bikerBen

I've been riding my beater mt bike to commute, and was all set to buy a Kona Dew Deluxe as a replacement, when I rode my good road bike and realized how much I "need the speed" (name the movie!) and how much the beater really sucks. My road bike is usually spec'd for Triathlon (FF SP, Aero bars, Aero drink, etc.) so I don't want to ride it on a regular basis.

I'm thinking a cross bike would be faster than the Dew Luxe but better for commuting than a road bike. I'm looking at the Kona Jake, and some used Redlines. What are your thoughts? I hear people usually use a smaller frame for X than road. I'm 5'9"+ and my road is a 52 (I could probabaly be on a 54 but I like the handling of the samller frame) should I stay with a 52 for X or go smaller? The Dew has Disc brakes but the Jake does not. A big trade off there? Any X bikes/frames that have Disc capability? Any other X bike recommendations? Should I stay with the Dew? Thanks!

-=(8)=-

I ride a Surly X to commute and think its the best bike there is for that
purpose. Mountain bikes are too slow and raod bikes are too fragile for
hitting potholes etc....I think you would be very happy with a 'cross bike

darkmother

I'd go for the cross personally. I just build one up this spring, and I love it. Very versatile machine. With good road tires, it is just as quick as a road bike-I do club rides on it with no trouble. The drop bars make a huge difference riding into a headwind. With 35c cross tires, I can ride trails, and it is still very quick on the road. I've even taken it on a couple of group MTB rides and held my own in the rough stuff. Fenders fit no problem which is a big plus for a commuter-I've got some clip on plastic ones that I toss on if it is raining.

As for the discs, I'm not sure that I would really want them on a commuter. They seem to be more tempermental to set up (squealfest), and many of them drag all the time. Also, they make your bike more attractive to thieves.

RT

I beg to differ on the Mountain Bike comment (not to be critical, just to each their own :-). I ride my Giant Rainer to work every day and do not find it slow at all. I have two wheelsets, one 2" with center-bead knobbies and a 1.5" road set, which is faster, but not by much. It is a heavy beast with the additional gear (aerobars, tool kit, gel seat, extra bottle cages), but well worth it. I agree that road bikes are too fragile, but a cross bike is not that much more sturdy. I don't feel I could ever sacrifice the durability and strength of a MTB for anything less. It's a great feeling knowing you can go from road to cravasse in the blink of an eye.

Quickbeam

I agree with what others have said. I've been using a Trek X01 cross bike for commuting for the last several years (although lately I've been using my Rivendell Quickbeam most of the time) and it works great. It doesn't give-up much speed to a road bike but it's much more durable if you need to hop a curb or go overland. If your road bike is already on the small side, I'd suggest that you get a cross bike that fits about the same. There are cross bikes out there that are equipped with disk brakes. I know Cannondale offers one, I'm sure there are others too. I don't know if there's really a serious advantage to disks. I've never owned a bike that has them.

karmadog

I recently purchased a new bike -- my final shortlist was the Jake and the Dew Deluxe. I chose to go with the Dew Deluxe for the following reasons:

1. It looks like less of a thief magnet than the Jake.
2. I liked the disc brakes, and friends of mine swear by them when carrying heavier loads or when its wet outside.
3. It was about $200 cdn cheaper.
4. I'm not terribly comfortable with drop handlebars in heavy traffic - personal preference.

The frame on the Jake was also a bit more compressed (I'm 5'10") -- I found the frame on the Dew Deluxe a bit more comfortable.

I've been riding it for the past month or so and definitely don't have any issues with it, beyond the inconvenience of mounting a rack with disc brakes. I ended up having to mount a seat post rack which I'm not very happy with. It says that the max weight is 25 lbs (and for my commute, on a heavy day when I replenish supplies at office I carry maybe 12 lbs). But I don't like the looks of the rack, and I'm a bit nervous about it getting bumped to the side.

The disc brakes are incredibly responsive, and I haven't had any squealies or problems with rubbing.

Stubacca

But do you need to be able to go from road to crevasse in the blink of an eye? I've been bike commuting for years, and have never seen that as a problem I needed to cater for.

A mountain bike isn't inherently slow, but it is typically slower than a road bike or cross bike, especially if it has any type of suspension at all. My Surly is built like a tank, but isn't nearly as heavy as a most hardtails - the only issues I've had on it are an out of true rear wheel (not surprising given 225 lbs of me + panniers etc), which has been holding up great since it was rebuilt. The drop bars are great for the frequent afternoon headwinds I encounter, and with 700x28 slicks I'm able to hold a higher average speed than I could on a my hardtail while still being able to comfortably ride unsealed trails if need be. Potholes I haven't been able to avoid have posed no problem at all. I don't jump curbs on it, but mostly because I have absolutely no need to - I ride on the roads, not the sidewalk.

DCCommuter

The answer is that the best bike for commuting is the one you like to ride. Cross bikes make fine commuters (as long as they're not cross at you ) I'm taking delivery on a Redline Conquest Disc-R today, so I'll let you know in a month or so how it works out.

As a user of disc brakes, I have to disagree. After switching to discs, I vowed to never buy a bike without them. They work that much better. If you ride in traffic, you need discs. Because they modulate so much better, you can brake a lot harder without going over the handlebars. They require far less maintenance than v-brakes. With v-brakes, I had to adjust them once a week and replace the pads once a month, even with kool-stops. On a rainy day I could wear off a quarter of a pad in a single trip. Adjustment was a bear because the pads would wear asymmetrically. With the discs, the pads last at least five times longer, and the pads wear parallel to the disc so adjustment is just taking up slack in the cable.

darkmother

I think the cross bike durability issue is largely a function of what tire size you use. With fat 700 c tires, 35c or larger, you are pretty isolated from paved road hazzards like potholes. I ride my cross bike on technical MTB trails where many riders are running dual suspension MTBs, and freeride bikes. I haven't had any problems so far, although the wheels have needed to be trued a couple of times-where my MTB rarely needs it. On the road with bigger tires, I wouldn't worry about it-it's alot like a mtb with 1.25 or 1.5" tires.

