love love love my katu-e. just did a winter’s worth of consistent commuting here in Salt Lake City, UT and it did it all with aplomb. I now have about eight months on it and 1400 miles.
-Rear light died. It’s a cheap Spanninga. Haven’t yet replaced it with something nicer but that is on the docket of things to do soon.
-Cheap chain is cheap. Replacing it this weekend with something nicer.
-if you want to use a rear wheel lock, they require L-shaped bracket adaptors. Not sure if @Bootus got their wheel lock sorted but they tried to add one not too long ago. Kinda nice to have, though mine comes loose every other month.
-the heaviest thing I’ve put in there is 30 lb of groceries. Handled well enough.
-i’ve had no issues maneuvering the bike through tight spaces.
it is a shame they discontinued the bike… and that people are really only getting into it now. it is still my all-time favorite bike. highly recommend it if you have the space.
based on my bike shop experience, we now have received at least a call or email a week (and more like three) asking for either a katu or a katu-e since july '19. there aren’t many of us, but there are more than a dozen
i just did a ~45# katu run to the grocery. lil twitchy but i think that might have more to do with my dumbass kludged together cockpit
rolled real nice
Locking up on a whim isn’t such a thing for me. Most things are there and back. The lockup bike would be specifically for things, all canceled right now of course, where I’d need to lockup outside for 1-2 or more hours out of site.
my clydesdale is my most frequently used bike despite being the heaviest and slowest because it’s my only bike with flats, and i’ll lock it up anywhere for however long. i imagine this is what katulyfe would be like
Anywhere within 5km of home I mostly use the spicy curry. Electric with load carrying is where it’s at. An e-katu with panniers would be a perfect shopping bike.
