On Thursday, or better, let’s say yesterday on Friday, was New Bike Day for me. I finally got my new bike, which I bought after doing a lot of research.

It’s a Cube Hyde Race with a belt drive and a Shimano Alfine 8-speed internal gear hub.

With my city bike, I got when I was around 12 years old, and my pedelec, I bought to get faster to my courses at the university, I craved something more sporty. A lightweight bike, I can ride fast with pure muscle power in a sporty ride position.

But I didn’t want a race bike, but something I can also ride every day and outside the road. And ideally, it should require low maintenance, as I really don’t like doing things like that and also lack the required skills. This new bike ticks all the boxes.

When I got the notification on Wednesday that I can pick up the bike on Thursday, one week after I ordered it online, I was very happy. But the happiness somehow went away when I noticed on the way back home, my first ride with it, that it’s doing some strange noises. Yesterday, on Friday, I went to the shop again and they corrected it. It really was a wrongly adjusted belt drive. The way back home was quiet again, and I was sweating when arriving because I rode quite fast, but it was so much fun!

When leaving the shop yesterday, I also encountered the first person asking me things about the bike. How much does it weight? How much did it cost? It seemed like he noticed it due to the shimmering colors.

Because it’s a belt drive, and belt drives appears to be more complicated, at least the person at the shop said that, I would rather not fix flat tires myself, if that should happen on the rear wheel. Because of the breakdown assistance and a protection against theft and accidents, I decided to buy an insurance for that bike.

And I also decided, to become part of Germany’s bicycle club, which is doing some lobbying for cyclists as a counter club to the car club. Germany is way too car friendly…

The stand for the bike, I mounted myself. I also originally planned to mount and bought some fenders and a rear carrier, but the fenders don’t fit because the tires are too big, and the rear carrier also doesn’t fit. But maybe I will just use the bike without it for now? I mean, I still have my other bikes for shitty weather and need to stay clean or when I need to transport something.

Now I can start planning some smaller trips to get a better feel for the bike, buy more equipment, and then plan a bigger trip. This summer, I want to do a big trip from my main flat to my second flat. According to Komoot it’s about 170 km, depending on the way I decide on.