cbike

Kids grow so my son needs a new commuter bicycle for high school. He has a 5 mile ride with a couple of shorter steeper inclines. Mostly neighborhood roads and a couple short sections of multi use path. I wouldn't consider his route really bicycle friendly but it is what it is.

He picked the 2018 REI CTY 1.1 out of the bikes he tried, although he's not one to enjoy shopping around for anything. So I'm not sure how much thought of his went into it. But then I'm overthinking stuff way to much.

He's got the large for $500 naked. Now it's time to get the bike setup for commuting, get it dressed, or simply finishing the build. Items a commuter bike requires in my opinion are: fenders, kickstand, bike rack, lights, studded winter tires.

Bottle cage: OK
At the store we got a pair of the cheap $5 Planet Bike aluminum ones mounted. Black if you care. No experience yet how well bottles stay in it. The cages will mostly be used on recreational rides and not the commute.

Kickstand: Fail
I like the Greenfield kickstand and have similar ones on our other bikes. With the kickstand plate of the CTY installation should be a breeze. Wrong, the store mechanic wasn't able to install any of the various kickstand because the two lower frame bars prevent a socket or wrench to be used to turn the hex bolt of the kickstand. Sandwiching the frame bar between the kickstand (i.e. installation for bikes without kickstand plates) doesn't work because the cable that is routed under the bottom bracket. Apparently the holes for the chainstay kickstand aren't correct either for that kind of kickstand. So while this bike feature looks good on paper it's a total design failure by REI.

The mechanic suggested that I purchase a bolt with a hex head at a hardware store. I'll try to locate one. Stainless steel would be really nice.

Update: Finding the bolt is no easy task. You need an M10 bolt (1.50 pitch), the 20mm length worked nicely. Neither Lowe's nor Ace Hardware have them that large. Luckily Theisen's (farm supply store chain) has them even in stainless steel for about $2. Still my personal opinion is that a customer shouldn't have to go out and search for parts.



2018 REI CTY 1.1 Kickstand mount


2018 REI CTY 1.1 Kickstand mount

Fender:
I have the Planet Bike Cascadia ALX 700c 50mm fender set on order.

Update: The fenders fit nicely. For some reason the rear fender doesn't provide as much rear wheel coverage as on the 26" bikes we have. (Remember, I'll be the one to ride behind this bike if I can keep up. ) The front fender mounting isn't very nice due to the disk breaks. I don't like how it sticks out. Again the clearance by the bottom bracket to fender isn't great. This time the front derailleur is in the way of the fender to get a decent tire clearance. With my install the fender is touching the derailleur. We'll see if that will cause issue in the long run. Be aware that I had to file the hole in the rear fender longer to get more tire clearance. This bike also required me to shorten one of the short bolts otherwise it wouldn't have been able to tighten the fender onto it (again same location).



2018 REI CTY 1.1 front fender


2018 REI CTY 1.1 rear fender


Rack:
I have a few racks at home. Hopefully one of them will work out. I'll install it along with the fenders.

Update: Yup, the 18 year old Treck rack that came with another bike worked fine.

Lights:
For now it will be just some standard lights like the Planet Bike Superflash 65 taillight and some headlight I have at home. I really wish there were bright cheaper non-removable AA/AAA battery lights on the marked.

His current bike has the Reelight SL 120. Well, now only on the rear since the front one died. The concept is awesome: always on, non-removable, no worry about power. Drawbacks are: not very bight, doesn't last long, expensive for the quality.

The ultimate commuter lights are a generator hub with the lights wired. For another bike I'm planning an experimental build of a Shimano DH-2N30 cheapo dynamo hub. It'll be "fun" building a wheel.

Update: I've mounted the Superflash using it's plastic adapter of the light and the disk break spacer with the longest bolt, washer and nylon nut that came with the fenders. Simple 5mm hole in the rack and now the light is there permanently.



2018 REI CTY 1.1 rear fender


Studded Tires:
Hopefully with the fenders there is still some clearance for studded tires. In the past he enjoyed the Schwalbe Ice Spiker but that's not an option for the 700c which sucks. Another big design flaw for the CTY. I really wish 26" aluminum commuter bikes were made but we didn't see any. The choices now are the Schwalbe Marathon Winter 700x40C or Nokian Hakkapeliitta W240 700x40C.

I'll try to update as things progress.

Finished (so far):



2018 REI CTY 1.1 finished

RubeRad

Interesting report. Kudos to your son for cycling to school (and to you for supporting him).

I came in here planning to ask how's the bar tape, but looks like that bike has a flatbar with grips. So how's the grips?

cbike

I can't say. I only sat on the bike once briefly. The handle bar feels quite a bit wider than on my GT Outpost from 1999.

