Ikr? But they all are comming back after a year still as a happy owners, yet would like to move into solid MTB which is always my recomendation as a do-it-all bike with air fork (with locking) and a 2nd set of wheels with city/asphalt tires and small range casette 9x or 10x 11-36 for roads and 11-42/48 for terrain.
@@habdman my collection took me a lil over 3 yrs...it took a lot of hustling,odd jobs,saving and trading things here and there to get it done as I have 7 kids,8 grandbabies and 2 more on tha way,so I KNOW THA STRUGGLE IS REAL BRUTHA but it has all definitely been worth it tho.
$350?....how on earth do Gates pack this much beauty, refinement, & class into the super Cooper for such a giveaway price? They must value quality above profit. It deserves to sell in its thousands. As for the review, Kev takes us on his test ride of the Cooper... His gentle velvet-voiced prose hypnotises us into wanting to order one immediately.!He surely merits his claim to the title of... "The King of the 3Bs." Nice work Kev.
tarstarkusz true..but still relatively light. and soo quiet.. I have similar style bike..an aluminum motobecane cafe 8 with Nexus 8 speed and love it..7500 miles so far.
@@curtn7076 Thats crazy. Like a 9000 km or so. Im around this with my Trek X-Caliber 9 (2015 - orange/black/blue) and I already use 5th complete drivetrain setup. And those are not cheap since it was always a composition of Shimano STX and XT
I have the Brilliant L Train, thanks in part to KevCentral's video review. I like it a lot. Throwing in my two cents here. 1) This Cooper looks like a bargain to me. Yes, back wheel removal is more difficult on an internally-geared hub, but the three-speed removal is WAY easier than a Nexus 7 or 8 back wheel removal. The bell housing is much simpler and easy to deal with. 2) I've heard you mention the L Train's leather grips and seat more than once. They're vinyl leather, not the real deal. I like the Cooper's rubber grips better. Sorry to be so nit-picky. Love the channel.
I just ordered my Cooper, thanks so much for the $50 discount!!! I used it to add a fender set to the bike. I have two crazy nice road bikes but sometimes I just want to hop on a bike and roll around the neighborhood. can't wait to get my new bike and test it out.. $350 fora belt drive bike is insane.. Thanks so much Kev!
So, how has it been?? I ride my old CCM with new SA RD3 sp anywhere I feel like. I did 85.5 hilly miles a couple months ago. My SA RD5w is even better. Did 107 miles last week. Easy as pie, even with the 78 lbs. LOL
@@GordoGambler it's a great bike, I love the belt drive, super smooth. Only having 3 gears is not ideal but for rolling around town it's fine. Wish I could afford a Priority 600.
Hey Kev, Just received and rode my new Carmen. This bike is fantastic and exceeds all my expectations. I really like the belt drive. Thanks for inspiring me to take up bike riding again and for recommending such a great bike!
I love the green paint with tan seat and grips. That is a really nice looking bike. I have been scouring the internet recently in search of a three speed bike, with little success in my price range. The Cooper is a real contender.
The coupon code seems to be working on the other bikes. I have the L Train in my cart and it worked. The $30 shipping was surprisingly cheap. Great video, Kev.
After watching your series of videos around Priority and Brilliant, I broke and bought the Cooper. Looking forward to getting it and riding my first belt drive bike! It wont be in until mid-July, so I will be impatiently waiting...
I look at the specs. One of the places that costs were cut to make price point is the frame material. The Cooper is 1020 steel. The L Train is 4130. That’s an important difference.
3 speed hub gears are very simple and normally very reliable and can be used for 10s of thousands of miles. There are old British bikes from the early 20th century that still have working 3 speed sturmey archer hub drives and the Nexus 3 speed is pretty much a copy of that. However more than 3 speeds and hub gears normally get a lot more complicated and have a shorter lifespan. So I see a 3 speed hub as a positive even though it has a smaller gear range. Personally I would prefer a fully enclosed chain so the chain is protected from rain and would also be a very low maintenance solution but I realise they aren't very stylish.
I've owned three bikes with the Shimano Nexus 3, along with two Alfine 8, and the Nexus 3 is probably the most practical and easiest shifting of all the internal hub gearboxes, especially after you've tried one of those maddingly kick backwards shifters.
Kev I know you’re 5’10” and I’m a similar height…what size frame did you choose for the L-Train and Cooper? I saw their inseam sizing guide but it’s so hard to know how accurate that is. I’m usually a Medium I’m the Trek bikes, so 18-19” frame generally speaking.
Nice bike for cruising. It reminds me of a British built bike (the name escapes me) that I had when I was in my early teens (sans the belt drive of course).
Yes but it is even more common on the continent. Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France, Czech Republic, southern Poland you gonna find a LOT of those stylish bikes out there
Internal shift hubs are great! I have a Nexus 3 gear shifter in my bike. No maintenance at all for the past 2 years and still rides super well. I just don't recommend a 3 gear hub if you live in a city with hills. The 7 speed is probably best there.
This type of bike should be waaaay more popular than it is. But go to bike shops here in the US and you will be lucky to find one that looks like this.
For what it is, this bike seems to be more than worth that $400.00 price tag. I don't think it would cost so much if it wasn't belt driven because it puts me in mind of a line of State bikes I've seen. Of course, all those State bikes I've seen are all single speed flip flop, so there's probably another reason those are all less than $200.00. I'm almost 50, but, I still like putting air between my tires and what ever surface I'm riding on. Sometimes, spare of the moment like an unattended loading dock or wall, so I favor BMX cruisers, dirt jumpers and trail bikes, but this Cooper still looks classy.
Honestly, add fenders and this bike will be brilliant's biggest selling model. It has alot going for it. A steel frame is a bit heavier. But the ride is much less stiff compared to aluminum. The gates drive I have yet to try. It's sadly limited to hub gears only. Which isn't a bad thing. It's just more expensive.
