Review: Chrome Kursk vs. Keen Coronado Cruiser

Back in December, I was one of the lucky winners of Chrome's Wishlist contest. The drill was to register on their website, fill a wishlist of $500 worth of product, and wait to win. Well, I WON!!!! I'll be posting reviews of the goodies I selected, starting today with the Kursk Shoe ($70). Since I have been using a pair of Keen Coronado Cruisers ($80) for a few months already, I thought a head-to-head comparison would be interesting.

Proof:

In principle, these shoes are very similar. They both claim to be a great street cycling shoe, with plenty style and comfort for every day use. I developed a couple qualms with the Keen shoe's performance, and was pleasantly surprised with how the Kursk addressed those issues.

Issue #1: Toe cages. I use toe cages and the Keen toebox is VERY tall as well as wide, effectively pushing my foot back on the pedal. The Kursk is explicitly designed to fit in a toe cage, and it does so very well. It does a better job of flipping my pedal over as well. As a result, my foot is more secure on the pedal, which is especially important in the slippery snow and ice. Kursk 1 - Coronado 0.

The Shoes side-by-side.

Issue #2: Durability. Although the Keens are durable, the shoe upper never felt very sturdy. Keen calls it's upper "canvas." See closeup below.

Keen's canvas weave.

 When I got the Kursk, I was pleasantly surprised to see a much tighter weave, 1,000 denier Cordura in fact. Not only is it Cordura, but it's padded on the backside with just enough love. This shoe feels sturdy and super durable. My foot feels secure and comfortable. Kursk 2 - Coronado 0.

1000 denier Cordura

Issue #3: Fit. Full disclosure. I own about 10 pairs of Keens due to their superior fit. I love all of them, as do my feet. The Kursk is a little narrower, and does pinch my foot a little, but is still quite nice. Close call here, but I'll give a point to the Coronado. Kursk 2 - Coronado 1

The toebox is lovely on the Coronado.

 Issue #4: Pedal Grip. Although this Coronado model was designed specifically for pedaling, I didn't like how it felt on my pedals. I would get hotspots, and the sole stiffness is less than I expected from their description. The black patch over the ball of the foot is a softer rubber with more grip, which does work well. However, the Kursk is designed with multiple layers in the sole system, which totally eliminated my hotspots. As mentioned earlier, I can flip my toe-caged pedal over much better with the Kursk. The sole is noticeably stiffer as well. Kursk 3 - Coronado 1.

Sole comparison

Summary

 As far as functionality issues, that about sums up the main differences. The Kursk features impressive details which add up to a superior shoe. The tongue has a lace garage, keeping your laces away from pedaling motion mishaps. The heel, as seen below, has a reflective stripe, the laces have metal aglets (shoelace tips), and the tongue is padded.

Heel reflector

Padded tongue

In summary, either shoe does a great job as advertised. However, for $70 vs. $80, the Kursk is a hands-down better shoe when comparing functionality. The Kursk shoe is going to last longer than my Coronado, and it will perform better and be more comfortable. I hate to see Keen lose a battle, but my closet is still full of them. 

Thank you Chrome for this contest! You have a customer for life! 

Picnic Point -- Brompton and iBert

I forgot about this stroll, but here are some pics from a family ride out to picnic point before the snow invaded.

Just as the leaves were changing. 

Quite peaceful, really. 

Love this bike.

Had to explore the singletrack. Old habit. 

We stopped by the UW marching band practice. Legit.

Garmin Edge 305 -- Button Malfunction

A couple times now, the Menu button on my Garmin Edge 305 has stopped working. The unit is otherwise functional, but the inability to access the menus is rather annoying. It's not even heavy enough for a good paperweight (maybe I could use it for my .pdf's?), so surgery was in order. 

I used a standard razor blade to remove the adhesive holding the clamshell design together. After removing the adhesive, use the blade at each end to pry it open. It opens quite easily. The screen cover doesn't actually contain anything, so set the Garmin backside down.

Edge and blade.

This is the seam for the blade. 

Pop the case open.

This is the button that has failed a couple times now. 

The circuit board has the 5 buttons connected to it, and the buttons are made up of three components, shown in the picture above. What happens is the flat metal button cover that holds the plastic button and spring mechanism in place gets loose and the whole assembly pops off the circuit board.

So far so good on the 2nd repair. Should be good now. I really like the Garmin, so hopefully it works another season or two. 

