I've been using a MTB for my commute for the past several years and I'm due for a new bike. While I've been happy with my Trek I've realized that the closest thing to going off trail is swerving to dodge people on the bike pathes and hitting grass. Training for a more distance ride is something that I'd like to start doing. My question is which type of bike should I migrate to? I tested out a couple road bikes and love the feel of them, but I worry about the rims and tires on city streets. I also tested a few hybrids and I liked them, but they felt bulky after riding the road bikes. Can a road bike handle the daily tortures of potholes, slick/wet roads, and what ever else I may encounter in the streets of Chicago? Should I go hybrid? Stick with a MTB? Please help a noobie out.

PS
I'm on a student budget and I've set aside roughly $600 for a new bike so keep that in mind when suggesting bike. :)

I've been using a MTB for my commute for the past several years and I'm due for a new bike. While I've been happy with my Trek I've realized that the closest thing to going off trail is swerving to dodge people on the bike pathes and hitting grass. Training for a more distance ride is something that I'd like to start doing. My question is which type of bike should I migrate to? I tested out a couple road bikes and love the feel of them, but I worry about the rims and tires on city streets. I also tested a few hybrids and I liked them, but they felt bulky after riding the road bikes. Can a road bike handle the daily tortures of potholes, slick/wet roads, and what ever else I may encounter in the streets of Chicago? Should I go hybrid? Stick with a MTB? Please help a noobie out.

PS
I'm on a student budget and I've set aside roughly $600 for a new bike so keep that in mind when suggesting bike. :)
Bianchi Pista, Specialized Langster are good places to start for a fixed-gear commuter. Just check out Arby's posts to see his Pista commuter.

Fixed-gear would be a great choice because they're light and cheap and fairly durable. As long as you don't have any long, sustained climbs that you don't want to deal with, fixed-gear is definitely the way to go.

A cyclocross bike is a really nice compromise between speed and durability. It would definitely be able to handle whatever terrible roads you throw at it. When I switched from my road bike to a my cross for city riding, it was like night and day. The cross bike just felt much better. I don't know if you could get one for $600 though.

I myself am switching from my cross bike to a fixed gear soon though, and you could definitely get a fixie for $600.

I ride a cross bike every day, have been for about 9 months now. I'm not sure if you could find a "decent" $600 cross bike, but if you get one you won't feel like you need to upgrade in the near future. Add another bike maybe, but never lose the crosser!

One more vote for a cyclocross bike. I use mine for commuting, combination of gravel and paved roads. 38mm tires soak up bumps pretty well, and quite honestly, they don't feel that much slower than having 23mm skinny tires mounted on it, still way faster than a mtn bike's fat tires. The $600 cost limit could be problematic though....

For the budget of $600. check out some local shops for a used bike. Should be able to pick one up and have money left to customize it to your needs.

GET A ROAD BIKE ! ! !

GET A ROAD BIKE ! ! !

GET A ROAD BIKE ! ! !

GET A ROAD BIKE ! ! !

GET A ROAD BIKE ! ! !

GET A ROAD BIKE ! ! !

-- You say yourself that you like the feel of them. If you want to ride longer distances, something that these fixed gear advocates seem to overlook, you need a road bike. You need a bike that will manage distance, terrain (not as in single track ruts, but as in climbs).

Road bikes will manage the Tour de France. They manage the Giro d'Italia -- thousands of miles. They manage the cobblestones of the Paris-Roubaix.

So, when you shop for a road bike, and I think you should be able to find an excellent one for $600, shop for heavier wheels. I have the radial laced, 20 spoke front wheel, and the rear is 20 spoke, two cross. I have two sets of these wheels.

I have another bike, 3 cross, 32 spoke wheels, and a second set, 3 cross, 36 spoke.

I'm 200 lbs -- probably heavier than you. I ride these wheels 100 miles a week, or more. Yes, every now and then I need to take a spoke wrench and "fine tune" them. But that's not complicated. The wheels hold together just fine -- over the miles. I ride on rural roads with asphalt patches, cracks, holes, gravel.

