Hi All,
I want to get a touring bike. I need a flat bar bike and that is a must.
I narrow down to 2 options: Genesis Tour de fer 30 (GBP 1799) (TdF) and Decathlon Riverside Tour 900 (RT) (GBP 1299). I am not very familiar in bikes and therefore I am typing my think process and wonder if I am missing some important points or misunderstood something
I think Decathlon is a better bike because:
1) Better drivechain (Shimano XT for RT vs CUES U6000 for TdF, my understanding is Cues is at same level as decore)
2) Better saddle, RT has brooks B17
3) Better tyres (RT has Schwalbe Marathron Plus Tour vs TdF’s Vittoris Randonneur)
4) I think the dynamo for RT (Shimano Deore XT dynamo hub 6V – 0.5A, 3W) is better than TdF (Shimano DH-3D37)
5) Strong pannier racks (RT can carry up to 40kg while TdF only 27kg). I assume RT has a better front rack too.
6) Cheaper by 500 GBP
The advantages for Tdf are 1) brighter lights 100/80 lux vs 30 2) lower weight 14.7 vs 17.1 kg, high stack ratio (1.546 vs 1.467)
Also one very subjective pro for Genesis is the colour, I much prefer bright colour than dark colour. But let’s put this aside first.
Other note:
I don’t care the gearing range, I only care the lowest gearing ratio. I plan to change the cassettes to achieve a lower gear ratio than out of the box around 21 inches, hopefully 15-17 (at least lower to 18)
I am not sure if I want dynamo actually, because I think there will be around 6% or higher loss of energy when charging something (anyone has an estimates of the loss for the exact model RT/TdF use? The 6% guess is from this article, but the model is different… https://www.cyclingabout.com/how-much-do-hub-dynamos-really-slow-you-down/), which means if I ride 5 hours a day, I need to ride around 30 minutes more everyday, which sounds quite meaningful. But one good thing is the drag is much lower when not charging (but then why I need a dynamo). Anyway, these 2 bikes both have dynamo, there is nothing to compare I guess….
I also saw Cube has flat bars, but I don’t want suspension fork, those with derailleur are entry level only and the more expensive version use Gates belt, which I don’t know the efficiency/reliability vs derailleur (I know Rohloff is much better, but know nothing about Gates)
Any comments/suggestions are welcome! Thank you
by vivipoon
2 Comments
decathlon tend to cheap out on some key things, so be careful. In my case, I had to change both bottom bracket and rear wheel bearings after a month of use.
The chain is also making some weird noises.
It’s not the end of the world, all of that is easily preventable in a couple of hours of work and a beer.
What will you use it for?