Le Peugeot est un Xtracycle

After the recent (ok, not-so-recent) Trader Joe's shopping experience (and many, many more like it), I decided to increase the cargo capacity of the Peugeot. I have long wanted a dedicated cargo bike, but haven't found the right setup, whether a complete bike or a kit--such as the Xtracycle. I wanted cargo capacity with the ability to transport two kids safely and relatively easily. We had been using an iBert seat for our younger daughter, but she was about at the max capacity, and, if I were going with a cargo bike, I wanted to move her to the back anyway. After much deliberation and all that goodness, I decided to go with the Xtracycle Longtail kit (2007 version freeloaders) with Footsies and a BoBike Maxi+ (NOT the Xtracycle BoBike [peapod]--details below). For reference, this is what the Peugeot looked like pre-conversion:

I got the idea for the Xtracycle/BoBike combination from the blogosphere, specifically Longleaf cycles. While I think the handlebar setup on their bike is quite cumbersome and admittedly Frankenstein, I just looked at the back of the bike. Bike got back! I like how the BoBike leaves a lot more room on the snapdeck and in the freeloader bags than the Peapod. My younger daughter rides in the BoBike, while the older daughter rides just behind, holding on to the BoBike, also using the Footsies. The use of Footsies precludes the use of the Kickback, so I kept the Pletscher stand already installed.

The chainstays on the Peugeot are plenty long, allowing room for the Pletscher kickstand in front of the Xtracycle bridge mount. Slick. You can see my wire splice w/ heatshrink if you look close. 

Continuing the install process. First, the Xtracycle Longtail kit comes with two brake options: 1) rim brake for 26" wheels (or 700c w/ an adapter), and 2) disc brakes. Since the rear wheel on the Peugeot is an Alfine 8-speed with the centerlock spline, I went with the disc brake option. This is where I ran into ambiguity from Xtracycle. Just to clear any confusion, the Xtracycle is ONLY compatible with 203mm rotors. ONLY! What's tricky is that you install the 203mm rotor with an ISO 160mm caliper/adapter. For example, I have an Avid BB5 160mm rear caliper which mounts directly to the Xtracycle frame. For the rotor, I have a Hayes 203mm 6-bolt rotor with a Shimano centerlock/6-bolt adapter. I originally ordered a 160mm centerlock Avid rotor, only to find the ambiguity of the brake situation on my own. Lovely, but it works. I was concerned about having a weak brake up front, and a super brake on the rear (the reverse of my MTB days), but it stops REALLY well. No complaints.

203mm rotor ONLY!!! 160mm adapter w/ Avid BB5. 

"Now that's a rotor." -Mick Dundee

The typically overdone Shimano centerlock/6-bolt adapter. DT Swiss makes a much simpler version (so does Problem Solvers).

The department of redundancy department of lockrings. 

Velo-Orange was out of stock on their front wheel stabilizer spring, so I fashioned my own, which will soon be modified again. I got a spring from ACE, used a CatEye reflector clamp around the downtube, and used a small L-bracket behind the front brake bolt. Voila. I do need to shorten and preload the spring (slide it up the downtube) from its current installation, but it works quite well.

The spring didn't look that long in the store, I promise. Fix coming soon. 

The BoBike was a quick and easy install. I tried to get the BoBike as far back as I could, leaving as much space as possible between the BoBike and the saddle while hovering just above the snapdeck. The only modification necessary on this install was to remove a small portion of the foot holsters where they interfere with the Freeloader system. NBD. There is a little bit of heel strike on the foot holsters, but moving the foot slightly forward (more toward the arch) solves the problem. We're not pedaling for top-notch efficiency here.

Little notch. 

I kept the original rear fender, with the hub-generator taillight. This took a bit of modifying to get the fender struts installed on the Xtracycle, since the mounts were quite unique/proprietary to the Peugeot frame. I drilled out some washers and got it to work quite well. After extending the taillight wire, it was ready to go.

Drilled out a washer and installed it in the Xtracycle fender mount.

Here's the install w/ struts. I did have to change the no-turn washers on the Alfine to match the dropouts.

I think the light actually works better than before. 

I removed the old, plastic rear derailleur and installed the Alfine chain tensioner, since I'm still running a double crank. I did find out that the 1/8" chain does not work through the Alfine cage! SRAM 830 it is. Also, the Alfine specs state a 20t max cog, which puzzled me (since I use a 22t). What I found is that removing the wheel with the Alfine tensioner is ridiculously hard with the 22t, leading me to believe that this is why the specs state a 20t max. Clearance is fine between the cog and the tensioner guide pulley, so that's not the issue. Just another detail to get the build right.

After a few headaches, the build was complete and I did in in our living room. Oh how I miss tool stands and workbenches. One day I'll have one of my own. We now have three bikes, all with Brooks saddles, generator hub lighting systems, and cargo capacity. Never would have guessed that five years ago.

Finally -- Outdoor Bike Locker at Grainger Hall

After returning to Madison from an interview in Minneapolis, I noticed newly-installed bike lockers outside Grainger Hall, or the business school building at UW-Madison. I primarily commute on the Brompton, storing it in my locker inside the building. However, it rides quite terribly in loose, slushy snow, so I am basically forced to ride the Salsa Casseroll. I made it sound like it's a chore to ride the Salsa. It's not, I love it. I love it so much that I put a lot of $$ into making it the bike I want to keep long-term for randonneuring and such. As a result, I haven't wanted to park it outside, for fear of vandalism or worse, theft. The bike lockers were like manna from heaven. I quickly contacted UW transportation and secured a locker for the remainder of my stay in Madison. Excellent. Here are some pics.

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