A couple things you need to do with a road bike. You need to PAY ATTENTION to the road surface. Not just because you're riding light wheels, you need to watch for things which can puncture light tires -- glass, nails, junk. You also need to watch for potential hazards which might cause you to spill . . . ruts, cracks, broken pavement. Around here we look for limbs, bark, chunks of wood -- they fall off log trucks.

Look for a bike with more durable wheels. A 3 cross, 32 spoke set would be a good choice. Then, set it up with some heavier tires -- 700 X 25, "touring" -- and run them with about 90 lbs, or 95 lbs. You're not racing. You don't need 115 lbs in the tires.

A fixed gear bike is a fad. It is . . . If it weren't a "fad" you'd see everyone riding them. They're a specialized machine for a specialized rider and application.

GET A ROAD BIKE ! ! !

You like the feel. There's nothing mystical about riding one. I've been riding them since I was 14 yrs old. (I'm 57.) If a kid can ride them, you can. The only things necessary about riding a road bike are to get decent wheels (spokes and heavier tires), and then watch where you're riding. Watching the road surface and picking a clean line is fundamental to riding a racing machine.

So, get one and get out on the road and ride the miles. :D :D :D

Perhaps fixed gear riding is a fad at the moment. That doesn't mean that there aren't tangible reason why to do it.

Not to say that a lot of people do it, but MB1 would certainly argue that you can in fact do longer rides on fixed gear bikes.

That said, there is no reason why you shouldn't get a road bike for around town. Both my fixed and road bike have 23s on them and I don't have any problems. I used to ride a MTN bike with 1.25 slicks, the same things that ever punctured those would break my road bike tires.

On the subject of the 600 dollars. I think that fixed gear was mentioned because you can get a quite good entry fixed bike for that price. As for road, it is a bit more difficult. Your best hope (in chicago) is to look around at some shope for discounted used or last years bikes. I was in Performance on Halsted earlier this week and they seemed to have everything on sale. I also like Higher Gear and Rapid Transit, but you are less likely to find value there.

GET A ROAD BIKE ! ! !

Just get one with horizontal drop outs and fix it. It's fun, simple, low maintenance. Leave the braze-ons in place in case you decide to make it shift, but I like commuting on the fixie and using it for flatter rides.

My dream commuter (not that it's out of my reach, or possibly yours) is a Surly Cross-Check. Keep an eye on eBay and you should be able to find a used one for $600. Or, check with your favorite local shop and see what they can do for you (the shop I used to work for put together a brand-new Cross-Check for $650 for a customer using some old-stock parts we wanted to get rid of, but were still good quality).

The reason the Cross-Check is dreamy to me is that you can set it up geared, single speed, or fixie depending on the wheels you choose. I'd start single speed (again, this may help on price at your local shop), with flip-flop hub for fixie when needed/wanted.

Sean

Thanks for all the replies. I wanted to sit back a bit and see where the discussion would go. I have not yet test driven a fixed gear, but I'll give it a shot this weekend. At the moment I'm leaning towards a road bike so unless the fixed gear wows me, it's probably the direction I'm going. I'd like to take distance rides on the weekend along with commuting daily and I may be moving to hilly Portland, OR in a year or two so it seems to fit my needs more. My next question is what road bikes should I consider? I tested a Trek 1000C and it seemed pretty nice and in my price range, but since I've never owned a road bike, I'm not sure what I'm looking for in one.

A friend of mine suggested I try out the Specialized Allez as an entry level road bike. Guess I'll be trying that one out too. :)

Go to the shimano web site and look at the levels of their road component groups, that will be a big factor in differences between bikes in your price range. Try to get decent components as they'll hold up better, hold their tune/adjustment better, and so forth. Try to also get decent wheels and tires as noted above by others. Don't just look at bike models, look at the components and wheels they come with. And perhaps most important is fit. Go to Trek's web site, go to LeMond's web site, go to Felt's web site, go to Giant's web site, go to Specialized's web site and look at the geometry charts. Some bikes have longer top tubes, shorter top tubes, sloping top tubes. Most people fit bikes based on leg length, but it's far easier to adjust seat height than it is to adjust stem length. Fit first, components and wheels second, frame material third, brand and price dead last.

