You are reading a single comment by @edscoble and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@edscoble
Okay, so today, I and a companion did a quick jaunt to Brighton as it's our "weekend" today (bike shop innit?), the Oak is out of commission due to a stuck stem, leaving me a chance to test out the Elephant.
Girlfriend is leaving for two weeks, so need to borrow her Carradice Super C panniers packed with with 12kg worth of stuff to take back home after Brighton, first an interview with Pearson Cycles in Sutton then met up with my companion and we set off to Brighton.
First thing first, the lowrider stiffen up the fork noticeably, it doesn't flex under braking anymore, neither does it absorb the road vibration as well, however with the 42mm tyres on wide MTB rims, it's enough to compensate for this, after all it is strictly a tourer.
The last bike I rode with a low rider was the Genesis Croix de Fer which handle it admirably well, but this one did it better with earnest, slow speed felt surprisingly sure footed and stable, yet the faster I go, the lighter the steering feel, I can pilot the bike with very little input going down Cooper's Hill Road, yet let go of the handlebar and it still track true.
It's great to not have a pair of panniers on the rear when honking it out of the saddle, feeling the weight of the rear triangle flex and squirm at every pedals stroke, you don't need to grasp the handlebar as tightly as possible when doing so, the only noticeable difference is that the gearing start to feel closer to a race gear than a normal one (note to self - replace 36t with a 33t).
I now wish I've gone to Morocco with a low rider only instead of the saddlebag.
Obviously I wax lyrical about this handling benefit from the Oak as they both share the same type of geometry, but I never carried more than the Gilles Berthoud GB25 capacity regardless of the audaxes I took part in, the Elephants is the first one that I have over 10kg of stuff in the panniers and it show, I'm now pretty excited about the ideas of riding a bicycle almost identical to my dream bike, but with more carrying capacity, bigger clearance, more stack, disc brakes, and no longer need to be so fucking precious about it.
John, my companion is not the kind of person whom you'd want to draw the GPS route for, somehow he managed to direct us into a very tight winding singletrack with lots of overground roots.
The fuck is this?
Fuck is that?
It wasn't easy with the wider front end due to the panniers sticking out, but it wasn't difficult at all, having a massive clearance between the mudguard and tyres, I don't have to worry about object getting stuck, and of course the disc brakes again no worries about going through big puddle, and bunny hopping every little hump I can find.
It was fucking fun.
Till he managed to get his 36h front wheel out of true.
Beside the mishap, we rode up the usual route to Ditchling Beacon (36/25 was O.K.), brought some shit, and then set the beach on fire.
TL:DR - really happy with the robust nature of the Elephant NFE.
6 Attachments