Reviewing the Priority Continuum Onyx

In September, my frame cracked and I found myself in the market for a new bike. Wanting a belt drive, I settled on the Continuum Onyx from New York City-based Priority Bicycles and have put about 750 miles on it so far.

I had begun to look for a new bike some months before. My key consideration was maintenance because every 4-6 months, I would wear out a chain and usually a cassette too, and would find myself out of $100-200 each time. I have seen a few belt drives and determined that a belt driven bike would pay for itself in 2-3 years. I found two price points, about $1,000-1,200 for an 8 speed or more than $2,000 for an 11 speed, and while I would have enjoyed more gears and range, my budget would not have. I settled on two bikes, the BMC Alpenchallenge Nexus 8, and the Priority Continuum Onyx. The Priority was more for commuting and came with a dynamo-powered headlight which appealed because my old one needed replacement. It was also cheaper $1,000 versus $1,200 and came with a 30 day return policy.
The Ride
I ride about 8.5 miles each way every weekday and found the bike to be a great ride, with super smooth shifting, no noise, and can go reasonably fast. I love adding a lot of pedal power without gear slippage. It is great to shift both while stopped and while in mid-stroke pedaling to add more speed quickly. There is a little man on a bike which goes flat when in high gear and ascents a little hill when in low gear. Constantly twisting your hand to shift took some getting used to. The bike feels fast and absorbs the bumps reasonable well although I did add a cheap seat-post suspension. The silence is something I did not anticipate but love. Even with two paniers, there are no rattle noises, just the tires spinning on the pavement. Also, the belt has no grease so tucking in a pant leg or finding random grease spots on hands later in the day is a thing of the past.

I took the Priority bikepacking and found it a good tourer too. It carried a lot of gear without complaint and still handled smoothly and silently. The only issue I had were the grips which tired out my hands quickly.

The bike has a mix of high end components and extras and a few less high end ones. The grips, rims, tires/valves, and fenders feel a little cheap but this may be Priority trying to meet the $1,000 price point and all except the rims could be replaced cheaply and easily. The seat, headlight, clip-on rear-light, brakes, kick-stand, and pedals are definitely on the high-end. The pedals have threaded studs in them and provide fantastic grip, even in the rain, and take full advantage of the belt’s lack of slippage. The Priority logo and a few other gray lights are reflective. The black paint is smooth and has a matte finish rather than a glossy one, which looks super sharp.

Assembling the bike was relatively straight-forward as the company has a Youtube video telling you exactly what to do. The tools are all provided and the most difficult components are pre-assembled.

Positives

• Riding the Priority is a silent endeavor because the NuVicci hub makes no noise. Shifting is smooth, the NuVicci hub quickly adds or removes power with a twist of the handlebar grip. There are no gears but several balls which translate into about the equivalent of an 8 speed internal hub. While stopped, it will shift through about half the gears. The silence is neat and calling one’s pass is essential because the only sound is the tires and occasional braking. Creeping up on people walking and running is fun but discerning for them. One recent morning, I heard an odd sound and thought it was the hub only to realize that it was my new tights crinkling. While a bike chain may slip a cog or two a couple of times during a ride and more so as it becomes loose, the belt slips a cog maybe once or twice a week.
• The hydraulic disk brakes provide a lot of stopping power and like the belt, are high-end and low maintenance.
• The dynamo headlight projects a fantastically bright beam.
• The bike itself looks super sharp and the shift cables are routed through the frame.
• Mounts for front and rear racks plus water bottle holders. 
• Great price point with some high end components and extras. 
• The flatbars had plenty of space for my GoPro, speedometer, Loud Bicycle horn, and flashing light.

