Pacific Northwest - Do you own the perfect PNW bike?

If you look at them all, there are some things that are fairly common among most (not all) of the PNW bikes, whether they're commuter rides or not.

Fenders, tires wider than 25mm, and some low gears for the hills.
The PNW is a pretty vast area with a widely variable climate and terrain, so you're not going to find 1 bike that is "the best" for the entire PNW. A mid-70 inch gear ratio singlespeed makes a great city commuter in Portland. I wouldn't try to mash that up the 25% grades coming up from the Seattle waterfront. Riding in eastern Washington may entail a lot of rural dirtpack and chipsealed roads unless you want to ride on the interstate, but you don't need a CX bike with 38s to ride around Vancouver, BC. Except in the winter, when everything from Bellingham and north is covered in snow... but it's only raining in Bellevue, so you don't.

HUH?

20 years living in the Fraser VAlley and VAncouver - you get about 3 or 4 days a year when there is actually snow on the ground, the rest of the time it's just wet.

Even now, I live in the Okanagan Valley, we rarely have snow on the roads - but lots on the hills around us.


I ride all year round here.

Everyone has made good points, I'm just going to add to what a smaller % of you have said. Disc brakes will save your rims form the grit we have kicked up and stuck to everything. I can only imagine the amount of dirt any bike will see once the sand is thrown down if/when it snows or ice forms. I just dusted off the Trek 4300 disc, that I bought about 4-5 years ago, after having to clean the rims every few day on the Volkscycle because of the sand paper like sounds coming from the rims. Now the Volkscycle only sees commutes to work, its flat and maybe 3-4 stops the whole 13 miles. But around town, I'm sticking to the discs, its a plus that studs can be used, we always get black ice and/or snow at least for a little while here.

If you enjoy wheel building, then no need for discs then. I will be learning to build a wheel soon enough, I hear its a bit of an art.

The next bike I buy, which might be a while, will be a cross bike with disc brakes.

HUH?

20 years living in the Fraser VAlley and VAncouver - you get about 3 or 4 days a year when there is actually snow on the ground, the rest of the time it's just wet.

Even now, I live in the Okanagan Valley, we rarely have snow on the roads - but lots on the hills around us.


I ride all year round here.

I'm learning some of the lowland, flatter routes. I've been limited in my winter distance riding the past couple years because all the routes I knew went above 500', and even here in the Seattle metro area that means you're getting into potential snow much of the time.

Clifton:

(hint hint: when you want lowland winter miles from seattle, head WEST across the sound)

***Note*** - this is half me being proud of the first bike I've had a hand in building up, as I've replaced quite a few parts on the bike since I got it, but I do think it's a very good PNW bike, so I don't feel that awful about posting all this here. You've been warned. :)

I'm new to biking, but I'm on my second bike. I originally got a Specialized tricross sport, but the tinkerer in me won out, I sold it, and now have an Poprad cx bike that I got a few months ago, and I've been changing a few things as I find good deals on used equipment. Replacing components by buying stuff on Craigslist (and then selling what I took off for not a whole lot less) has been a great way for me to learn how to work on my bike. As I only plan to have one bike (though frankly, there's about zero chance this holds up over any period of time) and I want it to be able to do everything on it. I'm in the Seattle area, so I guess you could say I'm trying to build the perfect NW bike. Here's where I'm at so far.

01 LeMond Poprad cyclocross frame (853 steel - from what I read on Sheldon Brown's site, rust is an almost nonexistent concern)
Dura Ace 7700 - shifters, derailleurs (once I get the front changed over), cassette (12-27, for the hills), and front hub (rear hub is ultegra 6500)
FSA Energy compact crank (46/34)
Mavic Open Pro rims - from what I hear, these are bombproof, and bombproof is what I want. They're a little heavier than what I got the bike with (I have a pair of Rolf Sestriere's with my cx tires on them), but they roll very nicely.
Avid Shorty 6 brakes - though disc brakes would be swell, I'm really fond of these. Before I put them on, when I hit my front brake hard it felt like I was riding a hand mixer, these have been great.
Easton CT2 Seatpost, Ritchey Bio-Max Handlebars (I'll probably replace these for something thicker with more of a curve eventually, but it's not a big deal at all.), and a Serfas stinger saddle (that I love.)

Here's a picture of it from last night after I rode it home from dinner. I sold my fenders with my last bike, and I'll be purchasing new fenders shortly. It might not be the "perfect" PNW bike, but I've got it just about exactly how I want it (for now) and am quite pleased. :)

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk246/masonet/IMG_0543.jpg

Nice bike mansont, but Im going to suggest that you get a stronger locking device, U-lock perhaps. Lock it with what looks to be a smallish cable around the seat post in the picture, and it will be gone in a few days, if parked downtown. They can be snapped pretty quickly.

