I've enjoyed this thread so much that I've decided to stop lurking and submit my own humble contributions. This is my main commuter, a Specialized Crossroads Sport that I found on a garbage heap three years ago. It had a trashed rear wheel, flat tires, a huge gel saddle on a squishy seat post and an equally squishy thing on the stem. I knew nothing about bikes, had been unhappily commuting the previous year on an older road bike and thought this one would be a more comfortable ride. The changes: drop bars, new seat post and saddle, a heavy duty rack, fenders and (added later) clipless pedals. My commute is mostly flat, so I have it set up 1 x 7, with a bar end shifter. Oh, and the stem. I have no idea what the hell that is. Like I said, I knew nothing of bikes, so brought it to a local guy and said, "Make it happen." He did, and I've put about 7,000 miles on this bike since then. I ride it everywhere.



My other commuter is the older road bike I'd started out on. It's a Rampar R-one, and has seen better days. It's old, it's beat up and kind of clunky, and once I started riding the Crossroads, it sat. There was just something about it that I didn't like, either the posture it put me in, or the way it handled, I don't know. This winter I decided to pull it out and see if perhaps my mind had changed. Nope, still disliked it. I'd wanted to try a single speed for a while, and since I didn't like the bike as it was, and no one would gasp in horror and dismay if I screwed it up beyond saving, I went to work on it. The changes were pretty basic: I'd already replaced steel rims with alloy, used a 16 tooth ring from the existing freewheel, new cranks and a 40 tooth ring up front, fenders, a Brooks B17 and to complete the transformation, I flipped and chopped the bars. And now I love it. It's my grocery getter, my zip across town for fun bike, and my commuter for those occasions when I have to stop somewhere after work (hence the U lock). I'm going to replace the brake levers with some bar end levers (and put in new cable/housing) in the near future, but for now I'm just enjoying the hell out of it.