Andre Jute's Utopia Kranich is a modern recreation
of the bestselling unisex bicycle of the interwar years.
With a Rohloff 14-speed hub gearbox, hydraulic brakes
and Big Apple Liteskin balloon tyres it also has
every modern convenience.
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My Kranich from Utopia Velo
An introduction to a very modern bicycle
that the uninitiated may mistake for a septuagenarian.
a photo essay by André Jute
Also available as a PDF (4.2Mb): Andre Jute's Utopia Kranich
Some of the lanes and hills I ride on this bike are illustrated here.
Be warned! If you are easily overcome with bicycle lust,
this page will ruin your peace of mind.
Drag any of the green bike photographs onto your desktop
to download a fullsize version suitable for use as a screensaver.
I needed a new bike because I moved house from the level ground beside the Bridewell River, a tributary of the Bandon, up the notorious Kilbrogan Hill. I needed two or three gears below what my beloved Shimano Cyber Nexus automatic hub gearbox could give me, so I would have to go to Rohloff hub gears. The ramps to the pavements in front of my new house are also steep enough to throw me off the seat onto the seat tube of a diamond frame every time I stop suddenly for pedestrians or cars while on the ramps; that can be painful. So I wanted a low stepover. And I wanted to simplify my bike still further by losing the front suspension and the suspended seatpost. So I had to recover a measure of suspension with balloon tyres.
Trying to have an individual frame built that was out of the ordinary was a major frustration; the artisan-solderers want to build what they built before. Their idea of meeting their promise of giving the customer anything he wants stops dead at a garish paint job; it doesn't mean any frame the customer wants except a road, touring or mountain frame. I also looked into building up my own bike on an off-the shelf frame but some of the components I would need are either supplied only to OEM's or would attract delivery charges that popped my eyes, like a three-figure sum for a pair of wide mudguards from the States.
Because I insisted on the widest Big Apple balloons on the 28 inch wheels -- technically ISO 60-622mm -- complete with civilizing mudguards, the shortlist of bikes was not long, and all the bikes on the shortlist were from only two manufacturers, Patria and Utopia, German custom-bike builders of objects to disturb the dreams of cyclists. That's code for: If you have to ask, you can't. To Patria and Utopia "custom" means that you take one of their huge range of frames and may then specify components from their approved list; all bikes are built to order only.
First catch your dealer. Here the huge Utopia Kranich looks like a teenager's downhill stumpjumper thanks to the disproportionalte scale of the Big Apple tyres on wide 28 inch wheels, and the enthusiastic wrapping of Heiko Godlinksi (1), owner of City-Bike in Einbeck in Germany, the dealer who elected himself to be my supplier by his cheerful iniative. But that box is two meters long, and the bike itself stretches out six feet.
"Surprised not to find Grant at home." On the way to photographing my Utopia Kranich (Crane) straight out of the box, I stopped for this joke picture. Rivendell is an American equivalent of Utopia, in that both make lugged steel aspirational bikes with historical overtones and very strong form/function central directing visions aimed at comfortable touring/routine cycling. But of course Rivendell will never have the chutzpuh to describe a Rohloff-hubbed bike as a "basismodel" -- basic model -- as Utopia unblushingly does. We shouldn't take either the comparison or the joke too far. This photo was taken on McSwiney Quay in Bandon, Co Cork, Eire, not in Walnut Creek, California.
A modest-appearing, unthreatening bike, top, in green. Just as well I didn't order it in the melon yellow (below) I first considered. Since Bentley is now a division of Volkswagen, I thought it would be all right to order a German bike in British Racing Green, and it is fortunate that I did, because the colour, in conjunction with those huge wheels, disguises the size of the bike well, without being as pompous as plain black. Note the full chain case. It is Utopia's own Country chaincase, with flexible chain conduits, brought over from recumbent practice, attached by flexible bellows to semi-rigid lightweight plastic enclosures for the chainwheel and sprocket.
As standard any Utopia is fitted out to a very highstandard with hydraulic brakes and wide tyres. This is the bike out of the box, before fitting the pump and excellent custom toolkit that also came with the bike. On my Kranich the options fitted are a SON dynamo hub (in place of a Shimano dynohub), the Country fully enclosed chaincase (in place of DeWoerd's double three-quarters chaincase), the EX clickbox version of the Rohloff hub (in place of the internal version), and Big Apple Liteskins (standard Big Apples are a no-cost option) with extra-light "racing" tubes, together with mudguards wide enough to cover them. The Terry saddle seen is a delete-option which I overlooked deleting; I imagine most of these bikes are delivered to cyclists with their own broken-in Brooks saddle, and I shall certainly replace the standard saddle with my favourite Cheeko90 seat. That crude seatpin is just the thing for a Brooks! But a modern micro-adjustable seatpin is a no-cost option.
Here the frame crosses are visible where the lateral full-length mixte rails pass the "top tube" and the seat tube. The twin lateral rails are soldered to both the single tubes where they cross them; there are more detailed photographs further down. Those are my favourite pedals, the VP 191. of which a pair arrived with the bike.
