Senior Biking

Dave has been cycling all his life and is at the moment using a City Shopper and wants a lighter version that would replicate his position and would have a hub gear. This is what we would suggest:

Question: I’m 64 and have been biking for 60 years. I never want to
give it up. I currently have a Kettler City Shopper which is great
since I can ride in the upright position. And the rear hub has all
the gears built in like a fine Swiss watch. The chain never falls
off.

But it’s too heavy. I live in a Chicago high-rise and need to lift the
bike in a crowded bike room. Does anybody make a bike with the same
shape but with a carbon frame and wheels? And should I go chainless to
get the same built-in hub gears? I do long distance biking but speed
is not the goal nor desirable with so much competition for trail space
along the lake front.

Hi Dave.

I’ve never seen a carbon City Shopper bike, maybe there is one somewhere, but I have looked and can’t find any company that makes one. As to going chainless, it is an option, but it’s not light, we have looked at the chainless replacement which does work well, but it did add weight, which you don’t want.

In our opinion there are two options you could go for, what do you think?

1. Folding Bike.
A folding bike like a Brompton, its light, will give you the position you like and folding it may help you carrying it up stairs. I have looked at the Brompton range and they don’t seem to make one with a hub gear set-up, I’m sure there is probably another manufacturer of a folding bike that uses a hub gear, this would need some more hunting.

Brompton Folding

2. A Hybrid Bike.
This option would give you the comfort of the larger wheel and a light bike that you can ride just about anywhere. The drawback might be that it is more awkward to carry up stairs than your present bike or a folding bike, but I think the advantages of the bike would outweigh its bulkiness when carrying it.

Most Hybrids use derailleur gears, but I’ve found a few Hybrids with hub gears, the best one I have found is the Cube Hooper which comes in 5 different sized frames built with triple butted alloy tubing, disk brakes and a hub gears. The forks are rigid and most of the equipment is Shimano. The drive train is the Shimano Alfine as are the disk brakes, very light and work like a dream.