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van nicholas amazon rohloff 14
the van nicholas amazon is a multi-plex of titanium, seemingly everything being made from this once precious metal. front and rear triangle, including a pair of lusciously curved seatstays are all tidily, if not entirely smoothly welded from titanium tubes. the stem is titanium, the bars are titanium, the seatpost is titanium, the seatpost collar is titanium, and it looked to me as if all the retaining bolts were made from ti as well. the vertical dropouts at the rear were also solid titanium, the drive side one complete with derailleur tab, despite the review model being equipped with a large dod of rohloff hub gear on the rear wheel.
there is something undeniably attractive about the sheen of quality titanium.
i'd sort of expected a titanium frame to bear the same slim profile accorded to modern day steel, but the tubes were closer to aluminium in diameter, particularly the down tube. where the amazon differed from modern day aesthetics was in the fitting of an external chris king no-threadset; not a titanium one, but silver alloy. steering does not get a lot better than this, if ever.
the dual gear cables employed by the rohloff were neatly guided to the non-drive side chainstay by guides welded to the underside of the down tube. some of the neatest cable routing i've seen in many a long day.
breaking the all titanium aspect was the fitting of a carbon fork; a shame, since a titanium fork would have been a lovely addition, though at least the steerer was titanium.
there are a number of clues as to the professed employ of this particular machine; and they don't amount to road racing in any way shape or form. the amazon in this guise is more than likely aimed at the commuter. first clue is a flat titanium bar, far too wide in my opinion at 64cm; bear in mind that road style drop bars are usually only around 44cm wide. mine certainly are. second clue is a set of deore xt cantilevers, something a formula one cyclist would never even give house room to. these more than capable stoppers are activated by a pair of deore xt brake levers that look strangely dated in these modern times of hydraulic disk levers.
being flat bars, there is need for rubber grips and, if i'm perfectly honest, there is also need for elevated bar-ends for a change of hand position. the flared grips feature dual density rubber, with little bobbly bits on the top to aid grip.
the titanium seatpost had fabulous aesthetic qualities, titlting gently backwards to simulate layback. this is something completely undone by the complexity of the saddle clamp on the top. the clamp looked to be a far simpler affair than even the well-worn campagnolo style, but in fact turned out to be more faff than someone eager to ride the machine on arrival was willing to suffer. a circular bracket welded on the top holds two halves of an aluminium clamp which eventually sit top and bottom of the saddle rails. the outer edge of these clamp halves are knurled and held tightly in place when the bracket is bolted shut via two titanium bolts on the underside.
so goes the theory; unfortunately, trying to fit the two knurled halves either side of the saddle rails turned out to be a half hour job. really they ought to stick with the tried and true. just because campagnolo's design is leaning on the elderly side of old, doesn't mean to say it doesn't work. if it aint broke, don't fix it.
although the saddle shown in the adverts was a brooks leather, that which arrived was a generic racing type of the razor blade variety. perhaps not the best option on a commuter bicycle. when cycling in a more upright position, a touch of padding goes not amiss.
i cannot tell a lie, i had asked to test the belt drive version of this bike, also coupled with the rohloff hub gear, but the version that came out of the remains of the box had a nice shiny chain. there's every possibility that the belt would have made little difference in the grand scheme of things, but i'll never know. despite having the rohloff hub gear, the rear wheel sits in a pair of vertical dropouts; chain tension is altered by an eccentric bottom bracket. a neat and practical touch. the chainset is a 42 tooth sram/truvativ imprint with the rather cheapo stylo moniker, matched to a 16 tooth drilled rear sprocket.
the rohloff hub is a massive teutonic affair, all the gear wheels enclosed in a stainless steel container. unfortunately its apparent mass implies a weight gain to which it lives up. rohloff quote a weight of 1.7kg, and lifting the bicycle in and out of the bike shed gave weight (pun intended) proportionately towards the back of the bike. gear changing is effected by a twistgrip on the right side of the handlebar, a changer with a commendably light action, though with a bit more play than expected.
derailleur gears do most of their work either pushing against, or being pulled by a spring somewhere in the system. the rohloff does all the pushing and pulling via the bar changer, the in and out cables both terminating at this point. it was something of a surprise to find that all fourteen gears were available via this one twist grip; i had been expecting a couple of changers.
both front and rear wheels are built onto rigida andra rims, impressively flat and wide, laced via 32 three crossed spokes. matching the nationality of the gearset, the tyres were 32c continental sport contact; substantial rubber for the task at hand.
