stringbreaker

For some reason I have a hankering to ride my road bike on my commute tomorrow so I'm all set with the lights and I already have a rack and trunk bag and a retina burning blinkie so I should be set. I try to ride it in to work a couple times a summer just for a change from the commuter bike. I'll see how much quicker I get there with the roadie. Should be fun.

aadhils

My first commute ever was a road bike. I had no issues whatsoever with it during the summer...It sure is faster ...

Quartz

All of my commuting is on a road bike. I don't own another bike to commute on.

SDRider

Same here. Been doing it for almost 2 years now.

I sold my mtb last summer. I don't really see the point in driving a car to the middle of nowhere so I can ride my bike when I can just leave from my house on the road bike and avoid the car altogether.

Cyclon

I'm with Quartz and SDRider; commuting on road bikes.

caloso

Yup. All the streets between my house and my office are paved. I guess all those MTB commuters must have jobs on the singletrack.

notfred

I don't get why anyone commutes on anything other than a road bike, unless they work in a forest. My entire route to work is paved roads. Hmm, what type of bike seems appropriate to ride on the road?

I-Like-To-Bike

Two wheeled; unless the cyclist prefers more; or less. Get it now?

acroy

"paved" is a loose word - the pavement here is usually 2" taller than the (numerous) manhole covers and the shoulder of the freeway overpass is polluted with cement truck droppings. imagine elephant turds but concrete and the road surface is universally poor due to buing built on expansive clay, which heaves 14+ inches between wet and dry.

me and my road bike both got quite beat up trying to commute - so the front suspension slick-tired mtb it is.

stringbreaker

Its a whole different ride fer sure, feel every bump in the pavement. But it sure is fast anyway my 2006 Specialized Expedition with slicks is what I usually ride and although a bit slower its a far more comfortable ride. come Thursday I'll be back on the Expedition for whatever reasons I love that bike

MyBikeGotStolen

Good question, I think I should just start driving my car until I save up enough money to buy a road bike! Thanks for pointing that out for me.

DataJunkie

can't afford $200 for a used ancient road bike?

They are quite nice for appropriate commutes.

MyBikeGotStolen

The one road bike we get a week on my local CL is usually priced over $700. That combined with my poor college kids budget and the fact that I am 5'6" does make it kinda hard to find a "$200 used ancient road bike".

I think all the young college kids here have since torn all the classics down into fixies.

I-Like-To-Bike

I can afford new road bikes but I have never had a commute where a road bike (i.e. narrow tire, dropped handlebars, twitchy handling, butt hatchet seat, etc.) is appropriate for me.

tlc

I ditched my cheapo MTB for a cheapo road bike a month ago. Actually found it more comfortable. Probably because 15lb of metal hitting you up the arse is better than 30lb doing the same.

The commute is now a pleasure, not a chore. And also, obviously, much faster.

chipcom 

Luckily I can use a road bike for mine, at least on nice days, although it isn't new (bout a 20 year old frame), the ride isn't twitchy and my B17 is hardly and butt hatchet.

EMT

I just returned the track bike I was commuting on to my friend I'd borrowed it from. It was nice (roady????). Once a week I have a 85 or 90km roundtrip, and it was good for that, or at least fast.

I returned it to him b/c I found a used cyclocross bike in my size (Sunn Cycloss). (The track bike was way way small---53cm frame for 193cm me, bad). This is an easier ride in certain respects but the difference in tires makes it feel a lot slower, plus it has a derailleur etc so the drivetrain feels a little sluggish. I haven't tried it for the long commute yet. We shall see. One advantage I can see already is that I will have more options for traffic avoidance---ie going up on the sidewalk is an easier possiblity off the slicks. There's a 5km stretch of that long commute on a very very narrow 2-lane road with tons of trucks. When it's backed up, as it usually is for about half of that, the sidewalk looks like a pretty nice option.

BTW a question (aka thread derailment). The new bike seems to be causing me some pain in my left knee. Could this be due to the seat adjustment? I feel I sat further forward on the little bike (b/c I had to lean more on the bars); maybe sitting farther back, with a longer seatpost, contributes to some bad bending on the knee. Any opinions?

Robbie Hatfield

What I don't get is why people would not want electric power-assist for a commuting bike? Who wouldn't want the choice of controlling how hard they work during their morning and evening commute? I tend to not work too hard during the morning commute and then let the evening commute double as an hour in the gym. It's funny how we can easily be pro-choice about life and death issues such as abortion, but completely close our minds over something as mundane as power-assist vs. working harder but not smarter?

Robbie

East Hill

Stringbreaker's Varsity is waiting for a paint job . Hey, the man lives in Sumner. How do you know he DOESN'T work in a forest?

East Hill

chipcom 

Maybe some of us don't consider riding a bike 'work'?

Edit: If I wanted powered, two-wheeled transportation to work, I'd ride the motorcycle.

pityr

No work riding the road bike to work. I can't imagine riding anything else (well I can but I don't want too )

ghettocruiser

A "cheapo" road bike that's 15 lbs?

Or do you mean just the seat is 15 lbs?

nelson249

I commute to get exercise so electric power assist would rather defeat the purpose. That being said, if people want to ride them it's no skin off my nose.

caloso

I like simplicity. The last thing I'd want to do is put a heavy, complicated motor on a bike. My commuter is light, reliable, simple: one chainring, one cog, no freewheel. If don't want to work too hard, I just pedal slower.

DataJunkie

Next question, why don't fixies have electric assist?
...so wrong in so many different levels....