# Nifty low budget commuter?



## Brick Tamland (Mar 31, 2006)

I'm curious if anyone out there is rbr land has or plans to get one of these. Performance is selling them for $400.00.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Link?

It sure looks good (but I don't like the location of the brake levers for city street commuting).


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

what are those fenders made of?


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## rinkle (Nov 22, 2007)

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=26052&subcategory_ID=3040


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## yater (Nov 30, 2006)

Rack Mounts: None


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## FrontRanger (May 19, 2004)

I love the description

<i>
Classic commuting style meets up with modern single-speed simplicity in the Emerald City Courier from Scattante. Grab those custom leather grips on the moustache bars and feel free to discover the freedom of the single speed. Rain? No worries thanks to the flat metal fenders.<b> Big date? No worries thanks to the super stylish paint and subtle details of this lifestyle machine.</b></i>

WTF? How is a paint job gonna help you on a date when you still only have a single seat?


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## seeborough (Feb 3, 2004)

FrontRanger said:


> I love the description
> 
> <i>
> Classic commuting style meets up with modern single-speed simplicity in the Emerald City Courier from Scattante. Grab those custom leather grips on the moustache bars and feel free to discover the freedom of the single speed. Rain? No worries thanks to the flat metal fenders.<b> Big date? No worries thanks to the super stylish paint and subtle details of this lifestyle machine.</b></i>
> ...


Have the date sit on the bar. Or even better, you sit on the bar. :thumbsup:


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## seeborough (Feb 3, 2004)

yater said:


> Rack Mounts: None


Longer bolts.


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## m_s (Nov 20, 2007)

Looks prety good. A lot better than those other copies of the langsters they were (are?) doing. Obviously cheapish parts, but it's 400 bucks. 

I work at Performance on and off, and I hope we get some in. I'd feel better selling people these than low end geared hybrids with "suspension" forks when they only have 4-500 bucks.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

I like it.... It certainly looks like a good value for the price....


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## bigrider (Jun 27, 2002)

I don't understand the moustache bars. If the top tube is no different in length, it would seem these types of bars would put your hands in a terrible position in relationship to a typical road riding stance.

Does anyone use these bars and like them? I have never tried them.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

I'm using similar bars on my Salsa Casseroll.. They don't have quite the sweep of these moustache bars but they are close.. For long rides, there aren't enough hand positions but for around town, it's very comfortable


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## max hammer (Jul 15, 2008)

they had a whole series of city-themed SS bikes, ala langster, on sale for $399 -- but they all seem to be "out of stock."


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

max hammer said:


> they had a whole series of city-themed SS bikes, ala langster, on sale for $399 -- but they all seem to be "out of stock."




concept bikes... either being made or still on a cargo ship. I wonder if they design these things, put 'em up on the site, and see how many orders come in, just to gauge interest before going into production


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## singlecross (Nov 1, 2006)

bigrider said:


> I don't understand the moustache bars. If the top tube is no different in length, it would seem these types of bars would put your hands in a terrible position in relationship to a typical road riding stance.
> 
> Does anyone use these bars and like them? I have never tried them.


I have just started using moustache bars on one of my bikes and find that I like them quite a bit. I found it to be like riding in the drops, only higher, at the front bend of the bars. They also feel alot like clip on bars from an old cafe racer motorcycle which I am used to so I find them to be very comfortable and intuitive. It seems to be a love 'em or hate 'em proposition.

singlecross


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## bolandjd (Sep 12, 2008)

Those moustache bars look set up very strangely. Why aren't the brake levers near the grips or the bar wrapped up to where the brake levers are? Is it some sort of hipster/messenger fashion thing?


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## m_s (Nov 20, 2007)

And anyways, bars are pretty painless to swap, especially on a singlespeed, and at 400 dollars, you can afford to experiment.

No doubt this thing doesn't have great quality parts, but as long as you don't put a ton of miles on it, should be ok. Hopefully.


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## strathconaman (Jul 3, 2003)

In my experience, you can't build bikes for what you can buy them for. Further any amount of winter (sand, salt, snow) riding kicks the poop out of a bike very quickly. Top of the line components grind to dust just as fast as the lower quality items. Any drivetrain component burns out in 3-4 months. The only way to make hubs, BB's and any other rotating component last more than 1 season is replaceable cartridge bearings. I burn through a set of rims in 6-8 months of commuting.

So a $400 complete bike is a bargain. Ride it until it self destructs. When it does, buy a new one.


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## chatterbox (Nov 19, 2006)

I like the mustache bars that came with my redline. (the 925 from a few years ago.) Mine have the brakes where they make sense - in the front curve of the bars, rather than the middle, though. My only complaint is that there's not much clear mounting space due to the scarcity of straight lines on it...


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## mbaha (Jul 2, 2007)

It seems like the bike direct SS are a better deal


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## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

*Where the heck are you riding?*



strathconaman said:


> In my experience, you can't build bikes for what you can buy them for. Further any amount of winter (sand, salt, snow) riding kicks the poop out of a bike very quickly. Top of the line components grind to dust just as fast as the lower quality items. *Any drivetrain component burns out in 3-4 months*. The only way to make hubs, BB's and any other rotating component last more than 1 season is replaceable cartridge bearings. I burn through a set of rims in 6-8 months of commuting.
> 
> So a $400 complete bike is a bargain. Ride *it until it self destructs. When it does, buy a new one*.