RubeRad

lol bars have certainly gotten wider! I remember watching a pov video on utub once of a guy riding a 'vintage' GT mtb, and one of the comments was "the 80's called, they want their narrow bars back"

DiegoFrogs

I had to look to be sure, but my old Greenfield kickstand mounts with a hex bolt from the topside, as it was on this old steel bike when I bought it. I can see, however, how getting a socket in that space would be problematic if the chainstays were fat aluminum and designing the thing for larger tire clearance. In this case, I think it's hard to call this a design flaw. I have no experience with the other types of mounts, though.

It's also difficult to fault the designer for not choosing the falling-out-of-favor 26" tire size.

It actually looks like a reasonable, well thought out bike.

dedhed

I've cut notches/slots in GF kickstand upper mounting plates to allow the FD cable free movement. Mount, mark, take a hacksaw to it. Adjust slot as needed.

cbike

I've updated the original post and included photos. For now the bike is finished. I still need to evaluate if and what studded tires would fit.

The bike looks the way I'd want it but you definitely have to be a mechanic. In this hole process I also spend extreme amount trying to adjust the disk breaks so they don't rub. Even before I started to modify the bike the breaks were rubbing.

RubeRad

You could have gone with a chainstay-mounted kickstand

cbike

Apparently the one at REI doesn't work out of the box with this bike either. Something about the bolts being not the right size. That what the REI bike mechanic told me.

Kedosto

cbike

cbike

Looks like the Nokian Hakkapeliitta W240 700x40C should work without an issue with the fenders. The tire dimension matches quite closely the stock tires.



Kenda K-1024 700x40C vs. Nokian Hakkapeliitta W240 700x40C

acidfast7

Nice thread with photos.

Kiitos

Nice Finnish products there ... you know Nokian and Nokia are the same company right?

I wish that other build thread would move like this one.

noglider 

They used to be one company. Now Nokia is electronics etc, and Nokian is the tire company. Wikipedia

acidfast7

Yes. The originated from the same company from Nokia, FIN. Nokia is an interesting place to visit (as is Telephonplan (Eriksson, the arch rival).

I have committed a semantic error. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Have a nice evening.

noglider 

I worked at AT&T Bell Labs, and while there, it became Lucent Bell Labs and then Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs. It is now Nokia Bell Labs. So much corporate tumult!

RubeRad

I used to play in a regular game of pickup Ultimate with guys from Bell Labs/Lucent in NJ (near Rutgers)

suncruiser

If you're worried about the fenders not being quite long enough I would recommend buddy flaps. I had the same problem in Seattle with my fenders not coming far enough down and my feet getting soaked, people behind me disliked being sprayed by my back tire. They don't cover everything, but it knocks the spray down significantly and other cyclists didn't seem to mind being behind me anymore, so there's that. They should mount to the little holes the current mud flaps attach to as well. As a bonus, they are pretty reflective, and added visibility is always a plus

Buddyflaps

Not the greatest picture of them on my bike but you can see how much further down they go compared to the fenders on my bike

Gresp15C

What size are the current tires? I have a pair of Schwalbe "Marathon Winter" studded tires in 700c x 35, 35-622 and they are very close to being 35 mm wide. They served me well last year and I'll be using them again this season.

Here's something I've done with those kick stands. I use an under-sized bolt, and put a nut on the other side. That way, I can tighten it with a wrench from below. I don't think it needs the full strength of the bolt that it comes with. Do grease the threads, or you'll never get it back apart.

Edit: Agree with @acidfast7 that we should cite ISO tire sizes, so I re-checked the markings on the tire. The measurement was from when the tire was temporarily on a rim with 17 mm inside dimension. I was checking to see if it would fit on a particular frame.

acidfast7

I would like to point out the Schwalbe favours the ISO measuring system which measures at the bead. This can results in a 622-37 tyre actually measuring 40+ mm wide.

Thus, I would suggest that it might be useful for most to drop the archaic French tyre sizing system when describing Schwalbe tyres in order to add precision to our discourse.

Have a nice day.

alias5000

This is a very useful feature on any city bike that gets to see more than just sunshine. If you're feeling DIY: get an old run-down reasonably wide 700C tire, cut out a section, widen the end up using a metal brace and screw it to your fender in a similar way as shown above. Works pretty well and is almost free.

JonathanGennick 

It is actually now Suomi who manufactures the bicycle tires: Tyres | Suomi Tyres

The tires are apparently still branded as Nokian though.

noglider 

That's funny, because Suomi is the Finnish word for Finland. Well, we have American Airlines and similarly named companies, so why not.

fietsbob

Bondhus Ball end driver would have sped the center stand fitting,,

You did not recognize the other KS mount for a rear one , it's right under the disc caliper..

fietsbob

Lots of Finns settled here ,

.. Kala is Finnish for Fish, seafood, fishing..





...