I've gotten some questions online and in-person about Kate Middleton, the bicycle with pink tires and adorable panniers. She’s not gone forever, she’s just sitting on the bench until she decides to stop sabotaging me.
After being fed-up with her shenanigans, I tried to shame Linus on the internet with the video of how she tried to ruin me the other night. I want to be out with how crappy I think the Linus Dutchie 1 is, and warn people that she has a dangerous design flaw. I emailed them and got a pretty timely response, where they offered to mail me a fresh new chain guard.
When I get that new chain guard, and I’m not holding my breath, I will document changing it out myself because it could be a riot.
In the meantime, a bike distributor swooped in to save me with the Viva Urban de Luxe. I did not purchase this bike, and I don't think I get to keep her permanently.
For some time, I was quiet about how crappy I thought my Linus was. I wasn’t quiet in-person, but I was quiet on my blog. When my fresh out of the box Linus purchase had no touch-up paint, though it was supposed to come with, when she showed signs of rust after the first month while never being kept outside overnight, when her pedal fell apart at the 6-week mark when I was riding on a busy street, when spokes broke off her back wheel and I paid to get all the spokes replaced, when her rear-hub got so worn-out after 8 months of daily riding that my wheel could not rotate what-so-ever... I was pretty quiet. But when I put that all together, it’s like, wow. I might need to tell the internets about all of this, instead of just telling bike girls I meet around town. The chain-guard thing bringing me to a broken-down halt at 10pm on a weeknight was kind-of the final straw in me being hushed about the quality of this bike.
I do still love her though. She may be ratty at the core, but I’m comfortable with her. She is so outfitted for carrying things around and she does look adorable. We get compliments wherever we go.
But now I’m riding this Viva bicycle and I’m becoming spoiled about things I didn’t even really know about, like a rear internal gear hub. Internal gear hub is so sexy!
It’s like, internal gear hub is an iPhone and external gears are a Razr or a bag-phone. You can’t go back. These girls are hanging in the bike room.
Viva on the left and Kate hanging on the right.
After being fed-up with her shenanigans, I tried to shame Linus on the internet with the video of how she tried to ruin me the other night. I want to be out with how crappy I think the Linus Dutchie 1 is, and warn people that she has a dangerous design flaw. I emailed them and got a pretty timely response, where they offered to mail me a fresh new chain guard.
When I get that new chain guard, and I’m not holding my breath, I will document changing it out myself because it could be a riot.
In the meantime, a bike distributor swooped in to save me with the Viva Urban de Luxe. I did not purchase this bike, and I don't think I get to keep her permanently.
For some time, I was quiet about how crappy I thought my Linus was. I wasn’t quiet in-person, but I was quiet on my blog. When my fresh out of the box Linus purchase had no touch-up paint, though it was supposed to come with, when she showed signs of rust after the first month while never being kept outside overnight, when her pedal fell apart at the 6-week mark when I was riding on a busy street, when spokes broke off her back wheel and I paid to get all the spokes replaced, when her rear-hub got so worn-out after 8 months of daily riding that my wheel could not rotate what-so-ever... I was pretty quiet. But when I put that all together, it’s like, wow. I might need to tell the internets about all of this, instead of just telling bike girls I meet around town. The chain-guard thing bringing me to a broken-down halt at 10pm on a weeknight was kind-of the final straw in me being hushed about the quality of this bike.
I do still love her though. She may be ratty at the core, but I’m comfortable with her. She is so outfitted for carrying things around and she does look adorable. We get compliments wherever we go.
But now I’m riding this Viva bicycle and I’m becoming spoiled about things I didn’t even really know about, like a rear internal gear hub. Internal gear hub is so sexy!
It’s like, internal gear hub is an iPhone and external gears are a Razr or a bag-phone. You can’t go back. These girls are hanging in the bike room.
Viva on the left and Kate hanging on the right. 
Julie, as you no doubt found out, bikes should last a lot longer then what you've experienced. I'm glad you are pursuing this with the Linus company. By the way, Lovely Bicycle! posted on the topic of bicycles rusting way before they should and the Linus bike was mentioned. Good luck to you.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's so sad! This is barely our 9 month anniversary and I bought this bike brand new, fresh out the box. My Schwinn cream cost less than half the price of the Linus and I had it in great shape much longer... until it got ran over!
DeleteI am so glad that you posted your experiences. I currently ride a Trek hybrid. But I have longed for a dutch bike for about a year. The Linus is the only dutch-style bike distributed in my area, I have been debating the purchase of a Linus for about a month. Your experience with this brand gives me pause.
ReplyDeleteLongtime reader, first time commenter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being public with your Linus problems. I don't understand bloggers hiding or helping to publicize shoddy products to begin with. I even more don't get bloggers who paid for stuff just like the rest of us protecting the companies that screwed them.
Haha, nice comment. I like this. I feel like I should let all of YOU WHO READ MY BLOG KNOW instead of just whispering over drinks with the girls I see in real life.
DeleteI am also glad you posted your experiences. I did check out my chain guard and it's quite flimsy if you push into it so I could see how once it got bent, it was a risk. I have also run into other people who have Linuses and told me that frame was okay but they had to replace the wheels and other parts on the bike because they were cheap and faulty.
ReplyDeleteI did keep James outside for the first few months I got him and that's when my rust started. Now he's indoors and he hasn't rusted any longer but it's indoors in an apt, and not indoors in a garage, which I think might make a difference. EVEN SO.
I am left wondering if the pedals and touch up paint were issues with who built the bike and if the chain guard, rust and wheel quality are Linuses issues (although with all those issues, I have to say I wouldn't doubt the pedals and fender, etc are all their issues too).
I'm glad he gets to come in at your new apartment :)
DeleteI don't think my rust has gotten worse, I just remember being like, WTF when it was so freaking new and showing signs. It was like still HOT on my credit card statement and already showing rust. Not nice.
You put some nice tires on your Linus, but everyday riding will likely yield further hub/wheel and other component failure, including frame. I guess you get what you pay for? The Viva appears to be higher quality bike with better components; also probably higher priced 'tho to go along with that. Would a bike 3 or 4 times more expensive outlast 3 or 4 Linus? You DO put some miles on, so maybe so. The Viva looks like it has reflective tire sidewalls...nice safety feature...and I'm definitely a fan of gears, especially internal!
ReplyDeleteBlame Chinese metal. It may say steel but that doesn't mean it was made with pure steel. Chainguards are pretty flimsy across the board (even the full chaincase on my tank of a Pashley is made of plastic) anyway but this sounds like a design flaw. I was similarly disappointed with my first bike, one of the first Electra Townies (god, the tires sucked on that thing; they would cause me to spin out on dry pavement!). Literally a month after the one year warranty expired, the rear fender snapped in half while I was riding to work. Fortunately this did not cause an accident but I was less than impressed by Electra's handling of the situation. They wouldn't honour the warranty - on a $750+ bike - and the bike shop I bought it from only offered to sell me a fender at cost (nevermind that it wouldn't match the body paint). So now I ride a Pashley but it is really heavy. I love her, and have ridden her daily year-round even in snow for 3 years. But even she is not immune to rust, though it is mostly on bolts and not the frame. But it too came w a shitty, plastic shifter which had to be replaced after a year and this was a $1200 bike. Nothing is built to last anymore and even bikes require maintenance and replacement parts. The Linus bikes are a good value for all the accessories they come with but are perhaps not the ideal, all-weather workhorse you need.
ReplyDelete