Review of Stanforth Kibo, Gates Carbon and Rolhoff Hub.

 Forward

My wife (@suukii) and I have finally fully retired. As we have got older we have spent increasing amounts of our holidays cycle touring, and those tours have increasingly tended towards off-road paths.  Su is probably not the shape of the average female cyclist, and a few years ago she went to Stanforth bikes in Hove to get a handmade Kibo.  This new bike clearly improved her enjoyment of our tours.  Now we are finally fully retired and do not have to confine our tours to three weeks, we have decided to spend the summer of our 70th year cycling from home along EV6 in the direction of the Black Sea (~3,500km)  in summer 2024, going as far as we can comfortably get in the 90 days allowed in Schengen EU post Brexit.

I have had a lifetime of lower back disc problems, and some issues with upper back extension when cycling, so I decided to spend a chunk of my retirement lump sum on a handmade bike, and given Su’s experience, Stanforth was the obvious choice.  I visited Hove in October 2023 for the fitting, and on a frosty weekend in December we picked up the bike. 

The bike has been well ridden in.  We did a two-week B&B tour from Dover to the Netherlands (to do the Zeiderpark Parkrun!) in early March, and a number of local rides and two day tours. As the weather is now finally improving we hope to check out our camping kit a few times before we depart in mid-June.

I’ll update this review when we have done the long trip.

Hugh's 2023 Kibo

Su's 2021 Kibo with mine behind. This bike has traditional chain and derailers on a 10 speed cassette.

The Review

The frame geometry is perfect, as would be expected for a hand-made bike.  I have long term lower back problems, and upper back extension problems when riding for a long session on most bikes.  On this bike my back remains 100% comfortable even on the longest ride.

The Gates carbon belt drive is wonderfully smooth and quiet. It also makes cleaning the bike enormously easier – there are no chains, cassettes and mechs to be re-oiled. 

The Rohloff speed hub has 14 gears and is set-up to give about 17 inches in first gear. Riding on the road I rarely need to go below fifth gear except for the steepest hills, but on gravel tracks you really find out where the low gears work. On a loaded bike I don’t want to go downhill any faster than top gear gets up to. The gear change is done by an easy twist gear on the handlebars. The gear change is beautifully smooth and can be done while pedalling and when stationary.  There is no “moment of truth” when you must change the front chainring, and then adjust the rear derailer to match – you just move smoothly through all 14 gears, making it easy to maintain a constant cadence. To aid security, each Rohloff hub is prominently and uniquely numbered. Again, cleaning is a joy – just hose it down.

I believe there is some small level of inefficiency from belt+hub gears when compared to traditional chain and derailer. If this is the case, the smoothness of the ride, the reliability of the system and the ease of cleaning more than compensate in a long-distance touring bike.

I had a Brookes saddle once many years ago, and I just sank through it in a few months.  I have used Terry saddles ever since, but I went with the Brookes on this bike. So far (five months) it has not stretched more than a couple of half turns on the screw, and it is wonderfully comfortable. After using it for a couple of months I find I no longer need any padded shorts or underwear.

The handlebars are a revelation to me. It is amazing how much difference the soft ergonomic handlebar grips make on a long trip.  Why did no-one tell me before?! And the bar-ends allow a range of different seating positions, from upright to reasonably streamlined and with different elbow positions.

The combination of correct frame geometry, comfortable saddle and handlebars mean that I need to change position while riding far less frequently than I ever did before.

I chose SPD/Flat pedals, and this combination works fine as it has on all my previous bikes. In summer I tour with SPD sandals for the extra drive round the whole cycle, but the flat side make it possible to hop onto the bike in flip flops for a quick trip down to the shop, etc.

The tyres (26in/2inch Schwabe Marathon Plus Tour) are fatter than I am accustomed to. They certainly make riding on gravel or sand much steadier. Of course, there is a small increase in rolling resistance on smooth surfaces, but I have been surprised how much less it is than I expected.  I have used Marathon Plus on all previous bikes.  I have never yet had a puncture on tour!

The disc brakes (TRP Spyke, mechanical,  with Shimano rotors) are excellent.  I have both mechanical disc brakes and hydraulic brakes on other bikes.  These brakes are much nearer the efficiency of the hydraulic then the mechanical.  All but the most sudden stop can be done with little more than “fingertip control”.

