CDX is a polyurethane-carbon belt which is extremely durable, efficient, weather resistant and withstands strain, such as when touring or high-mileage bikes. CDX system also uses better materials for the belt ring and sprockets.

I suggest this article for someone looking for belt drive bikes.

Originally Posted by dileepcm

https://www.steedcycles.in/

Never heard of this brand. Thanks for sharing. As suspected, no frame sizes there too

[RT13]

Originally Posted by carthick1000

Note that the priority bike you shared did not specify which type of Gates Carbon drive. There is a marked difference between CDN and CDX series drives. The former has lower cost and lifespan (2500~3000kms) and is limited to commuters, whereas the latter has almost 5 times more lifespan (10000-15000kms). CDN is a polymer-carbon belt at a lower cost, made for city riders. CDX is a polyurethane-carbon belt which is extremely durable, efficient, weather resistant and withstands strain, such as when touring or high-mileage bikes. CDX system also uses better materials for the belt ring and sprockets

They mostly come with cdn stock (save for a couple of models) but offer cdx as an upgrade and in fact recommend it for different conditions. Costs just 65 dollars. Still ridiculously cheap when you consider that here in India we drop 3-4K easily on an 11-12 speed chain.

https://www.prioritybicycles.com/pro...31280472555597

18-20 kilos is heavier than most of today’s downhill bikes. I thought it’d be heavy but wow that’s more than I anticipated. This is the main barrier to scaling the technology imo, given the way bikes have gotten lighter and lighter.