Anyone who uses a bike on a daily basis in a climate- and fitness-friendly manner wants it to be as defect- and maintenance-free as possible. Many bike manufacturers are also increasingly realising this aspect. After all, few cyclists really enjoy tinkering with their bikes. The carefree criteria can be summarised in the following key points:
- Solidly constructed frames made of non-critical materials such as CroMo steel or aluminium with thicker walls.
- Largely dispenses with maintenance and service-intensive suspension elements as well as extremely lightweight components.
- Encapsulated drives such as hub gears and chain cases.
- Reliable lighting system.
- Puncture-resistant tyres.
- High level of ergonomic comfort.
This added safety comes at the cost of a higher total weight due to the higher amount of material used (in the test field from just under 13 to over 19 kilos) and higher sales prices due to more complex parts selection and assembly. Our test selection starts at 750 and ends at 2566 euros. However, if you see long-lasting function as a good long-term investment, even higher purchase prices are put into perspective.
The bikes in the test:
Green's Cambridge
Maxcycles Twenty Six 2x14
Patria Potsdam All Ride
Steppenwolf Transterra 8
Tout Terrain Boulevard
Utopia Herring Gull
Velo de Ville Tourer
VSF T-400 All Ride
Wanderer Tourer
The full-length article from issue 4/2007 is available as a free PDF download.
