Accessorizing!

[pooks]

Streamers! Now that's a thought!

I hadn't thought of the grips, either.

Kewl.

[WrensMom]

Wow, interesting! I have not seen shaft-drive bicycles before. Motorcycles, yes, but bikes, no. On a motorcycle, the shaft-drive can be a good thing, esp on a touring type one, because of being sealed and easy maintenance. However, you will notice that the racing type motorcycles are always chain-drive. I have been told that this is because a chain-drive more rapidly transfers the energy to the wheel than a shaft-drive does. If the same holds for bicycles (don't know why it wouldn't) I would guess that shaft-drive would be somewhat less efficient for that reason. Just guessing, here, though I do miss my motorbiking days

[pooks]

I've read that before as a strike against the shaft drive.

I have no idea, really, since this is the first bike I've had as an adult. I do like that I don't have to worry about chains. We picked up a catalog from the lbs and my husband opened it to the "tool" section and a two-page spread of stuff for chains and said, "Look at all the stuff we don't need."

One review I found said that a well-maintined chain drive would be superior to a shaft drive, but the shaft drive would be superior to the less-well-maintained chain drive. To that my husband said, "In other words, this is what we need." Heh. The idea of dealing with chains all the time didn't thrill him, obviously.

[MomOnBike]

I've got to admit, I've been tempted by a shaft-drive bike, too. The thought of riding in white pants to an Event with DH is tempting. And no chain maintenance. {sigh}

Traditionalists scoff, but I'm not sure why. Probably because it's not what they're used to - and they like to mess with the fiddely bits of a bike.

And you have the right idea, pimp that thing out within an inch of its life. Spend some time at your LBS and online to figure out what you want. Decide on a Look and go for it, big time. Then post pictures.

[pooks]

When I was at REI yesterday I heard the guys in the bike repair area discussing my bike as they installed the bike computer. They thought it was cool, and that it would be the perfect commuter bike.

I can see that if I wanted to do serious road work I might feel the need to get a road bike, but for what I'm doing, with occasional long rides (or that's the plan) I love this bike!

Of course, I was looking at townies, anyway, so in that case it's pretty similar to what I would have bought if it hadn't been a shaft drive.