Chris wrote:
>
> If you have one, or reasonable experience with one, is there anything you *don't* like about it?
I have a Horizon for a couple of years now (
http://allgoodnamesrtaken.com/avocado), and although I
recently bough a replacement bike, I still take my old Halz for a spin around the neighborhood every
now and again.
Here are my views on it:
PROS:
- Very comfortable
- The remote steering feels very natural. I tried a couple of Visions before deciding on the Halz,
and I didn't like the tiller-type steering of the Visions.
- The bike "feels" right. Its hard to describe it, but the first time I rode it, the bike felt very
easy to ride.
- Top notch build quality. I never had a single mechanical problem with the bike, other than the
occasional problem caused by my own modifications.
- Very easy to control at slow speeds. I ride in city traffic a lot, and the Halz allows me to
zig-zag around bottle neck traffic and potholes at slow-walking pace without putting my feet down
and without any wobble.
- Great passive suspension frame. It really soaks-up the bumps. It also makes it a very fast bike on
rough roads or even light off-road conditions. I've passed many mountain bikes on dirt trails,
much to their surprise ;-)
- The Amazing Luggage Carrying Seat(tm). When I went on my first trip with the Halz, I tried to
attach a heavy load to the rear rack, but the flexible frame didn't like that one bit, and the
bike was unrideable. Then I tried to attach the weight directly to the seat frame, and voila'!
I've since done a lot of touring carrying all my *and* my girlfriend's gear bungee-corded to the
back of the seat. I've did most of my last move on the bike with no problem. See
http://allgoodnamesrtaken.com/avocado/campinghorizon.jpg for a pic of me on the bike, off road,
carrying a large 4-person tent, two sleeping bags, a duffel-bag with far too many clothes for two
people for two weeks, about 20 lbs of photographic equipment, lots of tools, and spare parts for
two bikes.
CONS:
- Front wheel a little too far back. Its very easy to lift the rear wheel off the ground during hard
braking (endo). It took me a little practice to learn how to avoid endos. Also, with the wheel so
far back, too much weight is on the front wheel, so very high speed speed turns can be a bit
scary, specially when you hear the front tire complaining right under you. This only happens when
you turn very very hard, not under normal conditions.
- Flexible frame absorbs bumps, but it also absorbs energy on long climbs. If you live in very hilly
terrain, this may not be the bike for you. On shorter hills, its easy to just power up, but on
longer hills far too much energy is used with each pedal stroke flexing the frame rather than
pushing the bike forwards.
- Flexible frame also limits your top speed. I've hit 49mph several times with the bike without any
problems, but every time I went over the 50mph threshold, the entire bike felt like gello.
- Creaking Haluzak Seat Syndrome (CHSS ;-) All haluzak seats creak after some use. Some more than
others. On several occasions I completely disassemble the seat, greased every little area where
the parts meet, then reassembled. The noise goes away for a while, but it always comes back. Its
easy to ignore on shorter rides, but when I tour with the bike for several days at a time,
spending most of my time on the bike, it gets on my nerves a bit.
Cheers.