Commuting - Commuter Bike

Okay, I hope no one has asked this already....

I dont have a ton of cash to spend, and I am looking to get in the best shape of my life by commuting rather than driving to work. it is 5.20 miles from my apt to work. I have a place to keep a bike, but I dont want to have to worry about it if I have to start locking it up outside. But here is my question. I am looking for a good commuter bike, nothing fancy, but I would like something to the effect of an urban assault vehicle if I getr\ the urge to just rip a new trail through suburbia. I want something that can hold its own with minimal but regular maintenence. And I would like to keep it at about 350. I saw a schwinn at wally world the other day for 127, would that be a good start, and then upgrade cranks and BB or would you reccommend I start with the package as a whole and make repairs as necesscary.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I bought this bike (http://vandesselsports.com/b_straightUp.shtml) on eBay brand new for 380.00
I outfitted it with fenders for the rain that I get but you probably don't and thats about it. Great bike and the Nexus drivetrain is awesome. It's an internal hub shifter and maintainnace free.

Comes stock with Ritchey Tom Slick tires which are not going to serve you well off road, but new tires can be purchased.

OH! Here's one (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3613251196&category=7298) on ebay now. The price has gone up but it's close to what you want to spend.

Just a thought...

(edit- misspell)

Also, ask around at local bike shops. Don't pay out too quickly.

Find out who actually rides to work, and what they ride. Ask for details.

Bike commuters that work in bike shops can help you best. $350 can get you a decent bike. In the long run, you may want to spend more.

:D

My bike is a Trek '02 800 Sport and has been a terrific commuter. The '03 Trek 800 can be had for the same price, or if you prefer one with front suspension the Trek 820 is just $50.00 more. As you say, "nothing fancy", but well-constructed and durable.

www.trekbikes.com

-Rob

Personally if I had to park my bike outside of work I would go a get the Schwinn from Wally World or a used bike; because of daily freaks and geeks, bird bombing runs and all sorts of weather related crap will take it's toll on the bike. I would not want any bike of any value to be the subject of scrutiny from criminal elements. Then when things broke I would replace the component with Shimano Tiagra at best!

A $300 ridgid fork MTB would do the job very well, and be rugged enough for kerb jumping and potholes in the urban jungle.
Look at the low-end offering from Trek, Giant, Specialized, Kona and Jamis. Get one made from chromoly steel rather than the low grade "hi tensile" steel. You can get some Al frames in this range, and they are OK too . Buy from a proper bike shop. Dont buy a crappy bike and then upgrade components, it is a complete waste of money. The most cost-effective upgrade you can make is to get the shop to swap out the fat knobbly tyres to some 1.5" slicks for speed and efficiency.
If you want a bit more utility from your bike, fit some fenders if you ride on wet roads, and a luggage rack to carry your pannier bags.

If you're trying to get in shape and don't mind working a bit on your ride, I would recommend a fixed gear. They're pretty easy to throw together, just talk to your lbs about getting the parts. An old used frame, a rear wheel built around a fixed/flip-flop hub, and some drive train parts.

The nice thing about the fixed gear is that once you have it running, you don't have to do too much to keep it running. There aren't very many moving parts to have to adjust or replace. Also, if you keep it cheap and singlespeed, most theives won't bother with it.

The biggest downside is that you end up getting pretty sweaty if you hit any big hills, since you can't shift into a low gear and cruise up. Of course, you could get around this by picking a low gear ratio, but the you run into trouble on the downhill.

On the other hand, my housemate just picked up a bike at Target for something like $50 and he's been riding that to work (about 2 miles each way) about 3 times a week, and he's pretty happy with it. I'm a little worried that it will fall apart soon, but in a few months he'll have saved as much in gas as he paid for the bike, and he's getting more for his money than somebody who buys a $1000 bike and only rides a few miles on the weekend.

Something else to consider: do you want a road bike or a mountain bike? I used to have a hybrid with a very upright seating position, and I was much happier when I switched to a road bike. I wish I had known that before I bought the hybrid, but sometimes you just have to find these things out on your own.

Fixed gears and old beaters can be nice for a commute-- I've got a couple of old Peugeots I use, a '76 UO-10 and a '73 PX10E converted into a fixie. I wouldn't recomend a fixie to a newbie-- you can't coast to rest, and you brake (at least partially) by slowing your pedal cadence. It's likely a very different ride than anything you're used to.

The nexus hubs are nice for commuters, esp. if the rear has a drum brake, which is a beast in wet weather. I'm currently building a new set of wheels for my foul weather commuter using a nexus seven speed freewheel hub complete with drum brake. Outfit the bike with fenders and a rack, as well as a front blinkie, a front headlight, and a rear blinkie, and slicks... I go narrower on my foul-weather/winter commuter, about a 1.25.

well can anyone do a checklist of some sort so that I can print it out and go down the list of stuff to get.

I want to get started soon, cause I dont think my car can take too much of the tx heat.

