PeteFree.comRedline d440 29er Review
© 2010 Peter Free
30 August 2010 (updated 06 September 2017 — scroll to bottom)
Inexpensive twenty-niner becomes a commuter/utility bike
Redline’s d440 makes an excellent platform for a commuter and light-use mountain bike.
The 2008 d440’s original specifications are on BikePedia.com.
The 2010 model is listed at Redline’s website.
You can read reviews here (mtbr.com).
Modifications on this bike are ─
Truvativ carbon riser bar
Sram X-5 to X-7 shifters
Sram X-5 (8-speed) to X-9 (9-speed) rear derailleur (and cluster)
TruVativ Stylo single crankset (38 tooth)
Shimano mechanical disk brakes
700x52/47 (2.1 inch) mountain to Specialized Turbo 700x26 road tires
Jandd seat bag (no longer made)
Qualifications for writing this review
I’ve been riding bikes as part of my lifestyle for sixty years. I got my first bike in Italy in 1950.
That was a little after I rode my tricycle off the end of a wall and landed on my skull six feet below. I was unconscious for a long time. (That was decades before helmets were used.)
My parents may have thought that I would stop pushing the envelope, if I got a big kid’s bike.
The Italian bicycle was hand-built ─ apparently because mass manufacturing of two-wheelers for someone as small as I was then had not yet begun.
It was chrome-colored, had white tires, and was so light, that I could lift it with two fingers. My respect for Italian craftsmanship began with that. So did my love of bikes.
I remember falling off it shortly later, while speeding down a gravel-covered hill. The fall literally abraded the whole front of my body. I could not have done a better job of skinning myself into a full-height walking scab, had I tried that trick on purpose.
Mom was appalled. But she let me keep riding.
I eventually broke the bike’s top tube zooming into a wall. Mom was probably glad to see the end of it.
But not for long.
Soon after breaking the Italian bicycle, I sped my snow sled down a steep hill and stopped myself by slamming my head into a tree. My sister had to take me home. I couldn’t remember who I was or where I lived.
Perhaps you should be cautious about taking advice from me.
Why use a 29er for commuting and errand running?
Twenty-niners were designed to use road bike diameter wheels on a mountain bike frame that was sized to match. The frames suit taller riders and their larger than 26-inch wheels smooth some kinds of terrain.
The advantage to me is the ability to switch out mountain tires with road tires on a more street-suitable frame. Joint disease has forced me to give up on competitive road bikes.
Used non-mountain bikes that I tried as commuters before settling on the Redline
Cannondale Road Warrior 500 (2002) (hybrid)
dangerous rear wheel handling in turns at high speed
not set up well for fenders and racks
boring
overall, the worst bike that I have ever owned
Specialized Sequoia Elite (2003)
(relaxed road)
excessive vibration (aluminum buzz)
slow, despite its competitive look
among the most uncomfortable handlebars ever made
loses too much compared to race bikes
gains nothing in comfort
Trek XO (2004)
(cyclocross)
smooth riding
cramped riding position
poor design for rear fender
Bianchi Axis (2005)
(cyclocross)
vibration
well designed for fenders
excellent bike overall
the best of this bunch for “do it all” purposes
Specialized Sirrus Comp (2004)
(hybrid)
boring, but reasonably competent
Cyclocross bikes work well for commuting except that ─
Of these bikes, the two cyclocross designs performed the best as commuter/utility bikes. I seem not to be a hybrid frameset person.
Both cyclocross bikes exhibited the toe overlap for which cyclocross bikes are well known. In moderately tight slow turns, the back of the front wheel hits the rider’s forward foot.
That is not a problem in normal riding, but it can become one, even for experienced riders, in emergency situations in congested city traffic.
Why the Redline d440 is better for my utility purposes than these other bikes
The d440’s dimensions are more comfortable, and its steel frame exhibits less vibration than the above aluminum bikes.
Due to the frame’s clearance for mountain bike tires, mounting fenders requires a few modifications:
In front, I had to make a bracket to hang the fender from the bottom of the fork arch.
In the rear, you can see that a conventional road fender is not designed to go as far forward as it must to work on this bike. That is why the fender looks as if it is squished down at the top of its arc.
Nevertheless, fenders fit securely.
The d440 is fun to ride. This is an adult kid’s bike.
It does everything surprisingly well, even though the way I have it set up it weighs about 31 pounds (14.1 kilograms). That weight is with the seat bag and its contents, but without the front handlebar bag.
Conclusion ─ Redline is not just a BMX/cyclocross manufacturer
The d440 frameset is so good, that I will be looking to Redline again.
Update — 06 September 2017
After more than five years of riding this bike almost every day, I had to put it in storage for three years, when we PCSed abroad.
During that interval, my systemic arthritis progressed noticeably. Upon return, I noticed that the Redline's rigid fork and steel frame's vibration-transmitting characteristics had become too much for me. What had been barely tolerable when we left the United States had redlined. (Don't you love those silly puns?)
The d440 is now headed to a charitable organization. If life is fair to the bike, someone younger than I will appreciate it as much as I did. The d440 remains one of my top three, life-long favorite bicycles.
I "sit" (that's a Buddhist term) with the irony that this terrific "feel like a kid again" bicycle let me know how much my increasingly decrepit body has deteriorated over just these last five years.
Parting with the elegantly utilitarian d440, as with everything else, reminds me of Transience's unavoidably tinged sadness.