ridethecliche

Hi!

Soooo... I kinda got a little bit hoarder-ish and picked up two bikes locally with the goal of reselling one and turning the other one into a commuter. I couldn't really decide what I wanted to do so I bought both and figured I'd make the decision later. I'm going to be living in philly and will have access to a car but will hopefully use it only 1-2x a week if that.

First one is the specialized tricross singlecross 2008-ish. V-brakes. I'm not sold on doing things on a single speed, so I kinda want to build a rear wheel with a 5 speed sturmey archer internally geared hub for it. I've never built a wheel before and it would be a good use for the super nice Park Tools truing stand I have!
Seems like it could be awesome since the 5 speed allows for 2 harder and 2 easier gears. Use case is commutes, grocery getting, and some light local riding with fiance/friends. Can put a rack and fenders on it so it'll work for a grocery getter.

Second bike is a charge plug 2- https://www.wiggle.com/charge-plug-2-2016
It's a geared gravel bike with a bunch of mounts for racks/fenders etc as well, but I think this could take wider tires. It's got disc brakes which is nice, but they're some of the cheapest mechanical disc brakes (promax?) and likely a pain to keep in adjustment as well as quick release wheels. The gearset is claris, which isn't the best, but it's cheap and likely cheap to replace. This is the older one without the integrated cables etc. Fiance's bike has the newer claris which actually feels decent.

I'm handy with tools and have done my own maintenance for the last 15 or so years.

I'm going to try riding both of them a bit over the weekend to make sure one doesn't fit funky, but does anyone have a rec for which way to go? I already have a gravel bike and a road bike so need something more strictly a commuter. Thoughts?

Rolla

For commuting in Philly, I'd go with the one that might best accommodate fenders and ~ 38mm tires.

ridethecliche

Oh woah. 38 is pretty fat huh?
Pretty sure a cross bike from 08 won't fit anything like that AND fenders as well.

I think the spec can fit 38s from what I've read in reviews but not with fenders. Honestly not sure the other bike would fit something that wide with fenders either!

Edit: looks like some posts here say that 35s can fit on the tricross with fenders. Seems good enough!

chaadster

Knowing Philly, I’d run the Charge for sure. SA IGH shifting performance is not acceptable for how I ride, and I certainly wouldn’t want to tackle PHL hills with one, neither for sport nor utility. The gear range on the Charge is also wider, better for cargo and sport riding alike.

What I’d look to do, if making the best city bike was a priority, is do a flat bar conversion on the Charge. I think the flatbar is better/safer for slicing and dicing in traffic and crowded cities.

I’d not have any concern with the brakes for this application, and QRs are not a problem except for security, and easily replaced with bolts (or locking skewers) in that case.

BobbyG

FWIW I bought a 2015 Charge Plug for commuting. It's the "Performance" edition which was like a Charge Plug 4 and sold through Performance when it was a bricks and mortar store.

2015 was the last year all the Plugs had steel frames, the 2016s were aluminum except the top of the line.

I rode a lot of bikes and the Plug was the one whose ride "spoke" to me. I stopped commuting last year, but still ride the bike often and still love it...

...however...

The ProMax disk brakes are just okay, and yes, the rear needs adjustment quite often. Oh, and the actuator arm on the one that came with the bike broke after three years. Also the rear spokes kept breaking until the rear hub wore out (also after three years). The rear shifter cable frayed and broke every 12 months. Luckily the bike shop broke an internal part on the brifter and replaced it with a slightly different model, and now there is no issue. Also, when putting on fenders, the rear fender and rack mount holes are a less standard M6 metric (medium pitch?) while the fronts are standard.

All that being said (and done) I still love my Plug...it just fits me perfectly and the handling speaks to me and is perfect for my style of commuting...responsive, but more relaxed than a true roadbike thanks to the Plug's geometry. And the steel frame is solid despite the janky components.

I don't know how the aluminum frames (like the 2016 you linked to) feel or ride or last. But I thought I would add my experience with my Charge Plug with you,

sloppy12

I would go with the charge. they seem like pretty decent bikes I just gave one of the IGH versions away. For philly Biggest tires you can get and tubeless. the brakes will be OK those arent the worst brakes I have messed with...

Iride01 

I wouldn't get a road bike for city riding. What kind of city riding are you doing? Racing from office to office delivering important papers and such?

