esmith2039

Wired tied both the mount and light to the basket this time, have to cut the wire tie to change batteries. And used thicker wire ties. If I used anything that stretch would just work itself loose. It's a rough riding commute. Just going to watch it don't know what else to do.

Those light strips are Duracell safety armbands my wife bought at Costco. Didn't work right when we first got them.. you have to watch putting the batteries in the positive lead doesn't bend in between the batteries.

RubeRad

Bummer. I guess wire is cheap at least...

I found on the road once one of these kind of things, that link is generic, apparently the original branded version is "Nite Ize". The fact that I found it on the road is maybe not encouraging, but maybe you could use two of these, one vertical one horizontal, and fashion kind of a 'cage' for the light to be in, tensioned at the back by twisting? I don't know if that would end up obstructing most of the light and defeat the purpose. Maybe if they were in an X instead of a +?

Also you say "Hopefully this setup will last until I put my Dynamo setup this fall."... With a dynamo you'll still have the same mounting challenges, no? Maybe you should look for a rear fender with a secure/integrated light mount? I think there should be options that would work well with a dynamo.

noglider 

I rode my fixie into work today for the first time at this job. Gears are 52x19, giving a 74" gear.

Maybelater

My daily commute is on a Opus Classico. This is the closest example of a Dutch city bike I could find. Weighs in at 32 lbs. and I find it fairly agile with a relaxed upright riding position. Just added a Brooks B17 saddle and changed the freewheel from a 14/34 to a 11/28 for more speed on the flats.

lost_in_endicot

Nice looking bike!

Maybelater

Thanks for the kind words! It was a challenge to find a Dutch style bike that didn't weigh as much as a windmill. It was one third the price of a Gazelle Tour Populair and just as practical...

tatertot

My first post ever! After seeing all the great pics, I had to share my own. My old GT from college, it spent about 15 years in storage before being resurrected as my daily commuter. Replaced a few rusted parts, and added racks and panniers to carry all my gear. Just passed 3k miles, and its still going strong.

joeyduck

Great looking Bike!

Welcome to the club!

RubeRad

Always love a GT; I just think that triple triangle looks cool!

Buffalo Buff

Pamtivek

Bianchi Volpe pretty cool bike, cygolite and cateye lights, garmin 500 for the stats, older selle san marco regal saddle, Vittoria Randonneur 32mm tires, koolstop mtb pads. Everything else is stock Volpe.

Used to have full fenders (SKS longboard) but I accidentally destroyed them. Now I have to commute by bus whenever there's probability of raining. I must get new ones.

The front brake squeals terribly. A fork chatter problem.

Buffalo Buff

That's one of the reasons I like the wide diamond frame on my bike. No front fender needed. Only need one on the rear if I'm not using my rack, which is uncommon on a rainy commute.

RubeRad

The solution is to switch from a headset-mounted brake cable hanger, to a fork-mounted brake cable hanger. After many others around here said it worked for them, I tried it and it worked for me. Also make sure your pads have proper toe-in, and are good pads (like Kool-Stop)

rideBjj

Here we go. Re-purposed CF race bike. I bought this off Craigslist about 8 months ago when I was starting to ride again. It's got Campy Centaur w/ Ultrashift). I rode it for a while, then built up a Lynskey with Record 11 and this has been sitting doing nothing ever since. Then I decided I wanted to start not using my car for errands, going around town and getting to work a few days a week.

I considered buying a dedicated steel touring frame, but then I did some research and talked to Wayne at thetouringstore.com and figured out I could get a full set of rear panniers on this bike, so why not?

It's still got the same gearing, the smallest is 39 x 25 - which would be challenging if it wasn't mostly flat where I ride it when it is loaded up.

BTW, if you need touring stuff - Wayne is absolutely the man to talk to.

Buffalo Buff

Nice setup. How'd you attach to accessories in the rear? My road bike has no eyelets so I went with the seatpost rack.

rideBjj

It's the TUBUS fly classic:

Tubus Fly Rear Ultralite Bicycle Bike Rack

It is attached at the bottom with special brackets that are held via QR skewer (it's a kit that is sold seperately for like $30), and at the top via a strut that bolts behind the rear brakes. It's all much sturdier than I expected. Not as good as using standard touring mounts, but for my purposes, more than enough.

The downside was that it took a fair bit of fiddling and a decent number of tools, including a bench vice and a drill to make work. Worth it, though.

Pamtivek

Thanks, will look into it. From time to time I go to the LBS to adjust the toe in, it makes it better, but eventually deteriorates back to squealing.

noglider 

I didn't even Know you could even get one that light. Good work!

kickstart

How about a 29 lb, 30 gear, carbon fiber Dutch bike?
Ultimate S2

32 lbs in aluminum and carbon,
Ultimate S1

32 lbs in aluminum with IGH,
CityZen C7

28 lbs in steel with IGH,
Van Stael

31 lbs in aluminum,
Chamonix S27

noglider 

Wow, who knew?

roam2

Hi, everyone, i have one question about the Geometry of my crosscheck (size 50, Effective top tube is 541.8mm) my height is 1.73 m. Is this size (size 50) is small for me ? thanks

RubeRad

I would say as a rule of thumb, 50cm is small for that height. In the picture, at the bottom of your pedal stroke, with leg not completely extended, and the sole of your shoe is horizontal. With proper seat height you should have that slight knee bend with toes pointed downwards. But that in itself doesn't mean the bike is too small, it just means you need to raise your saddle a little. But even as-is, you are sitting very upright, which is not the riding position intended for a bike like a cross-check.

However, there's no law that you have to ride bent over. If you like that riding position with your hands high and close, and you are comfortable, then enjoy your bike! But at least for the sake of your knees, if the front of your knees start to ache, raise your seat a few cm. You want to get it to a height such that your heel can just touch the pedal at bottom of stroke with your leg perfectly straight. That way with your cleat in the pedal you'll have a little bit of knee bend.

Giant Doofus

This is a 23-year-old hybrid that has been sitting in my garage unused for quite a while. I'm taking a bike overhaul class at the co-op and decided to make this bike my project. Today I took it out for its inaugural commute. Except for the screaming canti brakes that I clearly need to take another run at adjusting, it rolled beautifully.

[IMG]Overhauled Option after first commute by Kendra Hotz, on Flickr[/IMG]

Edit: Oh, and I realize that the rack is a complete mess right now. I'll fix that soon too.

RubeRad

Nice, if you are commuting that looks like a good option (pun intended). Did it have those cool handlebars when you started? What all did you do in the overhaul? I wish I had a co-op near me to take classes like that.

Giant Doofus

It is a nice back up bike to my regular commuter (a Dutch-style Omafiets). This bike originally had flat bars, which I swapped out for these Northroad style bars. I flipped them to get a more aggressive position. We redid the cup and cone hubs and trued the wheels. We re-cabled and adjusted the shifters and brakes, also replaced brake pads, swapped out the rear sprockets, and replaced the stem. We have one more class this Thursday to do the headsets and bottom brackets. I found adjusting the rear derailleur and the canti brakes the most challenging.

The class has been so much fun. Now I just need to keep practicing to gain confidence. Fortunately, the co-op has tons of old, donated bikes that need to be overhauled, so I should have plenty of chances to practice. I'm happy that I'll be a more useful volunteer now that I've had the chance to work through all of the major systems on a bike.