Originally Posted by
Dave Mayer
Port Moody up to SFU daily? Then you'll be in world-class shape within a year.
As far as a bike choice, you should know that mountain biking in the Lower Mainland (including the trails down the south side of SFU) are as challenging as anywhere in the world. The riding is consistently steep, rocky and rooty. Plus it is usually wet and slippery. If you hope to survive this, you'll need full-on downhill gear, which includes long-travel front and rear suspension, 3" tubeless tires, a full face helmet and armor. This 45-pound bike is going to cost north of $5 g's. Then you'll need to develop the skills to survive with a couple years of scary practice.
Of course this kind of rig will be a hopeless boat anchor on pavement. In the Lower Mainland, there is no do-it-all bike.
So a 'cross bike or a lightweight hybrid is recommended.
Haha, I've read there are two professor who are biking up SFU daily for ~10 years
(One bike up from hasting, one bike up from port moody), that's the main reason I want to commute daily as they motivates me showing it's possible
(Here are the links if you are interested
:
http://people.math.sfu.ca/~goddyn/Rec/ivoryTower.html http://www.sfu.ca/biology/faculty/ha...commuting.html )
As for bike choice, currently eyeing on either Norco Threshold A3 , or Trek Crossrip. (Also looking at Norco City glide 8IGH, and Trek Soho (Chain version), but I don't think they are up to the task...)