Here are some pictures of my bike I bought back in April. Some older pictures are in my flicker link in my signature. I got my Brooks back in July but finally got around to getting a decent picture of it. The only other major upgrade I plan on making is matching Brooks handlebar tape and some lower rolling resistance tires that have some sort of flat protection (any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.)



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If you really want to know the absolute truth on these things... orange bikes go the fastest.

but if you wanna know THE ABSOLUTE truth then, red bikes with my legs pedaling them go the fastest haha

Are you sure ?

Here is mine, Surly CrossCheck (basic build up). Added rear rack and Banjo Bros Market bags and a Light and Motion Stella 120. Works great for my 20 mile round trip commute. Pick is from a recent geocacheing ride with the kids, I don't commute with the backpack.

after seeing that im not so sure, you win

i dont see a kick stand, and i've noticed other pics like this one. is there a kick stand connected to the back wheel in some way or on the free wheel?

This is absolutely true...especially when they're De Rosas!

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I think your avg. speeds with the Philip is due to the nimbleness and more rapid acceleration of the smaller wheels. With my current singlespeed Dahon, I think I cruise around 27-30 km/h and average 24 km/h for 20 km with a good portion of the trip uphill. I average a slightly faster total travelling time with a smaller gear than a bigger gear due to the time made up on climbs. The singlespeed trains my cardiovascular system and forces a more fractal riding pattern for my commute. If I was touring, I would certainly want gears.

If you look closely at the left pedal, there is something orange that is holding up the bike.

This is my commuter a 2010 58cm Schwinn

Is that a new "twist" on grip shifters, and I gotta ask... what's with the tape on the rear spokes? Sharp-looking bike, BTW!

I posted a while back about my first commute bike here. Well, I put some miles on it and found it to be too small. I found a replacement for it and then sold the Trek. I made a few dollars on it and got to put a few hundred miles on it as well.

I bought this for $20 and went through and repacked all of the bearings and cleaned everything up. I got the fenders on a trade for some old tires, and the rack came from another bike I acquired. I put new tires, bar tape, and brake hoods on it. My total investment.. about $90. It rides great but is a bit on the heavy side. I have put about 300 commute miles on it and have no real complaints other than gearing. It will suffice until something cheaper and better comes along.

i admire that you ride a steely, i do as well and that is a nice looking bike

The grip shifters were just moved over to accomodate the computer and the right shifter was rotated up a little. The tape is black electrical tape that i used to give the rear wheel a more unique look. It doesnt really add to the performance of the bike. At least i dont think

I'll chime in that I wouldn't repaint that Bianchi not because of the speed of the color, but unless you have some connections to get the frame properly repainted you can easily drop $100 on paint and decals maybe more. Unless it looks much worse in the pictures it probably has a nice paint job. You can clean it up and wax the paint and it will look pretty sweet. Obviously its your bike and you can do whatever you want, but I would say at least ride it for a while and make sure its the right size and what you like before you take the time and money to repaint it. Its a pretty nice bike and you should thank your friend for giving you something so nice. Put it another way the money you could spend on repainting this bike you could buy a 2nd bike or if you look around a whole fleet of bikes. LOL If you are actually going to commute on this bike red is a pretty visible color . Thats a bonus and this is coming from someone that does like black bikes. The fastest bike I have is a road hazard gray Lemond Road bike. =)

What I meant was that I've never seen grip shifters like yours before (i.e. with levers instead of a rotatable grip). Do they work well?

You certainly achieved your unique look. I bet it looks cool when in motion.

thanks for the advice i really appreciate it, how would i know its the right size? i have notice somethings about riding like my knee's hurt sometimes depending on how i ride and the pedals seem to go around on a radius that seems a little small but can that be changed by swapping parts and getting my seat raised? and yea a second bike could be cool haha

An update on my Windsor Cyclo after about 2000 miles with which I commute with on 60-80% trails, rest road, about 32 mi RT, 500 mi/mo. Tacoed my stock front wheel trying to do an old mountain stunt in an emergency - duh. So I replaced the stock 32 spoke wheels with Mavic Aksium 20 spoke. Finding myself needing to true these Aksium since the flooding weather here has created deep ruts in the trails against which I have bashed repeatedly. Still I like these Aksium wheels and don't mind investing in a good truing stand.

The stock Shimano 105 rear shifter quit working accurately so I replaced them with Utegra 6700. Probably overkill on this bike, but I got a really good price on them, I like the wider and more solid hoods, the internal routing, and they shift great. Also the stock KMS chain stretched after around 1000 miles so I replaced it with an Ultegra chain.

I got nervous about the generic stem after a report it cracked in half on another Windsor Cyclo so replaced it with a good deal on an Easton EA70 OS stem from Jensonbike.

Also replaced my old clipless pedals wit Shimano M540 and that crunching noise went away

Only complaints I have about the rig is the frame and forged cranks are a little flexy, but not enough to bother me - in fact it is a good ride on the trail with the CF fork (hope that doesn't fail!)

Cheers

The 'Supa Commuta' is done!

My little project is now a reality after about 6 months of research and then tracking down of parts.

The single speed conversion that I was riding to work and about town was fine and fun, but it was a bit limited. In the present it struggled on the longer hills, in the future it was going to struggle as it had no mounts for anything like racks or fenders.

Enter the Supa Commuta...
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- I wanted gears, but no hassle from derailleurs etc. The simplicity of single speed is great, but an IGH gives you the best of both.
- A frame that had lots of options would be a plus. This frame will allow me multiple drivetrain options as well as racks and fenders. I can even race cyclecross on it later if I really want to.
- Everything rusts and gets filthy in this town, so a Ti frame and avoiding a regular chain is a plus.

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New parts list:
- Lynskey Crosstown frame, Alpha Q fork. Great deal from the Lynskey Loft.
- Nexus Alfine 8spd hub
- Gates belt drive, 55t chainring, 24t cog, 125t belt
- Versa VRS8 shifters
- Velocity Dyad rims
- Wellgo pedals with MKS toe clips

Second hand parts:
- Ultegra front hub (from BF member)
- Tektro brakes (from BF member)
- Schwalbe Marathon 28mm tyres (from BF member)
- Shimano crank (from LBS pile)
- Thomson seat post (local classifieds)

From the parts bin:
- Handlebars (from my Caad9)
- Saddle (from my Caad9)
- Stem

The Ride
It is tall - the bars are about 8cm taller than my road bike. It seems a bit odd at the moment. The canti brakes shuddered terribly on the first ride, but with some playing with the spring tension and toe in has made this a lot better. Shifting was a bit imprecise, but a bit of cable tension has fixed that (and I'm more used to the throw of the shifter too).

The Future
Haven't worked out fenders, racks or anything else yet. I have an option of going single speed because the guys at Gates messed up and sent a cog for a Shimano freewheel the first time around. They sent the new Nexus style for free. All I need is some spacers to convert a regular road wheel to single speed with the belt.

Thanks to my long suffering LBS mechanic Jobar, and to Don at Lynskey for all his help on this unique project.

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Lovin' that Lynskey build! Very jealous here.

My new commuter: 2001 Jamis Ventura. Added fenders and rack.