Negatives

• If you are looking for a wide range of gears, internal hubs generally have less range than a typical chain-powered one. The Continuum’s NuVicci hub has 330% which means its highest gear is 3.3 times steeper than its lowest gear. This means that at about 20-22mph, you start to spin out, meaning you cannot pedal any faster to attain higher speeds. The lowest gear is a little taller than a chain-powered bike but this is less noticeable. If you regularly go faster than 20-22mph, look elsewhere, but the vast majority of commuters do not regularly attain those speeds on a hybrid-type bike. Hopefully, Priority will add an 11 speed equivalent at some point or even a 14 speed one someday when prices come down ($1,400 will get you a 14 speed hub alone). 
• Flatbars are fine for shorter commutes but longer ones and touring rides, different hand positions are helpful which could remedied with bar end inserts. The stock grips are not great either, they feel thin and cheap, and I recommend replacing them. 
• The bike has a slick black matte coat of paint. However, it chips easily, mine fell on a sign pole and dinged up, but Priority includes a tube of touch-up paint which on one hand, is very thoughtful but on the other, an acknowledgment that their paint chips easily. 
• The twisty gear shifter is a throw-back to my old kid’s mountain bike and my wife’s Schwin Cruiser. Twisting up and down frequently will wear out hands until muscles and skin get used to it. While I miss the trigger mechanism from my old bike, the NuVicci’s lack of gears would not match with a trigger. 
• If you love rims with presta valves, the Priority has Schraders just like a car and most low end bikes. Replacing the rims would be expensive because the front wheel has a dynamo while the back has the NuVicci hub. The only major difference is that presta valves supposedly lose less air than Schrader valves. Speaking of rims, I also miss my Schwalbe Marathon tires because the stock Continental tires will not last as long. 

Bottom line, this is a fantastic bike for the money and I would definitely purchase one again. If you commute and do not need a huge range of gears but are sick of frequent and expensive maintenance, the Priority Continuum Onyx is for you.

Bikepacking the Greenbrier River Trail

Bikepacking combines long distance bicycling with backpacking. My wife and I made our first bikepacking trip on West Virginia’s Greenbrier River Trail.

While I had been backpacking and taken overnight river trips, I was not sure what to expect for bikepacking. I did order panniers and between two bikes, we filled two pairs plus one bike basket with our camping gear, strapping our sleeping bags and one air mattress on top. We encountered another cyclist with a trailer load of gear including a large tent and pillows so it is possible to pull along more stuff. However, this cyclist opted to leave his gear behind during the day whereas we were able to pack things away and pedal to a new site.
The Greenbrier River has 13 primitive campsites along the trail which typically include picnic tables, a tent platform and/or shelter, filtered water via hand-pump, trash cans, and outhouses. We spent our first night at MP 63.8 (mile post) and our second night at MP 69.6. The tent platform was occupied at the first site so we pitched our tent outside the shelter (it was a little dirty). Our second site had two tent areas, a platform next to the shelter, and a larger site on moss, the latter is where we set up camp. Both sites were relatively wild, the former was next to a quiet farm field and the second night had an even more remote feel. On the East Coast, railroads mostly pass through populated areas but the Greenbrier is in rural West Virginia and passes through a state forest and a state park so we heard only deer, owls, and other animals at night. We even stored our food in a tree which previous campers had done but it was unclear whether it was necessary. Compared to other long distance trails, the Greenbrier has relatively well-developed trailside camping.

Riding during the day was extremely straightforward, at times almost boring, and getting lost was impossible. There are nice views of nearby hills and relatively few homes immediately adjacent to the trail. We passed through one short tunnel and two bridges over the Greenbrier and passed a couple of neat old railroad buildings. The few road crossings have very light traffic. While we spend nights in wilderness areas, during the day, we would often pass old farms and a few homes, and then pass through small towns such as Marlinton.

 Marlinton has a couple of trail-oriented businesses. There was an artist’s co-op in Marlinton’s old railroad station. We had lunch at the Dirt Bean, a café and bike shop a block off the trail. While it was late fall and a Saturday, about half of the lunch hour customers were cyclists, albeit about six of us. For all the ballyhoo about cyclists spending lots of money along trails, there were only a handful of us on a Saturday. In fact in three days, we saw about 55 cyclists, a pair of horseback riders, and a pair of backpackers. About half of cyclists had camping gear. Thinking back to the Adirondack rail versus trail debate, despite being a premiere trail, the Greenbrier lacked hordes of cyclists I expected. In fact, I could not find any reliable estimate on how many cyclists and others used the trail or even recent economic impact studies.

The trail is a well-maintained crushed gravel with two trackers for wheels, encouraging side by side riding. Lots of leaves softened the tire noise on the gravel. In terms of bicycle type, I had 700x32c tires and a suspension seatpost, and was very comfortable. The Greenbrier River valley is fairly flat, in fact the river has no major rapids, which makes for a relatively flat trail. While the Cass entrance is 734 feet higher than Caldwell, that drop averages to about 9.5 feet per mile. The trail has lots of shade but some open sections too. There are several shuttle options but they require meeting the shuttle driver at the trail’s end and then riding an hour and a half to the trail’s start. In Maine for about the same amount of money, the shuttle will drive your car to the end of trail for you.

Bottom, I highly recommend this trail, especially if you have never been bikepacking before.

If you go;
Additional information
NY Times