Commuting - finally a choice

finally me (the king of indecision) has made a decision on what to replace my old beater with for commuting. a trek 7100 hybrid in blue wheat. My xmas present to meself. I rode it today and and it is very fast and comfortable.Now to order fenders and some panniers any suggestions on cheaap ones that work well?

Congrats on the new bike!

SKS makes very good fenders and are not too expensive. Zefal fenders are easily available and maybe less expensive. Your LBS is a good place to start.

You will need a rear rack to hang those panniers on. You will be happier in the long run with a decent one such as a Blackburn Expedition.

A lot of hybrids have insufficient heeel clearance for panniers. A touring bike would be a better idea.

I like Planet Bike Freddy Fenders, they are easy to put on & off.
I use small panniers; on my 24" wheeled hybrid I do get some heel interference, but the same panniers work fine on my 26" wheeled MTB. Don't go for giant sized panniers and your hybrid should be just fine. Don't worry too much about water-proofness, they all leak eventually. Invest in some large sized zip-lock bags (they sell them at Wal-Mart in sizes up to something like 20 gallons, they are in the RV section) and you will be protecting your stuff from the wet.

Originally posted by RainmanP
Congrats on the new bike!

SKS makes very good fenders and are not too expensive. Zefal fenders are easily available and maybe less expensive. Your LBS is a good place to start.

You will need a rear rack to hang those panniers on. You will be happier in the long run with a decent one such as a Blackburn Expedition.

I have a rack on my current bike made by Giant it is light and works well.

the lbs wants $40 for the same fenders i can buy from nashbar for $20

I will not have it till late next week they had to order one in a 20 inch frame so it takes a bit.thanks for the congrats the bike is much nicer and faster than my mtn bike.

Originally posted by D*Alex
A lot of hybrids have insufficient heeel clearance for panniers. A touring bike would be a better idea.

I am looking at a trunk bag with zip out panniers so clearance should be no issue

Originally posted by D*Alex
A lot of hybrids have insufficient heeel clearance for panniers. A touring bike would be a better idea.

Trek's hybrids have 44.5cm chainstays, and plenty of clearance for big tires and fenders. It's sad that they've abandoned the lovely cro-mo touring fork, complete with double eyelets and low-rider braze-ons, that they used on this series of bikes in the 90's; they were much like an upright touring bike then.

The 7100, as an entry-level 700c hybrid, is considerably less expensive than any touring bike I know of and -- while I too prefer and use touring bikes for commuting -- it ought to serve nemo quite well. At least it doesn't have a suspension fork!

RichC

I use Topeak Defenders (http://www.topeak.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/store/defender.html?L+scstore+xjps7324ff26f626+1042147415) I only use them when it's crappy out and I love 'em

If you havent picked up the bike from the shop yet, you should consider swapping the factory tyres for something better. Tyres are the most cost-effective way to improve any bike, and switching from a typical hybrid 40mm heavily treaded tyres to a 28-32mm slick touring tyre will add a few mph . Kevlar/aramid banded tyres will give good puncture protection. Make sure your tyres are suited to your ride.

Originally posted by Rich Clark


At least it doesn't have a suspension fork!

RichC

I rode bot this one and teh 7200 which has the fork and i felt that the extra weight on the 7200 was unwarranted.

Originally posted by MichaelW
If you havent picked up the bike from the shop yet, you should consider swapping the factory tyres for something better. Tyres are the most cost-effective way to improve any bike, and switching from a typical hybrid 40mm heavily treaded tyres to a 28-32mm slick touring tyre will add a few mph . Kevlar/aramid banded tyres will give good puncture protection. Make sure your tyres are suited to your ride.

tires on this bike are 700cx32 coming from a mtn bike with 2.0 inch wide tires this is quite a change. My only concern is Puncture resistance, My old mtn bike is pretty good on tires and all that. Most of the time I have very little snow to ride so a smoother type tread pattern would work. For the last 3 or 4 yrs we have averaged obne storm a winter that dumps 4 inches or better and it will stay a day or 2. other that that ice is the worst. However the areas i ride thru there is sometimes broken glass on the roads.