Originally Posted by
Torrilin
Most any bike can handle 10 mile rides (and for me at least, on up to 25ish...). YMMV and probably will.
That's true. But I think the main thing keeping me within that range is that I'm not very comfortable with my current bike. It's also worth noting that Los Angeles is a crazy place to bike, and it's pretty darn scary when you don't feel like you can count 100% on your brakes.
Weigh you. Weigh some typical grocery loads. For me, rider + load can hit a good 230lbs or more. This means I need a relatively tough bike. If you're not even hitting 170lbs when fully loaded, life is *much* different.
Rider + load I pretty rarely exceed 200 lbs.
Keep that in mind as you shop... Surly's designers all tend to be relatively big guys, and a lot of their staff seems to be car-free. Even in Minnesota winters. So their bikes tend to be designed for the apocalypse. Another bike company may make bikes that are just as good for your purposes.
That's true. I'm going to test a number of bikes out. I've finally found a good bike store that doesn't just stock racing oriented bikes (here near Santa Monica, that's where the business is). I do have to say, a bike capable of riding on through the apocalypse does have a certain appeal to me.
Really, I think my ideal setup would probably be two bikes, but I don't have the money to do that. In the long run I may convert my current frame into something else, but that doesn't seem very effecient to me. Literally the only part that I would keep besides the frame is the back wheel, and that's a cheap piece of crap with zinc spokes anyway. The crank set is rusted and messed up, the derailer is screwed, I hate the handlebars, the seat is falling apart, the front wheel is so rusted I can't get the spokes out, the chain shows major signs of wear and damage, the breaks don't reset to the right position properly. It's a mess. And it was a mess when I bought it.