Commuting - Setting up a commuter is setting up for safety & convenience

It occured to me while setting up my bike for commuting and learning the how-tos is that it is essentially striving towards safety and convenience. It makes for a bike that, even if you don't commute, it can handle eventual times when you need to carry more stuff, but safely. and it's always imperitive to know the rules of the road and learn ways others handle different situations.

Settying up a bike for commuting is setting up a bike that you want to ride every day. If the bike you want to ride is the safest, most-convenient bike, great. Some people might want a fast bike, or a comfortable bike, or a bike that looks cool.

Not everyone needs racks and panniers and lights and fenders and reflective tape and 38c tires, etc. Some people like them, some only like some of them.

Settying up a bike for commuting is setting up a bike that you want to ride every day. If the bike you want to ride is the safest, most-convenient bike, great. Some people might want a fast bike, or a comfortable bike, or a bike that looks cool.

Not everyone needs racks and panniers and lights and fenders and reflective tape and 38c tires, etc. Some people like them, some only like some of them.

Great post, totally agree.

My commuter bike setup philosophy has slowly led me to a 'fast tourer' type of setup. I now commute on the same bike that I do loaded touring and audax on, essentially because my commutes vary in length upto 60 miles r/t depending what worksites I have to go to. This may be totally the wrong setup for some folks.

But just like you said, it's all about a bike that you want to ride every day.

I think a commuter bike is a very personalized tool. It should be comfortable and easy for its user to ride. It should carry what the rider needs/wants to carry in a safe convenient manner. Thankfully with a few trips to the LBS or the internet and some ingenuity anyone can put together their perfect commuter. There are so many variations of commuter bikes represented on this forum alone that it boggles the mind, who knows how many more varieties are out there on the world's highways and byways. As you'll often see on the forums "Ride what you like".

I'm going in the wrong direction too. Over the last few months, I have literally stripped everything off my commuter bike that isn't strictly functional. Water bottle & cage, u-lock, saddle bag, frame pump, fenders, rack. It's all gone. I don't know why, really, just wanted to see what it would be like without all that crap. Of course when I go on long rides I have to carry everything in my backpack.

There seems to be two schools: the one aiming for more and more convenience using racks, panniers, etc; and the one stripping the bike bare, leaving a single speed.

And then there's the rest of us: somewhere in between. :)

I have to agree with the OP. The "convenience" is a good catch-all to describe what the following posts describe.

If you have big hills to climb on your commute, light weight is very convenient. On the other hand if you have a route with potholes that eat a VW for breakfast, suspension and fat tires are very convenient.

I'm going in the wrong direction too. Over the last few months, I have literally stripped everything off my commuter bike that isn't strictly functional. Water bottle & cage, u-lock, saddle bag, frame pump, fenders, rack. It's all gone. I don't know why, really, just wanted to see what it would be like without all that crap. Of course when I go on long rides I have to carry everything in my backpack."I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough."
- Diogenes

There seems to be two schools: the one aiming for more and more convenience using racks, panniers, etc; and the one stripping the bike bare, leaving a single speed.

while i agree with what your sayin; i argue that singlespeed has it's own conveniences and works well with all the gadgets and doodads. for me at least, singlespeed is just a way to do less maintenence and focus more on the ride (with my fenders and watterbottles still in their place).

a commuter to me is a bike that will get me where i want everyday quickly with the least possible hassle. on my bike i've gotten it down to: oiling the chain occasionally, and pumping up the tires. i can just hop on and ride it whenever i want to.