I’ve had one as my main bike for over a year. I’m not sure what your needs are but here are my thoughts:
- It’s generally well suited for everyday city life. I rode mine through the winter and never washed it. The belt doesnt care.
- The gear range is great unless you have steep hills.
- Weirdly, the fork doesn’t have the mounting hole at the bottom for a fender, but it does have one at the top. I use their recommended fenders with the Velcro straps and they’ve been great.
- Be sure to practice taking the wheels off. The gear cable attaches at the back in a weird way and you have to disconnect that to take the wheel off. Make sure you know how to do it.
- The hub really doesn’t want you to peddle while you shift. If you do, it will feel like you shifted just fine and then a few seconds later your drivetrain will jolt as it actually gets into where it’s supposed it.
- They say you can’t use a front rack but it has all the mounting points for one. I suspect this is because tightening a bolt too hard on the carbon fork crown could cause safety issues. I have a rack there anyway and it’s been fine.
- The hub has a sprag clutch which means it doesn’t click. It’s truly silent while pedaling and coasting.
- The rear sprocket is a Gates Surefit. This requires a special tool to take on and off. I had to buy one off Italian eBay. Your bike shop almost certainly won’t have one.
- The bike is pretty heavy. Not that big a deal for most things but it is what it is.
- I’ve changed the oil once but otherwise never messed with the drivetrain. It’s very low maintenance
Brics is basically an alignment against the west, rather than for something. Each of the members has ambitions that are, at best, completely different from one another, and in some cases, contradictory. It reminds me of the cold war era non-aligned movement.