Well whatever type of bike you decide on make sure if you are going to be carrying anything with you that you can mount a rack on the bike. Even on a relatively short 5 mile trip you will be happier carrying the stuff on the rack or in panniers rather than on your back.

>>>>>>I saw a schwinn at wally world the other day for 127, would that be a good start, and then upgrade cranks and BB or would you reccommend I start with the package as a whole and make repairs as necesscary<<<<<<

The problem with the Schwinn at Walmart is the poor assembler who put the bike together. The same person who put together my Pacific is the same one who assembles the higher end Schwinns. In other words, it's horrible.

If you don't know how to fix bikes (rear derailler) pass this one by and head to a local bike shop for a used model.

Also.... You never buy a bike with the intention of upgrading within a year. This is a waste of time and money. On my bikes, all the components will get used until they break down.

As for my Pacific toy bike, it's still running, but no longer shifting. That's ok since I use it like a cruiser and keep it on a low gear. I don't expect much from this bike as it stays on the streets of New York City 24/7. The good news is, the crooks leave it alone since the parts are worthless. I'm not sure this is the case with the Schwinn your intending to buy. I accept all it's flaws and problems since this is NOT my weekend ride. It's a junk bike. That's all it is.

When you think about it. The reason why I didn't pick up the Schwinn at Toys R US is because it's too good to leave on the streets 24/7. My Pacific girl bike is so worthless, the crooks would have to be nuts to spend time breaking my three locks including the Kryptonite Chain for a junk cycle.

Another alternative is to reconfigure an old, large frame mountain bike into (somewhat) of a road bike w/drop h/bars.

I used to work in a bike shop and bought a Jamis Dakota frame w/1" threaded hst from a fellow mechanic and fitted a Bianchi chromoly rigid fork, a Nitto black bar/stem combo, and Ultegra bar-end shifters. It also has road gearing (47-36-26 rings, 12-28 8spd cassete), full fenders, rack, the works. I seem to be able to ride it faster than a mtn bike on the road and it's still capable of going off-road. I also built up a set of 36h 14g spoke wheels (Mavic X138, Deore LX) for it.

This bike is not real light but it's a great all-weather heavy-duty commuter that's just about indestructible.

In picking a bike that's good for commuting, study the route that you will be taking. If you will be riding in a bike lane or on a shoulder or on the right side of a geneous-sized lane that gives room for cars to go around you, it doesn't really matter what type of bike you ride; you can pretty much ride anything and not have to take into account speed at all.

On the other hand, suppose you find yourself riding on roads with narrow lanes where there isn't comfortable room for a car and a bike to move along aside one another. In a situation like this, you'll need to be an assertive rider and take over a lane sometimes. The faster your bike can go, the easier it is to take over a lane. I have a friend, Chris W., who uses his recumbant as his commuter bike. On a road where the speed limit is 25-30mph, he can hold his own with cars that are staying within the speed limit, so he can take a lane with confidence. If the speed limit is 25mph, and you're cruising along on your bike at 25mph, a motorist who doesn't want a speeding ticket doesn't have much room to complain that you're holding up traffic. Of course, recumbants are a little behind the price range of what you asked about, sentra2nr, but I thought I'd chime in with the recumbant perspective.

I suggest making a point of test-riding bikes with both twist-shifters (Gripshift, Shimano Revo) and trigger-&-thumb shifters (Shimano EZ-Fire and RapidFire). Not too many people are ambivalent about shifters after trying both types. That will help narrow the choices down. :)

I'm going to assume you'll end up with a mountain bike of some kind, from a bike shop. Ask the shop how much they'd upcharge you to hand-build a rear wheel with a DeoreLX rear hub, a Sun RhynoLite rim (36-spoke if you're heavy or will have a heavy load), and genuine DT or Wheelsmith spokes.

A good shop will have an upcharge figured out in a few minutes for you to consider. It may be around $100-110, and that may sound hard to swallow, but having a bombproof, well-sealed rear wheel pays in the long run, on a commuting bike. One of these should outlast an original-equipment wheel by a factor of about 3 to 1 and take very little maintenance or downtime. If the bike you're considering comes with a 7-speed rear end, the shop will need to use a 7sp cassette in conjunction with some dummy spacers on the 8/9sp hub... easily done.

Also consider trading in the stock tires for some 1.5" slicks, big enough to take potholes and light curb shots but small enough to not act like parachutes. Keep them topped off near their max so you have good defenses against rim dents.

Riding position is important too. If you want to ride pretty fast and accelerate well, consider opting for a long, low stem and a flat handlebar, preferably on a bike with a pretty long top tube on the frame. Trade in the pudgy-wide original-equipment seat for a firmer, narrower one. Bar-ends can be of assistance when you hit terminal velocity and want to get your upper body flattened out to lower air drag, and they don't cost much. Aim them about 10° above the horizontal so you get out forward when your hands are on them. I can hit some pretty respectable speeds even on my mountain bike when I do this, particularly going down-grade.