Velo Vision Sample Article - Dahon

Velo Vision Sample Article
This PDF is a sample of the material in
Velo Vision Issue 29, March 2008. The
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Peter Eland
Editor and Publisher,
Velo Vision
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ISSUE 29 MARCH 2008 £6 www.velovision.com
REVIEWS:
DAHON CADENZA
SANTOS SUB
BATAVUS ADAGIO
NuVINCI
YUBA MUNDO
LONGTAIL
HUB GEAR TESTS:
SRAM i-MOTION 9
SHIMANO ALFINE
ROHLOFF
NuVINCI

Velo Vision is published quarterly
by Velo Vision Ltd.
Subscription details, news and updates
can be found on www.velovision.com
ISSN 1475-4312
Velo Vision Magazine
York Environmental Centre
St Nicholas Fields
York, YO10 3EN, UK
Tel/Fax +44 1904 438 224
(from UK, 01904 438 224)
Email peter@velovision.com
Website www.velovision.com
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: Peter Eland
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Sue Archer
PHOTO ASSISTANT: Debz Butterworth
ART DIRECTOR: Brian Holt
WEB PROGRAMMER: Simon Ward
PRINTER: Stephens & George
Magazines Ltd
PUBLISHING SCHEDULE:
Issue 30: June 2008
Issue 31: September 2008
Issue 32: December 2008
Issue 33: March 2009
Velo Vision is a member
of INK, trade association
of the alternative press in
the UK. www.ink.uk.com
VELO VISION AND VELO-VISION
We weren’t first with the name. Velo-
Vision (note the hyphen) is a bike shop
in Körten, near Bergisch-Gladbach,
Germany. Velo Vision magazine exists
in friendly harmony with Velo-Vision
in Germany.
Velo Vision is printed on paper
produced from sustainable forests
to Nordic Swan standards.
COVER PHOTOGRAPH:
Riding the Cadenza. Photo: Peter Eland.
OPPOSITE: The weir on the River
Ouse at Naburn Lock near York provides
a turbulent backdrop.
Photo: Peter Eland.
C O N T E N T S
MARCH 2008
4 News
The amazing Shweeb, a longtail round-up,
Sheldon’s passing, an 8-speed Brompton,
full 2008 events list and much more…
8 NAHBS 2008
Reporting from Portland, Oregon, at the
North American Handmade Bicycle Show
12 Travel in tandem
A voyage up South America by upright and
recumbent tandem
16 Review: Batavus
Adagio NuVinci
We review this flagship Netherlands
town bike, complete with revolutionary
NuVinci transmission
20 Review: Santos SUB
The SUB Rohloff on test, a custom-
configured urban utility bike with a
formidable frame
24 Review: Dahon
Cadenza 2008
Reviewing this capable full-sized-wheels
folding bike, complete with Alfine hub
gearing
28 Hub gear heaven
A detailed report on four cutting edge
transmissions on review this issue:
Shimano Alfine, SRAM i-Motion 9,
NuVinci CVT and the Rohloff Speedhub.
TOO MUCH TESTING!
This is an issue somewhat stuffed full of reviews:
perhaps too many. I think we’ve done justice to
everything we’ve tested, but with a total of four
bike tests plus masses of short reviews, it’s been
something of a logistical challenge.
Everything needs to be ridden as much as
possible. Everything needs to be photographed
several times: first while still clean, and then in
use, preferably when it’s sunny, and when I can
persuade some of my friends to come out on a
bike ride and have their pictures taken for the
action shots.
32 Review: Yuba Mundo
An affordable, super-rugged workbike
from Germany put through its paces.
36 Short Reviews
36 Ledal pedal lights, plus Hebie’s Bigfoot
two-leg stand and steering damper
38 Arkel’s convertible panniers: the Bug
rucksack and the Briefcase laptop bag
40 Books: Annie Londonderry, The Full
English, and Pedal Powered Planes…
plus a Pitlock update
42 Lights fantastic: the twice-as-bright B&M
IQ Fly front light, and SRAM’s D7 hub
dynamo.
44 Readers’ bikes
44 Comfort by Pedersen: A rider in Sydney,
Australia is delighted
48 Trikes drive trains in Germany, plus a
Ruko update.
50 Letters
Caravanning through the years, Tikit
thoughts, Moonsaddle musings and more
52 Subscribe to Velo Vision
How to subscribe, back issues, and details
of our distributors worldwide
53 Advertisements
The first place to look for specialist
products and services
Then, between sending the magazine to print
and mailing it out, I’ll try to get the review bikes
cleaned, disassembled, carefully packed up and
sent off. After that there’s a few glorious weeks of
actually having some spare space at home and
in the office before the next batch of test bikes
arrive, usually in huge cardboard boxes...
