Comparisons by an experience rider and FIVE-time Priority Bicycles owner!
I may be the only Priority owner (outside of Ryan Van Duzer, as the designer and field-tester) to have direct experience with FIVE Priority bicycles covering FOUR different Priority models: P600, P600X, P600ADX, and TWO Continuum Onyx bikes. (This includes the “his and hers” Priority Continuum Onyx bikes for me and my wife.)
Going back several years, when Priority first appeared on the bikepacking scene, I chose to purchase the P600. I had just completed two successive RAGBRAI tours across Iowa. On the week-long RAGBRAI ride, your gear is carried ahead to the next overnight town. You don’t need to carry anything other than your wallet and sunscreen, although I still carry my tools, pump, raincoat, etc. As you pass through the small towns you get to enjoy eating breakfast and lunch (plus snacks, pickles, ice cream, and beer) with 50,000 of your “closest friends”.
Let me just say that I love bike touring – but not MASSIVE group rides. My objective when buying the Priority 600 was to build a touring bicycle that I could ride anywhere. I had already watched hours of Ryan Van Duzer conquering demanding trails on the P600X “Adventure”. I was also following other long-distance tourers and was convinced that the Pinion internal-geared transmission paired with the Gates belt drive was the ultimate bicycle touring combination.
Background info: I have been bicycle touring since the 1970’s. I started with a clunky French 10-speed and evolved to a light Japanese touring model with one-inch tubular tires and racy side-pull brakes. My friends and I logged thousands of miles, including weeklong trips where we developed our style of fast and ultralight touring. This was NOT “bikepacking”. We avoided gravel roads on the fragile “sew-up” tires. We camped under tarps but ate every meal at restaurants. Back then, we would save money all summer, then take off on an adventure with a food budget of $10.00 per day!
I had worked in a bike shop, assembling new bikes and fixing customer bikes. This was before tubeless tires, so fixing flats and replacing inner tubes was the number one repair. Number two was adjusting derailleurs and replacing chains and/or freewheels. (The original “10-speed” chains did NOT have master links.) The number three task was trueing wheels and replacing spokes, and then adjusting the rim brakes.
Later, I managed a bike shop and became a “Factory-Trained Certified Mechanic”, having studied under the legendary Stan Natanek at the Schwinn assembly plant on Kostner Avenue in Chicago. My certification included wheel building, and this specialty was required daily by our customers.
Besides clunky derailleurs, broken spokes were a continual problem. Even one broken spoken significantly weakened the wheel. Most importantly, all these early “speed bikes” had rim brakes which required straight wheels. The rear freewheels made 10-speeds (and later 12-speeds) possible but resulted in a weaker wheel due to the offset or “dishing” of the inner spokes. Except for accidents and abuse, 90% of broken spokes were on the freewheel side of rear wheels.
One of my personal bikes had a rear wheel that was improperly dished from the factory. I loosened the spokes and properly dished the wheel so it would be centered in the frame. During the course of the summer, I broke all 9 of the outer spokes on the freewheel side of the rear hub. Several of these spokes snapped during loaded multi-day tours. This required removing the wheel, unseating the glued-on tubular tire, removing the freewheel, replacing the spoke, and reassembling the wheel components – all completed on the side of the road while trying to avoid traffic and poison ivy!
Replacing broken spokes was a daily task in the bike shop. Occasionally I needed to build a completely new wheel – either to replace a totaled rim or to build new wheels from scratch for local racers. This became one of my niche specialties: filling the new hub with spokes, choosing the lacing pattern, then expertly trueing the wheel while relieving the stresses in the rim and spokes so that it would remain straight and round.
Back to my original purchase of the Priority 600…
The first time that I examined the rear wheel of the belt-drive bike I knew it was the ultimate design for bicycle touring.
Unlike freehub bikes, the hub flanges are perfectly symmetrical on the rear wheel of the P600 and P600X models. On a freehub wheel, the spokes on the “inside” are shorter, run at a steeper angle, and are under more tension that the “outside” spokes. (Manufacturers have tried many tactics to overcome this inherent weakness, including milling the spoke holes in the hubs, offset spoke nipple holes in the rims, and variations in the spokes. The simple fact is that a “one-speed” hub will ALWAYS be lighter and stronger than a multi-gear freehub.)
