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User Rating 4.5 out of 5 4.5 out of 5
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Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 4 out of 5
Great commuter bike but do your preparation, July 5, 2009
By OldCommuter

"I have just finished setting up my 8-speed for commuting and local errand running. As an older rider (67) I prefer a more "comfort" configuration, and so added a riser on the stem to add about three inches. I also changed out the seat. Overall the bike is great. Clean, simple and well designed for commuting and local riding.
Gearing is good overall but "granny" gear is a bit high for a great-grandpappy. I prefer a speed of about 4 mph at normal cadence in low gear. The Soho is over 6 mph. Doing some of the 15 percent grades in my area would be a challenge for me on this bike.
The drum brakes are a bit "soft" and take higher lever force than rim brakes for the same braking power. This is OK as long as the cables can handle it. I would not like to break a cable on a 15 percent downgrade.
The only technical problem encountered so far is rear-tire flat changing on the road. Fortunately I did a dry-run of this in my garage. Found three issues:
1. You must carry 15 mm and 10 mm wrenches for the axle nuts and brake band that clamps the arm to the frame. Also need a phillips or 2nd 10 mm. for the band bolt.
2. From the factory, the brake cable was routed through a u-clip on the mechanism, and then the crimp was added to the cable. The crimp does not fit through the u-clip, which has a non-removable rivet, so it is impossible to remove the wheel without cutting the cable or removing the crimp. The bike shop followed the factory cable routing for the front wheel, giving it the same issue. I took it to the bike shop where they removed both crimps, rerouted the cable outside the u-clip and re-crimped. Another new Soho came into the shop while they were fixing mine which had the exact same issue with the cable, so mine was not a fluke. 3. The shifter cable attachment. It snaps in quite firmly on my bike at least, requiring a small flat-blade tool to pry it out, which must be done after you drop the wheel for access. You can imagine how much fun this would be on the road. Even in the shop on a bike stand this was not easy. To snap it back in we had to use a hard flat tool. Hand pressure would not do it.
If not for the flat tire change difficulty and rather high low gear I would have given the bike a 5."

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