http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=159923http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=159924Hey gang,

Here's my commuter. While I can't commute to work on it, I do use it for almost all of my errands around the neighborhood. It's a 90 or 91 Raleigh Talon I purchased new. Other than a little issue with the headset it has been bulletproof for 20 years of riding. Recent additions of the fenders, slick style tires, and Ergon grips made it much more comfortable.

Also attached is my road bike that I use for exercise and when I want to get somewhere a bit quicker. It is literally half as heavy as my Raleigh, and even older. It's an 85 Maruishi. I just seem to like older bikes I guess.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42040798@N03/4797564580/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4204079...n/photostream/

I didn't feel any difference. But haven't tried it with something heavy on the rack, only a bag with some clothes.
I wouldn't advise anyone to put heavy stuff on those mini front racks, they are good for some clothes, or to carry a tent, nothing more than that!

Thought for a second you'd stole a pic of my ride !! The tires get cut pretty easy and ive had three flats in 1,700 miles on my glass scattered bike lane..
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...h_DSCF4572.jpg

You want a photo of my commuter? O.K.
Attachment 160093

No, we want a photo of your commuter bicycle...

^ well, in that case:
Attachment 160104

It's coming up to my Kona Smoke's 4th birthday so I thought I'd take a few updated pics. Since my last post with her (it's a "her", though I can't commit to a name) way back on page 86 (and when I first picked her up brand new on page 49) we've shared four years, six cities, a handful of brake pad replacements and no idea how many kilometres. Happy Birthday!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/...427d5091_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/...0b6cc391_o.jpg

Some minor cosmetic and comfort changes over the years:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/...1f1812be_o.jpg

Still have the Dollar Store 9-LED headlights and Victoria Police "This could be a Bait Bike" sticker, and added on a pair of "Dapper Dan" leather ergonomic handlebar grips from Portland Design Works (available at MEC). Comfy, though with the Grip Shift I should've gotten the short version (which exist - but not at MEC when I was shopping, unfortunately). These full-size versions make the handlebar wider at either end by about 2-3cm, which makes cutting between cars in traffic a bit dodgy, but does yield a bit of extra room to play with for hand placement - nothing as useful as drops or a mustache, but the ergo shape is comfy on my ~23km commute.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/...141c55d7_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/...348aa5ae_o.jpg

After years of admiring everyone else, I sprung for a Brooks B17 saddle last week. Right now it is a b---h - I find I keep sliding forward on the smooth leather and driving the wedge into my perineum, so I'm pushing against the handlebar to keep my sits bones on the right spot. I hear that over time the leather will soften and shape to my sits bones - won't be a moment too soon when that finally happens.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/...9d0597b4_o.jpg

Those occasions where I end up driving in my car, I find I'm blinded when coming up behind cyclists with blinkies on their seatposts, backpacks or helmets - the lights end up right at eye level and it gets pretty annoying. I noticed the bixi shared bikes in Montreal mount them lower towards the rear axle, which keeps the bike visible yet not blinding cars from behind, so I did the same with my MEC blinkies.

Also threw on a Esge double kickstand - my old regular Greenfield one was totally adequate, but when I found a double stand in stock whilst browsing an LBS on holidays (Power in Motion, Calgary) it was totally an impulse buy. As you can see the off-the-shelf 320mm length makes you perch either your front or rear tire about 15cm off the ground - will have to chop that down sometime. But when I get around to putting on proper front and rear racks and hauling more weight with the bike, hopefully having the double will make loading all the more stable and safe.

For now, keeping the heavy cargo on my back, and the lighter stuff on that seatpost rack, eg:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/...e870f863_o.jpg

^^^Nice Kona! Love the Dapper Dan grips and Brooks saddle; very classy! May I ask, why the seat post rack, and not one that mounts to your rear eyelets? Do you ever ride with panniers?

BTW - do you have anymore of those "bait bike" stickers? I'd love to get my hands on a couple of those.

Profide actually takes some of the slickness out of the Brooks. ;)

Wow... those are some great looking bikes! They still look brand new. I have a Raleigh of similar vintage, but it's not nearly in as good a shape as yours. Still a solid commuter, though.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/...49e916f8_m.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/...2bc31ce6_m.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2613/...bae39fdb_m.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/...9047855b_m.jpg

"After years of admiring everyone else, I sprung for a Brooks B17 saddle last week. Right now it is a b---h - I find I keep sliding forward on the smooth leather and driving the wedge into my perineum, so I'm pushing against the handlebar to keep my sits bones on the right spot. I hear that over time the leather will soften and shape to my sits bones - won't be a moment too soon when that finally happens."

Your saddle is tipped too far forward and this is what is causing the slippage... set it level or with the nose up just a little and you will notice an incredible difference in comfort.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1126253_n.jpg

This is mine, less the panniers for commuting since my commute is only 3km each direction. I do however make one or two trips a week into the city 35km away for shopping or fun, then the panniers are welcome for the ride!

That's a nice, clean ride. I'll second the recommendation to get a rear rack that mounts to the conveniently provided braze-ons rather than the seatpost rack. Then you could get a couple of grocery panniers and load'er up! No backpack needed.

