The Vivente World Randonneur after 5,000km

Jaime's Vivente World Randonneur

Jaime and I both purchased a Vivente World Randonneur (a fully accessorised complete touring bike) earlier this year for our ride across Canada. The model we selected was the Drop Bar-No Coupling (DB-NC), in medium and large sizes, for $2,100 a piece. After 5,000 kilometres, in some testing conditions, we are both very impressed with how they've held up.

The Bike Setup:

One of the main factors that lead to us choosing the World Randonneur, was that they come fully accessorised from the beginning. There was no need to worry about finding the right lights, racks, wheels, water bottle holders etc., something we knew very little about. It was all there, and perfect for what we were planning to do.

We have Ortlieb Front and Back Roller Plus panniers on both bikes, and they fit very well on the World Randonneur's rack system. The strength of these racks, as well as the frame, means that even with very heavy panniers, there is little effect on the performance of the bike.

The quality of all the parts of the bike is the real seller I think. Almost all the components (the brakes, drive train and hubs) are Shimano, and the frame and forks are chromoly steel, perfect for touring.

After 5,000km on the Vivente World Randonneur

One flat tyre. That is it.

The quality of the tyres, rims and spokes has astonished us. Only one flat on my front wheel. Jaime hasn't had a puncture yet. When you buy this bike, you are given a bunch of replacement spokes (all of very high quality!), so we were expecting them to break after a while. However, we haven't had to fit a new spoke yet, on either bike.

Our bikes were serviced in Halifax, Nova Scotia after 2000 km. They replaced the rear brake pads (the front brakes are disc brakes), which is not surprising having just ridden across Newfoundland, and recommended we change our Shimano cassette (the cogset) and chain. This was because the wet conditions in Newfoundland caused dirt to collect on the chain, which then began to wear away some of our favourite gears. The guy servicing the bike said we would be lucky to make it off Nova Scotia before the chain broke, or we couldn't change gears properly. We are now in Toronto, and have noticed very little change over these last 3,000 km, but we'll get them serviced again, and make any adjustments needed.

Conclusion

We highly recommend these stylish bikes, not just for the appearance, but for their high quality components, accessories and strength. For the price, it would be hard to beat.