Originally Posted by
CJ C
I tried searching the commuting forum but i guess the question is more specific to me i guess.
I am wondering how much difference a different bike would make on my commute?
at the moment it takes me 17-20 minutes to get to work, on the just a smidge over 4 mile commute.
Right now i roll on a HEAVY huffy beach cruiser to work. Its a flat city/urban commute which means a stop light every .5 of a mile. its a mixture of road, hopping curbs, potholes, glass, sometimes sidewalks, a road that butts up to a forest preserve so there is loose gravel on the road in some spots.
now will a road, track, or hybrid bike realistically be able to shave off more than 5 minutes on this commute? will it even make a difference? or should i just work on making my legs stronger to cut the time down?
How many red lights do you hit on average? I find that to be the biggest difference on my commutes. A lighter bike won't necessarily help you unless you you miss one or two red light cycles because you accelerated fast enough to get through.
For example, I ride about 7 miles in 26 minutes. I hit 2 or 3 red lights (about 4 minutes added a light to overall ride time for full light cycle) for total ride time of about 35 minutes. I make all my time on bike paths, MUP and low traffic streets where I don't have to stop for lights.