A cruiser or cargo bike would be much more appropriate for the concept of city riding I have.

chaadster

Never been to PHL, eh?!

chaadster

BobbyG why does the rear brake need frequent adjustment?

Iride01 

Depends on what qualifies. <grin>

I've been to the PHL airport and the hotel they put us in on plenty of stand-up overnights. Don't remember that I ever had a long layover there and got to see anything.

Still, for someplace I'm imagining lots of stop and go, I wouldn't want to do that on a road bike. Even though road bikes are all I've owned since a teenager.

Rolla

That would probably be my choice for a commuter up there in the great white north.

ridethecliche

Thanks for all the feedback.

Just to clarify, the SA rear hub is the freewheel version so it's not like it's going to have a coaster brake. I don't think I've ever ridden one of these before so the feedback is helpful.

While not a huge factor, resell is a consideration as the plug will sell for about double the tricross in current form. That said the tricross does have a flat bar on the underside of the top tube which will make shoulder carries a lot easier up/down stairs if need be.

No thanks. I bike commuted in Boston with a single speed and later a touring bike set up 1x. You might like the cruiser or utility bike but it's a no go for me.

ridethecliche

Just calculated the gear inches.
The range for the charge plug is 28.7 - 122.7.
The range for the spec with the current 42 chainring and the biggest cog (22) the hub can take is 32.2-82.5
Changing the chainring to a 40 will net a range of 30.7 - 78.5.

The 5 speed is a fair bit wider than I'd anticipated to be honest!

ridethecliche

Anyone have any other input?!

Thank you!

force10

What part of Philadelphia? If you anticipate commuting to from NW Philly, you will want some low gears.

Between the two choices, I’d choose the charge.

Personally, I wouldn’t want anything as wide as 38mm tires. 32’s would be perfect - quicker turning and accelerating but still comfortable/durable for city riding.

The flat bar route suggested above is how I went back when I lived there. It’s worth considering.

I’m guessing you haven’t gotten much riding around with the weather this weekend but once you do, the answer should become clear.

Have fun. I miss riding around Philadelphia.

ridethecliche

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Sold the specialized this morning. Going to order new brakes for the charge to replace the awful ones on there now. Even spyres will be a huge upgrade imho!

rumrunn6

did a little drooling over this Jamis Sequel this weekend. I imagine it would be a great urban commuter


in reality my budget is more in-line with an old Trek Multitrack like this

GamblerGORD53

A SS frame will only accommodate a 3 speed IGH. Notch dR dropouts are a no go too of course.
Best is a SA hub with drum brakes. I have a SAX RD 3, SA XL-RD5w, SA XL-FDD, Nexus 7i roller brake and disc Rohloff14 on my tour custom. .
The 3 speed has 47/ 63/ 84 GIs, only good for 10% hills and it's under geared for highways IMO. Any other GIs for this is useless.
The SA 5w with finicky shifting, I've mostly had it at 45 to 112 or 115. It's the fastest by far. I tried it at 34 to 87 GIs, didn't like it city or highway. The new rotary shifting SA, like Shimanos solves the 5w problems I expect.

The Nexus 7i came with my new roadster, it is very similar and came at 34 to 84 GIs. Way better is with it 38 to 92.5 GIs for commuting, IMO. After I loosened the left cone properly it rides very well too. I would say this is better for a commuter with it's closer gears. The roller brake is nuts for drag downhill and mushy anyway. This works like a coaster brake really. With rim or disc brakes it should be almost as fast as the SA 5. I has a very fast 2 lever shifter, best I've ever had.
I now have it geared like the SA 5 was, 44.5 to 109 for highway riding. The 5w went lame again last year.
I do centuries on all these bikes/ IGH hubs, at 50+ lbs.

ridethecliche

I love those old multi-tracks! I'd love to turn one into a monstercross kinda commuter of sorts someday!
For now, I'm going to use the proceeds from selling the specialized to buy fenders and better cable disc brakes.


Not sure this is accurate. Pretty sure the SA 5 geared freewheel hub can fit in a 120.
Here's a 5 speed wheel for sale by SOMA which will drop into a 120. https://www.somafab.com/archives/pro...00c-rear-wheel

GamblerGORD53

Yah, that's the older model like mine. But the cog shown in that Soma ad is NOT for the 5w. Could be for a the new rotary 5 sp or for an 8 speed SA.
I have seen other ads with half the info for the old hubs and half for the new model. So maybe it's an old archive search or something.