The Torker Graduate

This is the Torker Graduate. It is a Sturmey-Archer (internal hub) 5-speed with drum brakes. Very low maintenance, and relatively inexpensive. Kind of a revamp of the Raleigh (pre-1970), but lacks Raleigh style (at least in my opinion).

Still and even so, I would consider buying one if I didn't already have two old Raleighs, one of which is a Sturmey-Archer 5-speed internal hub with drum brakes (the hub is original, the drum brake [front only] is not).

It's an interesting concept. I like the concept, but not so much the style. It looks like one of the spate of fixed/single speed bikes being built (Redline, is one example, Masi another) to quench the thirst for fixed gear cool. It seems caught between two worlds -- messenger chic and old school utilitarianism. "Pick a side, we're at war," as Stephen Colbert would say.

Still, an interesting concept. Virtually as maintenance free as a fixie (even more so, with the drum brakes), but with actual gears.