rsbob 

Did oil changes on my 4 cars every 3000 miles for many years. Now down to 3 cars and have had enough of oil changes and let the garage handle it. One car could use an oil evacuator which made the job really easy, but that car is gone. Two cars have belly pans with multiple fasteners and it just turned into a pain, so no more. Still do oil changes on pressure washer and generator which is enough for me. Most of my cars were air cooled, necessitating frequent oil changes.

Route 66

I guess I'm just anal about oil changes because there are so many ways a technician can screw things up. Examples would be for them to over-tighten the filter or drain plug or to leave the filter or drain plug too loose. Also they could add too much or not enough oil. When I do it myself, I know it's done right and I don't have to give it another thought after I'm done.

rsbob 

I know exactly where you are coming from. I wouldn’t think of going to a quick oil change place. Our cars only go to trusted repair facilities that I have know the owners personally for decades and know they stand behind everything they do. I know I am in qualified trusted hands, just like I would do it.

gregplo

I'm not going to get into all of the hubub about efficiency and drag and other commentary. I'll simply say it is a sweet looking ride, I really like the internal hub/drive belt concept, it is a bike I would love to ride, and I hope you get a ton of very happy miles on it! Enjoy.

REV160

Happy for you, man. Enjoy it.

tangent70

Nice bike

stephr1

[QUOTE=Route 66;22266658]Yo, dude I'm about 6 months away from 69 (and I mean the age, not the...well...never mind...) I get out for ~50+ miles a week on my mtb and do normal maintenance abt every 2 weeks. Every 6 months or so I go a bit deeper doing the hub bearings and once a year the headset bearings. I've also trued my wheels a bit over the years. Change brakes, cassette, chainrings when necessary.

I enjoy the time. Yeah, I end up a bit greasy and grimy, but I like the sense of accomplishment (and the solitude). Of course, when I was younger (and more flexible...damn hidden oil filters...and electronics I used to maintain my cars fairly thoroughly, including rebuilding a few engines and transmissions.

So, take that you young "whippersnapper"!

VintageSteelEU

So where's the fun in that?

Route 66

[QUOTE=stephr1;22274612]Well Young'un, off hand I'd say that you enjoy performing bike maintenance much more than I do. For me it's all about the ride and I can find many more things to do to occupy my time in my garage than wrenching on my bike. I do it when it needs to be done.

stephr1

[QUOTE=Route 66;22274676]I enjoy both, ride and maintenance. I also have a variety of interests, not all limited to my garage. Maybe since I'm retired I have that much more time to be able to enjoy the maintenance part as well in my "leisure time". Makes me wonder how I was able to do all this when I was working full time (high tech, 60-70 hours per week

Beer, wine, anything alcoholic is fine by me

Nachoman

[QUOTE=stephr1;22274612]Hey I think you accidently quoted me on that. Technology is confusing for you old buzzards!

Route 66

[QUOTE=Nachoman;22274974]The last few posts have been out of whack as far as I can tell.

downtube42

Nice!

My year-round commuter and utility bike over the last 5 years has been a Priority 8, IGH belt drive, with full fenders and dynohub. As a utilitarian machine ready to go every day, whether in the west Texas desert or the rainy PNW, it has been solid.

With work from home I've been riding it a lot less, meanwhile started doing some CX. So I sold it and bought a CX bike to be combo CX/commuter. Heck lubricating the chain alone is going to be more maintenance than the whole Priority required. That was a conscious decision, but I might come to regret it.

stephr1

[QUOTE=Nachoman;22274974]Nope. Didn't do it accidentally. I believe the forum somehow attributed the quote about "69" to you in Route66's posting. However, apologies to you if you were offended because of the forum messing things up

phughes

No worse than a conventional chain drive. In fact, in a fall that would damage a chain ring, the pulley on a belt drive would probably be less likely to be damaged. There is also no rear derailleur to get damaged, or hanger to be bent. Anything can be damaged though. I don't think either drivetrain is something I worry about damaging in a minor fall though. IN the last 50 years of riding, I have yet to damage a drivetrain in a crash. It can be done though, obviously, and many have damaged theirs. The belt drive with internal gears would probably be harder to damage in a crash though.

phughes

Beautiful bike! I love the smoothness of a belt drive. One day I will have one. Enjoy!

Nachoman

Apology not accepted. It sounded disingenuous and insincere.

tcs

FYI & FWIW here's a 9 year long, 847 post thread titled Shimano Alfine 11 - Longer term reliability:

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopi...2d9279be9a6875

RohloffRoller

The only improvement rhat you could add would be a Rohloff 14 speed!
Great bike.

Mike

Maelochs

I like that bike more every time I look at it.

Route 66

LOL thanks, right now 11 speeds are working for me but if I decide later on that I need more than that, it's good to know there's an option for it.

themp

Can you get a feel for how difficult it is to change a rear flat with the belt drive? Otherwise, I really like this bicycle. Christmas is coming!

Route 66

Yeah, you'll see how it's done by watching this video. First it shows how to release the cable on the 11 speed hub until it reaches the 42 second mark and then it switches to releasing the cable on their 8 speed model. It then shows how to loosen the rear wheel and the belt. I had to watch it a few times until I realized that they were showing both the 11 speed and then the 8 speed hubs in this one video.

I hope this makes sense.
https://vimeo.com/90336573

jhoff80

I know it's obviously not the geometry of a road bike, and the tires are more gravel-oriented, but do you find it to be sluggish at all (especially if I was to switch out the tires)?

I was looking at the Priority 600 with the pinion drive, but the gearing and the weight of that one seem to make it slow according to some comments I've read. And the Apollo Gravel seems to be backordered until Q3 2022. This is about 6 pounds lighter than the 600 (but obviously less of a difference once I added the fenders in) and has slightly higher gearing (Max of 111.4 gear inches vs the 600 at 100.7), so I wonder if that's less of an issue here.

I would be using this in an urban environment for commuting and recreation, but I do like to go fast when I can. I think I'd prefer flat-bar anyway (again, due to a city), so I'd probably be a little limited in how aero I could get anyway.

Route 66

Sluggishness compared to what? I'm still on the tires that came with the ACME so I can't make a meaningful comparison to any other tires but I'm sure a good road tire with low rolling resistance would allow me to pedal more efficiently.