linberl

Yes, absolutely no problem riding up hills or riding standing in the saddle. The albatross bars are super comfortable for me, aligning the wrist naturally. When you stand to pump, your arms remain naturally aligned instead of putting additional pressure on the wrist joint. I wouldn't have a NWT or any other traditional bike without them. Now, on my BF pakiT, those bars don't work well because the 16" wheels, frame geometry, and riding position are very different (mine is set up very sporty), so I have a slightly curved flat bar with very narrow width. It is not as comfortable on my wrists as the albatross bars, but I have some SQL grips that help a lot. It's a trade-off for the type or riding and easy folding required by the pakiT.

All my BF have been Enno Orange. I love the color because it's a "happy" color and also highly visible, which is important to me as I ride city streets.

The NWT differences are minimal in terms of frame - you either get the lightweight petite frame or the regular. If you're under 150 lbs you can go with the petite frame, but if you're touring, you might want the regular anyway to handle the weight of all your gear (unless you credit card tour). What makes them differ mostly is the component selection - rear derailleur or IGH, which brakes, cassettes, cranks, etc. And you can specify each of those. I work on my own bikes so I stick to derailleur models as I know how to wrench them very well, and they are lighter.
The other replaceable parts have changed over time, whatever I had on donor bikes or upgrades I got on sale at some point. For me, the sweet spot groupo is Shimano 105. Light enough, robust enough, and not as pricey as even more high end parts. I am not sufficiently sensitive to tell the difference between the 105 and dura-ace, for example. My riding just isn't that technical that the difference matters. I'd rather spend that $ on my saddle or bars which I definitely DO notice.
Keep in mind your BF frame will last you decades, during which you will go through lots of components. So don't get too hung up on minute details - if you find you don't love a particular part, just replace it when it wears out. Things I was aware of, though, as a smaller female - how hard it is to pull the brake levers and how good the reach adjustment was, curvature of the handlebars and width to match my shoulders, shorter cranks to work with my shorter legs.

freckles

ok, i was able to place an order with BF on their last sale day! they were sooo super busy!

the NWT comes with straight bars and i'm looking at different handlebars for the build.

i'm 5'2", inseam 28 1/2" and shoulders are around 16 1/3" across and i want to be in a more upright position with little pressure on my wrists in a natural resting position.

my Oma handlebars are called "Squarebent transport" handlebar per Workcycles website and measures about 22" (56 cm)center to center and the handlebars flare out at the grips. They are pretty wide for me but super roomy.

looking at the these bars-

Nitto 302 North Road 51 cm, 65 mm rise
Nitto 603 Promenade 51 cm, 65 mm rise, least amount of flare at the ends
Soma Oxford 54 cm ( a Nitto Albatross copy but 1 cm narrower), 52 mm rise. picked soma because its slightly narrower and better price.

don't know if its better to go with a slightly narrower 51 cm bars vs 54 cm for my size? its hard to find any/many reviews of the all rounder and promenade vs the more reviews of the oxford/albatross bars.

linberl

The Soma is nice. As I said I went narrower (https://www.treefortbikes.com/Nitto-...ll-Rounder-bar) at 485mm which was perfect for me. These are the bars in my picture that I posted. What's your build date? That's so exciting for you - what color did you finally go with?

freckles

i ended up with the Soma Oxford after talking with Walter at BF, my build originally comes with drop bars and bar end shifters and Nitto doesn't work with the shifters. I was looking at the same site and bar earlier too (treefortbikes) - its a great price! the Soma is about 1 1/4" inches narrower than what i currently have on my Oma.

i haven't fully decided on the color but probably matte black- i have a small pair of yellow ortliebs that are plenty bright and figure with matte black, no what i'm wearing-it won't clash in case i end up using it as my go-to-bike at home too.

yes, i'm super excited- never bought a new bike before

and plus i found out any more add-ons still qualify for the 20% off too!!!- so now i'm looking for lights to go with the son dynamo.

linberl

I think of a black bike like a basic black dress....you can accessorize it and constantly change it up if you want. So if you get different color grips and cables and bags when you need them next, you will have a new color scheme! The width of the bars may not turn out to be as big an issue since they reach back 75 degrees, but if they end up being too wide for you they can't be cut down. So you would need to get different bars, but bars aren't that expensive. Did you ask Walter if they could "split" them to make packing easier? They can with some bars besides their H bars, but I don't know whether the Soma bar would work. There's nothing more exciting than having a brand new bike, except having a brand new CUSTOM bike that is everything you wanted, lol. Whatever you spend, it will seem fine after you have had the bike a few years and enjoyed it. You are obligated to provide us pictures when you receive it, don't forget ;-).

freckles

I've spent so much time reading about dynamo lights!

I think I'm going to order online - Rose seems to have great prices- woohoo! and since my NWT won't be ready for a few months, theres plenty of time to torture myself more staring at lighted photos of head lights....

