Over50
Well-Known Member
I received my medium high-step Allant late in the day on Friday. 1 mile home from the shop and 15 miles on a couple of errands yesterday. Given my mods are not complete and I've done little testing of the bike, this post and thread will likely see a lot of editing in the near future. All of my thoughts and impressions are very preliminary at this point. Also pics will be forthcoming but probably not until I've received my Kinekt seatpost.
Key first steps after getting bike home:
I ran two errands yesterday through two different burbs for a trip of 15 miles with 2 stops. The longest I was in the saddle was about 7 miles. It is the first time I've ridden a carbon bike and I've spent time trying to process the experience to give an accurate description. More on that in a second. The bike does feel light and agile. It is a bit more aero than I prefer but road bikers with drop bars would probably laugh at my idea of aero. I wasn't uncomfortable but I would prefer a bit more rise on the stem. I think this proprietary, non adjustable/non replaceable stem will be an Achilles heel for the 9.9s. The wheelbase seems short/similar to my Haibike where I have weight over the front fork and pretty good control of the bike. The drivetrain and powertrain experience was good. Shifting is precise. Power delivery is responsive and smooth. I only tested Eco and Tour modes with most riding in Eco. I had to push hard to keep the bike around 20 mph. My top speed was only about 23 mph. Back to the carbon experience. I'm used to riding these heavier aluminum bikes except for my steel-framed non electric. I felt like I had a regular bicycle underneath me and I'm not sure how to describe it other than it felt 'less substantial' or less noticeable that I had something other than a normal bicycle. The ride was a bit rough on some of the worst pavement but it was felt mostly in my tailbone. I didn't feel any discomfort in the hands, arms or shoulders. I was riding at about 38 psi. I've been putting good miles on my Terns with 20" wheels for awhile so maybe I am used to not having the suspension. But I would say that the bike, as it is now (no seatpost) is not going to be a bad ride for my 35 mile commute. I'm pretty confident I can do the long half of the commute (20 miles) without major discomfort. But after the seatpost and carbon rim switch, I'll update these observations.
This post is too long but I know that there is some enthusiasm and anticipation for this bike out there. I'm toying with the idea of commuting on it tomorrow as we'll have some mild weather. The bike would sit outside in temps starting in the high 30s in the morning to mid-40s by evening. I'm undecided on leaving the battery in the bike or hauling it into the office. But I feel like I need to get an actual commute done with the stock rims such that I can make a valid comparison after I've switched to the carbon and tubeless setup.
Key first steps after getting bike home:
- added to Velosurance policy
- registered on BikeIndex.org (and dropped a small donation along with my registration)
- handlebar: the stock bar is too narrow for my tastes. Due to the inability to switch the proprietary Bontrager stem to the Redshift, I had previously ordered the Baramind BAM Trek flexing/vibration dampening bar. Shop switched out the stock bar
- pedals: went with a spare set of Origin8 Slimline 9s that I had on hand - have these on my R&M and my Haibike as well
- mirror: standard Mirrcycle. Will probably switch to an Ergotec e-bike mirror in the near future
- panniers: purchased a functional bag my shop had on hand that fits my laptop. Tested at home my Ortlieb Sport Packers and they seem to be a good fit with a medium hook insert. I'll need to wrap some black tape on the pannier rack to take up a bit of space to prevent some rattling and scratching from the Ortlieb hooks. My shop says that there will be some new bags coming out soon that are designed for the minimalist pannier rack on the Allant. I'm hoping there is a one-piece, two-bag carry handle option
- water bottle
- carbon Kinekt seatpost with a shim is on order
- I ordered a Fahrer downtube cover from the EU - I didn't think this one through because I intend to put the rail system for extra battery on the bike - so I doubt I'll be able to use the downtube cover
- Spurcycle bell
- ordering a keyed-alike Abus Bordo
- ordered the rail system and extra PP 500 battery - unfortunately, I was told I couldn't get the rail system by itself sans battery
- Ok here's the big one: when I asked for feedback in the forum on carbon rims I got some really good responses. The preponderance of informed opinion seemed to be along the lines of "might offer some benefits but not enough to offset the cost" and/or "might actually degrade ride quality due to stiffness". I'm really not one to normally ignore advice from knowledgeable folks however, the shop made me an offer that is hard to refuse. I don't want to get too much into my internal dealings with my shop but it was basically a no-risk trial offer. I feel like they are so confident I will prefer the performance and ride of the carbon that they are willing to stand behind their advice and minimize the risk to me. And the pricing wasn't as expensive as I had been led to believe. So a switch to carbon rims with a tubeless setup will occur in the near future
- lighting: I like the Trek front light but can't figure out how to turn on the daytime flash mode. On initial visit to the shop, this was the mode that was set. but now only the 2 modes (low beam and high beam) are working. The shop is going to ask Trek and get back to me. But I like having the multiple modes available. The rear light is ridiculously small but I'm not too worried about that. I always ride with lots of supplemental lighting. The rear light does seem to have an ambient light sensor and it pulses as well. I don't see any reason to upgrade the lighting but I haven't commuted in the dark yet either.
