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.
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| Hugh's 2023 Kibo |
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| 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
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