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Ikea to Begin Selling a Chain-less Bicycle
The current price is 399 euros
It has eccentric bottom bracket for belt tension adjustment
If I didn't have too many bikes, I would buy one an "pimp it" with fancy paint job and maybe front basket.
Although the minimalist design looks very cool,at the projected selling price it's just too expensive for what it is. Here in Asia people can buy cheap Chinese made bikes (brand new) for as little as USD 50, and something a little bit better for USD 100. For USD 569 you'd at least expect that front disc brake to be hydraulic. I like the idea of that belt drive though. I wonder how long before that appears elsewhere.
Rohloff is expensive, heavy and overkill for most people. This bike likely uses something like a SRAM 2-speed Automatix. I'd be interested in knowing whether the cloned Gates carbon drive is available commercially.
Whatever happened to the Lime bike that IDEO designed about a decade ago? Similar to this Ikea bike, it was designed for people who wanted a simple bike. It had automatic gears—no manual shifting required.
Bruce - there's a good article here about why IDEO & Shimano's Coasting failed here:
https://yannigroth.com/2010/05/12/what-caused-shimanos-coasting-program-fail/
I like the concept, especially the modularity of it. But if the projected price holds true here in NL it will not take off due to competition in this space (simple, decent bicycles with some style to them) like http://veloretti.com/nl/shop/fietsen/
It's not clear to me how many gears this IKEA bike will have. Does anyone know? Also, this bike reminds me of the Classic bike at Priority Bicycles. I have one of those, which only has 3 gears and I find it's not enough. http://www.prioritybicycles.com/store
Very nice design... I like the simplicity. Being cost sensitive we introduced a similar low maintenance bike. We found the riders wanted at least 6 speed and the linear brakes are easier in maintenance. We used a KMC durable chain and if ever needed to be replaced the cost is low. http://www.target.com/p/forge-womens-coco-15-comfort-style-bike-brown/-/A-10502172#prodSlot=medium_1_3&term=forge+bikes
In case you don't know, it's a "clone" of Gates Drive:
The Target bike has the complicated, external, fiddly gears that people do not like. Internal hub gears are the way to go. Belts are superior to chains-- greaseless, quiet and durable. The Ikea bike costs too much but the comparison is bogus.
Sorry, that was directed at the Target bike, not Mark Thomas