# Mercier Kilo WT5 Initial review (long!)



## asad137 (Jul 29, 2009)

So a few weeks ago, in my Internet travels, I was pointed to the Mercier Kilo WT5. It happened at a fortuitous time, since I had been thinking for the past few months about how cool it would be to have an internal-hub commuter bike while I was simultaneously getting more and more dissatisfied with the shift performance of my old Raleigh that I used as a commuter bike (used to be a 10-speed, but I removed the front derailleur because it was worn and didn't work well, and the rear had shifting issues too). I mulled it over for about a week and decided to buy the Kilo WT5 instead of dumping more money into my Raleigh (for which I had the devious plan of stripping it to the frame and fork and selling to an unsuspecting hipster-wanna-be to turn into a fixie, but instead have decided to give it to a friend).

So I ordered it (in 53cm) on the 23rd of April and it showed up at my office on the 29th. The box was in excellent shape (sorry for the cell phone pics, it's all I had):









Opening it revealed the bike and and its components well-packed:

















It may be hard to tell from the pictures, but nothing was loose in the large box -- components were zip-tied or rubber banded to the frame, and the frame itself was protected from scratching with cardboard tubes.

Here's the frame immediately prior to assembly:









The bike arrived with the handlebars wrapped, the shifter and brake levers installed, and the shift cable already routed and connected to the rear hub's shift mechanism. Some components (the stem, pedals, reflectors, a section of brake housing, instruction manuals,etc) were packaged in a small box inside the larger box. Assembly was a simple matter of installing the stem and tightening the headset, installing the handlebars onto the stem, and then running the brake lines and adjusting the brakes. Of course, the seatpost needed to be installed as well. Here's a picture with it all assembled except for pedals (I will eventually be putting my full fenders on it):









Here are my impressions so far:

The good: 
-The frame is great. It looks to be made quite well, and the TIG welds are neat and clean. 
-The paint is awesome. The pictures don't do it justice, but it's a lovely charcoal grey with metallic flake, and the paint on the frame has no drips or runs. 
-The saddle has a nice amount of padding (which is excellent since I don't plan on using this one with my padded bike shorts) and has a cutout but isn't super bulky. 
-The wheels look to be very solid, and the front hub spins very smoothly. 

The bad: 
-The pedals, cheap, heavy affairs with toe clips, are junk. The spindles have a gritty feel when turning them by hand, and each has a different amount of friction. And unlike many pedals with toe clips, there's no platform on the non-toe-clip side. I only used the pedals until I got the bike home, then I replaced them with the Forte Campus (Performance house-brand platform/SPD) pedals I had on my Raleigh. 
-The bars had a little bit of a paint blemish on the unwrapped section near the stem. Not a big deal, but it's there. Similarly, the stem had some strange finish issues on the 4-bolt faceplate. 
-Last, the front wheel had a horrific amount of lateral wobble -- probably somewhere in between 1/8" and 1/4". Some time with a spoke wrench improved that situation. The rear wheel, on the other hand, ran extremely true, with an almost unnoticeable amount of lateral runout. 
-Also, in the "minor nitpicking" category -- the rear brake line runs underneath the top tube, which I think is normal, but it gets in the way when hefting the bike on my shoulder to go up stairs. Not something I have to deal with on my Neuvation, which has internally-routed cables, or the Raleigh, which had the brake line along the top of the top tube.

Unexpected bonuses: 
-The webpage indicates the bike was to be equipped with a 16T rear cog. Even before getting the bike, I was considering whether to get something like an 18T cog to move the gear range to something I thought would be more suitable. But when the bike arrived, it already had an 18T rear cog installed -- and an extra 16T cog packed in the box! 
-Similarly, I was pleased to see the KMC chain installed with a quick-link.

Unexpected not-so-bonus: 
After riding around a little, I confirmed (as I had expected) that the stock 110mm stem was too long for me. I had a spare 80mm stem sitting around, but it was sized for an oversized bar, not the 26.0mm bar that was spec'ed on the webpage. No problem -- after an hour in the machine shop, I had a 26-to-31.8mm shim made. Then when tried to install it, I found out that the bar is actually 25.4mm :mad2: . I know, I know, I should have measured it beforehand, but it was annoying to me at the time. I ended up making another shim (for the too-large shim) and using both together.

