Commuting - Commuting Conundrum....

Here's the deal:

I'm strongly considering doing this again.

Last time I commuted was 1987 - I rode 10 miles one way
into work and it was cool.

Eventually I got a different job and started driving and you
know the story.

I'm now working downtown in a commuter friendly workplace.
I now am apparently 14 miles from my house.

I can commute but have a conundrum:

My workplace has (1) a loading dock with a bike rack, plus
(2) access to a locker room and (3) showers. So far so good.

But the loading dock is accessible to anyone who walks in
there so I don't want to ride my roadie there. I can see
my carbon parts walking away due to the fact that I'm in
downtown Minneapolis [stolen bike central].

However, I do want the speed of a road or cross bike so
I can get down here without spending tons of time doing
the commute. I was going to attend a police auction and
look at some bikes there to see if I could pick something
up for a song.

The local transit council has bike lockers about two blocks
away which are rentable for $40/season [summer] and $60
for a year. I could ride my roadie and use that but then my
nice road ride would of course get wear and tear mileage.
I suppose that's bound to happen anyway.

What do you guys ride? Those of you with nice $1k or
higher bikes where do you store them?

Let me know your comments and what you ride.

I have my bike parked right behind me in my office. Can't get more convenient than that. Still, there's gotta be some place to store your bike.

I bought a $1200 Trek 520 Touring bike for bike-commuting. I used to commute with a much more expensive road bike but never felt entirely comfortable leaving it in the office unattended.

Glad to hear you're considering bike-commuting. Let us know how it goes.

When I started working where I am at they found a secure out of the way area in our parts department to keep it. when I started there was only 3 of us who regularly commuted that umber has grown to 8. So they installed a shower and are looking into bike storage for us all. I have 2 commuting bikes a 1983 Bianchi San Remo and a 1990 Specialized Sequoia ianchi is for summer (speedy thing) and the Sequoia for the winter wet rides.

Way to go on the commute we need more of us out there!

Commuting bikes take a beating and you can't be too precious about them. Get yourself an old road or touring bike. Do you need to carry stuff in panniers of fit fenders ? get one with threads at the dropouts. You may also want a tad more tyre clearance than a racing bike, for riding poor streets in the dark.

Its surprising how well some of these old bikes ride, even if they dont weight in as ultralights.

I've just resumed commuting too, I have one week of 12km each way under my belt, hope to go to a 25km each way commute next week. (I ride to a yard, pick up a vehicle to drive the rest of the way to work - 48km total + I'm on call every third week, when I have to drive to work)
I'm leaning toward the old road bike commute vehicle. I picked up an 87 Bianchi Strada (nothing fancy) for $35 at a yard sale and it is just so much more fun to ride than the mountain bike I had planned to use for a commuter. I still have to add fenders, rack, etc., but I'm pretty sure I'll be putting this stuff on the Bianchi instead of the Norco. I'll probably end up using a combination of both! (I'm going to the police auction next week to see what's there, too. - One should always be trying to upgrade the fleet!)

I have a commute about 12 miles each way. The bike gets a lot of where and tear. I would suggest getting a used road bike with midline components like 105 and a steel fork. If you get a used aluminum frame, don't repair the paint job. Scratched paint with grease rubbed in and bare aluminum patches don't hurt the frame but make the bike very unattractive. (I got one of those myself)
:p

Originally posted by aliensporebomb

However, I do want the speed of a road or cross bike so
I can get down here without spending tons of time doing
the commute. I was going to attend a police auction and
look at some bikes there to see if I could pick something
up for a song.The police auction is tonight! If you hurry you can make it!

Anyway, I went to the last one and the bikes were mostly garbage.

I commute 10 mi each way, and have my Trek 5200 ($2.5 K) in my office. Not worried about that, but get the odd remark from my co-workers.

Then again, I live in Switzerland...

good luck,
Tom

My wife's older sister had a men's Schwinn Traveler in my
size but at some point it was stored outside.

She said I could have it so I took it home.

The frame is decent enough (though heavy) but the
rear wheel has rust on the spokes. Not good.

I'll have to see if my LBS has any type of replacement wheel.

I thought dropout width on bikes has changed over the
years (this looks possibly older than a 1980 model).

Looks like the front wheel was replaced at some point as
the wheel looks almost new.

The tires are holding air but the thing is a beast - it's got
to weigh more than my 32 lb. mountain bike.

I attended a local police auction last night to see if they had
something suitable but it was depressing: 3 bikes out of 67
were "suitable", lots of Magna, Huffy, Pacific and Next dept.
store mountain bikes, tons of rusted out crap people were
paying nearly $100 for (you could buy that new at a dept.
store for that money!). They had a few roadie rides but
they were in real rough shape. The 3 that were any good
went quickly and for more than I was hoping to spend.

And they had lots of little kid bikes that apparently were stolen
and never recovered by the original owners. Sad.

I think I'll take the Schwinn to the LBS to see what they say
regarding the wheels. Rust isn't a happy thing. The tires are
much thicker than that of my roadie racer but not as thick as
my MTB of course.

As long as you are more or less average size and can ride an average size frame do as others have suggested and get an old 10 speed at a garage sale. Overhaul all the bearing groups - hubs, headset, and bottom bracket, and you will be pleasantly surprised what a good ride they are. I really prefer STI shifters in group riding for solo commuting, downtube shifters work great. You might even decide to do as I have done in the past and make it a single speed or even fixed gear, which is a lot of fun unless you have serious hills to deal with.
FWIW,
Raymond

I commute on a MTB with slick tyres and SPD clipless pedals. My commute is a 47km round trip, and I can usually match most of the roadies around here for pace. The best bit about my bike is that it can tolerate the rigours of commuting, and I don't have to change direction when the council start digging holes in the road (something that goes on quite often around here).

Remember: IT'S THE ENGINE, BABY!!!

http://www.smilies-world.de/Smilies/Smilies_klein_1/firedevil.gif

I guess for me the question would be "what are you saving it for?" I ride my $2k Airborne on most of my commutes, and I knew I'd be doing that when I bought it.

My reasoning is that most of my miles are commuting miles, and a ride is a ride. Why deny myself?

I'd feel differently if I couldn't park in my own office, however. Nevertheless, if there were bike lockers that close, and they were secure, I'd probably use them. (You could keep overclothes in the locker for the walk to the office in winter, right?) The wear on the bike would be a non-issue.

RichC