I’m certainly not complaining: I know how
lucky I am to get to try all of these interesting
bikes. I hope our reviews allow you to share some
of the pleasure I take in riding them. And I’ll try
to scale back a bit for next issue!
Peter Eland
ISSUE 29 MARCH 2008 VELOVISION
3

PRODUCT REVIEW DAHON CADENZA
THE CAPABLE
CADENZA
Dahon’s Cadenza is one of a very few
folding bikes with full-sized wheels – and
with its Alfine 8-speed hub, Big Apple tyres
and versatile frame, it’s a promising all
rounder. So how does it work in practice?
BACKGROUND
This is the second incarnation of
Dahon’s Cadenza 26"-wheeled
folding bike: last year’s version
had a simpler frame in sober black
and came with derailleur gears as
standard. It’s proven to be a strong
seller, and popular with those
looking for a relatively conventionallooking
bike which also folds. The
eccentric bottom bracket made it
ideal for conversion to hub gears,
singlespeed or fixed, and that
feature’s been retained for 2008.
We’ll have a report later in the
year from John Isles (who wrote the
Panamericana review last issue)
and his partner Cathy about the
two much modified and Rohloffequipped
2007 Cadenzas they’re
currently using on an extended tour
in India. They report that the folding
aspect is very useful, especially when
it comes to persuading hotel staff to
allow them to take the bikes inside.
And the normal look to the bike
doesn’t attract too much attention
on the road.
Our 2008 Cadenza was among
the first to reach the UK, but retail
supplies should be becoming
available soon after this issue
appears. Dahon accessories
available include mudguards, carry
bag and a hard-shell suitcase for
transport. There are three frame
sizes. Recommended retail price in
the UK is £579.99.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The 2008 Cadenza is very much a
‘stealth’ bike, with a grey and black
theme lending it an almost military
appearance. Subtle curves have
been introduced to the aluminium
frame for this year’s model, resulting
in a slightly lower stepover height.
Welds are tidy and regular with
the characteristic aluminium
‘scalloped’ appearance.
The front of the bike looks very
clean, with an integrated-type
headset and straight aluminium
forks. On our bike the headset seals
seemed particularly close-fitting,
probably no bad thing if it keeps
dirt out longer. This provided just
enough resistance to hold the
steering in place while wheeling
the bike – but any friction was
completely unnoticeable while
riding.
The Ritchey straight handlebars
are supported by an NVO stem
system: you can slide the stem
itself up and down the steerer tube
extension by 50 mm to fine-tune
your riding position. A groove in the
ABOVE: The NVO stem
system allows quick
adjustment or removal.
ABOVE RIGHT: Aluminium
TIG welds are even and tidy.
RIGHT: Great to see Ergon
grips on the flat bars, along
with the Avid brake levers
and Alfine trigger shifter.
stem engages with a ridge on the
steerer, keeping everything aligned,
so adjustment or removal involves
simply loosening the stem’s two
clamp bolts and sliding. It can look
a bit odd in the lower position with
2" of steerer sticking out, but it’s a
nice convenience, especially if more
than one rider uses the bike, and it
considerably speeds up removing
the whole handlebar assembly
– ideal for a folding bike.
The straight, tapered forks have
mounts for both disk and cantilever
brakes – the unused studs covered
in plastic caps on the 2008 model,
which has disk brakes front and rear
as standard. It’s good they’ve left
these mountings in place: if you’re
out on tour and a disk brake fails
completely, it’ll probably be easier
to find replacement cantilever or Vbrakes
than specific disk parts. So it’s
a useful backup, and keeps options
open for those who prefer rim brakes
anyway, perhaps to make the bike
less conspicuous or theft-prone.
Looking back along the frame it’s
easy to miss the folding mechanism
– discreet bulges on the top and
down tube where the ‘Lockjaw’
frame joints allow the bike to fold,
as we’ll describe later. There’s also
a single set of bottle cage bosses on
the downtube above the Dahon logo.
The bottom bracket system is a
rarity on a mass-produced solo
bike: it’s a tandem-style eccentric,
which lets you rotate the aluminium
outer shell within the frame to
adjust the chain tension. This means
no tensioner is needed on nonderailleur
systems, which can only
be good for reliability. It also leaves
open the possibility of adding a
Chainglider or other chaincase.
Under the bottom bracket is a
plastic-covered aluminium loop
which serves to support the bike
when folded.
The rear triangle mirrors the front
forks, with both canti bosses and
24 VELOVISION ISSUE 29 MARCH 2008 ISSUE 29 MARCH 2008 VELOVISION 25

PRODUCT REVIEW DAHON CADENZA
The pinch-style eccentric bottom bracket
lets you set the chain tension. Note also
the self-extract bolts securing the cranks.
disk brake mounts. On the drive
side there’s a replaceable derailleur
hanger in case you want to revert to
non-hub gears. There are beefylooking
threaded bosses for a carrier
rack above the extended dropout
plates: they’re probably a bit high
up and close in for many standard
carrier racks, so you may need to
seek out an extra-adjustable model
– increasingly available as disk
brakes become more popular for
utility riding.
