Any NYC'ers here commuting on a roadie?
 

I just bought a Litespeed Firenze, and it feels really good riding through the city. I was wondering if anyone commutes around the city on their nice roadies.
I will officially be retiring my trusty MTB to rain and local errands and using my new Litespeed exclusively for pretty much everything else.

One of the things that struck me as odd on my trip last year to NYC was the condition of the roads. It would be scary to ride a road bike on the streets of Manhatten. Not for the traffic, but for the craters in the roads. I've been to quite a few places, and NYC struck me as having the worse streets I've ever seen.

I know. :(
But I really enjoy the ride of my new bike.

I've heard Ti frames flex a little more and tend to soak up bumps better than your average aluminum frame. True?

My 30 mile test ride through the streets of NYC says, "YES, YES YES OH GOD YESS!!"

Thats all I and my fellow coworkers/bikers out here on L.I. use. :D

LI != NYC :p

That's kinda what I figured... commuting in NYC on a ti roadie would be pleasurable compared to the same commute on a fat-tubed Aluminum bike.

Yes, it definitely feels better than using my fat-tubed AL OCR2. Ironically, it also seems to feel better than my specialized hardrock MTB with the shocks set all the way up. Until you get into those BIG potholes that is.

I guess I should rephrase this, If we lived in the City we would be commuting with Road Bikes.

Wait, you mean if you didn't live in the city you would use a road bike?
I'd think most people WOULDN'T commute with road bikes in the city.

Litespeed Firenze.. isnt this a bit of a thief magnet in NYC?

Indoor parking next to my desk. :)

If I lived and worked in the city I'd use a road bike period, I don't own anything but rode bikes, and neither do any of my fellow co-worker/bikers. In fact a several of them ride Litespeeds to work (2 classics, 1 Vortex) and would use them in the city too.

So, whats the big deal about using a road bike in the city, maybe you can enlighten me. If anything you would think you would get to your destination a bit faster.

I use my road bike to commute to work... as soon as you've done it once you cannot go back to riding your MTB (or in my case Hybrid)...
I just got a Pinarello fixie for the rainy days, otherwise it is me an the Roubaix going full blast on brooklyn's 4th Avenue or over the bridge going uptown through the west side highway.
Very enjoyable...

I commuted to the UES from Grand Army Plaza for a few months on a Bianchi Volpe. It was more fun to avoid the East Side by going over the Brooklyn Bridge, Warren St to the West Side pathway. Then all the way up on the west side, and over at approx. 66 St.
Quite relaxing, and didn't feel like you had to pass everybody.
Did the same a few times on a real road racing bike, it demanded more attention to minimize pothole hitting, and there's the "one your left" factor to think about.
I still can't believe all the people huffing and puffing on the pavement with knobbies.

Personally I don't have indoor parking at my office, so I'm going to stick with my uglified commuter beast with the knobbies. Of course I can cut my commute by 10 minutes using the road bike, but I can't risk some bastard thief stealing it. There is a special circle in hell reserved for bike thieves.

Have you seen NYC streets?
It's comparable to the surface of the moon.

Yes, last weekend in fact. Actually saw a couple roadies riding a high end colnago and a TI/CF Seven (granted its not a weekday commute, but the roads are still the same), if they can ride on the streets of the city then I'd think you and I could too. What about all those roadies doing laps in Central Park or Prospect Park? The roads can't be all that bad.

My feeling on this subject of NYC Bike commuting is if there's a will there's a way. If your current route takes you over too many potholed roads, pick another route. BTW, your litespeed should soak up most the crappy roadway, wasn't that the reason you bought it? Just keep the tire pressure up and yourself alert and you won't have too many problems.

And to quote NYCommuter, "I use my road bike to commute to work... as soon as you've done it once you cannot go back to riding your MTB (or in my case Hybrid)..."

My route goes through an industrial park for several miles. The "roadies" you see, most likely in central park are the guys who buy a $6500 bike only to tool around with it on weekends. Plus they ride pretty slow to and from the park. I've passed many a road biker on my way home on my mountain bike since my going home route takes me through prospect park.

I used to take my specialized hardrock with 100psi 1.5" semislicks to work. I keep my eyes off my front wheel and on the road and my surroundings. Now I find I have to be almost twice as vigilant about what's in front of me.

The Ti and carbon fork soaks up the road pretty well but it sure doesn't seem to soak up broken patches of pavement. There's one road I'm on, I can hold 25 and ride smoothly but there are 2 sections where the pavement's completely ripped up, I gotta show down to about 15 there whereas on my mtb, I used to just bomb through at 25.

The litespeed rides beautifully though, I'm beginning to even feel cheated. I had to work a lot harder on my mtb and I got a good workout before and after work.