I elected to have a double legged kickstand and a “steerstopper” (which allows you to lock the front wheel steering when parked).  I imagine this contributes a bit to the weight, but the stability when loading front and rear panniers makes life easier. Keeping the front wheel straight ahead when leaning the bike against things is also a big improvement.

I elected to have a Son front hub dynamo and the Sinewave Beacon, dynamo powered, 750 lumen headlight with standlight and integrated USB.  Also I have a rear light powered from the Sinewave. This was a seriously expensive upgrade, but provides an excellent dynamo light and a USB input/output making it possible to charge a USB device on the move. On previous bikes I have had ‎Busch & Müller Luxos lights which theoretically had the same functionality.  I had a number of technical failures and difficulties with the various Busch and Müller lights I had, so I was interested to investigate the efforts of another manufacturer.  The Sinewave has been fault free and does what it says it does. In particular it starts producing a USB output at walking pace whereas the Busch and Müller only managed an output at 6 or 7 mph; the USB output appears to be higher – I can run my iPhone all day in always-on navigation mode; the Sinewave has a low-brightness mode which allows you to have dimmer lights (125 lumen) but still have a usable USB output.  

The Sinewave costs ~£400; you could buy a reasonable whole bike-shaped-object for that! I am not quite sure why the Sinewave costs so much; there is nothing particularly expensive about the components.  I suspect we are paying for the cost of starting-up a company and its marketing and probably some research and initial tooling. However, it appears to be more reliable, much hardier and far more electrically efficient than the previous technologies I have deployed.

The wheel rims are Andra 30  disc 26” with 36 spokes.  I know little about rims, and trust Stanforth to have chosen something with the durability to handle the sort of tracks and loads that might be expected of such a bike. But I have previously experienced a disastrous tour with my rear wheel spokes repeatedly snapping.  36 spokes is good, and the bike was supplied with a set of front and rear spares.

The default pannier racks for the Stanforth Kibo are Tubus Logo which are certainly sturdy enough for the task.  However, I really don’t like the way some front racks have a cross member joining the two sides over the wheel  - it makes me feel that I am driving something agricultural! So I opted to port my Giant Rack It front racks from my previous bike. They have a lower maximum load (15kgs) and they need regular attention to make sure they are firmly attached, but they look good and I feel happier!  Su has the Tubus front rack on her Kibo, and has no issue.

Modifications I have made:

I changed the seatpost. I am extremely sensitive to saddle angle, and I find it really difficult to get the angle exact when the Seatpost head has only one screw – the angle always seems to change as you tighten it. On a previous bike I actually damaged the Allen key socket on the screw making constant adjustments, and it turns out those screws are rather specialist and not the sort of thing you can simply replace.  I now use a seatpost with a head that has two screws, one on either side of the post, which makes micro adjustment much easier.  I swapped my seatpost from my previous bike.

On the handlebars I have added an Ortleib/ Rixen&Kaul Klickfix attachment, in order to carry a suitable front bag; there is plenty of clearance for even the largest Ortleib front bag, and no obstruction from the cables. I also have a Quadlock mount for my iPhone.

I have attached pedal reflectors to my pedals. I have heard of ridiculous cases of motorists’ defence lawyers using the fact that a bike was not legal as a defence for a collision. I prefer to keep to the letter of the law.

I do like to have a rear-view mirror when touring.  Stanforth supplied one but, because there was already too much clutter on end of the handlebar, the mirror did not stick out far enough to allow me to see past my own body.  Instead, I have fitted a Decathlon Elops 100 (£6.99) into the handlebar end. This is a really steady arrangement, rarely needing adjustment and gives excellent rear view, and happily does not much hinder my use of the bar ends. It can be situated on either side with a few minutes effort to change.

With security in mind I have used the Bike Register permanent marking kit in a prominent position, and I have fitted a hidden Apple Tag. I also intend to prominently mark the crossbar with my Twitter handle/ Facebook username.  It is also worth noting that neither the saddle nor wheels have quick release, making it that much more difficult for the opportunist thief.