At the same time, the one-speed rear hub eliminates both the adjustment of the derailleur and the fragile derailleur mechanism.
Derailleurs are not only finicky to adjust, but they are also the most vulnerable components on any bike. It’s not unusual for mountain bikers to completely snap off a derailleur – especially with the current HUGE rear freehubs that can have large gears exceeding 50-teeth. For this reason, quality frames are designed with “sacrificial” derailleur hangers to prevent permanent damage to the rear dropouts.
Bomb-proof dependability is why some cross-country MTB riders accept the handicap of riding single-speed bikes – even on the torturous 2,700-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Race or demanding Colorado Trail!
Priority Bicycles marketed the 600 as the ultimate, year-round commuter bicycle – and it is! But I saw much greater potential. I encouraged Priority to highlight the advantages for bicycle touring – and they have since tagged the 600 as the “All Road”. I won’t give a detailed review of the P600 here – but please read the original review on the GreatOutThere blog – CLICK HERE.
I will summarize the modifications that I made to turn the “understated” Priority 600 into a fantastic touring bike:
1. I removed the fenders. I also removed the stock kickstand.
2. Added a USB battery bank to the handlebars to store power from the front dynamo hub. This battery was then useful for recharging my phone, camera, and bike computer/GPS.
3. Added 45mm Pirelli gravel tires, converted to tubeless. These had a more aggressive tread than the stock street tires.
4. Installed dual-sided flat pedals with Shimano clips for my touring shoes.
5. Added 2 water bottle cages.
6. Installed a rear rack for touring with a top bag and/or panniers.
7. I also added a top tube bag for snacks and miscellaneous.
I really enjoyed riding the P600. I rode many hundreds of mixed paved and gravel roads. The bike had a comfortable riding position. Of course, the shifting and easy maintenance (or lack thereof) was a treat after the short learning curve. I even rode the P600 in the 55-mile Iron Bull gravel race in October – although the P600 is FAR from a racing bike.
But I longed for more rugged trails and destinations. I had a super-light race-worthy gravel bike with 700c wheels. What I wanted was the Priority 600X Adventure for demanding bikepacking. So, I sold the Priority 600 to a fellow who was gearing up for a bike tour from the U.S. to Argentina – PERFECT!
My next bike: The Priority 600X Adventure.
By now, I was thoroughly sold on the advantages of the Pinion geared transmission, Gates belt drive, and the design elements that resulted in a bomb-proof bikepacking machine. The primary factor when deciding to replace the Priority 600 with the 600X Adventure was the addition of the suspension fork. In addition, the 600X was designed specifically for rougher terrain with MTB geometry, with larger 29-inch wheels and tires.
Just as I was ready to place my order for a Priority 600X, an ad popped up on Facebook by an area rider with a large-size bike for sale – exactly what I needed! It turns out this rider had mistakenly bought the P600X bikepacking model when he really wanted to ride with his friends on the whoops and the jumps of downhill tracks.
The Priority 600X was never designed to be a hardcore downhill mountain bike. It will never satisfy the owner who really needs a full-suspension MTB. Priority, with the input of bikepacking veteran Ryan Van Duzer, built the P600X for long days of riding, over demanding routes while loaded with gear. (Also note that Priority Bicycles has recently introduced a purpose-built MTB – the new 600HXT!)
I jumped at the opportunity to buy this used Priority 600X and save over $1,000! The bike had received zero maintenance and had not been assembled perfectly. After a short time in my workshop, I had it running BETTER than new – which is a testament to the quality of the components and the durability of the drivetrain.
Next, I added a rear rack, water bottle cages, custom frame bag, and then converted the tires to tubeless. Tubeless tires not only offer better traction and reduce flats, but the weight savings add to the pedaling efficiency over long days of bikepacking.
The Priority 600X was dramatically more comfortable over rougher roads and trails than the P600.