van nicholas specify this version of the amazon as suitable for commuting, light touring and loaded touring, a specification bolstered by the availability of three bottle cage mounts, as well as rack mounts at the rear. i'm less than convinced that carbon forks are ideal for loaded touring, but undoubtedly ideal for the first two. in terms of its commuting power, it was nice to note that the amazon arrived with sks mudguards already fitted, but i can't pretend that a price tag of £3,000 plus might just be considered a tad expensive for the commute. then again...
going for a titanium ride
as a point of order here, it is necessary to clear the brain of thoughts of carbon and drop bars, perhaps even of skinny tyres. this is not, and was never intended to be, a bicycle that would reach from here to debbie's faster than doctor hutch. and while such a bald statement might seem superfluous, it coloured the very first ride far more than i'm willing to admit. while my regular mode of cycling would not scare thomas voeckler to any substantial degree, it's difficult to estrange inherent feelings of whizzing about hither and thither, with a spring in the step and an echelon on the strand.
the amazon isn't like that. at all. and it ill behoves me to admit that the first ride from here to there, came across as a bit of a disappointment. the ills of prejudice. like it or not, we all have a regular cycling mode; switching to a bicycle that does stuff differently causes that little brain more than a smidgeon of confusion.
i do not get on well with flat bars at all, no matter if they are made from the finest of titanium, fastened in place by the finest of titanium stems. all through my erstwhile mountain biking years in the early nineties, it was the flat bars that gave me the biggest problem (well, apart from the muddy clothes), and having kept the wrists and hands happy with drops ever since, muscle memory was not comfortable with re-introduction. this, of course, is no reflection on the bicycle, being a simple case of personal preference, at odds with current reality. that said, the bars were really a bit too wide for comfort in my opinion. if you accept that the average width of a pair of drop bars is in the region of 44cm, you can imagine the extra real estate being presented to an islay headwind. for much of the test, i spent each ride with both hands sitting inboard of the brake levers.
this unfortunate feature was compounded by a recalcitrant right bar grip, which refused point blank to remain fixed to the bar. despite use of washing-up liquid, double sided tape, carbo grip, hairspray and 3m spraymount, the grip refused to remain fixed to the bar. strangely, its counterpart on the left stayed comfortably in place throughout the review. as if that were not annoying enough on its own, the existence of the rohloff twist grip on the same side sort of underlined the problem. however, i'm pretty sure this is an isolated incident rather than anything that will afflict retail version of the amazon. had this been my personal property, i'd have been a bit more adventurous in searching for a cure.
the principal reason for requesting this variation on the amazon was that 14 speed rohloff hub gear. considerably different than derailleur actuation, even though the end result is the same, the rohloff threatens to provide no-nonsense gearchanging that should prove attractive to those for whom it isn't all about the bike. now at this point i need to point out that the following impressions are not entirely my own; i am not in the business of commuting to work, simply due to not living far enough away from the office. so to engender an alternative, independent opinon, i loaned the bike to the editor of islay's local newspaper, who cheerfully cycles a round trip of 22 miles every day, come rain, wind or shine.
both of us had intermittent problems with the rohloff, though whether these are concomitant with the system, or the result of a rogue unit, i know not, having never ridden one before. gear changing is simplicity itself, with all fourteen gears accessible via the twist grip, a unit that is easily light enough to be actuated by mere thumb and forefinger. this doubtless explains why those are essentially the only fingers for which there is space. as stated above, the rohloff twist-grip pushes one cable while pulling another and we both felt there was a bit more play in the grip than seemed entirely necessary, but it's possible that this is a feature rather than a bug. clicking into gear was always positive, but the lever can be rolled backwards and forwards once the gear has been selected. however, what leads me to believe this is intentional, is that the play does not affect the gear in any way.
the disconcerting bit was readily apparent every now and again when changing any of the gears from one to five. without warning, shifting from say, gear five to gear four would present a far larger gear in between the two; a mere temporary inconvenience on the flat, but a potential knee-breaker on a climb. if it is your customary practice, as it is mine, to launch one's backside skywards on climbing even the smallest of slopes, a few rides on the amazon would cure that forever. gear one on the rohloff verges on the completely pointless, similarly two and three. gear one would probably let the fitter amongst us tow a caravan up bowmore main street. with gear ratios like this, there is no need to stand while climbing; simply select a stunningly easy gear, remain seated, and ride up that hill.
i'd be sticking my neck out more than usual if i said that there are few useful ratios below the eighth notch on the changer, but on an unloaded machine used for commuting, i think you'll find i speak the truth. the other aspect of the rohloff that mitigates against a standing climb, is the sheer weight of that hub; rohloff quote 1.7kg, which is considerably more than many modern carbon frames, and it's all at the back. but then, the hub has its own saving built-in, by way of those incredibly low gears. sitting and climbing seems the best solution, and one that becomes easier as the kilometres roll by.
