Best commuter bike

6000KM in 12 months with Gates CDN/CDX and Shimano Alfine

Feb. 27, 2019 - Willem L. Middelkoop

A year ago I tried to create the ultimate commuter bike, a modified Sensa Cintura with the Gates CDN/CDX carbon belt drive. I received lots of messages from cyclists and commuters from all over the world. From the Swiss alps, France, Italy, Germany, United States and even "down under", Australia! You all wanted to know: how does the upgraded bike hold up?

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Make sure to wear a helmet when you try to master the slippery roads during winter!

My commuter bike, a modified Sensa Cintura with Gates Carbon Drive CDN/CDX, Shimano Alfine and a Schindelhauer steer

Downtown Amsterdam, don't forget a lock!

My bike in Summer

Gates CDN front sprocket and CDN belt are in good shape after 7800KM (they are original to my bike, which is about 14 months old)

Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour - designed to be unplattable (so far, its holding up!)

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Tagged

Amsterdam Bike Environment Lifestyle Minimal Mobility Office Review Sport Work

Articles (148)

2024-03-24 Half Marathon
2024-03-05 No, I Won't Build That!
2024-02-16 Vision Pro
2024-01-16 Health and fitness data
2023-12-15 Backup Rotation Scheme
2023-11-10 Apple Watch as Phone
2023-11-01 And... there is light!
2023-10-14 Giving AI Training
2023-10-13 Hello, stranger
2023-08-23 The Same, Differently
2023-05-31 Impact of training
2023-05-08 Tablet as Tool
2023-05-03 Using AI to generate code
2023-05-01 Working Offline First
2023-04-20 Tips for Long-Distance Cycling
2023-04-05 Cutting Cloud Costs
2023-02-08 Back to the University
2022-12-22 Rolex DateJust 36
2022-11-01 Moving to the countryside
2022-10-23 MUSE in Carré
2022-09-15 The Ultimate Freedom Bike
2022-09-11 Computer says no
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2022-07-17 Offline Music
2022-04-18 Snake '97 High Scores
2022-01-14 Wearing WHOOP 4.0
2021-12-09 For the love of mini
2021-11-19 Escaping the flat tires
2021-10-25 Using Google Free Android
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2021-08-31 Protecting VMware ESXi
2021-07-13 The birth of a child
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2021-06-05 Wearing Grand Seiko
2021-05-31 Using the reMarkable paper tablet
2021-05-04 Hospitalised with MCADD
2021-04-15 Enter text without keys
2021-04-10 Fixed Gear Gran Fondo
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2020-05-25 Different ways to visualise health
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2020-03-09 Making my own tablet OS
2020-03-03 Monolithic vs Microservices software architecture
2020-02-28 Your own addressbook and calendar cloud
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2019-10-19 Flying in a C47-A (DC-3) classic plane
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2019-09-27 Visiting an international hackers conference
2019-09-10 Fighting backscatter spam at server level
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2019-08-18 Creating a minimal road bike
2019-07-16 Limitations of sleep tracking using a wearable
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2019-06-24 Six months with MCADD
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2018-07-20 Helping people with free software
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2018-03-07 Tablet as main computer
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2018-02-21 Updating Snake '97
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