Nice bike but the price apparently went up 37.5% since it's now listed at $550. So not as sweet a deal as is was previously - perhaps unless you are a student since I believe they offer a $150 student discount if you qualify for it.
I wonder what the parasitic losses are with the belt drive? On a motorcycle the difference with a chain and belt is great. Aprox 10% parasitic loss when switching from chain to belt. Any thoughts?
Thanks for the great content. Will you be coming back to the alum comp Schwinn project? I’m now up to where the videos are with my bike and am looking forward to the next stage. Btw, great recommendation on the fork. Huge difference. I couldn’t wait to see what you do with wheels and tires and had to replace the original tires which wore out and also would get punctures all the time. I got Continental cross kings. Again thanks!
I've been lusting after a Priority bike for a couple of years now but was in OTR trucking with no room, now I'm retired in the Philippines and I can't get it here! Infact, it almost impossible to get an internal geared bike and even more so with belt drive. I wish I could be dealer in Makati, they would sell like hotcakes..
Any plans to ride around Florence and continue your historical sight seeing? I think I only saw that on one review, but I loved it !! Keep up the good work. 🇺🇸🚴
Can you tell me what kind of bike is this? I can’t afford anything from brilliant but I like the design for this one and gotham. They look very classic.
For the experts in the topic, would this bike being 1020 high tensile steel be a concern for a commuter style of bike? I plan on using twice a week for commuting plus fun leisure rides with friends on weekends. I was comparing this one with the L Train which uses chromoly which I like but I don’t see me needing the extra gears and cost more.
What size were you riding? I’m 5’10” and if I recall you’re the same height. Their website says I could go with a large or medium being that my inseam is right around 32”.
Note old style shifter and bell on rear hub - but those should work fine, I even like look of this bell more than rounded style. Composite CDN drive components (cogs) would be bigger concern - if not price, which immediately takes away any right to blame parts. In Europe $400 bike comes with Tourney at best so you get a good value with this bike. If you look after you bike, those plastic cogs could serve you well, especially if you ride in a clean city and use front fender to make less of crud hitting front cogs (and even then belt has solid surface instead of chain which sucks in all road grime from wheel).
LIKE yur 'review' it reminds me if experts description of bottles/types of wine. w/all the knowledge & SO much experience yu have to use your inter-comparison ability
that's a beautiful bike in my favorite color! love me some green (pacific nw boy here), as green as our fir trees. nice looking otherwise too, but it's kind of hilly up here. we've got thousands of years of earthquakes and volcanoes, so prolly not too practical here.
Amazing how much these have increased in price since you reviewed this model. I was checking them out today, as I was also looking at the Priority Gotham…the Cooper is now $550…so my question is, at that price is it still worth it? I’m also concerned about the seating position/angle, as I have the Trek DS and it causes me a numb right hand. The Gotham seems more upright, but I like the styling of the Cooper more. What are your thoughts? I was also looking at some less expensive options like the Kent Ridgeway, which Target has online for $379 for the Transit model (rack and fenders), or $399 for the Sport. My only concern with those is quality of components, as there seems to be some conflicting info between Kent’s website and Target…Kent says Shimano XT rear derailleur, but Target says Shimano Tourney.
Why on earth would you buy a Target or Walmart bike? I already did that and will never buy that garbage again. Spend the extra $ and get something that will last with minimal maintenance. Even my used Citizen Miami foldie is far better quality than any Kent/Huffy/Schwinn/Dynacraft bikes for the same price point [of an off the shelf bike].
@@joellebrodeur1015 the Kent bikes I mentioned are not on the shelf, they’re online only and ship from Kent. They seem to be good quality for the money. I ended up selling my Trek DS and got a Trek Verve, which has the upright riding position I was wanting.
Do they make a belt drive bike... that is a single speed.. one that will coast, unlike the fixie? I know a lot of single speed/fixed gears have the flip flop hub. And a belt drive on a fixie would have issues... But a belt drive single speed that will coast... that would be sweet.
Hello, looks like a price increase to $550 for the Copper - regardless for a 5-10 mile , dry weather, flat but, rough asphalt commute. Would you recommend the Cooper or Ace of Clubs at $499. I'm torn with 3 speed option or lighter aluminum single speed.
Hey, I have a question and I would greatly appreciate if you could answer it. My cooper arrived (thanks for the recommendation), but does your cooper make a sound when you pedal on gears 2 and 3? Mine runs silent on gear 1 but starts clicking louder on higher gears. Priority says this is normal and a good sign, but I wonder if this is how it is supposed to be or if the bike is supposed to be silent on all gears and mine is an exception, even if its normal. Thanks a lot.
Research GI's before purchase so you don't learn you have to swap sprockets to be able to ascend comfortably. Belt drive sprockets cost more than you would think without having experience with them. But if you are forced to swap, probably it's not bad idea to leap for stainless rear sprocket (plus alu front if your rides are all-weather).
Could you do a video on ragley and vitus mountainbikes they look really awsome and well made for their price range especially for the vitus full suspension line
Yes. There’s some issue between iMovie and my new iPhone 11 (which I despise, btw) video files. I had to edit out about 2 mins of footage because of glitches 😡
Can you do a maintenance video of oils, Greece, etc that you use or can use on your budget bikes to keep them in good running shape for years. But keep in mind that they are budget bikes like $100, or $200 bikes so we don't want to spend alot on Greece, Wd 40. Etc.
While it’s not $350, you can still get them for around $430, shipping included. If you have a Costco membership, and search their site for “bikes”, it will refer you to Costco/Priority Bike page with the discounted pricing. But you’re still right, it’s not $350....Covid pricing.