The question I have isn't whether to buy the bike or not, no, the bike is all but bought already. No, the question I have is "does it make a good commuter?"

See, when I went to one to put my bike in one of the local shops the other day for a tune up they bluntly told me that it was going to cost nearly as much to do the job as it would to purchase a new one. After thinking long and hard I decided on getting a new one, so, I went and started comparing bikes at different shops that were in my price range. And I settled for the giant escape 3 hybrid. The only real down side I see are the tiny 700x32c tires over crappy roads.

So that left me wondering, how does it really fare as a commuter?

Funny but I don't think of 32c tires as tiny. Give it a shot and see how it goes. You can always upgrade to something like Schwalbe Marathon Plus if they don't hold up.

If you're used to mountain bikes, 32c will seem skinny but in general it's a decent size for road use. It really depends on how crappy the roads are. Plenty of people commute on narrower tires.

Something else to consider, if you haven't bought a bike yet is that maybe you really don't need a new one. Was it the Huffy you took into the shop? Those are cheap bikes so the mechanic may well be right that you could purchase a new one for about the same as what it costs to tune up the Huffy, - especially if it needs new parts. But it's going to cost a whole lot less than the Escape. Some shops just don't like Huffys and won't work on them. They'll steer you towards a different bike. Other shops will repair them.

If you can afford it, by all means get the Giant or some other quality bike, you will be better off in the long run. But if getting a new bike is going to be a financial strain, fixing the Huffy couldn't cost THAT much.

Yeah, the price difference between tune up and the new bike was about $70 due to nearly needing a full over haul.

I all but own the escape 3, I simply have to go pick it up. I suppose I should rephrase my question. How are 700x32c tires for commuting on crappy roads Including rail crossings and gravel.

I run 32c tires on my hybrid commuter. I also regularly commute on other bikes with smaller tires, all the way down to 23c. All of them work fine, the wider ones are a little smoother over the bumps. 32c is plenty wide for a commuter.

I go over railroad crossings all the time on my skinny 23c tires but the crossings are done pretty well. I've also ridden gravel roads on them but it's dicey if there's a lot of coarse, loose rock. 32s will be a lot better than 23s but 32 is still a street tire for the most part, though lots of cyclocross is done on 32mm tires.

Without seeing the actual crossings and roads it's hard to say for sure. If you're only talking about a few crossings on your commute I wouldn't worry about it regardless of how bad they are. You may not be able to bomb over them the way you could with a mountain bike, but I suspect it won't be a problem.

I commuted on a Giant Escape 2 for 3 years. It is fine as a commuter, but I would recommend changing the stock tires for something more puncture resistant right away. The stock tires are terrible. There is plenty of room for a 35c tire if you want something wider.

I have 32s on my main commuter. I have done everything from 23, 25, 28, 32, 38 and 1.95 and I think 32 is my favorite size for commuting. Skinny enough to "feel" fast, wide enough to soak up a lot of road imperfections and RR crossings. Our roads are terrible in SC, and I have multiple RR crossings (between 3 and 5, depending on my route)

Not a commuter, but I use 32c Panaracer Ribmos on my Salsa Casseroll for over 3 years and thousands of miles. While I cannot say I have been flat free, the flats have been few and far between, and at least in the most recent two, the fault was not in the tire at all, but in some rim tape that moved exposing the sharp edges of a couple of spoke holes. My usual routes take me over lots of broken pavement, gravel and some rough railroad crossings. The 32c Ribmo takes it all in stride. Funny thing is when I bought the bike, I originally planned to go with 35c Ribmos, but the mechanic made a mistake and mounted the 32c tires instead. After a quick test ride, I decided I liked the ride of the 32s and decided to keep them. That was over 3 years ago. I have occasionally thought of going down a size but I like the ride quality of the 32.

That's what I am using and like them a lot as well!

Not all 700x32 tires are alike, some make much better commuting tires than others.

What is the brand and model of the tires you have now, before you go deciding to change them?

Also note that your rims can almost certainly take a larger size if you so choose, like a 35.

Shortlegcyclist, the tires are the stock ones that giant puts on the bike.

Probably rebadged Kenda. Last season, I bought a Giant branded tire on clearance. When I was mounting the tire, I got a close look at the sidewall and could clearly read the Kenda brand name embossed on the tire.

35 is the sweet spot for a commuter tire. Not too narrow and not too wide.

And fenders fit perfectly with the size.

Specs say this is the tire, then the Giant SX-3



Yeah, those should do fine on crappy roads.

Can you get lighter or better puncture protected tire, probably.

But it's not like those are unreasonable for the expected use.

thanks everyone!

Looks like I'm a couple days late, but I have a Giant Escape 3 I purchased about ~ 5 months ago for commuting. I've probably put close to 500-600 miles on it (80% of it being my ~ 9 mile round trip commute). No major issues; I had a flat once so far but I can't really fault the bike for that since it could happen to any bike. Overall, I am very satisfied with the Giant Escape for commuting purposes.

Awesome! Thanks arskemp. Besides "better late than never", right?

I ran 32s for a year and then went down to 28s. No problems over rough roads or gravel.

Schwalbe and Suomi Nokian make Studded tires to keep riding through the winter .

Those sound like they'd be awfully nice on a tire this skinny, 'course, never needed those with a 26x2.1 tire.

Giant Escape is a very competent and tough commuter bike. I got one for my son and he rides the heck out of it. Takes fenders and rack.

I have a Giant Escape 2 with around 3000 km on it in on year.

Yea, it may not seem like a lot, but I've rode the hell out of that thing... Through winter, country roads, gravel, bumps, numerous centuries... It's a pretty solid bike. I would upgrade to a better Escape model for just a bit more.