I bought this bike for commuting. I have a 12 km round trip each day in all weathers. The bike appealed to me because it included several low maintainance features (alfine hub, chain guard, disk brakes).
But the spec comes at a price, not only is the bike very heavy, but the drivetrain is ...
Read more I bought this bike for commuting. I have a 12 km round trip each day in all weathers. The bike appealed to me because it included several low maintainance features (alfine hub, chain guard, disk brakes).
But the spec comes at a price, not only is the bike very heavy, but the drivetrain is also high friction. This bike plods along and is not a pleasure to cycle.
There have been several technical problems:
1. It's been through 2 bottom brackets (SRAM) and two sets of pedals in 2 years.
2. The cable routing is terrible and either rubs the frame of gets caught around the headlight. I don't think anyone at Ghost ever rode one of these in anger, the cable routing is comical.
3. The most serious fault is the design of the frame. The horizontal dropouts incorporate two sliding tensioner adjusters which are intended to control the tension on the frame and the aliignment of the wheel. After about a year I started to get problems with chain tension. I tried to reset the tension only for it to go slack again a few days later. Even tightening the axle to a high torque had no effect, the wheel kept moving. When I finally took the bike apart to find out what was wrong, I discovered that the axle wasn't secured to the frame because the tensioners are too wide. To the point where the wheel is actually loose regardless of the axle tension of position. In fact the only thing that keeps the wheel in place is the chain tension and the tensioner screws. In the end I fixed it by inserting two large steel washers into the gap. But seriously I would advise anyone buying a Ghost bike equipped with an alfine hub gear to look at the way in which the frame is built and check that the axle is actually able to clamp the frame.
This is the most expensive commuter bike I have ever bought (£1600) and it is the most disappointing. I woudn't buy one for long distance trips, you'll be in the workshop every 30 km.
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