Like a dating profile that promises more than a real-life human could ever deliver, the Charge Grater 3 Mixte always seemed too good to be true. Just as few men are handsome, kind, able to complete cryptic crosswords and jumpstart an engine, so does the Grater promise that bit too much for its £549.99 price tag. The key is finding the catch.
A bike fitted with Shimano Nexus hub gears – eight of the beauties – would normally be significantly more expensive. Hub gears are the biz for anyone who wants to commute in their work clothes, because the machinery is all hidden away and there are no oily, exposed cogs. Usually they are teamed with a chain guard to protect your slacks, though that’s weirdly missing from the Grater. I have Nexus gears on my indestructible Fahrrad 300, which I’ve ridden without any maintenance for five years.
But – and it’s a big but – hub gears are a pain to fix if they go wrong. The gears on the model I tested weren’t quite right from the get-go, slipping frequently when I was in the highest gear. The back mudguard refused to stay put, too, and kept catching on the wheel. Catching mudguards are one of those ostensibly small irritations that make me murderous, or at least tempted to chuck a bike in a hedge after 20 minutes. The best city bikes are fitted with a guard that could withstand a host of natural disasters. The handlebars look cheap, too, suggesting Charge blew the budget on the gears and went to the bargain basement for some other components.
It’s not all bad, however. The Grater is very light for its category, and looks clean and modern. I took mine on a train to Rotherham (I know how to show a bicycle a good time) and had no problems hefting it into the stupidly small space Transpennine Express reserves for bikes. Charge saddles are always mega-comfortable and this is no exception. Far too many bike manufacturers think women won’t notice if they whack on any old blokes’ saddle, so props to Charge for fitting the Grater with the Ladle – shorter and wider than their boys’ toys, it includes a very welcome “pressure releasing” channel to keep one’s bits in working order.
I wasn’t mad keen on the skinny twin downtubes. The very wide handlebars will be welcomed by unsteadier riders, but I’d have preferred something narrower so the bike didn’t take up so much space in my hallway. All in all, not my two-wheeled soulmate.
Charge Grater 3 Mixte in numbers
Price £549.99
Forks Steel (Charge Whisk)
Frame Aluminium (mixte-style 6061 alloy)
Shifters Shimano Alfine 8/s trigger
Rear hub Shimano Nexus 8/s
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- This article was amended on 13 July 2015. The Charge Grater 3 originally pictured was not the Mixte model.