NWT will have the SON dynamo so i'm leaning toward the Edulux II with coaxial connector- 5 year warranty beats the pants off all others. or else the IQ premium Cyo T Senso + or IQ X Senso +...the dynamo and lights will be the most expensive parts on the bike!

Rear rack with the Toplight Line Plus

The BF folding rear rack has a vertical attachment for the rear light vs a horizontal. Do I just need a T adapter?

After all this research on headlights, I'm looking to upgrade my Oma's headlights now. I was looking at the Luxos B ( not U- don't need the extras) but it looks like my rear light might be using the metal fender as ground- i followed up the wires- super neatly tucked inside and coming out from a hole in the fender stay to the underside of the fender. I only see 1 wire going the the rear light.

I really wanted the Luxos because of the panorama /side lighting it offers. And generally need to have a good stand light for waiting to make left turns. Currently have the headlight ( be seen,not bright) on at all times and a battery operated light on handlebars flashing. Would love to just use dynamo.

Current head light is attached to the left fork below the fender by what looks like a permanent metal arm on the fork. Looking at going all out and buying a Edulux II for her too or the IQ premium Cyo T Senso + or IQ X Senso +. She is used for commuting at night on urban streets with lights and quiet streets with no overhead lights but all with generally terrible pot holed roads, yay los angeles.

linberl

You could also buy a Lumos helmet - I saw one last night on a cyclist, pretty amazing in terms of visibility. Large turn signals on the helmet as well as a big triangle of red rear lights. Probably the best visibility I've seen! https://lumoshelmet.co/pages/kickstart

Tourist in MSN

Taillights, will the fold interfere with the taillight or wiring? I do not know the answer to that. But that is why I use battery taillights on my S&S coupled bike, the taillight wiring would be a hassle when packing the bike.

Headlights, the IQ-XS has a light pattern very similar to the light pattern of the Luxos.
https://www.bumm.de/en/products/dyna...i-silber.html?
https://www.bumm.de/en/products/dyna...ukt/179b.html?

I blew up the light patterns from the above links here, first is the XS
https://www.bumm.de/files/Produkte/7...0-%20IQ-XS.jpg
https://www.bumm.de/files/Produkte/7...0-%20LUXOS.jpg

I have both of those lights, the XS on my rando bike and the Luxos U on my light touring bike. I prefer the Luxos light pattern slightly more, but they are close enough to the same that I hardly notice the difference.

The Luxos U has additional lighting that lights up the area closer to you when you are going slower, the XS does not. I have no clue if the Luxos B does that or not.

I can't say much on standlights because my Luxos is the U, that standlight runs off battery instead of capacitor so it has a different standlight than the B model that you are considering. But I can say that my XS standlight is not very bright, it is a to be seen light and not a light to see with.

I am quite happy with my Luxos, but I also use it for the USB charging. That said, it has a plastic housing that could break if you were not careful with it. On my full size light touring bike, the Luxos U is attached to the fork crown where it is unlikely to be damaged, but a folder might offer more opportunities for the light to be damaged. The XS has a metal housing, but the mounting tab on the housing is plastic. Still I think the XS might be less prone to damage on a folder than the Luxos. I have never owned an Edelux, I have no comments on that.

freckles

I plan to get connectors to be able to disable them for packing- supernova gold plated "banana" connector or Son coaxial connectors or B&M spade connectors. hoping that should give me reliable dynamo lighting

freckles

what do BF owners do with their dynamo lights when packing it into a suitcase?


plan to have a fork mounted headlight and a rack mounted taillight. the rack is a BF folding rack.


head light- edulux II with coaxial connector at dynamo hub. this connector will allow easy removal of front wheel but leave the headlight attached. do most just leave their front light on and cover with some padding?


option- add supernova gold banana connector or spade connectors to coaxial cable near the headlight? use 4.8 or 2.8 mm spade connector? or other suggestion?


tail light- schmidt coaxial cable with same- supernova gold connector or 2.8 mm spade connector or other easy remove suggestion?

freckles

finally made the order from bike24! ended up ordering the eduluxII in the 140cm cable length with loose connectors and toplight tail light with wire plus an extra SON fork and handlebar mount.

going to use the edelux II for both bikes! just have to play around with the mountings for each.

ordered amphenol pin/sockets to make quick release connections for lights, easy to swap out and pack. the 140 cable length will give me plenty to practice soldering and to plan out my cabling route.

now need to order a solder kit.... a bunch on amazon and watch you tube.

freckles

now looking at mks ezy superior pedals with power grips added.

lots of reviews for the touring and lambda pedals but none for the allways- only thing that comes up is that it spins really really well.

the touring and lambda are cup and cone bearing and the allways is triple sealed.

plan to wear soft and hard soled shoes so leaning towards lambda and allways by the way it looks- lots of support.

has any one tried the allways? lambdas seem to be well loved except for its funky looks.