Late entry here, but just got around to downloading the pic that's been in my phone for a couple months now... (I apologize for the non-drive side photo, wasn't thinking about posting when I took it)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2801/4243206395_5c1c9d6f6b.jpg

My '05 Roubaix that I broke the seatstay two years ago, finally repaired and built up for winter, city & LD riding. It took some serious jiggery-pokery to get the 28cc Schwalbe Marathon tires to work with the full fenders on this frame, but boy was it worth it for a winter bike! L&M front light, dual rear blinkies, reflective buddy flaps & tape on the fenders.

My teammates have been laughing at the big seatbag all season, except for the days that I pull a chain tool, an extra jacket or spare gloves out. It's not really that big, but for long, self-sufficient days when it's 40 deg. and looking like rain, it's nice to have some extra layers...

Spent a few weeks in PDX and the little Twenty came through with flying colours (again). We saw sunshine, hills, took the Springwater up to mile 13, and also experienced snow and some torrential rain.

I preferred the sunshine over the rain and snow by a long shot. :)

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/xmas2009/xmaspdxtwenty3.JPG

This little bike drew looks and comments everywhere we went... I think they are pretty uncommon here and perhaps that is because of their British origins and the fact the stock gearing is not great for the long drawn out climbs when you head east or west.

I re-geared the bike before I shipped it down and for a weaker rider would gear it down even further... I had no problems at all.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/xmas2009/xmaspdxtwenty2.JPG

All wintered-up, fenders for slush/rain, studs for black ice. The perennial question, when is the ice season over. Does el nino say it's done now?

http://home.comcast.net/~adrian_spidle/tc_win.jpg

It's not perfect but it got me through a surprise snowstorm in Portland last week. I was about 15 miles away from my destination when the snow started coming down heavy. It was a race against darkness, but fortunately made it ok. It was slow going as the snow started to pile up, and I could have used a little more clearance below the fender, but overall my Bleriot did great.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2744/4236443214_6b3604c3fe_o.jpg

Here's the bike I normally ride when conditions get really bad....88 Specialized RockCombo
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/3126870205_ecfccd6c27.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/2697084011_5751ccf8ea.jpg

I was there for that little skiffle of snow... rode down 52nd from Flavel to Belmont on The Twenty and then back to Clinton and even though I was running Marathons had no troubles at all.

Drivers were not having nearly as good a time of it as even the slight inclines along the way were causing traffic jams.

My '05 Roubaix that I broke the seatstay two years ago, finally repaired and built up for winter, city & LD riding. It took some serious jiggery-pokery to get the 28cc Schwalbe Marathon tires to work with the full fenders on this frame, but boy was it worth it for a winter bike! L&M front light, dual rear blinkies, reflective buddy flaps & tape on the fenders.

Nice looking setup - the chrome looks good with the blue.

I've been looking for a way to install full fenders on my '06 Roubaix. Did you get the whole rear fender on or did you have to split/cut it? There's a bike shop in Portland that fabs a bracket to install split rear fenders. Also, what type of fenders did you use?

Spent a few weeks in PDX

What?!?

Next time look me up even if its brief. I'm on the outer eastern edge of springwater. :thumb:

What?!?

Next time look me up even if its brief. I'm on the outer eastern edge of springwater. :thumb:

I might make it down again in July... thinking that I should experience every season Portland has to offer.

Fall was great, winter was pretty mild, and I hear July can melt your tyres.

I no longer have it but I always thought this was perfect:

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo173/kenl666/DSCN7792.jpg

(the picture was taken during the summer so I didn't have the fenders on...)

Ken, I don't see that on the bikesdirect site. Which model was that? It looks like a Ti cyclocross, but I didn't know BD had one with discs.

one of my perfect PNW bikes (like Hardy Weinburg's) is currently serving as the PERFECT PNW bike- it is a trip to Maui. I even brought the fenders but don't know if I will need them! Pics later.....

today, 38 MPH on a level road with a wicked afternoon tailwind. I was quite honestly shocked.

I just finished building the perfect PNW bike:

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Soma Double Cross DC. I love the disc brakes for the wet commutes! I've got two commutes on it now, and it's a sweet ride!

pics of a great, versatile PNW bike - Surly Travelers Check on vacation in Hawaii! 3x9 road triple, stout Shimano BR-R550 canti brakes, DT rear wheel, Ult/open pro on the front, downtube shifters, 700x 28 Vittoria Rubino Protech tires.

24 pounds ready to roll with bottle cages, pump and patch/flat/tool kit.

A bike you can put in a suitcase... I got mine at Greggs Greenlake Cycle.

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I have no idea what makes the perfect PNW bike - that's much too ambitious for me. I just wanted the perfect Ballard bike - something reliable, something I can easily carry a six-pack on the back of when I go to visit friends, something that looks fun and funky parked in front of the pub. I decided that the perfect Ballard bike was an old 3-speed.