Originally Posted by
LiteraryChic
I was thinking about this earlier. You know how people say any bike will do for bike commuting? I'm just curious, do you believe this to be true? Do you think a commuter bike needs certain "standards"?
For example, I bought (it was my birthday gift) my 2012 Schwinn Voyageur 7 specifically for the purpose of commuting, and (as most of you) know have been outfitting her ever since. Although, I love Lola, I tend to lust after other Dutch style bikes (similar to Lola), such as Azor Oma, Linus, Public etc. I suppose we all covet what we are not able to have at the moment (or however it is that saying goes). Do you covet other bikes even though you have one, or multiples? Do you tend to use one over the other (if you have multiples)? Are you a LBS buyer, EU-style buyer (i.e. Dutch style commuters from Europe), CL buyer, or another source?
I just thought it would be interesting to get other people's thoughts on the subject!
Thanks!
The answer is that it's complicated.
Any bike will get you where you need to go, but there's a lot of factors at play with how well it does this job:
- commuting is really hard on a bike, and a cheap department store bike will break down quite quickly under hard use.
- commuting lengths vary widely. Dutch-style upright bikes are easy to jump on and off of, comfortable to ride, etc, but if you have a 30mi RT commute, the extra effort to propel the heavy frame from an upright sitting position will be less than ideal. Long commuters will see a greater benefit by a focus on weight reduction and efficient positioning.
- commuting topography varies. A single speed or 3-speed is fine for flat riding, but sub-optimal if you're doing hills.
There's lots of other things that a regular commuter might want to optimize for their commute and preferences. Lighting, gearing, baggage carrying capacity, etc. But all of these are nice-to-haves, and are not necessary to the basic function of getting from point a to point b. Any bike can do that.