derailleur systems are renowned for a certain amount of built in redundancy. on a twenty one speed setup, around six of those are probably so closely related, as to be pointless due to crossover between rear and front. i had expected a fourteen speed hub gear to provide a full range of usable ratios, but even fully loaded tourers would surely find gears one to three a bit on the pointless side. however, better to have and not need... there was a bit too much unnecessary chain slap for my liking, but i think putting a bit more tension on the chain might have alleviated that. unfortunately, despite a particularly accessible eccentric bottom bracket system for so doing, i was unsuccesful in getting this to move, and decided to leave be in case i broke something. there was no operating manual supplied with the amazon.
a second point on which both of us agreed was that of the bum perch. it's a fact of life that a bicycle geared (pardon the pun) for touring or commuting commands a more upright position, thus placing a greater spread of weight on the saddle. the photographs i have seen of this bicycle in the van nicholas advertisements featured a brooks leather saddle, the ideal comfort zone for butt cheeks possibly not padded by a chamois insert. unfortunately, the saddle in the box was what i believe civilians refer to as a razor blade; the sort of thing that wouldn't disgrace the colnago recently reviewed on the post. padding was pretty darned near non-existent, and neither of us found any real comfort during even the shortest of rides. in fact, while the intention had been for the editor to use the amazon for the full week, his bum had had enough after two days, and he switched back to his own regular steed.
had i been able to figure out the overly complex saddle clamp, i'd have happily swapped the saddle for a brooks of my own. but in the event, i couldn't be bothered with the attendant faff.
however, i have no wish to become compared to marcel wust; moaning like stink about the componentry when the object of the exercise is to review the frame. actually that's not strictly true, since the amazon in this guise can be ordered in the fashion delivered; i was reviewing the whole bike, but since the frame can have a variety of trinketry attached, an independent frame of mind should be maintained (did you see what i did there?).
i'm almost ashamed to admit that i have never ridden titanium before, though many have said i should, and one or two have even offered. it's just never happened. preconceptions are generally never a good thing, because they almost always seem to be contradicted by reality. i half expected a noodley ride, but to be honest the amazon rode in a fashion not dis-similar to that of steel, only with an added touch of luxury. while my compatriot felt the frame and particularly the forks to be overly stiff, i find myself compelled to disagree. i would have preferred a pair of titanium forks to keep everything in the family but, strangely for a mooted touring bike, a pair of carbon forks were fitted. that's not to say this isn't an apposite choice; ferrari proved some time ago that straight forks were more effective at damping road buzz than curved, anad carbon is a reputed excellent cure for same; i'm not qualified enough to dispute this, but i found the forks to verge on the transparent in use.
despite the horror of that saddle, if a sedate, non cavendish mindset could be adopted before sitting back to enjoy the ride, the amazon was quite superb. after a fine saunter down to debbie's of a saturday morning, it was off around the estates for much a-plenty kilometres. having settled into a frame of mind that encompassed the style of riding for which the bicycle was designed, i really rather enjoyed myself. this could be the new me, though perhaps not every weekend. excluding my distaste for flat bars, and that swirly bar grip, a tour around the continent on one of these seems like not too bad an idea. with wide rigida rims and suitably proportioned tyres, the only things missing was a pair of panniers and a comfortable saddle.
shimano deore xt has long been a few bywords amongst the knobbly brigade for superior, controlled braking, or at least that was the case before hydraulics entered the fray. never was there a moment of concern, even in the very wet, that the stopping distance would be greater than that to whatever i was stopping for. it seems likely that this would be the same on a more heavily loaded bicycle; and it didn't require a set of white knuckles to get me there.
van nicholas bicycles are sent out from holland, and can be acquired as frame only, or as a complete bicycle via a set of options on the van nicholas website. the bicycle arrived more or less assembled; i had only to position the front wheel and mudguard, clamp the handlebar in place and faff with the seatpost and saddle, after removing a comforting amount of wrapping. however, in the hope that the powers that be at van nicholas are reading, might i suggest that a better standard of cardboard box be sourced; the carriers had to deliver the box upside down because the bottom had fallen apart, though with no damage to the bike, and no missing parts.
if you feel that your commuting routine deserves a better quality machine, one that is comfortable and virtually rustproof, or those hills, dales and panniers beckon, the amazon is a cycle that warrants more than just a second look. i'd love to suggest that a pair of drop bars would improve its aspect, and i truly believe that would be the case, but i'm none too sure where that gear changer would be fitted. an interesting option in modern cycling, and one that will suit a lot more folks than you'd think.
the van nicholas amazon as tested would retail at around £3,500; frame only is around £1200. the frame is available in sizes from 50cm to 60cm though it can apparently also be made to measure.
posted wednesday 1 september 2010
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