Regarding fixed gear bikes, keep in mind there are also single speed bikes and flip-flop wheels with fixed on one side and a single cog freewheel on the other side. Fixed gear means the pedals are always turning so no coasting. It can be great, but can also be a hassle depending on your riding style and experience. And many people buy old used out of date bikes and convert them to fixies, see the SheldonBrown.com web site for a very good dialog on the process.

If you are thinking of longer rides maybe eventually, as well as commuting by bike, and probably moving to Portland Oregon, then you may as well get used to the fact that you'll probably end up owning more than one bike - "not that there's anything wrong with that", just ask my wife. :)

You might do well to consider a used road bike to start off with, especially if your going to park it on campus. If it then gets ripped you won't be out so much. Functional road bikes can be found at thrift shops and yard/rummage/garage sales for $20 or less. A basic tune up and a set of fresh tires should get most of them going. Then you can use some of the rest of that $600 of yours for stuff like a helmet, decent gloves, cycling shorts, cycling shoes, maybe several different types of pedal systems to see which you prefer, and so forth.

There is no one single bike that will work for everything. Define your immediate needs and budget, consider your future needs and budget, look around and see what the local active riders are riding, and do what works best for you.

Have a good ride.

A friend of mine suggested I try out the Specialized Allez as an entry level road bike. Guess I'll be trying that one out too. :)

If you watch you can sometimes find really good deals on used Sora/Tiagra level Allezs. Nice entry level bike. I just sold my 2003 to a friend for 350.00. Had a couple of scratches on it but otherwise a good bike. Had plenty of mileage on it with not a single issue or problem. Rides fine and is nice and solid.

There is no one single bike that will work for everything. Define your immediate needs and budget, consider your future needs and budget, look around and see what the local active riders are riding, and do what works best for you.

Have a good ride.

As far as I can tell, this is dead on. Except for a few die hards I have seen in fixed gear forums, you would be hard pressed to find a fixed gear rider who doesn't also own a geared bike.

Also, remember that if you are using your bike for transportation, it is going to get dinged up by racks, locks, other bikes, inclimate weather, ect. This is just the breaks of the commuting game. If you are really lucky you can keep your bike inside all the time, but that generally only applies to people who just go to and from an office.

That said, buying an expensive road bike and seeing it dinged up like that will make you very sad (even if expensive is 600 dollars). I would strongly suggest looking for something used. Go around some shops and see what they have. If you have a good idea on geometry you can look online. As has been said before. Look at the fit before the brand. If you see something that has decent components and a good fit but are unsure about frame quality, people here would be more than happy to chime in on that as well, so feel free to ask.

you basically want something that will do it all.

The road bike is more versatile and can do more. The fixte is a good fun, good training and a good "everyday" bike due to simplicity and reliability.

If I could only own one bike, it would be a road bike (unless I lived in a flat state like Florida.) I used to commute on a touring bike (heavy road bike with fenders, racks, long chainstays & lights.) It took more maintenance than the fixte, but not so much as to be prohibitive.

The comments earlier in the thread on wheels and tires are especially good.

I'd like to take distance rides on the weekend along with commuting daily and I may be moving to hilly Portland, OR in a year or two so it seems to fit my needs more.

Plenty of fixies in Portland. BTW, I moved from Wheeling, IL a few years back out to Vancouver, WA -- right across the river from Portland. My wife lived her whole life in Chicago before the move. We both love it out here.

As for bikes ... try used. Find out what fits you pretty well (FIT, FIT, and FIT in the words of frequent poster and resident curmudgeon OldEdScott) in terms of a top tube length, then shop the classifieds (on this site) and Ebay. I've gotten two great deals from Ebay.

Many gears vs. one gear ... Chicago is fine for one gear. Out here, you might like to have a couple gears. You can't go very far without some sort of a hill. Around here they seem to come in two varieties: 1) short and steep, 2) long and almost steep. There are plenty of people who tackle all this terrain on fixies but most mortals like to drop it down a gear or two rather than standing for 1/4 of the ride and using contortionist body english to coax their bikes up the steeps.

Portland, Oregon . . .

I was born there, in 1948, lived there until just two yrs ago when I moved to the Oregon coast.

You want a road bike for Portland. Sure, you can ride a single, fixed gear in Portland, but you can't ride it about 80% of where you might decide to go in the greater Portland area.