Review of Dynamic Outback Chainless Bicycle
Mike, CA, 2 Sept.08
Summary
After over 1500 miles commuting on an ’05 Dynamic Outback I deem it a quality bicycle. I had some initial problems that were mostly user caused and resolved satisfactorily. Concerns about weight and drivetrain inefficiency appear to be non-issues. The model has been upgraded by Dynamic since ’05. I would buy another Dynamic bicycle.
About me – I’m relatively fit but am not a “biker”. I currently average 30 miles a week, mostly on the weekend, mostly road with a few percent on the dirt. I have enjoyed a couple of years when my riding was 100 miles per week and have at least 10K miles of sporadic riding experience over 30 years and six bikes. I rode in Massachusetts (including one winter in college), and the San Francisco Bay areas. I’m relatively well educated and like to tinker and repair as a hobby. I have put 1600 miles on my ’05 Dynamic Outback at the time of this writing, almost 1K in the past 6 months and I have kept a log since buying the bike.
General, non-Dynamic comments about the bike – This is my first full-suspension bike, and first with a disk brake (front only). For my kind of riding, I don’t think I’m going back. The degree of comfort and control offered by the full suspension gives me more pleasure than the weight it suffers. As for the brake, it is a simple cable-operated unit and yet it is superior to any of the V-, cantilever or side pull brakes on any other bike I have ridden. I occasionally enjoy a thousand-foot descent, two thousand if I go pleasure riding, and I’d rather watch the disk glow at night than worry about popping a tire from the heat.
Cost/value – Dynamic is not any more expensive than bike-store bikes and not much more than Internet bikes. If you get on the ‘Net and price bikes with similar components, the Dynamic bikes seem about 10% more expensive. I guess that is what you are paying for not having to hassle with a chain anymore, and note that if the drivetrain lasts as long as they say, you’ll more than make up the price difference by 10K miles from not having to buy a couple sets of chains and sprockets during that time. Sometimes Dynamic has bikes on sale, and then they look equivalently priced with the competition. As for shaft-drive competition, there are but few other shaft-drive bike manufacturers out there. I found a low-end looking brand from the East, a more expensive and apparently small volume, made-to-order one from Canada, a post-moderne design from Holland that must be targeting the cafe’ market, and Dynamic. Dynamic seems to be targeting the all-weather commuter, the weekend rider that wants a dependable, low-maintenance bike, and maybe the techie-type who wants something different, like the guy I bought my bike from. My impression of the company, after interacting with them and riding their bike, is that they are enthusiasts who want to promote bicycling, by bringing a quality product to market that offers some advantages to people, and make a fair buck while they are at it. The information they provide on their website has of course a positive spin (it’s advertisement after all), but honest and so far complete.
Weight – Yes, the shaft drive is heavier than a chain drive; they say by a pound and that seems about right. Dynamic says 34# and mine weighs in at 35# with my tool kit. So is it too heavy? It feels as heavy as the other full-suspension bikes in the bike store. Since it doesn’t have filthy chain grease all over one side, I’m encouraged to hold it close and use my body to lift it, not out at arms length, and it thus feels lighter to lift than my old hardtail Fisher (but not my old Cannondale VX900 – now _that_ was a light bike, made of beercans or something!). At this price range, <$1K, none of the competition is particularly lightweight.
Efficiency – Some on the Net have opined that the shaft drive is not as efficient as a chain, but guesstimates vary. I don’t notice any particular inefficiencies with the drive. My impression is that it is the same as the clean and lubricated chains that I had on my previous bikes. Any loss in efficiency must be less than what I feel from low tire pressure, the compressing suspension or mountain versus road bikes in general. (My bike doesn’t have a lock-out shock or forks, but I notice the new model from Dynamic does). Compared with other riders and bikes that I have passed or passed me, my mountain bike is as fast as the road bikes when coasting downhill (which I attribute to my road tires and a suspension that reduces unsprung weight relative to their bikes), and I climb as well as the other mountain bikers at my fitness level. Yes, the fit road bikers leave me behind on the climbs, but they do no matter what mountain bike I’m riding; road bikes in general climb roads faster than mountain bikes. Again, for me so far it’s the rider, not the drive train.
Durability – The frame seems rock-solid and shows no sign of creaks or cracks so far. The components are mid-grade or commuter level, not useless junk but not high end either, and typical for a bike in this price range. Dynamic has made improvements to the front and rear shocks, brakes and shifter since my vintage bike, keeping up with the market. At 1500 miles the bike seems tough enough for my on and off road commuting and the rare extremes of my riding: urban assault (hopping curbs, hitting potholes, riding down inconsiderately placed steps), and trail, single track or technical mountain biking (but nothing extreme (no trials, jumps, tossing bike off cliffs, etc.). Typical for bikes in its price range.
