Hopefully a new bike commuter soon

[Ridgeway]

Been offered a new opportunity at a company, that’s already scary for a self employed FLT like me😁

Anyway with times being some what chaotic and me still needing a good 10yrs of income this opportunity may just be the very thing the Doctor ordered.

Additionally this would give me the chance to cycle to work as much as possible as the route is really quite nice, 24km with 130m of elevation so almost pancake flat. Showers are available at the new company and there’s an underground bike storage facility and also chargers for e-bikes.

My thoughts now are which type of bike?

A road bike that can handle paniers and mud guards, can also double as a winter bike (or is that a myth…)

Gravel bike that can cope with it all

Out and out tourer/commuter bike (Santos maybe) v belt and built to last and be abused

I don’t mind investing into the right solution and can probably get a decent chunk of it back via a cycle to work scheme and a nifty accountant

My best estimate would be that I would ride 4 days a week and ideally manage 9-10 months of the year.

I want something efficient to ride but it’s been 30yrs since I cycled to work and my guess is comfort should be higher on the list than I’m imagining…

 

[Milkfloat]

If you are riding with a club over winter, then swapping wheels and removing a pannier is going to get painful pretty quickly. I would be tempted by a 1x or even a fixed gear/single speed with good tyre clearance (ice tyres), disc brakes and dynamo lighting. A threaded bottom bracket would be nice too. This assumes that the roads get heavily salted/gritted, but some ice remains.

 

[DCLane]

If you're riding most days then I'd suggest two bikes (sorry!); one half-decent one and one for the winter which is cheap. A single speed would work for winter.

A road bike with panniers / rucksack (I use a rucksack) and fixed/clip-on mudguards for when it's nice. And a cheap wreck of a bike which can take wider tyres for when it's colder and the weather's worse. If you're commuting in the winter that'll last one/two winters at most usually without major work.

I'm at the 'upgrade' end now for commuting, with a second-hand carbon road bike plus a cyclocross bike for the winter, but had an OK road bike for commuting in the summer at the start which cost about £600 plus a cheap £100 winter bike.

Oh, and I have most of my clothes I need at work - a selection of suits, shoes, etc - just bringing a shirt and underwear each day.

 

[si_c]

I did a very similar commute to your potential new one for a few years, 21km each way with 100m elevation gain. I found the best solution was to carry all my work clothes in a backpack once a week and store shoes, trousers, shower kit in the office and rotate them out on a monday.

That way I could just ride in with minimal thought for carrying stuff, and could use a road bike setup with mudguards, disc brakes and dynamo lighting for the trip, perfect all year round commuter and for a large part of that time my only road bike too.

 

[Sharky]

Retired now, but in all my decades of commuting, never bought a specific bike for commuting. I would just use the bike I used for club runs etc. Have used a handlebar bag and a topeak RX bag which clamped onto the seat pots. Both of these were quick and easy to take off.

Depending on your facilities at work, you don't need to carry that much on the commute. I kept a suit, shoes and coat and wash kit at the office and just had to bring a fresh shirt and underwear on a daily basis. When commuting by car or train, I would replenish the items kept at the office.

 

[Arrowfoot]

2 bikes for sure if commuting daily. Get the commuter road bike first. As it is pancake flat and assuming proper road, 25 or 28 tyres will make it easy and fast. Mudguards for sure. May not need panniers if you can carry stuff on your backpack.

Enjoy the new job and the rides.

 

[Ridgeway]

Cheers all

Seems a sensible idea to drive once a week to carry the new clothes and also pick up the dirty stuff, may do that each Monday.

Looking outside and seeing glorious sunshine all these ideas sound great, i just hope i can muster the gumption of the CycleChat commuter fraternity when it's dark, cold and wet

 

[TwoStews]

I would also vote for an out and out commuter.

I ride a Genesis Day One Ltd with a Nexus 8 IGH, full length mudguards, a rack and a hub dynamo wired to lights front and rear. It aint sexy, it aint fast, but my god it's a work horse. Thousands and thousands of miles under her belt and she hasn't complained one bit and required minimal maintenance.

I would also advocate a pannier (or two), you just can't beat them for carrying anything and everything you need with the total assurance it's waterproof. Having the capacity to take a decent quantity of stuff to and from the office works for me as my hours and patterns vary, so I often leave work not knowing if I will be back in the next morning, or whether I will work from home or a different location. I regularly travel with laptop, paperwork, breakfast, lunch, change of clothes etc etc. The added advantage is that when you get on an unloaded 'proper' road bike, you feel like KOM!

 

[Ridgeway]

Yes i think panders will be a must, looked at the Ortlieb ones recently and they seem very good

 

[Ridgeway]

Panders, Pandas would be better

 

[Oldhippy]

Now I insist on seeing a photo of two panda strapped to the back of a bike carrying luggage! 😁

 

[Ridgeway]

So seems i can start "cycling to work" as from next month. Will probably do the first week in the car to suss out the situation and then swap over to the bike there after. Keen to start on the bike before the weather turns and then see how long i can keep it up for, i can see some $$$ being spent on some decent water proof clothing around Oct/Nov and then some warm stuff later on, all great excuses to buy more bike gear

Been scouring the classifieds locally but nearly all bikes i can find won't take panniers so i may go new which at least i can get some Cycle to Work subsidy on (i think).

Steel/Alu etc seems to be the right way to go and i'm seriously tempted by a Rohloff gearing system (oh dear), in fact at one point i thought f@k it and go custom build and get the right machine..... Santos Cross Lite is looking very interesting right now

 

[Ridgeway]

Now I insist on seeing a photo of two panda strapped to the back of a bike carrying luggage! 😁

Close

 

[TwoStews]

.. Santos Cross Lite is looking very interesting right now

Drool...

 

[Ridgeway]

So next Monday i start my new job, yes i'll be an employee again but there are benefits to having a stable income in turbulent times

Decided to start bike commuting a few days in so i know the ropes a bit. Also going to use an existing road bike at first and add:

• Mud guards
• 30mm tyres
• Decent front and rear lights, probably 2 of each
• SPD pedals instead of 3 bolt

This does mean i've decided to use a messenger bag to carry my "stuff" in, will see how that goes.

Hopefully an Indian Summer will give me some motivation until Autumn !