Personally, for the commuter, a triple is nice to have. There's always that time when you need to carry something that adds 20-30 lbs to your typical load, and lower gears are nice to have at that time.

For commuting and mountains and hills around here in Denver and areas, I have a cyclocross compact double up front (FSA Gossamer 110BCD 44/34, going to a 48/34). Out back I have a Deore LX with a 11/34 cassette. Problem solved and plenty of low down for me and my commute and hills around here.

My $.02...

okay, back to bikes!

I don't know why Gyeswho didn't answer your question.

very nice ride there Ka Jun

*nod* Thank you. Riding Megatron has been a peaceful joy. Much faster than I would've expected, though she handles a bit on the twitchy side.

probably the weight distribution with the panniers so far back....can you move them a little forward without heel strikes?

Megatron is a woman?!

She's a beauty. How many teeth in the largest chainring?

MV: I'm going to try that because they're tapping the fender and I'm getting some fender rub. Just got her, so I'm still placing the panniers like I did on my old ride. Can't ask for too much, I cheaped out on the rack & the panniers, I'll be putting in some of that coroplast to stiffen them, though.

DL: Sure, why not. Not that Michael Bay crap, either.

SM: 44

Thanks.

Here are some pics I took this evening of my current steed, a Bianchi Milano with a flat bar, rack and slicks. I'm buying a pannier next week.

Bianchi1.jpg

bianchi2.jpg

bianchi3.jpg

nice ride!

Say, is that top tube kinda looong, or am I seeing things? Just curious.

Beauty vintage steed, by the way.

I know you guys said not to change from a triple crankset to a double. If I was going to change to a double, could I use the Shimano 105 double crankset. Nasbar has a crankset https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...6_10000_201437

is that a Campy Victory crank?

Damn, does EVERYBODY have road bikes?
I feel left out.
It's like I'm the only guy here who uses a mountain bike to commute to work.
Damnit, I live in LA, I should have a road bike.
Man, I'm gonna go outside and kick dirt for a while.

Nope, you aren't the only one. But my MTB is getting 1.25" tires and might be getting bullhorns soon.

put over 1000 miles on a rigid MTB last year. Poor thing sits in the corner now that I have a road bike.
Problems with a mountain:
1. Gearing is for slow technical trails. My first touring bike had almost the same crank gearing of 22/32/44 (my mtb is 22/32/42) . I was running out of gear on the road. I upgraded to a 26/36/48. It is just the right compromise for the hills around here. I just recently set my original touring bike back up after finding the next size up frame and moving my 9speed STI's over to it. I find I really don't like the 22/32/44 for the street now. I still can run out of gear with the 48 but not nearly as often as I was with the 44. The center ring where I spend most of my time in the top 4 gears on the rear of the 36 seems just right and I can jump up to the 48 front when I get on a down hill. With the 32 I spent a lot more time jumping from the 44 to the 32 and just never finding the sweet spot on the rear. I would be in the top two on the rear all the time on the 32 center and having to shift up and down out of the 44 more often. I spend a lot more time shifting as a result.

2. Riding hand positions. You have 1 with a straight bar. It was killing my wrists on rides over 10 miles. I regularly do 30 mile rides now. The Hoods are where it is at most of the time but the drops to duck out of the wind on down hills and windy days and the tops to rest the wrists makes a BIG difference. I did run trekking bars on the Mountain for a while but found that my hands most of the time were on the sides or upper hoop away from the brakes and gears so I was all the time back and forth. That was a real negative when in a climb to have to remove your hand from the good power position and reach down near the stem to drop a gear. Felt very unbalanced and you backed out of the climb. WIth the STI I can stay in the power with both hands on the hoods and flick my fingers to down shift as my cadence drops on the climbs.

3. Drops for better aerodynamic. Makes a huge difference when fighting a head wind. Even with Trekking bars you still can't tuck in a comfortable position for very long like you can on a road bike. Now I ride touring bikes and the bars are up a lot higher then a "race" or "Sport" road bike so the drops are not severe but still a big improvement.

4. Tire sizes. My MTB was running A specilized "CrossRoad" on the rear rated 85psi and actually had a small on the road foot print with the locked center tread and high tire pressure. I ran a Specialized Hempsphere front that again rode up nicely on the center. It was a really good combination on the road but it still didn't fix the fact that I was spinning a LOT of tire. It takes effort to keep heavy tires spun up at road speed. I split the difference on the Touring bike. I run 700x35's (though I am eyeing a 700x32 as my next tire). Enough tire for the occasion off pavement excursion. Enough tire to take the harshness out of the road that a 700x23 has but considerably lighter then the 26x1.95's. The difference in speed was dramatic.

I have three good hills and my best time ever on the mountain was just over 18minutes and I was pushing. On the touring bike I made my ride 15:42 seconds Friday and felt less wore out and really didn't feel I was "Pushing it". I have made the ride in just a hair over 15 on a crit bike with 700x23's. Again not pushing hard but I did keep a good pace. Between the tires, wheel size and gearing it was just not easy to make good time on the Mountain bike. The mountain on this one good down hill I felt I was doing good to hit 32mph peddling as hard as I could. I regularly tickle 40mph and really putting the hammer on I have managed 42mph.

Besides the points that Grim so clearly illustrated, I'd say that the one thing that can adapt a mountain bike really well to road riding is skinnier tires (and, if the frame will take them, 700c wheels). At one point, I had both a fully rigid Cannondale Bad Boy Disc and a full-suspension Cannondale Rush. I found that the Bad Boy's 700cx28 wheels and tires fit onto the Rush, so I took the Rush out a few times with them on. With its shocks locked out and with the skinnier, lighter wheels, the Rush rode almost identically to the Bad Boy.

Flat bar bikes with a more upright riding position aren't much of a drag for my short commute, but if I lived across the river, I'd definitely use a road or touring bike instead.

Anyone else use their commuter as their main ride for leisure? Did some climbing this weekend and kept my bag on in case I ran into some cool garage sales along the way

Nice pics! (I eliminated them in the reply to avoid wasting space)

GREAT classic Peugeot! Thanks for sharing!

This is what I use for both commuting and leisure rides:


Up until this spring, I was useing a Giant hybrid. This is sooo much nicer and I'm having much more fun. I now sometimes have roadies out on training rides draft on me instead of blowing past

Tim

new bike for commuting and riding around on the weekends... just got it yesterday

I use a few old mtb's for commuting although they both have drop bars... and they are fixed gear / ss.