Last year in the spring I started biking to work after fixing up the city hybrid bicycle I had used since secondary school. That bike served me quite well over the latter half of last year and the first half of this year.
However, I did have to do some regular maintenance on it and also get it fixed up a few separate times at the bike shop to get some parts replaced or fixed up. Aside from the ordinary wear-and-tear items like brake pads and chains, I ended up getting the stem and the seat post replaced due to the old parts being a bit rickety.
The total cost of all of these repairs was noticeable, but not very horrendous. The main annoyance I had was that many of these repairs would require me to leave the bike to the shop, since I mostly didn't know what to do by myself and then I'd be bus-bound for a few days.
After a flat tire repair that went a bit wrong and ended with me being a bit lost with the rear hub of the bike, I started thinking about getting myself a new bike that would be extremely basic and simple, such that I would be able to reduce the number of maintenance days by having as few parts that wear out or get out of alignment and maximize the number of repairs I could do by myself. And of course I wanted to make sure that the parts I don't really know how to maintain super well would be built to last. My thinking was that this way I could also gradually learn a few bike repair skills piecemeal, since basic parts would also be more likely to withstand a minor amount of abuse from someone still figuring things out.
So, after a bit of browsing I settled on a bike that is just about the barest minimum in terms of a utility bike, while still being of good quality: a Helkama Oiva single-speed classic bike.
Now, this isn't a budget bike and neither did I aim for the best possible deal. I just have a soft spot for Helkama bikes and I appreciate the fact that they are assembled locally. As a classic bike with a steel frame and fork, the bike also isn't light, it's actually quite heavy, but that hopefully also means it's comparatively sturdy. The tires are a bit bigger both in diameter and width compared to my city hybrid at 54-584 ETRTO sizing. Supposedly these tires are designed to work best on rough asphalt and dirt roads, which describes my city quite well.
In fact, I am pretty sure that this is basically the same bike as the Jääkäri bikes used in the army, with minor changes to things like the saddle, chain guard and of course the colour scheme.
Before a few additions of my own own, the set up was very simple: you get a single gear and a coaster brake, plus the legal mandatory requirements like rear and front reflectors and a bell. The luxuries are the parts that make it a useful utility bike: fenders, chain guard and a rear rack that feels sturdy enough that it probably could take a person's weight, although I am sure that is not recommended. The whole thing is intended to be a bike that you just hop on and pedal and it takes you from point A to point B reliably. Speed isn't really a concern on it, the riding posture is upright similar to in a Dutch opafiets and the gearing on that single gear is such that it's comfortable enough to tackle ordinary hills, but will have you spinning if you try to push faster speeds on flats or downhills.
I tested the speeds that I could get out of the bike and it rides comfortably at the 18-23 km/h speeds, but past that you will have to spin pretty quickly. As it stands, those were basically the same speeds I was going on my 7-speed city hybrid too, so I am not losing much there. Plus if the gearing was any more aggressive I would have to push the bike up the hills along my usual commute.
Initially I was definitely worried if riding the bike with just that singular gear would be too hard or annoying, but it turns out that it's actually fine. Even with the bike being quite heavy, it hasn't actually been a massive change going from a geared bike to this one and I can tackle the same distances and roads without being noticeably more tired or sweaty. And there is a certain kind of zen to being able to just hop on the bike and after a few pedal strokes get up to the cruising speed without needing to worry about gear switching. And although I still sometimes feel a bit paranoid about the coaster brake, it has worked just fine and makes the controls very simple, although pedal positioning is something you need to pay a bit of attention to when coasting as some positions can be a bit awkward for the best braking.
I did set up a few additions of my own, of course. A frame bag was of course a must and with the larger frame I was able to put a bigger one on the bike that fits my bike pump, wrench and spare inner tubes, plus some other miscellanous small items I might want to carry. I also added basic front and rear lights for autumn and spring mornings and evenings, as well as a phone holder, so that if I need to go to an unfamiliar place I can easily use my phone for navigation. I tried biking to one place 15 kilometers away relying just on the audio navigation but that experience was pretty miserable. Being able to actually see where I am supposed to turn on a map is simply easier.
And that's basically it. I've been riding this bike for almost 2 months now and I've enjoyed the experience. I also did the initial maintenance on it myself, including tightening the spokes which I haven't done before. So, now I am pretty confident that I can handle just about anything short of a breakdown of the rear hub or the bottom bracket, which I am hoping I won't have to deal with anytime soon.
As for the city hybrid, once I get some new tires on that one, my plan is to hand it over to a colleague that has been thinking about getting into cycling. At this point I have swapped out basically most of the parts on it that reasonable need to be replaced, so it should still have a fair bit of service life left and should go to a good home. There is a chance that I might end up getting something more sporty next month when some abandoned bikes are getting cleared out of the apartment complex, but even then this bike will be a good everyday option for shopping trips and commutes. And if it turns out one or the other needs to be taken into the shop for some seasonal repairs, I will have an alternative to jump on to keep on riding.
I did end up trying the e-bike version of this Oiva today, and it felt honestly really nice, but I think being able to have an extremely reliable, spartan bicycle that just goes, rain or shine, is by itself valuable enough that I don't think I will be upgrading off of this for a while. Knowing how sturdy this class of bicycle tends to be, it's entirely possible I would be able to keep this one going for decades with just new tires, chains and some oil and lube.
We'll see.
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