The VSF T-300 has been a loyal companion over the last couple of years. But when driving my bike pretty much 365 days a year a couple of wishes came to my mind.
- Gates carbon belt drive to reduce maintenance costs
- Disc brakes for a better grip when its wet (we are talking Hamburg here)
- A bike just a tiny bit more special than the T-300
With these three “simple†requirements, quite a journey started. But today my new “dream bike†was delivered and I thought it would be worth to list the bikes I considered along the way:
First thing was to find out that the bike category I was searching for is best described as an “urban bikeâ€.
As the VSF bike served me very well I had a look at the next better model, the VSF T-700. Available in petrol and with a really good price-performance ratio it was certainly an option.
A dream comes true with the Friedrich from Schindelhauer. But with every dream comes a with price tag and our child seat would not fit.
The Leeds from Böttcher was also considered but I just got lost in all the config options.
The Diamant 24/7 actually looked quite well and had all the features on the list. But since it was only available in black my decision was not yet made.
Manufactured in one of my favourites cities – Dresden – the Lane from Veloheld ticks all the boxes – but then again that comes with a certain price.
Everyone is so excited about the pinion shift that I tried the Rabeneick TS10 but was not really convinced by the driving experience.
Visually really appealing is the Ristretto Lightning Bronze from Creme Cycles but nothing for a longer drive.
And then when almost being frustrated I stumbled across the small Belgien manufacture “Achielle†and their Modell “Oscarâ€. It ticked all the boxes and did not get my bank account into too much trouble. Now the challenge was to order one, since there was no dealer left in Hamburg. But Gräber Räder was so kind to order it for me and I am now a proud owner of “Oscar†in heavenly blue with a CDX gates carbon drive, Alfine 8 and equipped with a brooks saddle and grips.
Looking forward for all these sunny morning when driving to work!