PRODUCT REVIEW KRONAN CITY CYCLE

Beneath the rack is a rather baffl ing steel tube, complete with solid aluminium plug, tethered by a short chain and held in place by a spring-loaded plunger. Yes, it’s a pump-holder… and possibly discreet (or scary) enough not to invite theft. But couldn’t they make the end-cap lockable? Looking down to the transmission, nice rubber-surfaced pedals turn a lovely shiny (solid steel of course) chromed single-ring 170mm crankset. A hefty steel chainguard protects the upper run of chain. Pity it couldn’t be a full chaincase – I think we’re past worrying about the weight at this point. But it’s lovely to be able to ride without worrying about tucking trousers into socks – the guard offers plenty of protection to keep things clean and avoid snags. The men’s version has 46 – 19 gearing, which with the SRAM three

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speed hub gives ratios of around 49", 67" and 91" – way too high for my taste. The ladies version has a more sensible 44 – 20, giving 44", 61" and 83". It shouldn’t be hard to lower the gearing – and you’d defi nitely want to if you tackle hills regularly. Rounding off the very full equipment is a good sturdy stand which folds up next to the chainstay. Guess what it’s made of? Yes, it’s solid steel!

THE RIDE The riding position on the Kronan is upright and relaxed. There’s a fairly soft and wide saddle to take most of the weight (it’s the suspended type, with steel springs), and this leaves the wrists holding little of your weight. The angle of the bars and the soft grips keep the wrists straight – I found it a very comfortable and ergonomic position.

Set off and the bike’s weight becomes apparent: it’s by no means nippy. But once going it rolls along nicely, the soft balloon tyres, long wheelbase and wide saddle making for smooth progress. Steering is stable and steady. The twist-grip gear shifter had a light, positive click action, but as expected I found the gearing way too high, and rarely troubled top gear. The bike does respond well to climbing out of the saddle, with plenty of rigidity to push against. The SRAM drum brake on the front wheel performed very similarly to the Sturmey drums I’ve been testing recently – good reliable performance and perfectly adequate most of the time. But in a full size wheel both just lack ‘emergency stop’ power. Incidentally Sturmey told me that their millions of ‘everyday cycle user’ drum brake customers

TOP LEFT: A very long rear rack, with useful spring clips, but not as rigid as it might be.

BOTTOM LEFT:A spring guides the dynamo cable very neatly up to the front light.

BELOW:The chromed steel bars put the hands in a natural, relaxed wrist position, while the stainless stem has a huge adjustment range.

on the continent actually prefer a ‘moderated’ brake so they can’t be thrown over the bars. Well, maybe, but that’s not my preference. The back-pedal brake can stop you well too – so long as the rear wheel has grip. It takes a while to get used to one if you’re not a coaster brake regular – there’s a knack to braking to a halt and leaving the pedals in position to set off again. With such a brake, of course, you can’t pedal backwards to position the pedals. But like the front hub, it’s a nomaintenance item and unaffected by the weather. Finally a note about that stand: unlike some I’ve tried it really did support the bike reliably even with a full pannier-load of shopping on board. Top marks.

SUMMARY Usually with bikes, the more you pay the less you get. But the Kronan is unapologetic in its use of solid steel for everything, and you certainly get a lot of metal, and quality throughout, for your money. If you can live with the weight, the result is a bike which does feel it will last and last. It rolls along with dignity and in distinctive, traditional style at its own pace. It’s a super-comfortable, upright ride. You could certainly get a lighter bike with better gears and brakes for £399 (but remember to also include the cost of quality mudguards, rack, stand and light). Anyway, you have to take the Kronan on its own terms: it is what it is, and it does that well – optimal performance isn’t a priority for everyone. There’s certainly a place for such a cycle: perhaps for the many riders of an older generation who treasured their long-lasting ‘black things’ and regretfully say “They don’t build them like they used to.” They do now, and perhaps a new generation will learn to love them too.

