Sneak Peek: 2011 Civia Prospect and Kingfield
We have a couple of tasty pre-interbike tidbits for you today. How about a pair of affordable, drop bar, cromo transportation bikes from Civia? The new Prospect and Kingfield share geometry with the Bryant, but come in at lower price points. These should be hot. No word yet on when they’ll be available, but I’ll take a wild guess at spring, 2011.
Civia Prospect
Features:
Steel drop bar transportation bike with room to run wide tires plus fenders
Comes with Civia Wirth fenders and Civia Cafe rack
Compact double drivetrain
Bar end shifters
Linear-pull brakes
$1,150 msrp
Civia Kingfield
Features:
Steel drop bar transportation bike with room to run wide tires plus fenders
Comes with Civia Wirth fenders and Civia cafe rack
Belt drive
Shimano Nexus 8 speed
Civia bar end shifter
Linear-pull brakes
$1,295 target msrp
Civia →
19 Responses to “Sneak Peek: 2011 Civia Prospect and Kingfield”
“civia” bar end?
J-tek derivative or in house?
@jdmitch
That’s a Jtek in the photo (you can barely make out the logo if you look close). Don’t know if that’s what will be on the production model…
Huh – I guess they think the Bryant is too pricey for most commuters. I’m wondering if the tubeset is the same and these differ exclusively in the build or are the tubes a lower priced set than those that become Bryants. Alan, any insight?
Sorry, just noticed that there are cantilever brake bosses and no disk brake mounts. I guess that cheapens the build a bit. Now to the $64 question:
Do they come with those nifty Bryant built in kickstand plates?
Thanks for the preview, are you at interbike now? We’ll see you there next year!
-The Belt Bikes Crew
“drop bar transportation bikes”? Hmmm…. I’m sure that Civia have done their marketing homework, but I have to wonder how well these will sell. Still, choice is a good thing.
@dwainedibbly
Check these numbers:
http://www.ecovelo.info/2009/11/13/handlebars/
Surprised me too…
I wonder if Civia is moving away from multiple versions of “one” bike to a different strategy. The Bryant has 4 builds, i think, but they are all called Bryant. Now we have 2 bikes with almost the same spec, and it would seem the same frame, but they are different model names.
Maybe Civia found the old way too confusing for customers?
“Steel drop bar transportation bike with room to run wide tires plus fenders”
Open questions:
What is a “wide tire?”
How wide is “wide?”
Whatever is meant by wide, why do transpo bikes * need* “wide” tires? I realize mountain bikes need “wide” tires and track and road racing bikes need “narrow” tires, but why would any width greater than say, 28, be necessary in most real world commute applications? Aside from the circularity of overall aesthetics, marketing, psychological reasons, and sheer fetishism (oops! Sorry, fetishism is a no-no word), why “wide” tires? (we’ll leave the whole tread thing for another time)
@Voyage: “Why do transpo bikes * need* “wide†tires?”
Wider tires provide better shock absorption and suspension. Wide tires can be safely used at lower pressures, which also provide better comfort, and improved traction on bumpy or loose surfaces. Wide tires have lower rolling resistance at the same pressure (racing bikes use very high pressures).
Disadvantages include higher weight and rotational inertia, and slightly higher wind resistance.
“How wide is “wide”?”
I’d say anything 35 mm or over is fine. 3 speed roadsters have used 35 or 37 mm tires for decades; these are meant for medium-long trips on rural and suburban roads. City bikes and cruisers have often used wider tires, 40 or 45 mm or even wider, for better comfort.
Schwalbe sells high-quality 50 and 60 mm wide road tires (wide as MTB tires, but lighter and faster-rolling). Here’s their page about the advantages: http://www.balloonbikes.com/en/die_vorteile/
At that price, and with the belt-drive, the Kingfield could give the Breezer finesse a run for its money. I’m glad to see more bikes in the $1000 range.
Voyage: I’m a very large person (255) and I’m currently saving up money to get wider tires than the 28′s my bicycle came with. They are good tires and certainly get me where I’m going, but they don’t have quite enough “give” when I’m negotiating rough pavement and my “contact points” take a bit of a beating.
I’m looking into 35′s because I’m reasonably sure that they’ll fit on the bike, but I’d think about larger if I can find a reliable way to measure the frame allowances!
@Voyage
Some riders also feel more confident or relaxed on wider tires because they need to worry less about hitting the occasional road imperfection. A drainage grate that would swallow a 25 might not upset a 40 at all.
@voyage
I went from 28c’s to very high quality 35c’s (Marathon Supremes) and because of the composition and the folding bead, I think they might actually be lighter and faster-rolling. But to answer your question, the main reason that I did it was because I wanted to do loaded touring. Which didn’t seem like a good idea on thin tires.
Also: for those who live in the city like me, you had better be on your mental A-game every time you’re around streetcar tracks if you’re riding skinny tires…
@voyage
This is piling on, but I’ll point out that wider tiresâ€â€I ride 38s or 40s on my 700c bikeâ€â€help to dissipate the force of bumps that otherwise slow one down, so they can actually improve speed a tiny bit. They also provide some suspension under loads. My commuting load is often two panniers with laptop, books and papers, lunch, foul-weather gear, and groceries or proceeds of other errands on the way home.
I like what Civia is doing, but I’m still troubled by the choices I would have to make to replace my all-weather commuter. Assuming Prospect/Kingsfield will accept 40mm tires, including my preferred studded Nokians for winter, I could have my desired tires or disc brakes, but not both.
So far as I know, there is no production frame currently available that has a touring geometry, long (44 cm or more) chainstays, IGH-friendly dropouts, disc brakes if desired, room for 40mm or more tires with fenders, and a kickstand plate. Several framesâ€â€LHT, Cross Check, Karate Monkey, Vaya, Fargo, Drakkar, Bryantâ€â€have some of these features or even all but one, but no single frame has all of them. Not sure why. Surely designing the Bryant, for example, with a few more millimeters tire/fender clearance wouldn’t have been difficult?
the beef that I have with the Bryant, (and I guess the Kingfield) is that the horizontal dropouts are not compatible with the nice fender line shown. Changing a tire would involve removing or loosening the rear fender. I’m waiting for a similar bike with EBB and vertical dropouts. My ideal high end commuter would have EBB, cromoly frame and fork, kickstand plate, good tire clearance (I also run studs in the winter), dropbars, Alfine 11 spd, disc brakes, belt drive, chain (belt) guard, and a bar end shifter. Maybe in a year or two this can all be put together off the shelf. The Bryant is irritatingly close.
@jnyyz
You can buy different dropouts for the Bryant – including vertical.
and then you tension the belt how?
Kingfield would be a better bike at that price point if they went with a chain and spent the belt drive budget on dynamo hub and lighting instead.
Prospect is great, with Civia’s spec of essentially a Shimano “Apex” drivetrain. If you really wanted brifters, Tiagra 9sp shifters would probably work with the drivetrain, use problem solvers or swtch to cantis for the brakes.
Great to see bikes like these on the market; will be interesting to see how they do…
@Bob and the rest (above)
http://www.rivbike.com/article/components/pick_a_tire_chart
where one finds a useful pdf:
http://www.rivbike.com/assets/full/0000/0006/rivbike_pick_a_tire.pdf
So, pick a tire *or* pick a frame/fork? If you only really need a 28 (for example) why buy something that can *potentially* handle a 40 (for example)? And vice versa, duh.
The industry seems to be trying everything, but is it such a good idea to incorporate everything into a design?