Step-through frames

[icepick_trotsky]

Hey all,

Little bit different post. Mrs. Trotsky is casually in the market for a 'townie' type bike for toodling, kid hauling, etc., and we are looking at a step-through design for ease of mounting and use in this application.

Who is making these and are their offerings any good? I've been looking at the Specialized Sirrus. Checks a lot of boxes, but the quick release wheels + hydro disc seems like a bad combination right? I wish they didn't bother and just made this a rim brake frame, but that ship seems to have sailed.

Anywhere else I should take a look?

[dgauthier]

What about a Bianchi Milano?

https://www.bianchi.com/store/us_EN/...us2x8sp-3.html

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[nickl]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

What about a Bianchi Milano?

https://www.bianchi.com/store/us_EN/...us2x8sp-3.html

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Much more versatile for the purpose you describe. Low maintenance and practical features including chain guard, kickstand, fenders, rim brakes, etc., especially the u6. I’ve known several women and even one or two men over the years that have utilized similar for short commutes, running errands and other daily task. Bombproof given typical circumstances.

[d_douglas]

QR and hydros with good skewers done seem like a problem to me.

I have been riding a QR CX bike for years and never have had a wheel eject.

I too agree that the Kona CoCo is a great little bike - I bought one for my daughter and yes, it has hydros and QRs. It is stylish and quite functional/rugged.

[benb]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

QR and hydros with good skewers done seem like a problem to me.

I have been riding a QR CX bike for years and never have had a wheel eject.

Ejecting would obviously be very bad. Personally I've never even had my wheel shift in either the dropout or the fork in all the years I've had hydraulic discs with QRs.

But my son's Trek Marlin definitely has sub-standard dropouts and the disc brake can pull the wheel out of alignment enough to rub the brake. It requires a lot of care to get the wheel really well aligned when you mount the wheel, then you need to get the QR extremely tight, and you might need to re-align the caliper anyway. The fork is fine but the rear dropouts are definitely very "meh". It's not like there is any ejection risk but holding the wheel in place and not letting it shift is pretty basic stuff.

[unterhausen]

I never had any problems with my qr disc brake bike. I have never fully understood why companies still use qr on cheap disc bikes though. I guess they figure the lawsuits won't cost enough to worry about? Radpower found out about that, I think.

[exapkib]

We're big fans of the Soma Buena Vista over here. Builds up nicely, and can be found for not too much money.

New rim-brake versions still available, but we had good luck finding a used frame. Originally built it up for my wife, but everyone in our family reaches for it for short errand-oriented trips around the neighborhood.

Just right for who it's for.

[EB]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

I never had any problems with my qr disc brake bike. I have never fully understood why companies still use qr on cheap disc bikes though. I guess they figure the lawsuits won't cost enough to worry about? Radpower found out about that, I think.

My guess would be the forks are cheaper to manufacture, since there is no axle thread to bore and the tolerances for making a functioning QR fork are wider.

[blakcloud]

I am partial to Rivendell.

[polyhistoric]

Soma Buena Vista Disc has been perfect for townie, commuter, kid-hauling, date-nite bike for my wife. Rear can be converted to thru-axle, but front is QR. We used locking skewer and it has been no troubles.

[AngryScientist]

Velo Orange has a nice one...

[gbcoupe]

These are cool. From eBay.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Dude]

These are bread and butter bikes so every manufacturer will make a pretty good version of this. They'll all be priced closely and functionally, they're all what you need.

Go to a shop, ride two of them and decide between those two otherwise you'll reach the bottom of the internet before you find an answer on which one to get.

The kid hauling raises an eyebrow to me, that could be a differentiator. How will you be hauling the kid? Trailer? Seat? Will you be hauling anything else? How long will the hauling be? long miles?

[thwart]

Ah, a Riv.

From the sublime to the ridiculous... well, not quite.

When we were traveling earlier this year we rode a Pair of Specialized Roll low-entry 2.0's for a day, on loan from a friend. Extremely comfortable ride, very stable, and not slow enough to be bothersome. I was impressed.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by EB

My guess would be the forks are cheaper to manufacture, since there is no axle thread to bore and the tolerances for making a functioning QR fork are wider.

And you would think that nutted axles would be even cheaper than QR axles. But in a bizarre quirk in CPSC regulations, non-quick release hubs require a secondary retention device (adding cost), whereas quick release hubs do not.