UsedToBeFaster

I owned a few Decathlon bikes and they are great. This one is most unusual to say the least!

https://www.decathlon.com/products/c...-hoprider-100?

I wonder what the stack and reach are and also whether the dyna-hub will power recharging a phone.

Does it really weight 35 pounds? Seem hard to believe as the frame is AL not HiTen Steel.

Happy Feet

Don't know about the rest of the bike but I wouldn't want this gear set up for touring anywhere with hills.

"Shimano triple crankset with guard 48x38x28 7-speed 14-28 Shimano cassette."

saddlesores

"City Bike Long Distance Tall Frame Hoprider 100 is designed for weekly rides in town as well as the countryside.

This bike is suitable for rides of over 6 miles."



maybe get the model suitable for under 6 miles?
that or...........look at a touring bike?

DanBell

Cheap aluminum can get heavy. Heavy and stiff, the worst of both worlds.

UsedToBeFaster

Decathlon are a huge French supersports store. Think of them as Dicks on Steroids.

And they know how to make great budget bikes see https://www.cyclingweekly.com/review...n-triban-500se for an example of a $250 road bike that was amazing quality.

But their marketing people .... I once bought a pair of shoes from them that were designed to be run in at over 8 kph.

My point was that when I lived in Europe many people toured on these type of hybrid bikes which had tall stacks and short reaches. But I can't understand their geometry chart.

indyfabz

0 interest whatsoever.

axolotl

I'm surprised to see that Decathlon has opened stores in the USA. I've been to their stores in France. Years ago I bought a couple of nice cycling jackets there but I haven't seen much of interest in recent years. In France at least, the bike section is a small percentage of their stores.

saddlesores

egads! shoes for snails? jinkies! that would make for a 5-hour marathon!

to be expected if they think "This bike is suitable for rides of over 6 miles" is impressive.


but anyhoo, it's not a touring bike, and not being marketed as a touring bike.
it's a typical ride 6 blocks back and forth from the s-bahn station type bike, that on
weekends you can toodle along beside the wattenmeer.

hokiefyd 

It looks reminiscent of old school MTB geometry to me, with a relatively long frame reach for its height. Maybe it's just the picture angle.

That bike has a lot of accessories hanging on it...a rack, fenders, chain guard, dynamo hub, etc. I bet the crankset and the stem-and-handlebar are relatively heavy, too.

Tourist in MSN

My five week tour in Canadian Maritimes last summer, more than half of the other bicycle tourists I saw were riding upright hybrids. I think they all were higher specification bikes than the one shown, but they were performing quite well. Most were riding with rear panniers but no front rack, but one guy I talked to had bought a used hybrid when he got off the plane in Toronto, was riding to New York via Nova Scotia, he had also bought a front rack to add to the bike and was using four panniers.

A friend of mine tours with a seven speed system, but he built up his bike that way because he had a really strong Phil hub that he wanted to use, thus he set up a seven sped freewheel drivetain. That Decathalon bike I am sure does not come with a Phil hub.

Says a Shimano dynohub, so it should be able to charge a phone if you also added the converter to turn the alternating current from the hub into USB power. I use a Sinewave Revolution for that, but there are some lower budget devices out there that might do the trick too. It probably is best to plan on using the hub to charge up a powerbank, then later charge your phone from that powerbank.

djb

we have Decathalon here now, since last year. This bike is aimed at your average mom and pop occassional rider, commuter, and thats ok. Riding on flat ground ish, this would make a great commuter for the price, fenders, light, rack etc included.
It is what it is simply.

djb

ps, just looked, it costs $450 here in Canada. Again, reasonable price for what you get for an occasional user with budget in mind.

UsedToBeFaster

That's a shame.

Did you confirm it was 35 pounds? And could you see the dynohub model number?

I would see all these Dutch and French bicycle tourist who had ridden 100s of miles on Trekking touring bikes (lots of bike friendly accomodation in those countries). They always looked so comfortable and enjoying the countryside due to the headsup style posture these bikes give you.

I always wanted to try one on the cheap but I guess I'll have to look else where.

ironwood

I looked at the French Decathalon site and looked for Trekking Velos. They are not presently offering one now, but the site says they plan to offer bikes more like our idea of a loaded touring bike.

I don't know what to think about Decathalon; On the one hand theyhave a lot of good, but not great equipment for a lot of different activities at low prices; on the other hand they seem to have put a lot of small retailers who really knew cycling, out of business But something similar is happening in the US as well.

Steve B.

I spent some time last year watching a lot of the videos from The Bicycle Touring Pro. I enjoyed his European tours especially and noticed that about every touring bike in Europe is a flat bar bike, including Darrens friend from Australia - Kevin, who’s on an expensive custom titanium, with a flat bar.

It’s puzzling as my experience is after about 15 miles I’m done with flat bars. All my bikes used for longer distances have drop bars and that’s what the typical US manufacturer of touring bikes provides. It’s an endless debate as well.

djb

I find 450 to be a pretty reasonable price
lets be realistic, fenders are 35-40bucks easily, a front light and dynamo hub easily 100 bucks or way more, a rear rack is at least 25 dollars, so a ball park figure of $150 of accessories, so a pretty reasonable price for a bike that has lower end parts, but will function perfectly fine, but weighs the weight of a bike at this price point.

and yes, one could do a nice tour on this bike, if you didnt have too much stuff...

Tourist in MSN

Agree, ... ... mostly.

From the specifications I do not know if it is freewheel or cassette, if it is freewheel with a cup and cone axle, I would be nervous about possibility of axle problems.

I recall thinking that the front light specification at 15 lux was pretty dim. That said, you usually do not even need a headlight for touring. My last tour I did not even put a headlight on my bike, it stayed in my handlebar bag and never got used. My two tours prior to that i put a headlight on the bike but never used it. Those three tours, the dynohub was dedicated to only battery charging.

hokiefyd 

From the picture on the website, I'm almost certain it's a 14-28 Shimano 7-speed freewheel.

djb

I'm sure that the dynohub is a low quality one, as is the light. Has to be given the price point of the bike.
and yes, I've never used a light on a tour.

Pratt

My hub will charge my phone, at speed. Here in VT, my cruising speed seems to hover about the lower voltage limit for the phone, so it constantly turns on and off, and beeps annoyingly. I got a charge pack, but the phone doesn't like that either. A solar panel will charge it. The hub will recharge AA and AAA batteries which can power the GPS.