Jury's still out: The rear hub shifting. It took a while to get the adjustment dialed in -- it seemed that every time I adjusted it, it would go out of adjustment while following the Sturmey-Archer adjustment procedure. Eventually I got it to the point where it seemed to behave nicely. The biggest change I can see from regular derailleur shifting is that the hub really does not shift well under load. It shifts fine if I stop pedaling for a split second, but if I'm putting anything more than light pressure on the pedals, if often won't shift immediately. And sometimes, after not having shifted immediately, it will shift at an unexpected time. Maybe there's something I have to tweak a little better, or maybe I'll just have to get used to it, but it's definitely a change from the near-instantaneous and positive shifting on my SRAM Rival bike. Also, the hub sometimes makes some funny noises -- another post here on RBR said the "rolling" feel is normal in 1st gear, but I get some funny noises occasionally in 4th too. Maybe this is related to the adjustment.

The gear range with the 18T cog is very useful. I've been using 2nd and 3rd gear mostly around town, with 1st as a bailout gear for steep-ish hills and 4th for down most of the hills I see. I haven't had a need for 5th gear yet 

My knees got the sense that the pedal spacing was narrower than on my Neuvation -- but when I measured, there was only a 1/8" difference. I'm not sure my legs are sensitive enough to notice a 3mm per side difference in pedal position, but something definitely feels different.

Overall, I like the bike. Once I figure out all the ins and outs of the shifting, I think I'll love it.

Asad


----------



## jbabic (May 3, 2010)

I created an account here just for this thread.

I recently purchased a Kilo WT5 of my very own. When it arrived today, it was a Kilo WT (set up as a fixed gear) inside the box. Interestingly, the box is even labeled for a WT5 - go figure. I sent an email to BD over this disappointment and am waiting a response.

I used to ride a Nexus 8 red-band and found, as on all my other internal-gear experiences, I had to let up pedaling or otherwise coast in order to change gears. No problem for me.

I'm glad to hear they threw in a 18T cog and that the chain includes a master link. I have a short 10% grade near my home that I must contend with and am interested in low gearing.

Thanks for posting this and I hope I can add to it. I look forward to hearing more about your experiences with this bike.


----------



## asad137 (Jul 29, 2009)

Aww, that sucks. I hope BD gets the mixup straightened out for you quickly.

There's another guy that posted his impressions over in another thread: http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=187723

I forgot to mention that the bike also came with a plastic chain guard too, but after quickly mocking it up on the bike today, without installing the bolts, I don't think it will fit on the bike without rubbing on the crank arm. Too bad.

I'm planning on adding a cross lever for the front brake to mine so I have braking while riding on the top of the bars. I will probably also add my rear rack, though only reluctantly as it will ruin the clean lines.

Asad


----------



## grantman18 (Mar 21, 2008)

any more thoughts on the WT5? I'm seriously considering getting one for commuting. I was initially going to get a SS or geared cyclocross bike, but with the clearance and gearing on this bike it looks like it might be perfect. Let me know how the past couple of weeks have been!


----------



## asad137 (Jul 29, 2009)

Overall, my impressions haven't changed much over the past month.

I still really like it. Coming from 10-spd SRAM on my Neuvation, the wide gear spacing can be annoying at times (I find myself wishing for a gear between 2nd and 3rd), but it's better than NO choice of gears. I still never use 5th gear for the type of riding I do with this bike (mostly flat city riding for commuting and errands), so I may get a larger cog and shift all of the ratios lower to be able to make use of more of the range.

It took me a while to get the shifting dialed in just right. It seemed that every time I rode the bike the indexing between 3rd and 4th would be off (i.e. shifting from 2nd to 3rd would often result in a shift from 2nd to 4th). I eventually undid the shift cable and reset everything and it's been pretty good since (apart from a 1/4 turn of the shift cable's inline barrel adjuster near the handlebars).

I did end up adding a cross lever for the front brake; I think this was a great addition.

Asad


----------



## iamagoodmachine (Jun 28, 2010)

Hey there,
I posted another review of the Bikes Direct Mercier Kilo WT5 here

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?p=2856850#post2856850


----------

