This will ruin any notion of mystique about the 2015 KHS Urban Soul. I’m 63 years old, don’t jump curbs and don’t need a beer bottle opener embedded in the seat of my bicycle. I didn’t want a fixed gear bike, but I did want something lighter and more fun than my 10-year-old, go-anywhere Gary Fisher U...
Read more This will ruin any notion of mystique about the 2015 KHS Urban Soul. I’m 63 years old, don’t jump curbs and don’t need a beer bottle opener embedded in the seat of my bicycle. I didn’t want a fixed gear bike, but I did want something lighter and more fun than my 10-year-old, go-anywhere Gary Fisher Utopia (hybrid with suspension fork). The Urban Soul meets that goal.
It rolls smoothly, handles well and gets up to speed quickly. Very nimble and takes bumps without too much pain to the hands. It’s fun riding out of the saddle so far, and I haven’t secretly begged for gears. On a 20-mile group ride last weekend I kept up fine with our 14-mile pace. At one point I hit 20 mph, just to see if I could. One limitation I see is that the gearing won’t allow me to pedal with much effect on a downhill. That’s not much of a problem as I live in very flat terrain.
The bike was more expensive than the SE Draft Lite I rode, but it instantly felt right and better put together. About the only complaint is that I wish the stock pedals accommodated toe clips. And a few more color choices would have been nice.
I looked online at some of the online-only single/fixed speed bike choices. Maybe they would have been fine, but buying this from my local bike shop was the right decision for me. I got the right fit, got to try out several brands, models and sizes. One trip around the parking lot convinced me I didn’t want the coaster brakes of the SE Draft. Another trip around the parking lot with the SE Tripel (3-speed) felt awkward and was noisy.
So far so good.
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