My commuter, depicted on an unusually glorious New England spring morning. It's a Cross-Check I'm running as a SS. I haul my toddler around on weekend errands, thus the Ibert seat up front. Apologies for the visually discordant background; this wasn't -- ahem -- a carefully planned photo shoot.

Oh my teary eyes, how much I've missed you!
That two wheeled beauty I have befriended
9000 miles and so much much to do!
To the LBS, I'll get you mended!

Oh, now how you stand all resplendent
With new stem, headset and fenders black
no hydraulics for it was meant!
Let's get you home tae fit yer rack

The Surf (aka Rabbi Burns) 2010


Got a Cube Nature over a year ago and did some big miles in the first year. It became apparent what was actually needed to undertake a years worth of commuting so:

New Fork - Surly Karate Monkey CroMo 29er (got rid of the stock hydraulic job....no use)
Two wheel rebuilds with DMR Revolver disc hubs front and rear (cartridge bearings...banish the cup and cone hubs)
New FSA headset (cartridge bearing)
Shorter stem (I was feeling a bit stretched over the bike)
And a Avid BB7 disc brake system with Avid levers and Goodridge cabling. I needed a system that i could easily maintain and was robust (ditched the failing Hayes Stroker Ryde set)

Trying to find optimum position so I have not cut the steerer yet. It feels a lot better than it did set up like this though and I'm looking forward to doing some big miles. The angle I went for on the rebuild was to make the bike as easy to maintain as possible but only time will tell if I've made the right choices.

other info:

Shimano Deore OEM 48/36/26 crank on XT hollowtec II bottom bracket (the last XT BB lasted 6000miles!!!!!)
XT long cage derailleur (again the XT jockeys lasted 6000 miles)
Thomson seat post seems to have remedied my habit of breaking them.
And Ergo grips...comfort is everything.

This is one of my two commuting fixies that I built from dumpster parts. The frame originally had a set of sprung forks but they were very heavy and I wanted to quicken the steering a little so I replaced them with the shorter rigid ones shown. However although this bike is a lot of fun to ride it can be a little too twitchy when traveling through alleys or gravel and cobblestone streets at a good clip so I'm looking to braze up a new rigid fork. It should result in a more compliant and relaxed geometry and better pedal clearance since I run 170 crank arms.

http://jz63.com/cycle/images/Hooligan_04.jpg

My commute is the same length. I'm not training for any kind of a long ride, but I manage with a little less

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...3101825-00.jpg

If I'm packed for softball after work, I add a trunk bag.

Updated pic.
New chain-cover and macgyvering brakes.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/...bcfae8eddc.jpg

Razor - think you can fit some inverted brake levers in there? That would probably look a ton better than those brake levers you got on there now.

Those are probably the stubbiest bullhorns I've ever seen. :lol:

Finally got a decent pic of my commuter bike

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...H/100_1915.jpg

how in the heck are you actuating the levers? they should be facing downwards.

Holy smokes that La Cruz looks great. It looks close to the next DF I want to build up.

Figure I'd make my first post here in this thread, since commuting is what I do most.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/...0ea9e2c17d.jpg

This is my dirt-cheap, most likely bought from a Walmart Magna bike that I got from a friend for free. It might not be terribly nice or even very durable, but "Any bike is better than no bike."

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...atrace/004.jpg I had to go dyo cargo and under $60.00!

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...atrace/002.jpg Under $30.00 invested on this one.

Do you have four PB Superflashes on the back of that thing? :eek:
Do people regularly succumb to epileptic seizures as you pass?

Nice ride. How does the friction shifter work with the IGH? And what is that mounted on your seat tube?

THATS AMAZING! love it!

I just added a road bike to my commute, still need saddle and tape....had to paint and buy components, looks awesome! :D
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77...r/IMG_9007.jpg

Thanks,

It's indexing Jtek shifter .
And Abus Bordo foldable lock.

I like the bamboo front rack mechanicalron!

I like to give my car driving friends as much help with seeing me as possible. I've been the recipient of the pathetic excuse 'Sorry mate I didn't see you' more times than I have fingers and toes and my apporach to hi-viz is probably a knee-jerk reaction to that. Personally, when it comes to cycling in Glasgow, I don't think four is enough.

That is a nice bike. But then again when I look through this thread I always suffer from 'Other Peoples Sandwich Syndrome'. The idea is that you can make yourself a cheese sandwhich and it tastes alright. However, if SOMEONE ELSE makes a cheese sandwhich with exactly the same ingredients it WILL taste 100 times better than the one you made yourself. It's the same looking at other peoples bikes.......they always look nicer\interesting\more desireable than your own bike.

I hear you, my ride rocks two tail lights: a PB SFlash and a DiNotte 140R. I imagine that when you've got all four of your lights flashing, it's like being behind an emergency vehicle. I noticed that after I got the DiNotte, cars started giving me more room when they were behind me.

True 'nuff. There are a lot of flash rides posted around the forums, and they tend to impress me as much as make me jealous. But if I had a really good looking bike, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to bring myself to leave it locked up outside, anywhere. And that'd make commuting a bit of a hassle.

My ride is pretty similar to yours and even though it's never been complimented for its looks, I still love it. It's mad functional, it does everything: road, trail, work, school, and shopping. As a humble MTB commuter, I tend to be impressed by bikes that look either faster (road and cyclocross) or prettier (dutch, roadster, vintage) than mine. This bike, for example:

...looks pimp! You and I may have cheese sandwiches but mechanicalron here has a bacon cheeseburger, and it makes my mouth water. I still like cheese sando's, though.

+1 for using the word pimp as an adjective. :thumb:

New bike for my short, 10km a day, commuting. Wanted something classy, easy to ride in office attire while keeping me clean in all conditions. Also, wanted something North American or European made. The Pashley Roadster Sovereign 26 fit the bill. So far so good, it's slow as hell, but once you get it's 50+ pounds wound up it carries speed nicely. Ride is smooth as butter and the position is very relaxing coming from bent up road and XC racing bikes.

Attachment 145469Attachment 145470Attachment 145471

This is the bike I had been using for a couple of years. '08 Novara Buzz (REI Brand), dece components, relatively light for an alloy frame and disc brakes. I recently purchased a new bike so I swapped the pedals from Shimano M520's to M24's and replaced the 700x32 street tires for some more dirt/trail friendly 700x42 cyclocross tires.

http://members.cox.net/djparkr/novarabuzz.jpg

This is my new baby, it will be two weeks old tomorrow. '10 Giant Defy Advanced 3, 100% graphite composite frame and fork set, Shimano 105's ....

http://members.cox.net/djparkr/defyadvanced.jpg

I know, it's not a typical commuter rig, it's a full on roadie, but then i'm in coastal San Diego county. Inclement weather is the occasional rain storm, and I admit, i'm a fair weather commuter. Also I like to get out on the weekends for some longer rides, and my commute route doesn't really take me through high density city streets.

Here's my new commuter: Singular Peregrine. I wanted a bike with roadie like geometry but with plenty of tire clearance for winter and disc brakes for bad weather conditions. There weren't too many options in that category but the Peregrine frame seemed to be good compromise.

http://www.iki.fi/rjy/bike/singular/bike-side-2.jpg

That Singular Peregrine is nice! I like that color.

Just put some 47mm Velo-Orange stainless steel fenders on my commuter/brevet bike.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...9_648960_n.jpg