linberl

I had them on my NWT - I liked them, kinda Game of Thrones looking, lol. What I have now I like even more, however, but I don't think they come removable (although I haven't really looked). https://www.rivbike.com/products/mks-rmx-sneaker-pedals They support my foot even better and I don't feel them at all through my sneakers. I did sometimes feel the lambdas, as a little pressure. All that said, I think if the lambdas were available as QR and the RMX were not, I would definitely get the lambdas. They spin great. You can see them in this pic. Edited to add: maybe look at these (https://www.benscycle.com/mks-urban-...11-256/product). I had power grips for a couple years, and what I did not like was that taking off always meant having to flip the pedal up (the grip causes it to rotate upside down when your foot isn't in it). The "tab" on these might make that less of a pain in the butt. The other thing about power grips I noticed was the if I was riding on the other side of the pedal, without the grip, the grip would actually scrape the ground sometimes because the bike is so low.

freckles

HI linberl, yup, i looked at the mks urban platform too but they require a toe clips or half clips. i was going to get these originally because they look so purty with the leather trim half clips but i kept reading how the half clips get scraped on the ground if the pedals/cranks are low.

linberl

The power grips scraped the ground, too. Maybe it'd be okay if you went with really short cranks, but mine were 165mm and they scraped. If you use lambdas and a good shoe like 510's with their super grippy compound, you might not feel the need for grips.

freckles

is that the name brand- Five Ten? i'm venturing into a whole new world of sneaker shoes! it looks like these shoes can go from biking to hiking/walks.

is 165mm a standard crank length? i hope they (pedals with or without strap) will work out either way.

linberl

I think most standard cranks are 170mm which is way too long for someone short. There are online resources that can help you figure out what size crank fits you best. I could have gone 160mm and been fine. Five Ten is the brand name. their soles are super grippy; they were initially mountain biking shoes but work great of flat pedals of any kind. The compound is a little soft, to be grippy, so won't last super long if you walk on concrete a lot, though. You should talk to BF about getting shorter cranks....

freckles

i looked over my components and see its 160mm cranks but i emailed them to see if changing it might be an option. i have no idea how long the cranks are on Oma.

my leg measurement is 28.5" and depending on the site it says ideal crank size can be anywhere from 147-160mm crank size.

i had a terrific schwinn years ago that i picked at a thrift store- little did i know what a gem it was because it was a great fit, fun to ride and easy to ride up the hills in a brooklyn park that i'd visit. when i found out how much it cost to fly it and i thought it wasn't worth the cost ( as a poor new graduate) and figured i'd just find another at my new location.... maybe it had a smaller crank????

linberl

Measure from the centre of the bottom bracket axle to the centre of the pedal axle on your Oma to get the crank length. If they were stock they were probably around 170mm. If that's what you are riding now, then 160mm should be a nice improvement. Shorter than 160 can be very hard to find...

freckles

measured Oma's crank and its 170mm. and i re-read the parts list and the NWT crank is 165mm , NOT 160mm. i guess i really wanted it to be at 160mm so thats what i saw.

waiting to see if BF can swap out the 165mm for a 160mm crank.

50kguy

I have a NWT with 3*9 DualDrive and I am quite happy with that. I mounted the Tern Spartan Front Rack which is much cheaper then the standard BF front rack.

Tourist in MSN

I have a Sram Dual Drive on my folder too. I think the Dual Drive was taken out of production a few years ago. If you can't replace them in the future, be careful you do not lose yours.

freckles

So I can change out the crank lengths! its originally spec'd with 165mm cranks but can go as small as 150mm.

my inseam is 28.5" and the NWT will be in a recreational/touring position. My super relaxed geometry Oma'scranks are 170mm and may be why I get some knee discomfort sometimes... or i'm just getting older?

does frame geometry have a appreciable difference in considering crank sizes? Most articles i came across seem to discuss the impact crank sizes can make in aero/aggressive while riding very fast in races.

There isn't much discussion of how crank size might affect people of different heights riding touring bicycles.

BF offers 160mm to 150mm with 52/36 chain rings. Should I go 160, 155 or 150mm??? I don't ride super fast, want to go up hills and not hurt my knees

linberl

Depends on your inseam. If you are off by 5mm it won't be a big deal. I would not go smaller than 160mm personally; it'll be close enough to perfect and really short cranks will impede your resale if you ever sell. I think 160mm should be in your sweet spot. If you go too short, you give up a lot of mechanical leverage, so that's why I'd stop at 160 and not go shorter.

Here's a Sugino crank chart: https://www.suginoltd.co.jp/us/produ...ng-message.gif
160mm seems like about right for you.

freckles

i asked Walter at BF and he picked 150mm! its the origin 8 brand.
if this bike is comfy and fits me, i will keep forever to use for everyday for commuting and traveling... until i need to get a electric assist.

spent too long reading about short cranks specifically for short people- my ideal crank size for 28.5" inseam ranges from 145-156mm.

150mm is between 145-156.... i hope thats the right choice!