Commuting - Bike Choices

Greetings,

I plan to start commuting as soon as school is out (and I don't have to take my stepson to school everyday). I'm trying to decide which bike to use for the commute.

Bike #1 - New K2 Mach 2.0. I bought this bike in January and it has been my primary road bike.

Bike #2 - Pacific (Wal-Mart brand) 58-pound mountain bike.

I have considered trying to find a beater bike to ride as well.

My commute will be short, approximately 7 miles each way. The roads are good and traffic won't be a problem, I hope.

My questions/concerns are

- Should I save my new bike for weekends and/or rides with my wife or should I just ride it.

- Should I convert the MTB to slick tires, look pedals, etc and ride it. Is it difficult to switch back and forth between the two different riding positions?

- Buy a beater and ride it. If I go this route what problems might I have switching back and forth between it and my K2?

- I will be a fare weather commuter so riding in the ran shouldn't be an issue unless I get caught out during the ride.

I suppose I should just buy another K2 identical the one I have now and designate one for the weekends and one for the week days :)

Any advice from you all will be appreciated.

Zack

Hi Zack.
If the mtn bike is really 58 pounds I'd forget about using it for commuting.
If the K2 won't get beat up you could ride it.
If you're worried about it getting beat up or stolen, get a beater or new/used low end K2 or some other decent bike.


A comment about putting Look pedals on a commuter.
I have Look pedals on my road bike and two-sided mtn bike pedals (Shimano M535) on my commuter. Sometimes with the engines racing behind me (typical Atlanta rush hour traffic) I don't have time to "mentally" determine if the pedal is right side up for clicking in. With two sides I just step down and go.

Hit a pawn shop and look through their selection for a hardtail MTB in good mechanical shape. Looks are unimportant as a pretty bike will get swiped long before one that looks like a POS. FWIW I'm using a 99 Specialized Hardrock with a set of slicks on it.

1) You can often find decent beaters at thrift stores and the like for under fifty bucks. They don't look great, but they'll serve as excellent commuters. If you can handle a wrench, I'd pick one up. I see fairly good hardtail MTBs all the time. Most of them lack a front suspension fork, but those are pretty useless on pavement anyway (IMO).

2) By all means, go with a nice set of slicks.

3) I've had zero trouble switching between riding positions. Can't say if that'll be true for you, though.

4) Commuting on the K2 is likely to get it beat up.

All:

Thanks for the replies. The MTB doesn't really weigh 58 pounds but it is quite heavy. Bike storage at work is no problem. Since I bring my K2 into work each day so I can ride at lunch there's no problem with bringing in a commuter bike.

Checking the pawn/thrift shops is a good idea. What I'd like to do is find something that I can setup as close to possible as my setup on the K2. As soon as I find something I'll let you all know.

Zack

As well as mid-range non-suspension MTBs, consider sports/touring bikes, these are probably the best commuting machines for your distance. The ability to fit a luggage rack can solve lots of problems, and you may want clearance to fit wider tyres than a race machine; most experienced road commuters tend to fit 25-32mm sizes.
You dont neccessarily have to fit race gearing on a commuter, some people prefer a lower geared bike for acceleration from the lights, or sweat-free hill-climbing.

MichaelW: Good points, thanks. I stopped by one of the pawn shops yesterday and took a quick look at the bikes they had outside. There were at least 10 MTB's there. All of them look similar to what I have now. They did have one road bike, complete with handle bars turned upwards and those "safety" brake levers - remember those :)

Zack

I have a couple of nice road bikes, but my favorite commuters are a couple of old beaters, an early '80s Schwinn 10sp converted to single speed freewheel and a mid '70s Trek converted to fixed gear. I paid $50 for the Schwinn and found the Trek in someone's trashpile. Every weekend there are decent old 10 speeds in the classifieds here for $25-100, mostly $40-50.