Velobello Chelsea 2022

The Velobello Chelsea is an affordable runabout of a bike, well suited to town use, the school run or occasional commuting. It does what it sets out to do reasonably well, with a stylish steel frame that has a vintage air. However, it is more expensive than its direct competitors and has limitations in its gearing that will affect anyone who has to climb anything more than a small hill.

People buying Dutch-style sit-up-and-beg bikes are not doing so for the speed, but for the practicality and aesthetic. The Velobello founders are a pair of erstwhile interior designers who started the company during lockdown, and their design credentials are clear, though I'm less convinced about their bike knowledge. 

> Buy now: Velobello Chelsea for £395 from Velobello

It's a pretty looking bike, though the cream model tested is probably the least zingy of the colours available, the others being a bright pillar box red, a pistachio reminiscent of the Pendleton Somerby mint colour, and a smart navy.

The shiny chrome handlebar and colour-matched rack and chainguard make for a tidy overall image, as do the tyres, saddle and handlebar grips all being the same colour, whichever frame shade you choose; this makes for a more pulled-together aesthetic than some mass-production near rivals.

Size and geometry

The Chelsea is only available in one size, and comfortably suits a rider height of 160cm-185cm (5ft 3in-6ft 2in). I'm 5ft 6in and it fitted me well, and the reach is appropriate for a Dutch-style bike enabling a very upright riding position.

Velobello has given the Chelsea a quill stem, which means that although the height of the stem is adjustable, the reach isn't. However, this isn't as much of an issue on a bike intended for an upright riding style as it would be on a road bike.

The curve of the handlebar is appropriate for the expected riding position, and the step-through frame means the bike is suitable for those with reduced mobility.

On the road

We reviewed the Chelsea's sibling, the single-speed Soho, on road.cc recently, and Matt concluded that it fell a little into 'style over substance'. I'm afraid to say this is also the case for the Chelsea.

Although it's practical, it's not hugely fun to ride. The lack of quality components and the bike's weight mean that the ride is pedestrian rather than nippy, and hills are a chore.

It sports Shimano's most basic gearset; it will get you up a hill if you don't mind the work, but you'd not be wanting to ride this bike daily on a hilly commute as it is a weighty 16kg, a whole kilo over the published weight.

Velobello's marketing describes it as having selected this gearset "because London is fairly flat... the 6-speed Shimano set up is perfect for the Capital's streets". In reality, London is a flood plain with hills rising up from that, and the choice of Shimano's entry-level gearset limits the upgrade potential if you live near, say, Primrose Hill, or (god forbid!) outside of London.

The cheaper Pendleton and Decathlon bikes mentioned in my price comparison below both come with 7-speed cassettes which, although offering the same range as the Velobello, allow for an easy upgrade by fitting a Shimano or SunRace freewheel with a 34-tooth sprocket; that would get you a significantly lower bottom gear to help with hills. Six-speed freewheels with such low gears do exist but are much harder to find.

Changing gear isn't particularly smooth either, as the twist grip is clunky. In fact I wasn't keen on the choice of the shifter because of the curvature of the plastic, which distorts the numbers, making it very difficult to tell what gear you're in at a glance. While experienced cyclists might rely purely on feel to tell what gear they're in, the rider the Velobello is aimed at is unlikely to fall into this category, so clearer numbering should, in my opinion, be more of a priority.

The Chelsea is made in Europe and the v-brakes are set to work opposite to UK norms, which could be confusing – although if you were to brake hard, the weight of the bike means that coming a cropper over the front wheel is unlikely. The company claims to have created and designed the bike for use in London, so it seems odd not to have specified the bike entirely for the UK market. 

As the bikes are aimed at inexperienced riders and are shipped partially assembled, they come with a recommendation to have them completed by a bike mechanic, so you could ask them to swap the brakes over.

Finishing kit

The first thing I would upgrade if I owned this bike would be the saddle. Once I'd swapped out the very cheap Ddk Comfort model for one of my own, I found the bike reasonably comfortable to ride. Saddle preference is very personal, though, and it's easy to change.

I'd like to see a quick-release seat clamp, too, to allow for easy adjustment of saddle height, which is useful when swapping between users, although if it's just you riding it then the fixed clamp is a good deterrent to saddle thieves.

The bell would also need swapping out as it smacks of having been chosen as the cheapest offering available and doesn't even 'ting' as there is no recoil space between the hammer and the bell.

The wide-set handlebar might take a little getting used to if you are more familiar with other styles of bike, but as I said earlier, the curve suits the riding position here.

The tyres are economy quality but do have reflective sidewalls, which is a nice safety touch and a good choice for round-town cycling.

The Chelsea also comes with 'get me home'-standard front and rear lights, full mudguards including rear wheel skirt guard, a chainguard, rear rack and kickstand, meaning it's ready for the road without any additional expense. That is a positive, as the Chelsea is at the upper end of the price range for an entry-level Dutch-style bike.

It's more expensive than similar offerings from the large chains, such as the £249.99 Classic stepthrough and £299.99 Elops from Decathlon, or the £320 Pendleton Somerby.

> Buyer’s Guide: 8 of the best urban commuter bikes

It is cheaper than the classic £745 Pashley Poppy and £549 Bobbin Brownie, though with these more expensive models the quality of the components steps up several notches. The Pashley, for example, sports a Brooks saddle, Sturmey Archer brakes and Schwalbe tyres, and the Bobbin has a much lighter aluminium frame.

Conclusion

The Chelsea doesn't set out to be a high-end bicycle, but is focused more on aesthetics, so it's a reasonable buy if you love the look and aren't living on a hill. That said, while it looks pretty it doesn't have anything in terms of the specification to recommend it above the very similar offerings from Decathlon or Halfords mentioned above, which come with both a reliable manufacturer history behind them and a lower price.

With bikes designed for entry-level users who won't know what is important in a bicycle, a pedigree of bike knowledge helps to ward off expensive mistakes, and I'm not convinced the interior designers-cum-bike manufacturers behind Velobello have gained enough of that in the year they've been selling bikes for me to recommend the Chelsea over more established rivals.

Verdict

Pretty and practical about town bike – not the most fun ride, but what it lacks in spec it makes up for in style