Everything else is standard, as long as you understand that Utopia interprets "standard" as parts made by the manufacturer with special features tor Utopia bikes. Compare to, for instance, Gazelle, who in the inimical Dutch tradition going back to De Stijl, design parts for both function and style, and then get them custom made for use exclusively on Gazelle bicycles. By contrast, Utopia appears not to care (or not to be big enough to stop it happening) that the component manufacturers then sell these special parts on to would-be competitors. The Exal XL25 rim you're looking at was created for Utopia in order to get the best ride from balloon tyres by lowering the inflation pressure, which can only be done on wider than common rim. The Sapim spokes are specially made for Utopia; two of the specially spokes come as spares in the impressive welcome pack (actually a substantial box of goodies) for new owners. Even the front light bracket is a special long model developed by BUMM for Utopia. The rack, said in the owner's manual to be a Tournee by SL, may also be a version custom made for Utopia as I cannot find it in SL's catalogue. The Country chainchase is a Utopia exclusive, in the Gazelle manner. Finally, unless I missed something, there is a frame lock (not yet fitted to my bike) specially designed by Basta for Utopia, which also doubles as a brake booster for the standard Utopia fitment of Magura rim brakes; oddly, this special-feature lock is not a standard fitment but an extra-cost option. Utopia runs a shop, accessible only to registered owners of their bicycles, from which spare parts and upgrades can be ordered.
The zero-Shimano bike. Most Utopia bikes come with top of the range BUMM lights front and back. My Kranich has front and rear senso-plus models, which means that they have built-in light sensors which switch the lights on in low light situations, and off again when the light is ample, and capacitors built-in to keep them burning for a few minutes when the bike stands still and the hub dynamo therefore does not turn, as at stop streets. The standard hub dynamo is a Shimano model and the upgrade is the much-applauded German SON. Utopia talks a lot about how “German” their bikes are. They fit Shimano internal hub gears to the least expensive of their bikes but they would clearly like to build a Shimano-free, all-European bike, and this is achievable by taking the Rohloff “basismodel” and then optioning it with the SON hub dynamo — voila, a zero-Shimano bike. Well, I’m no “European mystique” snob; I think Shimano supplies clever and reliable gear for fair prices. Nor do I share the uncritical approval of BUMM lights common among the café racers. BUMM lights are not better in proportion to their high price than the cheaper lights Basta builds for Gazelle, or the Spanninga lights fitted by Trek Benelux to their top models, and they need to be supplemented by a flasher, especially at the rear (I heartily recommend the Cateye TL-LD1100), for even reasonable security. Nor do I think that the SON is worth three times the price of a Shimano hub dynamo (real street prices) for any conceivable use in my hands, though the bragging rights are considerable (small, low weight, looks near enough like a conventional hub, German engineering punctilio). On the plus side, both lights have reflectors built in. These work with the reflectors on the VP191 pedals and the huge circular bike-signature reflectors on the sides of the Big Apples, and with the reflective rack elastic to make the Kranich visible from all sides to motorists after dark.
The Rohloff rear hub appears to be the quick release model, with the quick release removed and replaced by a hex-key retainer. That's good, exactly what I do on all my other bikes to deter casual thieves. The Rohloff hub could also advertise its presence less loudly than with that yellow and blue sticker -- which the customer can't remove because the serial number is on it, and without the serial the guarantee is void. The nicely counter-balanced stand works smoothly and without a bike-rippling thunk. The triple elastic over the rack is of reflective material as a safety measure. The Magura HS11 hydraulic rim brakes are Utopia's standard fitment. They fit them without the quick release to save weight, they say, and without the booster because in return for the stopping power sacrificed by its absence the brakes become more progressive, they say. Both are possible; I found the HS11 without the booster more docile than Shimano's (probably more powerful) best-model 75 series roller brakes. Quick releases and brake boosters for the HS11 are available as options, and the special frame lock Basta builds for Utopia also works as a brake booster. Brake upgrades in the catalogue are Magura HS33 hydraulic rim brakes and Magura Louise discs, striclty limited to 160mm. The only disc-capable hub dynamo listed is the SON.
Clockwise from top left: Standard Magura HS11 rim brakes, rack, elastic for luggage, Rohloff 14-speed hub gearbox, external klickbox, Esge stand, and chainstay-mixte-seatstay disc brake bracing only on left side of bike. In the centre: All fullsize Utopia bicycles have twin-slot sliding frame ends for adjusting chain tension. The axle hanger is the bright aluminium slotted plate, which slides in the slots on the two big bolts whose nuts are visible this side of the frame. Gearbox torque is taken by a flatsided nub in the part of the slot below the axle. Also visible on the inside of the right hand chainstay, the fitting for adjusting the chaincase, and beyond that, the bellows that join the flexible centre tube of the chaincase to the stiffer sprocket case. The Kranich rear end is a marvel of packaging. I particularly like the way the mudguard stays are led behind the rack stays and fastened to their inside. The frame ends themselves reward study of their design -- isn't that round end to the mixte tube just perfecly right? -- and the craftsmanship of the brazing.
The shadow knows why the Kranich has so long been a best seller for Utopia and, in the mists of history, for Locomotief and Durabo. It looks retro and yet is right up to minute in its engineering, comforts and abilities. The Utopia literature is full of photographs of world travellers who have covered 100,000km (over 60,000 miles) on a Kranich and other Utopia bikes; the Kranich is rated at 170kg for rider, bike and luggage combined. That bodes well for those who merely take day trips or weeklong credit card tours. When I have finished outfitting my Kranich, I shall indulge myself in André Jute's Overnight World Tour of His Little Patch of Beautiful West Cork.
