My commute is only 2 miles, so I have to go home for lunch to get in 8 miles. My commuter bike is a Marin 29er with Marathon Plus road tires. But, I have made the trip on my Cervelo RS, Reynolds 853 single speed and my wife's 3 speed Townie. I have a good place to park my bike where stealing has not been a problem.
Well, Ive just learned that its a ***** to ride to work on rainy days. What a mission to get the kit dry! Arrived all muggy and dirty...still worth it. :-)
I ride this when the weather is not so good, taking the shortest route :
This one when the sun is shining and I want to lengthen the ride with a few climbs or if I join a ride. Originally it was a road bike with taiwanese CF frame but it broke and I used the parts on a CX frame I intend to race with this autumn :
Well, Ive just learned that its a ***** to ride to work on rainy days. What a mission to get the kit dry! Arrived all muggy and dirty...still worth it. :-)
I just started commuting to work, for the first time in my life, on July 20th, when I transferred to a job closer to home. I knew this was coming, so I decided to have my "ideal" commuter built-up for me. It took over three months for all the parts to become available, but I finally brought it home 10 days ago. I was riding a Lemond Sarthe (not good for commuting, at all), but now my Bryant with Alfine 11 and Gates CenterTrack makes my commute my favorite part of the day. Oh, and I don't have a wall rack, but the Bryant has a kick-stand, so I can park it along one wall of my small office.
I just started commuting to work, for the first time in my life, on July 20th, when I transferred to a job closer to home. I knew this was coming, so I decided to have my "ideal" commuter built-up for me. It took over three months for all the parts to become available, but I finally brought it home 10 days ago. I was riding a Lemond Sarthe (not good for commuting, at all), but now my Bryant with Alfine 11 and Gates CenterTrack makes my commute my favorite part of the day. Oh, and I don't have a wall rack, but the Bryant has a kick-stand, so I can park it along one wall of my small office.
We've had great summer weather this year in eastern Washington's Columbia Basin. I have commuted daily since mid April, and that includes a detour to the post office before heading home for lunch too. Since family has become more time consuming my bicycle commute has become more important, and I frequently find myself taking the long way home. The chain and cogs get cleaned every two weeks, and that's about it until winter arrives. This rugged Co-Motion Americano touring bike with 40-spoke tandem wheels never quits.
Nope.
Campagnolo Veloce 10 shifters
9 speed tiagra derailleur
shimano 10 speed cassette & chain
with a jtek shiftmate adapter.
Does it work well ? Yes most of the time. But every few weeks I realise I can't shift to the lowest gear anymore and see the cable has slipped slightly on the shiftmate pulley and is blocked at the highest point by the "crossing" part of it. It is hard to explain for me because english is not my native language. This is quickly fixed as you only need to shift on highest gear and rotate the pulley to the initial setup. It is just annoying to have to do it sometimes.
I used to have the same setup but with a 7 speed RX100 derailleur. It worked as well except that one day the shifting went really really wrong. I tried to tweak it without luck and as I had that tiagra derailleur lying around, I told myself the rx100 derailleur's spring was busted as it was very weak and replaced it. A few minutes later I realised I had the same crappy shifting with the tiagra, then figured I was pinching the derailleur cable with the mounting rubber bands of the SKS raceblade clip-on fenders I had mounted earlier ! Although the spring was weak, the rx100 7 speed derailleur would probably still okay but at this point I wasn't going to remove a shiny new derailleur for an old one so I left the tiagra one.
The second one is Campag 10 speed, 10 speed sram, and 10 speed shimano.
Do they work well?
Yes, it works very well. I love the campagnolo shifters ergonomy and quite hate the shimano on. I had to do a choice because I have 2 campagnolo and 2 shimano wheelseets on my bikes and like the idea to be able to swap them freely. I choosed to follow the shimano system not because it is shimano or cheaper, but because campagnolo is switching to 11 speed and the shimano system is used by both shimano and sram. I figured cassettes and chains will be much longer available in 10 speed shimano/sram version in the years to go.
On the campagnolo rear wheels I have useful but very expensive Marchisio shimano 10 speed compatible cassette for campagnolo hubs. I don't know if I will replace them when they will be worn or if I will relaced them with shimano hubs. The problem is one of my wheelset is a Shamal 16HPW of 1997. I love it and it is quite a collector item and I would like to keep it original with its HPW hub. Sadly I can't convert it anymore to shimano because the freehub shimano body is not available anymore.
Daily Commuter when the weather cooperates is an almost stock 1974 Schwinn Continental (older than me by 12 years), even though it weighs 36lb's the bike hauls. However my commuter will be come a 2012 CAAD10 105 in about 3 weeks, cannot wait.
Just recently started to get back to riding and commuting with my 2006 Specialized Allez. I added a Topeak MTX rack and Timbuk2 panniers. I did have to replace the carbon seat post with an aluminum one to handle the load.
I use the only bike I own for all my riding. 2006 Scott S30. Looking to upgrade my headlight from Light & Motion Solo to possibly a Niterider MiNewt Mini 300 LED. There is nothing wrong with the L & M light and will keep it as a back up, I just like the bright white light the LED setups put out as some sections of my commute do not have any street lights, house lights etc along the way. I keep a weeks worth of clothes in my office, where I can shower, so I don't have to have a rack or a backpack, just use a small backpack type bag to carry lunch, wallet cell phone and keys in. I don't ride if its raining at the time I have to leave, guess that's a good reason to think about a beater for bad weather.
And you might be right. Lausanne and Montreux rank high on my list of nicest cities, and the north shore of Lac Geneva is very tough to beat as a great place to live.
Hows the TT bike for going down that 15% hill?
Also has the cold that gripped Northern Europe this winter killed off your bike commutes, or hasn't it been too bad on the lake shore?
And you might be right. Lausanne and Montreux rank high on my list of nicest cities, and the north shore of Lac Geneva is very tough to beat as a great place to live.
Hows the TT bike for going down that 15% hill?
Not that good but it is so short I take it carefully.
Also has the cold that gripped Northern Europe this winter killed off your bike commutes, or hasn't it been too bad on the lake shore?
I only did 1 or 2 days a week on the bike since early january. The wind is the biggest issue these days. And I'm slow. I took the bike today, will probably do it too tomorrow then I'll take the train for the rest of the week as they predict snow on wednesday.
But we are on the best side of the cold season, daylight time increase. I hate that part between Vevey and Cully where there is no light.
On my Pinarello FpQuattro. 23km each way. Brilliant. We have a dedicated bicycle cage at work for those of us with above averagely nice bikes, so we get to lock them indoors. Going on a really nice bike is - for me at least - a great advantage, because it makes me want to bike to work thus removing the temptation to get in the car parked next to it in the garage. For really shitty days I have a back-up off-roader, an old Kona Caldera - but have to admit that it has to be a really crappy day for me to choose that over the Pina.
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Originally Posted by T0mi
Sometimes I tell myself I live in paradise
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