Does anyone else have experience with a Co-Motion Klatch? I bought mine 2 years ago and have found it very comfortable. However, my bike requires way more effort than I think it should based on my experience with gravel bikes. I probably rode 15 centuries in 3-4 years with my prior bike, a Motobecane Ti 29er fully rigid, but I'm finding 50 mile rides are nearly the max on the Klatch. I am simply physically worn out. It feels like I am pulling a boat anchor.
I do not detect any significant friction when spinning the crank by hand.
I have determined by spinning the wheels by hand that my Stan's Grail wheels with Shimano hubs and 40mm Kenda Flintridge Pros do not rotate as freely as my Motobecane's wheels, Stans Arch EX with Chris King hubs and 2.2 Geax Mezcal tires.
I'm thinking of building some new wheels and maybe changing tires to help with the wheel issue. Does anyone have experience with a Klatch? I'd hate to invest in new wheels only to find out they don't really help. Any suggestions on what else I should consider in order to improve the bike or have others not felt the bike met normal expectations?
I don't have any experience with the Klatch, but it sounds like adjusting your hub bearings might be a good place to start. I believe Shimano uses cup and cone bearings, so I would maybe back off the pre-load just a bit. You want just enough play in the bearings that they don't get too tight once you tighten up the thru-axle/QR.
I explained my issue with my LBS last week and they did an overhaul of the front and rear hubs. I asked about backing off the tightness, but they didn't think any adjustment was possible. Part of the situation that perplexes me is that I can keep up with my friends while riding road bikes but on my Klatch on gravel, they literally leave me in the dust.
I guess I'll ask another bike shop to look at my wheels before I decide to build new wheels.
Hub drag is fairly even across the board when you're actually on the bike. If you compare the worst dynamo hub to the best standard hub the difference is like 10 watts. I'd suggest different tires if the hub work doesnt do it.
Flintridges are made for puncture protection not good rolling resistance
Volsung wrote:Hub drag is fairly even across the board when you're actually on the bike. If you compare the worst dynamo hub to the best standard hub the difference is like 10 watts. I'd suggest different tires if the hub work doesnt do it.
Flintridges are made for puncture protection not good rolling resistance
I agree with getting faster tires. Kenda’s are cheap tires and even the fast looking tread designs have a lot of rolling resistance.
I had a re-fit done last winter. That helped some. I've done some more comparison and have continue to see my hubs spin with more resistance than any others I've looked at. I also checked my crank vs two other bikes and found that it spins less freely than the others. I've just ordered a new Chris King bottom bracket and plan to build some new wheels with Hope RS4 hubs soon.
I'm hard on BBs and my threaded Dura Ace 9100 has lasted nearly 7k miles. My CKs didnt spin as freely and needed to be serviced every 1.5k or so.
I've had Hope hubs too and they were kinda ok. White Industries spin longer in my experience (especially my road hubs), but my Hopes were on my Moonlander and that bike saw some shit.
I finally found a solution to the issue of my bike feeling like I was dragging a boat anchor. I had replaced wheel bearings, replaced the bottom bracket, upgraded tires, had a Specialized Re-tul fit and was told by a Co-Motion rep that they had no solution. I explained my problem to Shannon at Web Cyclery in Bend, Oregon. He asked me to bring in my road bike so he could compare the reach and stack. After doing so, he concluded that my saddle was nearly 1 1/2" too far forward and solved the lack of power issue with a setback seatpost. The next day, I embarked on a 5 day 260 bikepacking trip around the Siskiyou Mountains in SW Oregon and absolutely got along great. No way I could have finished the ride the way the bike had been set up after the first two fittings. Very simple solution solved with a tape measure and plumb bob. I just wanted to share the solution in case others find a bike that isn't performing to their expectations.
I always hear Click&Clack The Tappet Brothers as they laughed hysterically while trying to solve a CarTalk problem based on what they could “see” over the phone lines. - glad to hear that the Co-Motion was acquitted of all wrong doing.
