Buying a new commuter belt drive

[danieljB]

Hi all after some feedback on the following bikes I have been looking at.

Avanti Inc 3 - https://www.avantiplus.com.au/products/ ... anti-inc-3

Apollo Trace 55 - http://www.apollobikes.com/bikes15/urba ... dG6GBpApSA

The Apollo is currently a little dearer but I'm led to believe it is a little better specd. Better brakes (M505 vs 405), bottom bracket (Shimano sealed vs fsa power drive), shifters (Shimano rapid fire vs not specified), tyres (Hutchinson gotham vs continental sport contact).

In people's opinions Is this worth the couple of hundred dollars more?

[MattyK]

Much of a muchness. Shifter will be the same. Ride both, pick your favourite.

[Calvin27]

Just throwing a spanner in the works. Not sure if they still make them, but I rekon the focus hub geared bikes were much better. The bottom bracket is a common problematic area for the Inc and likely for the Apollo. Once water gets into an eccentric bottom bracket, it gets noisy fast. Not really ideal for a wet weather bike. The focus models have slider dropouts which fixes the problem and uses a normal circular bottom bracket which is more resistant to slipping and cheaper to repalce.

[coyote]

[symotelli]

Much of a muchness. Shifter will be the same. Ride both, pick your favourite.

+1

[danieljB]

Thanks for the replies guys. I did look into the focus but am led to believe they have a more aggressive geometry which I'm trying to get away from. And they only come in the 8 speed. Also with the slider dropouts doesn't that make it harder to get the wheel on and off?

[Calvin27]

Thanks for the replies guys. I did look into the focus but am led to believe they have a more aggressive geometry which I'm trying to get away from. And they only come in the 8 speed. Also with the slider dropouts doesn't that make it harder to get the wheel on and off?

The geometry is subjective. I mean it's a flat bar commuter. I've compared my mates focus to my Avanti and I'll be buggered if I could tell the difference. The 8 speed thing is legitimate, but I'd say if you are just riding around flat terrain, 8 speed will do (they are more reliable too judging by internet diy-stats). On the slider dropouts, pretty much you don't want to remove a hub gear wheel off too often, it's a real pain and the drop outs are the least of your concerns. With my old bike I put super heavy duty Marathon Plus tyres on the back for this reason.

but either way, if you really want 11 speed, you're back to the first 2 options.

[Espresso_]

Also with the slider dropouts doesn't that make it harder to get the wheel on and off?

It will be - especially if you are running mudguards. But if you're trying to correctly tension a Gates belt drive, this will be the least of your worries. It's probably not a side-of-the-footpath job in either case.

E

[Espresso_]

but either way, if you really want 11 speed, you're back to the first 2 options.

I thought the Avanti Inc 3 was 11spd?

E

[Calvin27]

but either way, if you really want 11 speed, you're back to the first 2 options.

I thought the Avanti Inc 3 was 11spd?

E

Yeah I meant back to the Avanti or Apollo, not the focus, unles their new range has a 11sp option.

[coyote]

8 gears is more then enough, I ride around cairns and there is a couple of good hills. I allways take off in 4th gear and usually ride in 5th or 6th gear. If one is on flat road with a good tail wind one will get into 7th/8th and push 40 + kph. I see no need 11 spd.

[softy]

I think it depends how you like to ride, if you like to keep a higher consistent cadence then more gears are better. Saves pushing bigger cogs.

I would say fit and comfort are also important, so check these out.

[tomness]

8 gears is more then enough, I ride around cairns and there is a couple of good hills. I allways take off in 4th gear and usually ride in 5th or 6th gear. If one is on flat road with a good tail wind one will get into 7th/8th and push 40 + kph. I see no need 11 spd.

If you have steep hills I would disagree. I have an inc 3 (11 speed) and my commute home has a solid climb that gets up to 16% gradient and I need my easiest gear. I certainly would not want to be doing that climb, on that bike, in a harder gear.

The inc 3 is pretty heavy, especially in the rear end. I find it great for mostly flat rides of up to 15-20km. Unfortunately my commute is around 32km each way, with the aforementioned hill on the homeward leg, and to be honest I find the bike a slog over that distance. So if the weather is good I will always take my road bike. However I love that in the rain I can ride the Inc and not worry about having to clean or maintain the bike after the ride. It goes straight into the garage and I don't think about it until I need to commute in the rain again. That was the exact reason I got the bike for, and it fills that role admirably.

[mikedufty]

I've got the Focus, 4th gear is good from stationary on the flat, 1-3 don't get used much in Perth. It would be nice to have slightly closer ratios though, which is where the benefit of the 11 speed would be.
It actually has vertical drop outs, there is a screw adjust/sliding mechanism to move the dropouts for tension adjustment.
I have found the tension to be very finicky if you want to be able to pedal hard though, and even though the drop outs haven't moved, taking the wheel out and putting it back in often seems to require an adjustment. I expect the eccentric BB bikes have the same problem though.
I don't think I would buy one again, I have never been able to get the belt completely silent, and the hub gear can skip under heavy load. It has done 12,000km with no maintenance except tyres and brake pads and bleeding though. It's possible I'd notice the advantage more if I go back to a bike needing more maintenance.