Peter Eland

AVAILABILITY Manufacturer: Kronan. Tel +46 8694 7282 or seewww.kronan.com Importer: Kronan UK: Tel 0207 688 3211 or email kronan.import@ blueyonder.co.uk
PRODUCT REVIEW TW-BENTS PB-168-II

PRICE BUSTER BIKE

TW-Bents in Taiwan make some very affordable recumbents, and they’ve been popular in the US for some time. Now they have a UK importer, and we take a fi rst look at their £595 two wheeler, the PB-168-II.

BACKGROUND Andy Oliver of ‘PMS’ in Nuneaton is importing two short-wheelbase recumbents and one trike from TW-Bents, and he launched the range at the York Cycle Show in June. We took his display sample of the PB-168-11 (they could do with some snappier names!) for a ‘first look’ review. The specification hadn’t been finalised when this bike was built, and production versions will use many different components. The other (suspended) bike, the PB-933, costs £805 and the trike (TW-TRIKE-1) costs £999. We’ll test the trike in a future issue. All prices include VAT but not delivery, which is typically £25 or £30 for the UK. As we go to press no accessories were confirmed.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS The PB-168’s frame is made simply in cro-moly steel. There’s no choice of colours just now but the yellow is striking and smart. The seat is neatly padded, with a ventilation and pressure relief gap for the spine. It’s angle-adjustable, but the range is rather small. A neat (prototype) accessory bag hangs off the back of the seat, and there’s a curved headrest. It’s good to see eyelets ready to mount mudguards front and rear and these will be fi tted as standard. It would also be easy to fi t a rear rack. There are bottle cage bosses on one of the seatstays which you can reach when riding, though fi ngers do come a little close to the spinning spokes. The curvy under-seat handlebars rather spoil the purposeful lines of the bike to my taste, and spread out

to 70 cm in all. Our bars were fi tted with modified bar end shifters – a strange choice meaning the gears were friction-shifted rather than indexed. I understand production machines will use SRAM twist shifters. A standard mid-range triple-chainring derailleur transmission is fitted. The bike comes with a good set of wheels with smart black spokes and rims, with Kenda Kwest 20" (406) and 26" (559) tyres. V-brakes act on both wheels. Overall weight as tested was 14.4 kg, but this will no doubt change when production components are fitted. The light fittings pictured are prototypes, and the awful stand, made of cheese-grade metal that bent at the slightest provocation, will also be replaced.

THE RIDE It’s an easy recumbent to ride, and the wide bars give stable, lightaction steering. It seemed to roll along rather nicely on the fl at, too. The brakes aren’t anything special but worked well enough. I rather liked the seat – it felt supportive and comfortable, without generating too much of a sweaty back. But a woman rider who tried it felt the seat was a bit skimpy at its base, leading to a feeling of slipping off. That brings us to the main problem with the bike we rode – the creaky seat, which would groan away at any shift in your weight. The seat base is attached to the main frame by two countersunk Allen bolts which simply go straight through the fi breglass seat, no doubt rather straining it due to the concentrated loads. They also offer little sideways rigidity: grasp the top of the seat and a handlebar end and twist, and the bike fl exes and creaks alarmingly. PMS/TW are modifying future seats to have a reinforcing metal plate at the attachment point: this should help.

SUMMARY With a little development this could be a very attractive bike. The frame has all the fi ttings you’d need to set it up for touring or commuting, and it handles just fi ne. There aren’t really any deal-breakers once the seat issue is fi xed. It’s a promising start for TW-Bents in the UK. PMS have responded to our criticisms very positively and improvements are expected for production machines. The price is certainly very attractive, but the PB-168 will face competition soon as the 999 Euro machines from mainland Europe become available. For now though, it’s alone at the super-affordable end of the UK market.

Peter Eland

AVAILABILITY TW-Bents: see www.recumbent.com.tw PMS: Tel 02476 329 841 or see www.uk-recumbent-bikes.com

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