Nice bike, and proofide the bottom and top of the saddle (I found treating the top helped with the slickness) - let it sit overnight and buff the saddle (the leather will pretty much absorb whatever you put on initially).
I tried a trick recommended on these forums, and it has really worked for me (after my initial proofide treatment): Dampen a towel and wring it as dry as possible. fold the towel and drape it over the saddle overnight. Ride. I've only done this once, but the saddle is noticeably more compliant and is beginning to form to my body.

Updates... Upgrades!
 

My trusty Schwinn hybrid is approaching my vision for it; the latest updates include:

New cyclocomputer and freshening of the cockpit,

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/...a577269c12.jpg

and a new MEC QR saddlebag.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/...43207dfab1.jpg

She's really starting to look and ride like a functional commuter (IMHO)!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/...24730bded4.jpg

All she needs now is a rigid fork and seatpost to be complete. Oh, and a new wheelset. And maybe a Tiagra triple crank & matching dérailleur. And then a Deore LX rear dérailleur & cassette. Of course then I would need the matching Deore brakes and controls... ;)

Nice cockpit setup, irclean!

Thanks! :o (blushing)

I wanted to get a regular rack and panniers to go along, but my fenders came with this funny hookup that didn't let the rack hook on to the frame braze-ons:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...e/DSCF7370.jpg

No panniers - I guess I could mount them to the seatpost rack and hope the fender struts keep the bags away from the rear wheel, but I'd still be capped on the max weight. Plus the seatpost rack is relatively high and likely would be unstable with extra weight. I suppose I should just get new fenders.

Unfortunately no. I actually checked the Victoria Police website to see if they had a contact you could ask, but they don't even mention it. I wonder if they still do it.

Yes! Relief. I don't know why I didn't think of that - I guess I just read all the horror stories about the first rides on a new Brooks and just figured that was it. Thanks!

Thanks for the tips! How long was your breaking-in time? Unfortunately the LBS I got the saddle from didn't have the Proofide (the guy recommended mink oil), and none of the local shops stock it. I see various concoctions recommended online and probably should've done at least some treatment before riding... but I just couldn't help myself.

Ergo grips AND the handlebar - nice! Where do you find your hands spend most of the time? That might be my next big upgrade after some new fenders and rear rack.

;) I know all about that feeling!

You could use P clips on the legs of the rack. Thats how I did it on my M400 C-Dale.
http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...4&d=1220104684

Bummer about the sticker, but thanks for checking!

I spend most of my time on the sides - it sort of mimics riding on the hoods with drop bars. It feels very natural and reaching back to use the controls became intuitive after a very short while. As for a big upgrade - the bars, stem, and bar tape cost me about $60 all told. The improvement over my flat bars... priceless!

This is a really good looking bicycle...

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=160352here is my trek 7.9 fx with winwood fork, disk brake front, carbon fiber rack, bontrager sattelite handle bars, fsa megaexo light crank, selle smp glider seat and lots of lights.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=160351 it uses the night rider newt headlamps and has swiss dt wheels with ultremo marathon plus 700x32 wheels with a basic ultegra rear and front deraileur. And yes I carry both a gun and pepper spray.

You can install a rack in the same spot - just use longer (stainless) screws and washers. Works like a charm.

That is a sweet ride. I hope you never have to use the gun or pepper spray protecting it.

I was wondering the same thing. It often seems that the simplest solutions work the best.

My first 'commuter' bike. I've been commuting mostly by mountain bike..and lately been switching off to my newly acquired road bike(when the weather permits). My ideal bike would have disc brakes, but my Wife won't let me spend any real money on another bike at this time.

I found this on CL for $60. It is a 93 720 Multitrack. I bought it from the original owner. It looked like it has been sitting in a shed since new(grease and dirt coated with very little wear on anything). I changed out the seat, stem, bars,shifters and brakes because I wanted to run flat bars and get rid of the grip shifters. I found some $15 Michelins(another CL find) to replace the dried out original Trek/Cheng shin tires. All of the other parts I had lying around, so my total monetary investment is $75.

I gave it a quick tune and cleaned it up. The spokes on the wheels were all rusty, so I have more time in the wheels, than on anything else. I found that 2 different grades of steel wool along with some metal polish works the best for this project(I hate cleaning spokes). I still have more spoke cleaning to do(all bikes should come with stainless spokes). All of the drive-train feels as good as new. I don't think this bike has very many miles on it.

I understand that this is just a mediocre frame with a low grade Shimano group(Altus A20), but for what I need and can afford, it will suffice. I've put about 125 miles on it since I picked it up last weekend, and it feels pretty good. It is definitely faster on the road than my MTB. I would like to get a stem that moves the bars forward a little more, but that's a minor issue. It came with a rack, but I took it off to clean up, and haven't decided whether to run with it or not... yet. I will get some fenders for it soon, and mount a light.

I've browsed through the pics on this thread, and there are some very ...very nice bikes. Someday I'll upgrade to more modern technology, but for now, my wife is happy that I didn't break the bank, but still got myself something to trek to work on.

Here are some before and after photos.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...t/IMG_2565.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...t/IMG_2582.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...t/IMG_2575.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...IMG_2588-1.jpg

^^^@ Roger M: You're like the poster boy for "How to get started as a bicycle commuter." That is an awesome first commuter; IMHO you did everything right, but personally I would reinstall the rack (function over form). Whenever newbies ask how to get started they should read your post! I sure wish I had... you would've saved me a lot of aggravation. BTW keep at it and you will prove to your better half that you're serious about commuting and maybe she'll soften up when it comes time to buy your dream bike.