A flat bar can be an advantage on the street in some ways. I find it is easier to stop fast with a flat bar, because you can brace yourself agaist the bar, and throw your weight back. Tougher on my cross bike, but not too big of a deal-inline brakes help in this area. On the other hand, drops are narrower for busting moves between cars. It's a toss up. I like to have a choice, so I have a flat bar beater too.

HiYoSilver

Agree with DC Commuter. Disk brakes are fantastic. Been riding since Oct, and only one day of squeal, just as I was at the end of my initial 50 mile milestone. LBS did the 50 mile adjustment on all levers, settings and brakes. No problems and they don't squeal or drag. For one I'll never go back to rim brakes. It is so easy to get exactly the feather light or stop NOW action with disk brakes.

Thieves-- they'll take any bike that looks good, disk brakes or not will not make a difference. Get your employer to either allow you to take the bike inside, or even better get a bike locker. With bike lockers, good locks, and company security we don't have any problems at work. A creative approach to thieves I recently saw, was the removal of the seat. Nope, don't want to sit on that seat post.

Quickbeam

No offense but I wouldn't go that far!

I've been riding in traffic for over twenty years with sidepulls, cantis, and v-brakes. They work just fine and aren't all that difficult to maintain once you're proficient working with them. I'm sure disk brakes have their advantages but to say you "need" them to ride in traffic is more than a bit of a stretch! Around here there are a lot of guys riding fixed-gears in traffic with no brakes at all.

DogBoy

I use a modified (changed to a 28-39-50 triple FSA team crank & Ultegra triple front derailleur with 11-32 cassette rear LX derailleur setup and changed the tires to 700-25 from 700-35) JTS to commute, do group rides and pull the kiddie trailer. I think its great. I currently run 700-25s, but there is clearence for up to 700-40 (35 with the fenders) for when I want to venture offroad or when I want to put the studs on for winter. I find it is very comfortable and I get very little speed loss compared to my road-bike. The only problem is that now my road-bike is not seeing much action My JTS saw 150 miles last week and is on the way to another 130 ish this week. Anyway, yeah, I really like my cross bike.

-=(8)=-

I guess I was a little hasty..........Its just that I am hot off of riding Brutus (my Spec. P2)
in for the wet commute yesterday and with its 2.35 High Rollers it was the most painful
commute Ive had yet. If you have a set of high pressure skinnies for road work I can
almost see a MTB being preferable in a more urban setting with the uprite postion a
plus when scooting in and out of traffic or hopping curbs, etc.....Plus, block long wheelies
are great for bolstering our image with the peds and traffic jam sitters we have to deal
with daily

RT

It may be where I live, too. Here in Colorado, the road can get boring, so I've found literally dozens of ways to get from A to B. I cannot imagine being on a road bike or even a cross bike and encountering a situation where I 'wish I had my Mountain Bike.' If I were riding entirely on the road with no chance of hitting a pothole or wanting to hop a curb, I'd probably think differently. Again, to each their own, I just think Mountain Bikes get a bad rap from roadies :-)

markhr

I rode a JtS for 5 years. I liked the stiff, strong, no-rust frame, good braking and quick handling. I didn't like the wheels or the saddle. I replaced the bike(which is still going strong) with something similar built with avid BB disc brakes. Big braking improvement and I don't have to keep replacing worn out rims.

As an option have a look at CX bikes with db options from
Salsa
Voodoo
Redline
Kona (major jake frame)
Cannondale

Daily Commute

I woudn't say that MTB's are too slow for commuting, but they are slower. I rode a MTB with 1.5 road tires for years, and it did just fine. But I switched to a Surly Cross Check a year and a half ago, and it makes HUGE difference in speed.

MTB's are better at potholes and really, really bad conditions, so I won't say that they are bad commuters. They also make the commute fun for some people. But I think that my Cross Check is the perfect balance between speed and sturdiness, at least for my commute. The wide clearances let me use 32's with fenders easily (I think it can go to 45). In the winter, I can fit Nokkian studded tires under my fenders. You couldn't do that with a road bike.

gear

I had an old Cannondale MTB (no suspension) that I used for commuting after having used it several years in the woods (I bought a new MTB with suspension for woods riding when they perfected them). After several years of using the Cannondale MTB to commute I bought a road bike (a Seven YEAH!) when I wanted more speed. One problem the Seven was so nice that I didn't want to add fenders (or any extra weight for that matter) so it wasn't too good for rainy days. I went back to the Cannondale for rainy days but forund that I just didn't want to go that slow on the road anymore (spoiled I guess) so I built up a Airborne Carpe Diem into a bad weather commuter, it has full fenders, a rack and disc breaks (much better than Vbrakes in the rain). The Cannondale resides in the back of my truck (in case of a breakdown) and gets lots of use as my city ride. The Airborne is plenty speedy but I live for those sunny days when I can ride the Seven to work. I know I'm lucky to have room and a safe place to store bikes at home and at work.

catatonic

bah! I play in traffic with of all thing, double pull calipers....not even as high leverage as cantis. You'll do fine with any brake so long as you know how to use it effectively and gague your speed on the side of caution.

Being speed racer in high traffic is just asking to end up sliding across a hood, cussing at full volume.