Commuting - new convert

I have convinced a guy at work to try commuting! he has been doing it for about 6 weeks now and loves it! today he asked me to help him make a list of the items he absolutly needs to make a car free or mostly car free life style possible and sustainable. my partial list is as follows:
1. good bike
2.either good tools and know how or good bike shop
3. fenders
4.mirror
5.lights
6.lock
7.rack and panniers
8.hydration system of some kind
9.trailer for larger loads?
anyone have anything else to offer? I just gather stuff as i feel the need and when i moved most of it got left in storage back in KS. got to get back just making do till then. LOL

A backup commuter is always nice to have. Decent Goretex or Goretex like jacket and pants are good if you plan to cycle in the wet (along with, of course, fenders).

A backup commuter is always nice to have. Decent Goretex or Goretex like jacket and pants are good if you plan to cycle in the wet (along with, of course, fenders).

good thought that! I never worried about it myself, but i suppose its a bit like having a spare car huh? He plans, according to him, to use his income tax refund to fix his old car a little and buy the equipment to do a vast majority of his errands on. we mapped it and the farthest he regularly goes is like 15 miles so.... even if he does that one once a month he has saved 90 + percent on his fuel bill. with gas creeping toward $2 a gallon that is a big deal.

good thought that! I never worried about it myself, but i suppose its a bit like having a spare car huh? He plans, according to him, to use his income tax refund to fix his old car a little and buy the equipment to do a vast majority of his errands on. we mapped it and the farthest he regularly goes is like 15 miles so.... even if he does that one once a month he has saved 90 + percent on his fuel bill. with gas creeping toward $2 a gallon that is a big deal.

that's awesome to hear! i use to drive every day to work... and i only live 7miles away. now in california.. gas price has gone up so much... i ride to work every day. now my dilema is whether or not i should ride my brand new sirrus daily or whether or not i should ride my rockhopper on M-Th and then Friday i treat myself to riding my sirrus. oh... when it rains, i don't ride.. i drive instead.. don't wanna get my bikes wet.

but definitely congrats on the new convert! i did it because it'll save the air we breath and gas money and would mean i'll be able to save up more money now! i wish more people at my work ride.. i know of 4 people that lives about 7-10miles away from work.. but unfortunatly they make a ton more than me... so they drive instead... damn losers!!! haha

Well I think it helps that I have offered to buy him out if it does not work. for now he is using my 70"s? amf bike LOL. He is going to love a "real" bike. even though the amf climbs like a mtn goat it is slower than my trek on the downhill and the flats.

but anyway, anything I have missed? maybe a full selection of needed tools both at home and on the bike? his budget for accessories is around 400-900.

Hopefully he already has a helmet? For cold weather, a balclava helps very much. Warm socks and shoes (maybe shoe covers?) - when I rode in sub 0C (20's F) temperatures for the first time this year, the upper body would be fine, but the toes could get very cold. Some kind of winter gloves. Sunglasses.

I second the rain jacket and pants. I bought a goretex cycling jacket for rain, but I've worn it often on non-cycling occasions. Wearing that, plus a sweatshirt and turtleneck shirt was plenty warm in sub-freezing temperatures. A pair of showerspass rain pants over my blue jeans and I'm plenty warm.

Enough tools on the bike to at least change a flat tire. An on-bike air pump. Carry a spare tube (I used to just carry a patch kit until the last flat I had occurred while I topped off my tire at work and the valve separated from the tube). An at home floor pump with gauge is also handy.

If he wants to go totally car free, then a trailer is probably a good idea.

Kids? If no kids, then much less of a problem. With young kids you can get a bike seat to stick on the back, or a bike trailer for the kids. I think it gets messier when they get older - then they are too big to ride on the bike or in a trailer, but really too small to travel on their own bikes for any distance - not to mention the probable battlefield over the children not agreeing with this strange philosophy of going carless when everybody else rides in a car, etc.

We lived four years in Japan without a car, with small children. We did a lot of bike riding, walking, public transportation, and occasionally getting lifts from friends. Despite all of this training, my 6 year old daughter complains every time dad decides to leave the car at home and walks the 1/3 mile to pick her up at school. She is more understanding and cooperative when mom has the car at work, but is annoyed that dad makes her walk "all the way home" when the car is sitting in the driveway.

Good luck with your "new convert".

[i commute by car on rainy days...] don't wanna get my bikes wet.

what about your poor car? :D

I tell you, it's cheaper to replace a rusted-out bike with a new one than to do the same for a rusted-out car! :)

thanks for the input some things i take for granted and have a hard time just listing them. i kind of learned as i went when i felt there was a call for an item i went looking not before. when it wears out i replace it u know? and he is jazzed becaus ein 6 months he lost 25 lbs. man that is a motivation to someone who is subconsious about their weight and cannot seem to lose any.

what about your poor car? :D

well, i still drive my car, just not so much. i bought my 2000 white civic ex back in dec. 2000. till this date i only had 32500 miles on there. so you can see i don't drive much. but yeah.. i love my car.. it's fully modified for track and perfect for cornering. i was going to modify and swap out the engine for a 190 hp Integra Type-R engine, but instead my wife rather have me spend the money elsewhere. Therefore, i bought my sirrus along with new helmets, etc... and saved up the rest.

A good relationship with a car rental company.
I don't own a car, but I sometimes need one. To me a car free lifestyle is not car-less. I just hire the right size and shape for whatever my needs.
I figure that a car costs £1000pa to own. Rental is approx £30 per day. That is a lot of rental time.
A spare bike or at least , wheels is really handy.
Keep some spares (tyre, cables, brake blocks and extra tubes) in stock, so you dont have to go hunting when you need them.
A floor pump is something I wish I had bought years ago.

To carry large loads I would advocate for adding a front rack and panniers over a trailer. Trailers seem more appropriate for long haul touring not for navigating city streets.

Tell him I said welcome to the other side! :D ;)

Koffee

"To carry large loads I would advocate for adding a front rack and panniers over a trailer. Trailers seem more appropriate for long haul touring not for navigating city streets."

Having used trailers, panniers, backpacks, and messenger bags, all three have their pros and cons. I find my trailer excellent for food shopping and hauling unweildy objects; it holds way more than panniers (fifty pound pags of dog food don't seem to fit in my panniers somehow). Don't have any trouble navigating urban streets with it, but it does mean you're hauling extra weight, so I only use it when I have to (1-2 times a week, on average). I would not call it a necessity for commuting, but it's indispensible if you're going car free (which I am not, but am very close to).

If he's buying tools, tell him to buy the good stuff. Var, hozan, park.

On the second bike, once he gets a new one and begins to figure out his likes/dislikes, he can probably hunt up a good used one cheap. I've got bikes set up for specific duties (like rain riding or hauling) and often ride 5 or 6 different bikes in the course of a week.

"To carry large loads I would advocate for adding a front rack and panniers over a trailer. Trailers seem more appropriate for long haul touring not for navigating city streets."



Hey I was the same way in KS, I had one of those kid trailers, weight limit 50 lbs and so on. You know what I am talking about LOL. I used it to make trips to the laundry mat, to get my son for visitation, grocery shopping, even several over night fishing/ camping expiditions. it was a little unsuited to off road for the camping/ fishing trips, but other wise never any worries. I wore it out i think it was sagging a bit in the middle before it went into storage. I do not believe i could see it as an everyday use item to carry stuff to work tho... kinda unwieldy for that. I remember once i moved everything I owned short of the bed across town with it LOL, I bet I had over 200 lbs in it one trip clothes, stereo speakers and canned goods. I know it was a hard pull up the last hill alright. hey that gives me an idea for a new thread.......