Internal gear 8-speed hub versus 20-something gears – The gearing with the Shimano-8 is purported to span most of the range of the average 24 speed bike, since there is a lot of overlap in the standard mix-and-match front and rear chainwheel and sprocket sets. The eight gears are certainly sufficient for my needs: my bike has the “sport” or low-ratio shaft and it goes just about as fast in 8th as I care to go (~30 mph with my quickest cadence), and still lets me climb the steepest hills I can find around Berkeley, which has some hella-steep, “Yikes, my house slid down the hill” hills. Yes, the lowest gear is not as low as the lowest gear on my old bike, but I stopped using that gear anyway once I got into shape. If you need to use that lunch plate sized rear granny cog they put on the beginner mountain bikes, then you’ll just have to get off and walk on a Dynamic until you get into better shape. Typically when faced with a really steep hill I UPshift and get off the seat to pump with a slower cadence, and then I’m in at least second or third gear. If I have to get off the seat in first gear, then it’s time to get off and walk. Off-road, the lowest gear takes me to the limit of of my traction skills. In short, I’m not limited by the gearing but by the rider. If I had one of their road bike models with the bigger wheels, I would still get the “sport” or low-ratio shaft. If you’re a real biker in good condition, or likeyou’ll probably prefer to ride with the higher ratio street shaft. Of note, the feel of the Inter-8 is different than a deraileur system. It reminds me of the transmission in my motorcycle: preload the shifter a little while backing off on the power and snick, it snaps into the next gear. Upshifts are quicker than my old rear XT deraileur (downshifts are similar), and up and down shifts are quicker than a front deraileur. Sometimes I get a mis-shift but less and less as the system wears in, and all together less mis-shifts than with a deraileur system.
It has been said that, “All of the benefits of a shaft drive can be realized with an enclosing chain guard and an internal gear hub” – If I could find such a bike, I might get one, but all such that I can find are big, heavy cruisers. Certainly no mountain bikes have enclosed chain guards, mounting for such a guard or internal gear hubs. One could custom make such a bike, but probably not for what Dynamic charges.
It has also been said that, “The rear wheel is a pain to remove if you have to repair a flat”. If one only needs to pull the tube out to patch a leak then there is no need to remove the wheel. But yes, removing the rear wheel requires one to remove 2 screws and unbolt the axle — about 30 seconds more than removing a quick-release wheel, so count up how often you’ll have to pull the rear wheel to swap inner tubes or compact the bike to fit in the trunk of your Miata (with the quick-release front wheel off it fits fine in my old Z-car, my wife’s Eclipse and a friend’s Prius). Commuters will likely ride with puncture-resistant tires, tubes or liners, or stay away from the curb.
I had some early problems but note that my bike is an older-generation Outback and appears to have been re-designed since. The first problem was that despite torquing to what seemed a proper amount (around 50 ft-lb), the rear axle nuts would loosen up, the axle would shift and then the bevel gear would pop past the retaining circlip and grind away at the gear-change mechanism. Surprisingly, the drive still works when this happens, and I would only notice trouble shifting and later a wobble out back. I replaced the circlip with a stiffer one from the hardware store, and strung lock-washers on the axle bolts. Problem solved, but note to secure the axle Tightly on this bike. In hindsight, the loosening might also have been caused by the Shimano hub loosening up on the inside and thus allowing the axle some freedom to loosen up, so make sure you service and re-assemble that hub properly.
Second problem was that my shaft broke at around 800 miles, but was immediately replaced by Dynamic for free, even though it was by then past the 2 year warranty. They said there was a bad batch of shafts in some of the ’05 models. Fair enough, and certainly kudos to Dynamic for standing behind their product no matter what. Swapping drives was easy, especially if one has pulled cranks before, and of note, they even sent me a crank-puller tool with the new shaft!
The third problem was with my Shimano Inter-8 hub, specifically the innards (ball bearings, retainer cage, coaster-clickers and springs), came loose and jammed the gears, but I traced this to my (and the previous owner or his bike shop), ignorance in reassembling the hub properly. This hub must be bolted together tightly (to the point where it just starts to show resistance to turning), and lock-nutted tightly or it will unravel. Despite all this abuse, the gears look fine and run great now that I’ve cleaned the shrapnel out. I could whine a little about the twist-grip shifter and how it detracts from positive indexing of the gears, but I notice that the new Outbacks come with Shimano’s newer rapid-fire trigger shifter. Of note, there exists the mythical Rolhoff Speedhub, with 14 internally-indexed gears spanning over a 500% range, supposedly the most fantastic internal-gear hub on the planet. Well, next time I have an extra $1400, I’ll ask Dynamic to build me a bike with one! (Send contributions to…).
Maintenance – MY particular bike was rather high-maintenance in the beginning, but mostly due to my own cat-killing-curiosity and/or incompetence. If one just leaves the darned thing alone, it is a low-maintenance bike after the initial break-in. That said, even with remote help from Dynamic, for service new owners should either have access to a good bike mechanic or plan on becoming one themselves. Since Dynamic bikes are bought on the Net and not from a bike shop, that service will not be free.
Suggestions to Dynamic:
Keep up the integrity and customer satisfaction. That makes me a repeat customer.
Offer a little “tool kit” as an Option, you know, with a stubby screwdriver, allen set and a wrench for the rear axle.
I suspect with your relatively low volume that you can and sometimes do a little customization of bike orders (seats, bars, pedals, lights, panniers, helmets, whatever), so mention this or make it more obvious on your website. Last time I bought a bike at a bike shop they offered to swap out or add on anything in the store that could be made to fit (adjusting the price of course). Since your customers are buying online they have more limited options. Maybe you can get a link with an online bike accessory supplier.
As a wacky idea, somebody should ponder the Scion business model and offer totally customizable bikes, from fork spring rate to Bling clipless shoe light LED color, for sale online and delivered right to your door.
