You don't have to go with a touring bike to get a rack.

You don't have to go with vintage (READ: Downtube shifters) to get a rack either.

There are many fans of both kinds of bikes. I respect their choices. I'm not putting them down. They're just not my preference.

I like STI shifters. If it weren't for STI, I wouldn't own a bike. Period. I won't try to convert downtube (or bar-end) fans, so please don't try to convert me.

I like a bike that handles crisply and makes the best of my meager output to gallop along.

One of my commuters is based on cyclocross geometry.


The other, well the main triangle has exactly the same angles and measurements as those of my Litespeed. The difference is that the fork has room for fenders and bigger tires, as does the rear triangle. The core things that give the bike its feel are identical between the two.


Yes, they both look a bit frumpy with the full fenders. I need (and like) them, you may not.

I don't keep up on current bike shop makes and models, so I don't have specific recommendations. I'm just saying your choices aren't limited to those championed above.

Although the Ribble is always available at ribblecycles.co.uk as either a fully-built bike or as a frame-only, the way I bought mine. It was cheap too. The frame was $130, carbon fork $115, headset $22, and trans-Atlantic air freight $80. So I could afford to throw $700 of custom handbuilt wheels at it, along with full 105 and dynamo lights.

Despite full commuterization, my bikes aren't sluggish. I don't get passed often. I lost to him, but one night last summer on the way home from work I gave a much younger guy on a fully tricked-out Venge a really good run for his money. The stoplights evened us out.

So it is possible to commuterize a fast bike without turning it into a slug. (Just takes a little more HTFU, which isn't a bad thing either.)