The Cadenza’s brakes are Shimano
mechanical disks with 140 mm
rotors attached using Shimano’s
‘Centrelock’ system rather than
the more usual six-bolt mounting.
Adaptors are available (from various
suppliers) to allow you to run sixbolt
rotors on a Centrelock hub if
you want to change to other brakes
in future, but Centrelock does have
its merits. The disk is held on by a
lockring, just like a rear sprocket
cassette, and Shimano use the same
spline pattern for both, so you need
just a single tool. It’s also a lowprofile,
tidy system and has a good
reputation for reliability.
Both 26" wheels are built up with
32 black spokes and disk-specific
WTB rims, non-eyeletted but with
a strong double-wall profile. We did
have one rear spoke come loose
for some reason, and a few others
needed a bit of precautionary
tightening – but the wheel stayed
fairly true despite this, thanks no
doubt to the strong rim.
Both wheels are shod in Big Apple
tyres, 2" (50 mm) wide, in all-black.
The version with reflective band on
the sidewalls might have been
26
The sturdy-looking carrier rack mounts
are rather high up on the seatstays, so
you'll need to select a rack to fit.
a nice improvement, but in any
case they’re quality tyres for
urban riding, offering a degree of
inbuilt suspension. They also offer
immunity from all but the very
deepest of potholes or road damage:
the large air chamber means they
absorb impacts and distort around
bumps and edges to an extent not
possible with narrower-section tyres.
The transmission is based around
Shimano’s new flagship hub gear,
the 8-speed Alfine. A development
of the Nexus which we reviewed in
Issue 21, it claims further increases
in efficiency, sharper styling and,
say Shimano, it’s now rated for
off-road use. This is promising for
stronger riders like me who tend to
wreck hub gears. We’ve compiled
more detailed comments on this
and the other hub transmissions
tested this issue in a separate feature
– please do go on a few pages in the
magazine to read it, as it’s a central
part of this bike’s performance. Gear
range as set up with the 38T ring and
20T rear sprocket is 26-80": nice and
low for hills and acceleration off the
traffic lights. I did occasionally want
a higher gear, but the range they've
chosen worked well, all in all.
The hub is driven from a singlering
38T Truvative chainset with
welcome captive, self-extracting
crank bolts – you can tighten or
remove the cranks with just an 8
mm Allen key. A very solid chain
guard on the outside keeps your
trouser clean, and the chain itself is
a rust-resistant model from KMC, a
good choice on a bike billed as an
all-weather commuter.
Controlling the hub gears is a twolever
‘trigger’ shifter with a shiny
silver gear display – change to lower
gears with your thumb, and shift up
with a finger. This sits neatly inboard
of the brake levers, and outboard
from those are full-width Ergon
sculpted grips. I fit these as a matter
Unlike some I've seen the Cadenza's chain
guard ring is made from thick aluminium,
so it won't get bent easily.
of course to flat-barred bikes which
come my way (at a cost of around
£20/pair) so it’s great to see Dahon
fitting them as standard.
Another unexpected bonus from
Dahon is the pump fitted within
the seatpost. A little cover folds out,
revealing a pull-out hose. With a
foot on the folded-out cover, and
with the saddle as a handle, it’s a
fairly effective track pump, certainly
better than most mini pumps for on
the road.
Weight as tested was a few grams
over 14 kg. Dahon quote 12.6 kg, but
that’s probably for the small (16")
frame. Ours was medium (18"), but
the seatpost had plenty of adjustment
left for me at 6' 2". The large (20")
frame will offer more reach as well
as height, so might well be worth
choosing for tall people who like to
be a little more leaned-over.
THE RIDE
Most riders who tried it were
favourably impressed with the speed
and sporty feel to the bike: it’s nippy
and responsive. Of course, this was
without rack and mudguards, and
there’s perhaps a psychological
effect here – any bike feels more
sporty stripped down, especially
to us utility riders used to fullyequipped
workhorses!
But the Cadenza really is a rigid
frame: not as rock solid as the
Santos, perhaps, but then it’s a fair
bit lighter. In normal use the frame
feels stiff and responsive. I could
get it to flex but only with deliberate
heaving. Steering feels taught and
deliberate, with the handlebar
assembly notably rigid.
Some lighter riders found the ride
a bit harsh – perhaps the look of
those front forks makes it seem that
way, but more likely it’s because
the Big Apples were inflated to suit
me, a relatively heavy rider. I found
the ride no harsher than any other
non-suspended town bike, and the
Ergon grips spread the load nicely
across the palm of your hands so it
actually felt rather more comfortable
than many.