- seat: seems to work fine for my narrow sit-bones. no plans at this point to make a change
- display: this is a big one too. I guess I was misinformed but I was thinking the bike came with the Kiox and that the Cobi Smartphone hub was optional. But it comes with a very minimalist display and the Smartphone hub mount. The shop believes that the Kiox is not/will not be an option for this bike. I'm not sure where I went wrong and need to rewatch the launch videos to see if they perhaps showed the bike with the Kiox (as they showed it with the M99 light). But I really like the Smartphone hub thus far. Pairing and setup was fast and easy. I get a decent amount of feedback/info. For example, I like seeing my input in watts although I still need to figure out what it all means. On my ride yesterday, I would get up to around 180-200 watts in Eco and it would show the feedback and say "Pumping". There is some functionality and settings that I saw in Propel's recent video on the Smartphone hub that I was not able to find (such as custom-naming the Bosch modes). As much as I like being able to use my phone, I might opt to use the minimalist display on my commutes when riding in the dark. I feel like having my smartphone mounted so prominently with this colorful, really nice display of bike statistics might put me at more risk of robbery.
- battery: I like the downtube design but it is certainly heavier and less-portable vs the PPs. I'm so accustomed to throwing a PP in my backpack during cold weather commutes. I haven't decided how I'm going to handle cold weather commuting and the issue of leaving the battery with the bike while locked
- tires: really nice ride on my initial test ride described below. But roads were dry. The test will be whether they can match my Super Moto X tires on wet streets and in terms of glass/puncture resistance
I ran two errands yesterday through two different burbs for a trip of 15 miles with 2 stops. The longest I was in the saddle was about 7 miles. It is the first time I've ridden a carbon bike and I've spent time trying to process the experience to give an accurate description. More on that in a second. The bike does feel light and agile. It is a bit more aero than I prefer but road bikers with drop bars would probably laugh at my idea of aero. I wasn't uncomfortable but I would prefer a bit more rise on the stem. I think this proprietary, non adjustable/non replaceable stem will be an Achilles heel for the 9.9s. The wheelbase seems short/similar to my Haibike where I have weight over the front fork and pretty good control of the bike. The drivetrain and powertrain experience was good. Shifting is precise. Power delivery is responsive and smooth. I only tested Eco and Tour modes with most riding in Eco. I had to push hard to keep the bike around 20 mph. My top speed was only about 23 mph. Back to the carbon experience. I'm used to riding these heavier aluminum bikes except for my steel-framed non electric. I felt like I had a regular bicycle underneath me and I'm not sure how to describe it other than it felt 'less substantial' or less noticeable that I had something other than a normal bicycle. The ride was a bit rough on some of the worst pavement but it was felt mostly in my tailbone. I didn't feel any discomfort in the hands, arms or shoulders. I was riding at about 38 psi. I've been putting good miles on my Terns with 20" wheels for awhile so maybe I am used to not having the suspension. But I would say that the bike, as it is now (no seatpost) is not going to be a bad ride for my 35 mile commute. I'm pretty confident I can do the long half of the commute (20 miles) without major discomfort. But after the seatpost and carbon rim switch, I'll update these observations.
This post is too long but I know that there is some enthusiasm and anticipation for this bike out there. I'm toying with the idea of commuting on it tomorrow as we'll have some mild weather. The bike would sit outside in temps starting in the high 30s in the morning to mid-40s by evening. I'm undecided on leaving the battery in the bike or hauling it into the office. But I feel like I need to get an actual commute done with the stock rims such that I can make a valid comparison after I've switched to the carbon and tubeless setup.