I'm going to object to both your disposable-bicycle theory and your "4 months" idea. I mean, are you riding in the Acid Desert of doom? Are you commuting 100 miles a day in the sand?

If you have a solid steel-framed commuter, the frame is essentially going to last forever. I don't know what you are DOING to your rims, but holy CRAP there has GOT to be a solution that'll make them last at least a season -- even if it's disc brakes. External bearing BB's, you're right on about a season being about right. More than 1 chain a season, sure, cables twice, fine, that all makes sense.

Some of you long-time commuters, or MB1 and the like, can chime in more here, but you can get more than a season out of chainrings and derailleurs and stuff, right?


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## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

If you're into that Performance thing you can stack a 10%-15 off coupon and a 10% back and sometimes a 20% back double points weekend or something. That makes it a super neat deal. Bonus points if there is a PBS local to you.


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## lonesomesteve (Mar 26, 2008)

If you don't like the moustache bars on this bike, check out some of the other similar models. They have five different city-themed models that are all basically the same except for a few trim details. Two have drop bars, one with risers, one with bullhorns and this one with the moustache bars. The Emerald City is the only one with fenders, though to me the fenders look like they're more of a fashion statement than a functional fender. I would replace them with something real immediately.

I agree with Strathconaman. This looks like a decent, cheap, "semi-disposable" commuter.


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## strathconaman (Jul 3, 2003)

Worse than the acid desert: Canadian Winter. Although no giant worms in Toronto. That may even the score a little.

Sand + Salt + Water = trashed components in no time. Last year I was riding 200 km a week on my commute, and I went through two sets of rims. This year it will only be 150km, so I would expect things to last a little longer. I go through a set of v-brake pads every 4-5 weeks depending on how wet it is. You can't hose down the bike because it will freeze overnight. I guess if I had somewhere to keep it inside, washed it every day and changed the chain every 4 weeks the cog and ring would last longer, but rims would still wear just as fast. In my experience, mavics wear just as fast as sun rims. Maybe ceramics would be better, but I can't justify $200 in rims on the faint hope they will last.

I am not saying bikes are disposable. But they are getting there. I have a pair of Superbe Pro hubs on my commuter that run like new. I trash XT hubs far too often.


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## JohnnyTooBad (Apr 5, 2004)

Geezus, Strath, get a bike with discs, then. But I have to admit, I went through the fewwwheel on my brand new single speed in 6 months of winter/spring commuting in the DC burbs. I was amazed. That said, I'm still on my original brake pads a year later.


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## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

Shoot, yeah, is it by will alone you set your wheels in motion?

I mean I am in the PNW, which is full of lots of nasty rain and sandy mud, and last year I trained something like 300 miles a week, and my rims were fine, but for this year I am commuting a full 150 of those miles a week, so I switched to a disc brake bike.

Keeping outside in the freezing weather definitely won't help, I'll give you that much.


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## rich9cinti (May 21, 2002)

*Scattante Emerald City Single Speed*

As a Christmas present to myself , I got my first single speed, the Scattante Emerald City, to ride to work and to the local bookstores... shouldn't have to look like a racer just to commute around. Wanted a casual steel commuter bike without shelling out too many $$$. They changed the bars in mid Dec "08" to a curved flat bar... hated it. I swapped out the bars for a 52cm Soma Sparrow North Road bar and will most likely get leather tape and cross type levers in the coming year. I need to save up my pennies for a Brooks Swift saddle... lots of pennies!!! Fenders, I believe, are aluminum.

Although I just got it, I think the quality is great considering that I bought it for $340 (had an additional 15% off). 

Don't be a bike snob. Single speeds commuter bikes should be inexpensive and simple, period. I also have a custom built Litespeed Titanium mtn bike, custom Kestrel KM40 carbon fiber tribike and a LeMond Buenos Aires "01" steel road bike... I enjoy them all for what they are used for.

If the photos of my Emerald City does not show up on this page, click into my gallery.


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## strathconaman (Jul 3, 2003)

JohnnyTooBad said:


> Geezus, Strath, get a bike with discs, then. But I have to admit, I went through the fewwwheel on my brand new single speed in 6 months of winter/spring commuting in the DC burbs. I was amazed. That said, I'm still on my original brake pads a year later.


My next commuter will have disks. 

Last year I had a cheepy shimano DX freewheel on. When it started to rust (after 2 months) it would puke out brown rust-water. That would hit the spokes and freeze. So all the spokes on my rear wheel were covered in brownish ice. 

This year it is a white industries freewheel. I was skeptical of it at first (because it was 3-4 times more expensive than DX freewheels). So far so good. So I guess if there is one component that lasts though salt and sand, it is this one. I will have to swap out chains fairly often so it doesn't get too worn.


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## JohnnyTooBad (Apr 5, 2004)

strathconaman said:


> My next commuter will have disks.
> 
> Last year I had a cheepy shimano DX freewheel on. When it started to rust (after 2 months) it would puke out brown rust-water. That would hit the spokes and freeze. So all the spokes on my rear wheel were covered in brownish ice.
> 
> This year it is a white industries freewheel. I was skeptical of it at first (because it was 3-4 times more expensive than DX freewheels). So far so good. So I guess if there is one component that lasts though salt and sand, it is this one. I will have to swap out chains fairly often so it doesn't get too worn.


I immediately went for an ENO also. It's doing great, but only has about 1500 miles on it.


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