The P600X is outfitted with 29-inch wheels and tires that decrease rolling resistance and increase speed – despite the wider cross-section with the 2.8” tires. The longer fork and rear chainstays provide a longer wheelbase and better directional control over bouncy surfaces. The Priority 600 “All Road” is a steady and durable touring bike. But the P600X is the faster bike on rough roads, AND on paved roads when you lock out the front suspension fork.
The Priority 600X is a fun bike for gravel riding. But it is a bikepacking dream machine! I put it to the test last May on a bikepacking adventure on soggy backroads and the Pine Line trail. Weeks of heavy rain saturated the gravel roads in my area. Local town crews were continually grading the roads to eliminate muddy sections and washboards.
I loaded up for a bikepacking loop into the Chequamegon National Forest. I was glad to have the full range of the 12-speed Pinion gear box as I grunted over continuous hills covered with soft gravel. The Gates belt was well-tested in the sloppy conditions. A standard derailleur and chain would have been damaged after 156-miles of constant abuse by mud and wet sand. (I routinely need to replace 12-speed chains in under 1,000 miles of riding in my area.)
When I returned home, the only maintenance required was hosing off the drive belt and giving the disc brake pads a spray of brake cleaner. (The drive belt HAD picked up a slight squeak – which was eliminated after rinsing off the residual dirt and sand.) (See the full ride report on the Marshfield-Mondeaux Loop - Click HERE.)
Between the Priority 600 and the 600X, I had now accumulated over 1,000 miles on these bikes with the Pinion gear box and Gates belt drive.
After tens of thousands of miles on conventional derailleur bikes, I am completely SOLD on the advantages!
The annual oil change on the Pinion transmission takes about 15 minutes and uses two ounces of gear lube.
The rear wheel is super-strong. I haven’t broken a spoke. As I assembled the bikes and changed over to tubeless tires, I trued the wheels and they STAY straight!
The hydraulic disc brakes are solid and I haven’t yet needed to add fluid.
I also haven’t needed to adjust the shifting cables on the Pinion twist shifter.
I also noted that the frames are rigid. The Pinion drive results in a narrower bottom bracket (sometimes called the “Q-factor”), and this provides a natural leg rotation. In addition, centering the weight of the transmission at the lowest point of the frame adds to stability in bikepacking bikes that are notoriously top-heavy.
In the past when bike touring, I had routinely carried spare chain links and a chain tool. I also carry chain lube – and would sometimes lube the chain each morning and again at noon in muddy conditions. Even then, the drag and grind of a gritty chain was noticeable. This is completely eliminated with the Gates belt drive. As mentioned previously, I would also carry two lengths of spokes for the inner and outer rear hub flanges – and I no longer carry any spare spokes, spoke wrench, or freewheel tool!
As noted, the Gates carbon fiber drive belt means that I no longer need to carry a chain tool, master links, chain lube, or a freewheel removal tool. BUT - I strongly recommend that you don't embark on a wilderness bikepacking trip without a SPARE drive belt! The belts weigh next to nothing and can be folded into a small ziplock bag. This is CHEAP insurance! Having a spare belt almost guarantees that you will never need it - which is great since the average bike shop won't have the right belt model in stock. Click HERE to order.
Comparing apples to oranges, the Priority bikes with the Pinion/Gates drives are probably one pound heavier than chain-drive bikes in the same price class.
But the elimination of spare parts and tools, along with the HOURS of reduced maintenance and longer component life make this slight weight penalty one that I GLADLY accept. (Note that the Gates belt should outlast three chains. The sealed, oil-bath Pinion drive should outlast any derailleur combination and is virtually indestructible.)
After more than 50 years of bicycle touring, I had found my “dream” bikepacking rig in the P600X Adventure!
And then, Ryan Van Duzer introduced me to the New and Improved Priority 600ADX…
Please continue to Part Two of this article for the review of the Priority 600ADX - and the comparison to the original P600X as well as the P600 "All Road".
In Part Two of this article I will compare and review the New and Improved Priority 600ADX. But first, please add your Comment, Like, and Share this article. Let me know what other topics you would like me to cover on the GreatOutThere.online blog! Then follow The Great Out There on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
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