Hi All,
First time posting in this sub forum. A little background: I am basically a bike racer with 35 years in the sport. When I was in my 20s during the 1980s I commuted for about a decade on my race bike with tubular tires and a backpack. Job location, kids, and laptop computers caused me to stop commuting regularly. Something had to give and racing came first.
Now that the kids are older (as am I), I am looking to commute by bike 3 days a week (2 minimum). I have a bunch of bikes, including these two:
The Milano is my errands bike and any time I ride to work (just a few times each year) I use it. The Roger is my rain bike for winter training.
I know a lot of you hardcore commuters will think I'm crazy or have too much disposable income, but I have gotten "permission" to build a commuter bike.
(Why not commute on either of those bikes? The Milano is just too heavy and clunky for me for a 6 mile each way commute with all of my work stuff. I'm not interested in putting a rack and other accoutrements on the Roger for commuting. In fact, I take the fenders off of it during the summer when I need a change of pace for training.)
After doing a fair amount of research, I have settled on a Spot frame, The Proletariat (
http://www.oneghost.net/One_Ghost_In...OLETARIAT.html). I'll be using Avid BB7 road disc brakes and a belt drive. Other than that, I'm looking for some practical advice on other choices.
I have Soma Sparrow bars on the Milano and I like them MUCH better than typical flat bars (which hurt my wrists). Since my commute is fairly urban, bad roads and bad traffic, I think that the Sparrow bars would work better than drop bars with a bike with panniers with a fair amount of stuff in them. Thoughts?
After searching the forums and the rest of the internet, I want to use the Gates CenterTrack belt drive system with a single speed. The Nexus 8-speed on my Milano works well enough but since my commute is fairly flat, I am thinking the simplicity of a single-speed would be better overall especially if I have a rear flat. BTW, I have too much bike maintenance to do in general so I want this bike to be as maintenance-free as possible so that's why I want a belt-drive. Also, since CenterTrack parts are very hard to get are the original Carbon Drive components OK for single-speed applications? More thoughts?
Finally, the topic of panniers. I have some touring panniers that I've had since the 1980s. They work well but they are a major chore to put on and off the bike. Additionally, I'll have to CARRY the panniers about the equivalent of two city blocks as I work at a large factory and bike parking is just outside the gate near a guard location. Some of the panniers that convert to backpacks look interesting but shoulder straps would probably work fine. Which brand and model of pannier might work well for me?
TIA for any practical advice you can provide.