Overall Summary

The bike is a fair bit heavier than my previous (Dawes Super Galaxy) touring bike.  The extra weight is partly down to stronger build and partly down to the weight of accessories (especially the kickstand and the Rohloff hub, I suspect). It is never going to be first choice for going out for a club road ride! On the other hand I have found it to be a delight to ride at the speed that I, and most of my friends choose to ride, it hardly notices the weight of the full set of panniers, and it trucks along on gravel paths with much less unwanted excitement than my previous bikes. The gearing is such that I can keep a constant cadence over most gradients and surfaces – just keep turning the pedals, without any great effort and it moves! My heart-rate record on rides shows much less variation than before.

This is by a long way the most expensive bike I have ever bought. And I do not regret it at all. I positively love riding this bike, and am looking forward to setting off in the direction of the Black Sea fully loaded with camping kit in a few weeks time.

May 2024

Choice of Tent

After a couple of tours staying in bed and breakfasts in 2015 we decided we would have more fun and flexibility on our tours if we camped.  Time to buy a tent,

Requirements:

• Weather proof in all weathers we are likely to encounter
• Fast and easy to assemble and disassemble 
• Light enough
• Small enough for packing
• Plenty of room to sleep
• Enough room to store all panniers /camping kit off bikes
• Will last as long as we are likely to keep touring (good quality)

My original thought was that there were some Vango tents around that seemed to meet the spec, but advice was that we needed to ain for the higher quality range.  This seemed to come down to either MSR or Hilleberg.

After a visit to Taunton Leisure we cam away with a Hilleberg Nano 3 one of the Red label Hilleberg range - "suitable for all seasons in all but the harshest conditions".

The Nano 3 is a "three person" tent (at a squeeze!) but has plenty of room for two.  It packs at around 3kg, and the resulting package is small enough that you could fit two into a standard pannier - or it sits happily on the back rack between panniers.  

But what won it for us was the ease of erecting the tent, especially in foul weather.  At no stage does the inner tent get exposed to the weather, and it all remains attached in one piece.  All you do is lay the tent on the ground, run the three poles through the exterior piping, As soon as the poles are inserted, all you need to do is secure one guy at each end and you have a rigid tent.  The rest of the pegging and guy ropes can all be done later.  Even in the strongest of winds and worst of downpours this can all be done in about 5 minutes by two practiced people.

Taking it down is equally simple.  Take the pegs out.  Take the poles out. Roll it up.  It all rolls up in one piece with the inner tent and footprint still attached.

Here is the Taunton Leisure info:

and this is ours in the field:

It has two entrances  - both open in this picture.

Review after 6 years of use:

Looking today (Nov 2023) at the Taunton website, I had no idea how expensive these tents had become! When we bought it, we thought it expensive at less than half this price!  

We have had very good use out of this tent, in a range of weathers and it must have been erected and taken down well over one hundred times, and travelled a few thousand miles on our bikes. The tent is still in perfect condition,  We did once damage one length of pole slightly due to carelessness when putting it up in a rain storm.  The damaged pole was not beyond use, and easily replaced with the spare provided the following day.  Later, a replacement spare was easily sourced online.  

There is certainly enough room inside for two peoples' camping mats and plenty of clothes and valuable belongings in the inner tent, and more than enough room for all the rest of the camping gear in the vestibule.

The tent has been completely waterproof in all conditions. 

The only criticism that I can make, and have seen others report as well, is that in colder conditions the condensation inside the outer tent can be quite significant; no problem inside the inner tent, but getting out in the morning without shaking all the condensation over everything in the vestibule can be quite challenging.  The tent does dry remarkably quickly as soon as it is opened and hopefully gets a bit of sun,

The headroom is sufficient to sit up and dress.  It is not sufficient to sit on a chair, and on the very few occasions we have been stuck inside the tent because of weather it has been difficult to find a comfortable sitting position for a person who's muscles no longer allow him to sit on the floor without some back support.

I think it is possible that you could get a three person MSR for cheaper and possibly a bit lighter, but the ease and speed of erecting and disassembling this tent has always been a pleasure, and it has always provided ample space.

Aside:

I did read a blog about three men who had taken one of these on a cycle tour (LEjOG if I remember correctly), and they were doing everything they could to reduce weight.  They did without the footprint, removed the string from the pegs, and cut down the number of pegs (in most conditions you do not need to use most of them).  And they did not take the bags for the pegs, poles or tent.  I guess this all saved them a few hundred grams for very little loss of facility?