I sold the Trek to a friend just yesterday. It carried me from 1998 through 2004. His bike was stolen, now he has a ride. The Specialized is my general purpose bike. Fenders and disc brakes are nice when it's wet out. 700x38c tires are great on dirt roads. This bike is a very comfortable ride, having suspension in the fork and seatpost. Cateye tail lights, fireflies, and Turbocat S25 lights keep me visible at night while lighting the road.

Litespeed Arenberg '03

Nice looking bike. Be sure to trim off those fender mounts otherwise they can put nasty scratches in your legs.

that's on the old bike... the new bike is the one on the left... I don't see any fenders on it :)

OK, I finally remembered to grab a pic of my Surly Crosscheck in Commuter mode. I went to 700x23 since my route is high speed on really smooth roads, Michelin Erlium tires have been tough wearing and only one flat in 600+ miles. SKS fenders are sweet for when it's wet, and a 10 Watt Nite Hawk. (After last nights ride home in pitch black I would like to upgrade to 20 watt for those 25+ mph descents) I rave about the Carradice Nelson Longflap bag and the Brooks B17 special in racing green. I've had it since April and it has a little over 3,800 miles on it.

Dude, Sweet bike! Id love to ride a bike like that. Here's the second pic rotated so its easier to see:

Here is my commuter- it is a "Kuwahara Gepard" (Gepard is German for Leopard). It has a double butted aluminium frame and Deore/Alivio components. The brakes are Shimano M515 mechanical disk brakes and I have added a SON (Schmidt) hub dynamo to provide some lighting. 8 speed on the back and 3 speed on the front. This is the bike I ride the most and I think it is great for commuting.

Nice setup!

I used to think that suspension seatposts were for wussies, until i got a bike that came with one....now I think they're great!

You use a backpack or messenger bag? I dont' see any racks.

Ryko - thanks for rotating the pic, and the props on the bike! I still love it and it rides great. I think it's just about perfect for my commute. A little more powerful front lighting and maybe a slightly larger big ring would be the only changes.

I wasn't planning on getting that nice a bike when I first shopped, but luckily I listened to experianced commuting friend and increased my budget. I've never regretted it ... reminds me I want to get my friend a Christmas present to thank him for his help.

This is more a picture of a bicycle commuter than a commuter bicycle, but the ratty winter commuter MTB is in there.

It's me after arriving home from a Friday evening commute. 20F degrees. Ready for my beer(s)!

Hi Paniolo,
I'm new here and I was wondering about what your friend said that made you want to upgrade. I'm shopping for a bike now and I'm really digging your Surly, it's beautiful, as I am alot of the other bikes here.

--emperorTK--

This is one of my "not for bad weather" commuters. I just added the orange bar tape & kinda like it. My wife thinks I may be regressing to the guy she knew when I was in "High School". What do you think? Should I stop here or try for Junior High? Don

I finally got around to taking pictures of my new commuter with all the lights and reflective tape. Since the bike is black with dark gray accents it needed lots of "help" so people can see me at night. I'm not a photographer so the pictures aren't the best. :o

Here it is in the daylight without the panniers.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20001.jpg

The taillight setup.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20002.jpg

The headlight setup. The small light on the bottom is always flashing, just to get motorist's attention.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20004.jpg

Message to motorists.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20005.jpg

The batteries.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20006.jpg

The (stock) egg beater pedals. I kinda like them. After a few more weeks I may retire my 4+ year old SPDs.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20008.jpg

The rear view at night. The small red lights in the upper portion of the picture are Aireon Bar End Mini Lights. All the lights on the bike (except for the NiteRider headlights) are always set to flashing mode.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20012.jpg

The rear view with headlights shining on the bike.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20013.jpg

The view from the side. Hey motorists, can you see me going through the intersection?
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20015.jpg

The view an oncoming motorist would see.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20017.jpg

The view someone walking their dog will see as I'm approaching.
http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Jamis%20018.jpg

What do you think? Can these Atlanta drivers see me?
Probably not. :mad:

RonH,
Nice setup. What kind of batteries are those? I especially like the reflective tape. I have quite a bit of it on my bike. I think it helps.

my latest...
http://forum.bikemag.com/photopost/d...1872surly1.jpg

Well thought out setup. Ha ha! If you rode in my neighborhood, I'd sure avoid ya :p

The batteries are the stock 4000 mAh Nicads that came with the NiteRider NightOwl headlights (analog). I bought them in October 2001 and they're still going strong, but batteries don't last forever and this could be the last winter for them. :(

FlippingHades,

I recognize your bike. Was that you in the Bicycling Magazine article on the Cal Train? I remember a photo of a rider leaning on his red cross bike with: bullhorns, barend shifter on just one side, white tape, black aero levers, and a wider ergo saddle of some sort.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...hmentid=13304]

This is my commuter for the winter or until I get my LHT.

Here's my Houston commuter- I ride consistently, but not too far. Never know where my next meeting will be, so I have to carry around the lock. It's a '79 schwinn super le tour II with a front wheel from a '75 schwinn, harris cycleries' cheapest on the back and a wright leather saddle. I volunteer at a local bike coop, and am slowly upgrading (rolling on 27's, found a mavic MA-2 and a campy front hub- that's next). Removed the decals with just a touch of acetone- I'm looking for the right sticker/decals now.

Yup, that was me! I used to commute by CalTrain, and the photographer for that article happened to be on the train I was on one day. I totally forgot about it until I opened the issue on the newstand and saw myself looking back at me. Kinda weird :)

Thought I recognized that bike! Save some copies of that issue for the family archives.

I remember your bike because I was experimenting with running bullhorns with a single sided barend shifter on the right for my 1x9 commuter. So was checking out your bike setup when the I noticed the same handlebar/shifter in the magazine article photo. ;)

Cool! It seems to me to be a really sensible configuration. I've modified it slightly since -- I got the Paul's Thumbies mounts and have that shifter set up as a thumb thifter now, so I can put bar-end brake levers on the bullhorns - with the regular road levers the cable exits the lever at a sharp angle which isn't good for the cable or braking efficiency.

1000 miles since June, probably several thousand before that.

http://x1.cs.umd.edu/pics/commuter.jpg

???:D Car-bump...and where's the rider :p