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Old 12-29-12, 02:47 AM
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Medic Zero
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Vancouver,Washington
Posts: 2,286

Bikes: Old steel GT's, for touring and commuting

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Originally Posted by WickedOne513
How much have you spent on your commuter setup?
I've put over $2000 into a frame* I picked up on Craigslist for $10! That includes a Zimbale 17L saddlebag and a Topeak trunk bag, but not any of my shoes, clothes, locks, portable tools, helmet, or helmet accessories. It does include shipping for most of the parts, components, and accessories below, only a few things my LBS had, although I make a point to get some things through them. The bike is now set up exactly the way I'd like it (other than two more lights and some more reflective tape!), and I would have ended up spending even more to set up any new bike the way I want anyway and be left with a pile of parts that I had to remove.

I managed to get a fair amount of my gear on sale by signing up for several e-mail lists and constantly searching online, if I had to replace everything at full value it'd be a few hundred dollars more, but I suppose that offsets the extra pricey tires (purely because they matched the frame color) and the tire I destroyed on accident. The front wheel I got a deal on from Craigslist, it'd cost a lot more retail.

Nitto Big Front Rack
Paul Components Gino light mount
3W flashlight
Velo Orange front wheel stabilizer
Bikebrightz light
Airzoundz air horn
aftermarket waterbottle cage mount and three cages (air vessel, water, coffee)
Honjo fenders
leather mudflaps
PDW Fenderbot light
"L" fender brackets
Ergon pedals
pedal extenders
Carradice SQR bag support
Zimbale 17L saddlebag
Carradice Cape Roll
Mars 4.0 light
swept back handlebars
ergo grips
extended stem
flashlight holder for handlebar
1.7W flashlight with strobe
Soma bar end lights
bell
heavy duty rear wheel
Salsa heavy duty skewers
spent too much importing two of the last red Panaracer T-Serv's in 1.75" from Australia
(ended up only mounting the front one and keeping the other for a spare)
Schwalbe Marathon on the rear wheel
Zefal locking seatpost skewer
Selle Anatomica Titanico saddle
wheel reflectors
reflective tape
vintage reflector for front of front rack
"shark tooth" for front deraileur
new rear deraileur (longer cage, better quality)
twin legged kickstand
long seatpost
11-34 cassette for better range on the hills on my commute
Topeak trunk bag mounted on the Nitto front rack

replaced shifters (three speed (front) broke, upgraded rear to 8 speed)
destroyed a perfectly good low mile Vittoria Rando Pro by misadjusting brakes :/ minus another 50 bucks right there
upgraded brakes to Tektro 720's, cartridge pad holders, and nice cartridges
splurged on anodized brake straddle carriers to match bikes paint
front wheel (LX hub, RhynoLite rim)
metallic braided cable housings and new cables
new crankset + a 22 tooth chain ring
new bottom bracket

* Well, it was a little more than a frame, it lacked wheels, seat, and seatpost, and the front shifter broke within a couple of weeks. Quite literally the only thing that survives from the original equipment now other than the frame and fork is the headset and front derailer.


Helmet + EVT Safe Zone mirror + PB Blaze headlight + PB rear helmet light + aftermarket visor, and reflective tape, would cost about $200 including shipping to replace, but I got the helmet and I think one of the lights on sale.

I have no idea how much I've spent on clothes, my clothing costs are complicated by being both big and tall. Between nearly full time work and also school much of the time, I need several days worth of outfits on hand as I simply don't have time to do laundry every day. That said, I do wear the same wool sweater and wool tights almost every day for most of the year.

As far as yearly costs go, I don't need the bike shop for much, but do occasionally find myself there for their mechanic to do something that I haven't learned how to do yet, like index deraileurs or measure replacement spokes. I'm putting over 2,000 miles a year (I ended up borrowing a car for about 2 months this year) on my bike, and that is on rainy, gritty roads much of the time and I'm not as diligent as I should be about keeping my chain, cassette, and rims clean. I don't know how often that is going to cost me, but I expect to eat (fairly inexpensive 8 speed) cassettes and chains pretty regularly. I'm tempted to get an ultrasonic clenser big enough to put a cassette in, that'll be another expense that is purely commuting related.

I'm lucky enough to be able to park my bike in a locked cage at work, so I actually don't bother to carry a lock with me on nights I am only going in to work and don't plan on making any stops on the way in or home. When I just have morning classes in the late fall, winter and early spring I use a big, heavy, bike specific chain and a small u-lock to lock up. I think the chain was $60, don't recall how much the OnGuard MiniBulldog was. In summer and the nicer parts of fall and spring, when I have afternoon classes, or if I need to lock up somewhere higher risk than the community college I use a second u-lock with the first and the chain. I got the second u-lock on sale for a steal at $10 online. I suspect it's not the greatest lock out there, but given the fact it mostly gets used as a second lock I didn't figure it needed to be. In fact, I was considering one of those aluminum locks as my second lock so as to save a little weight, but I couldn't resist the price on the one I got. I figure a Palmy lock spray painted black wouldn't obviously be an aluminum lock to a thief.

I also have another mountain bike that I actually occasionally use for mountain biking in the summer that I am setting up as my snow and ice commuter. That'll probably only be a handful of days here in Seattle, but I hate to rely on the bus, especially on those days. I managed to pick up studded snow tires (Nokian Hakkepelittas) for $30 from Craigslist from a seller who converted to 700cc. That saved me about $100 if you include shipping. Other than wet weather brake pads, I may only be adding a few mounts for lights I already have for this set-up and run a courier bag I've owned for years and use mostly for things other than riding. Hard to quantify the costs of that bike, it'll get used very rarely for commuting and as far as my significant other is concerned its raison d'etre is for us to go mountain biking together. Otherwise I don't think I'd get space at our apartment for a bike I may or may not need for only a few days a year! Some years in Seattle it doesn't really freeze or accumulate any snow at all. Thankfully she's a mountain biker!

Oh, and one more thing. I invested in a plethora of AAA and AA rechargeable batteries for all my lights, as well as a charger and a battery tester and some cases for the batteries. Definitely a commuting expense!


I think it is great that we often encourage people to commute and even tour on whatever bike and gear that they happen to have on hand, but realistically, for myself, it's probably well over three thousand dollars to get completely set up with all the accoutrements, just for commuting. That cost has been spread over nearly two years now as I've put money from almost every paycheck into parts and accessories and that doesn't include my touring rig that I commuted on for the first year. I'm really hoping that with a few more lights and a few more pairs of bib shorts, and another pair of wool tights, that I'll be basically done dumping money into commuting except for replacing worn out socks, chains, and cassettes. Although even the best tires may not last me more than a few years if I'm lucky and given the conditions I ride in nearly every day, I expect I'll be replacing rims and buying a spoke tension meter so I can build my own wheels, so you can add that pricey tool and those parts to the cost. I don't mean that in any way to discourage anyone from doing it, it can definitely be done for cheaper, especially if you aren't a Clyde, riding in the rain, up hill both ways.

Last edited by Medic Zero; 12-29-12 at 05:49 AM.
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