Review: Cool Commuters: Specialized Globe Roll1

Specialized Globe Roll1 – $729

One sure sign of a bike’s cool-factor is the amount of questions and comments it garners from complete strangers. One look at the Specialized Globe Roll and you’ll realize why I couldn’t go anywhere with this bike without being stopped by people around me.

From the first day I brought the bike home on my daily commute on Toronto’s subway and GO Train system, people wanted to know more. “Where are the brakes? Who makes that thing? What’s it worth? How fun is it to ride?” These are all common questions while the most heard statement is that the Globe is one of the coolest-looking bikes people have seen.

The Globe Roll1 is a commuter bike designed in the style of an urban messenger bike. True to form and heritage, the Roll is built on a basic chromoly singlespeed frame and is paired with a rigid steel fork. The rear wheel has a flip-flop hub so you can run either the factory-set 17T fixed-gear setup or flip the wheel around and use the installed BMX freewheel. The crankset is a Suntour singlespeed with a 42-tooth chainring. Both the front and rear wheels bolt onto the frame for a more traditional messenger setup, making it tougher for thieves to walk away with your wheels when the bike is locked up. Mounted on the wheels are Specialized Mondo Sport 700x23c tires, which we’ve found to be extremely durable.

To keep the cool and clean looking going, Specialized chose a one-piece steel stem and flat handlebar combo that really is the centrepiece of the bike. It’s what your eyes are drawn to when you first look at the bike and what captures the attention of strangers. The saddle is plastic for durability and yet is surprisingly comfortable to ride on for commuting and shorter rides.

While the Roll1 is sold in Canada with both front and rear brakes, ours was set up as a true fixie with no brakes at either end. Now, in the interest of liability, I must highly recommend everyone rides with brakes on their bikes, but with that said, no self-respecting big-city-messenger-wannabe would ride this bike as a freewheeled bike with brakes. If you’ve never ridden a fixed-gear commuter or track bike before, they’re easy to adjust to. It takes a bit more concentration and focus to remember you can’t just stop pedalling, but there’s something incredibly fun and liberating about cruising around on something so remarkably simple as a bike with no gears or brakes.

For looks, Specialized hit a home run with the Roll series. The Roll1 is available in flat black, kiwi green or grey. The higher-spec’d Roll2 is fjord blue or humbolt green. The nice thing is the wheels/tires, stem/handlebar and grips are all coloured-co-ordinated to the frame. So our black Roll1 had black rims with grey tires and black bars with grey grips. Specialized also did a fantastic job toning down its corporate image on the lineup, instead putting a classy Globe headtube badge and a barely-noticeable Roll decal on the seattube.

Overall this is a fantastic bike. It’s a bit pricey considering the components included, but the company did such a good job on the whole package that it’s makes the sticker price for such a cool bike seem worth it.