Possible new commuter

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J50NWA

New Member
Location
Surrey
Hi, New to the forum,

There is a possibility I might be changing jobs soon. I will be around 5 miles from the office all being well and this seems commutable. Problem is I'm north Surrey downs and its quite hilly. Using Google maps it shows +177ft -436ft on the way in, reverse on way home mainly concentrated in a 1 mile stretch. To cut the journey by about a mile I could use a dirt path so I'm considering a new (to me) bike for the collection. I already have a MTB and a Road bike but am unsure where next, would a commuter be an advantage over a CX bike? both disk brakes and can handle the rougher terrain. What are the advantages of either?

cheers Jason,
 

vickster

Legendary Member
You could easily do the 5 miles on your MTB especially if it has a lock out fork and good gearing for the hills. A CX will make almost no difference over 5 miles of mixed terrain which will presumably only take around 30 minutes. I wouldn't bother diverting to save a mile (a few minutes) unless it's needed to avoid a motorway or other area that bikes aren't allowed/accessible.

Go try the route on both bikes (the current rain will give you a good flavour of autumn/ winter all weather commuting) and see which will work best. In wet weather, a dirt path will be horrible on any bike for a commute where you don't want to arrive caked in mud (you could realistically do 5 miles in your work clothes if you wanted)
 
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J50NWA

New Member
Location
Surrey
Cheers I get that. Mtb is an old spring hitter with no lockout, but yeah I could slog it out. Looking for an excuse to spend..
 

vickster

Legendary Member
Fair enough. My Boardman CX with 32mm slick tyres is my commuter

Go check some local shops out. Freeborn in Horsham sells Genesis bikes for example
 
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