The medium-size Cadenza frame
is versatile when it comes to rider
size: we had riders from 5' 3" to 6' 2"
on it no problem – clearly the reach
ABOVE: With a turn of an
Allen key the two Lockjaw
halves lift apart slightly,
allowing them to pivot. The
folded bike is held together
by magnets (RIGHT).
Folded, it rolls along easily
without lifting, and stands
securely (FAR RIGHT). The
chain is on the outside, but
perhaps more importantly,
disk brake rotors are
well protected within the
package. Removing stem,
saddle, pedals and wheels
will shrink the folded bike
wasn’t necessarily perfect for all
riders, but it was close. Female test
riders of all sizes generally preferred
the bars at the top of the adjustment
range anyway, as did I as a tallish
male rider. Different-length stems
are available to fit the NVO system
if you do want to tweak the riding
position.
We’ve left reporting on the Alfine
hub in detail for a separate report:
see later this issue. Suffice it to say it
worked superbly, with great shifting
and little perceptible drag.
The disk brakes required some
running-in, as all disks do, but after
that they worked very well indeed,
and stopping was swift and silent.
Overall the Cadenza was generally
perceived as an enjoyable ride,
quite fast but also robust. We had
no worries about hitting potholes,
a real safety feature when
you’re bombing along in fast traffic
and hit something unexpectedly.
Light off-roading is also perfectly
possible, making it a great urban and
commuting all-rounder.
Unfortunately we didn’t have time
to add a rack and to test it loaded up
in ‘touring mode’, but for what it’s
worth, early reports from John and
Cathy in India suggest that last year’s
model is holding up very well so far.
THE FOLD
The Cadenza’s fold is super-simple:
just insert a 6 mm Allen key into
each of the two Lockjaw hinges,
rotate 180 degrees anticlockwise,
and fold the bike until the magnets
near front and rear wheel axles snap
together. That’s it, all in about ten
seconds or so.
In this form the bike stands securely
on its two wheels and on the metal
support loop under the bottom
bracket. It can also be pushed along
easily, avoiding the need to lift it
much of the time. You just have to be
careful not to roll it backwards, as the
chain then pulls one of the cranks
against the frame, possibly dinking
your paintwork. A protective patch
might be an idea here.
The package can, with a little
more time, be made smaller still.
Drop the saddle, remove the
handlebars via that nifty NVO
stem, and perhaps even remove the
wheels – that will get it packed into
Dahon’s ‘AirPorter’ suitcase. But the
first stage of fold is, I’m sure, as far
as most owners will regularly go. It’s
enough to satisfy train guards or to
get it into a car boot.
The way the fold works means that
adding rack and mudguards won’t
have much effect on the folded size.
The Lockjaw hinges are clever
indeed. When tightened, the ridges
on each end interlock, providing a
secure and rigid joint. The locking
action is provided by an adjustable
cam system which also lifts the two
jaws clear of each other for folding.
When you tighten it, there’s a
definite ‘clunk’ as it goes over-centre
– it’s a reassuringly solid action. As to
its longevity, time will tell. We found
a few reports of loosening on 2007
models, but this is fixable by the user
– the mechanism can be dismantled
and adjusted if necessary. On ours,
we had no problems at all.
CONCLUSIONS
The Cadenza is an intriguing
package: a folding bike with the
versatility to become just about
anything. It’s a seemingly robust
frame with fairly ‘normal’ looks,
but has potential for emergency
portability that cycle tourists will
appreciate just as much as spacestarved
urbanites.
It also comes equipped with a set
of components well-suited to its
fast all-weather urban commuter
role. Definitely add the optional
mudguards or fit your own, and a
rack if you need one, but apart from
that there’s not a lot I’d change. Big
Apples, disk brakes and Ergon grips
are all already in place. The seatpost
pump is an extra bonus.
The Alfine hub – as you’ll read
elsewhere in more detail – is a
pleasure to use, and as with any
hub gear it should be longer-lasting
and lower maintenance than any
derailleur system in all-weather use.
Overall, I very much liked the
Cadenza. Given the component
package quality, the Alfine hub
and the very versatile frame, the
price at £579 seems more than
reasonable, if not a bargain. In the
full-size folder category there’s not
much competition anyway: there’s
the Montague range (see Issue
25) but it’s harder to add rack and
mudguards to those, let alone hub
gears. The other full-size portability
option, S&S couplings, just aren’t
going to happen on a £580 bike.
So all in all, I’d say Dahon are onto
another winner.
VELOVISION ISSUE 29 MARCH 2008 ISSUE 29 MARCH 2008 VELOVISION
even further.
Peter Eland
AVAILABILITY
Available via Dahon dealers
everywhere. Manufacturer website
is www.dahon.com and the UK
distributor is Fisher Outdoor Leisure:
contact them for details of UK dealers
– see www.fisheroutdoor.co.uk
27