WOW! Thank you so much! I've seen that kind of finish before and I've always wanted to do that, but I had no idea what it was, which kinda bummed me. You just made my day.

It seems to be a ring with ground off teeth. The problem of such a guard is that it takes out the space for one ring.

Following your post, I kept my eyes open and, while spending a few days in Europe on business, I noticed quite a few bikes with the assist. Particularly interesting was an elderly lady on a fixie with the pedals turning in the air.

Overall sounds like a good idea, an actually practical utilization of the electrical power for transport. On another note, when a student, I had a moped with pedals that served as a mechanical assist. A loaded moped had real trouble climbing steeper hills and the pedal assist was then crucial.

Given what I've spent on the bike over years, particularly trying out different things, the above price difference would have disappeared in the noise. No question, however, that such an individual expenditure is hard to swallow. Well, I wish you a good return on your assist investment.

Ah, I typed a very long response but bikeforums acted up a bit, and well, I lost it.

It's probably a good thing, since this thread is about commuter bicycle pics after all! I created a thread in the Living Car Free forum to discuss this thing even further, just click on the link on my sig.

And yes, the system has already paid for itself 20 times over. I've been using my bike ALOT more ever since I got it and thats payment enough for me.

Hey TheDL - What kind of bars are those?

The drops are Specialized Body Geometry Bars. I like them becose the top bar sweeps back a bit and the drops flare out sorta like dirt drops. The aero bars are Nashbar brand Cinelli Spinachi copies. Great for climbing hills because it get your arms out in from for more leverage and it opens up your ribs for easier breathing.

Nashbar offers now those bars virtually for free. I have used that as an opportunity and employed their mounts to produce my own sturdy space bars, well superior to those commercially available.

Brilliant notion! I'll keep that in mind should the need arise.

http://static.flickr.com/53/136161166_ee0aabe4e7_m.jpg

My ride to work when the weather is nice, and I don't wake up too late:

Fuji Touring Edition III

• CygoLite Headlight
• CatsEye Blinkie
• OptX LED Tire Lights (white)
• Too much reflective tape to quantify
• Flipped & Chopped Drops
• Shimano Acera Rear Deraileur
• Suntour Mountech Front Deraileur (currently disabled)
• Suntour Barcons
• Avenir Rear Rack
• Arkel Sakaroo Panniers
• Planet Bike Fenders

I'll post my ride pics in a few days.

here is my ride to work. wish i could get fenders on it. but the rear wont fit, o well.

My bikes- Sorry no pics of my commuter. Soon though.
My New Trials Frame:
http://files.tagworld.com/8235c68620...19a8753e8.jpeg
http://files.tagworld.com/78d0a06a64...ab3693940.jpeg

My PlanetX trials/park bike:
http://files.tagworld.com/09c28e0d43...993e70a48.jpeg
http://files.tagworld.com/cae393816c...d4c5762f6.jpeg

My Koxx 20" Mod Trials bike:
http://www.observedtrials.net/album/...um/128side.jpg
http://www.observedtrials.net/album/...42MVC-011F.jpg


My ECHO Stock Trials bike-
http://files.tagworld.com/2ff7e5a037...59699ea70.jpeg
http://files.tagworld.com/5fc0bca5e8...d5eabf3ee.jpeg

My Norco Element
http://files.tagworld.com/a11052a0d3...b8aa6adfe.jpeg
http://files.tagworld.com/581f773214...50c53dc39.jpeg

My New Commuter
 

Just picked up this Gary Fisher Opie today, I fell in love with the matte black finish and it rides great. Beats making the oil company executives richer.

Dude, those aren't commuter bicycle pics.

My Commuter:

My old "Retired" Triathlon Bike from when I was just a beginner doing Sprint Levels.

Converted old Ralleigh Road Bike. Bullhorn TT bars, Profile Design Aerobars. Added some racks, and switched the pedals for SPDs.

Commute: 16.5 one way, across the Connecticut River in Hartford, CT.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i6...t/DSCN0984.jpg

what would you define as a commuter bike?

EDIT: tons of people ride there full sus. bikes to school... lol here the comute is through the forest... not always but in my case im moving to a new place and i got cut thruogh the forest to get to school... its like a cross county ski track so its got hills and bends and its dirt (dirt track)... so a MTB would do me good... iv also seen trail look a likes at school...

Excuse me for my ignorance but what are those bikes without seats used for? They look very interesting and cool.

commute in style
 

under $600... $150 for the used frame, the rest put together..

sd

here's my ross that I use for everything, except for an old mtb that I use when I go camping

They're used for "bombing", not commuting. You will find dozens of them in the mountain bike forum.

Except that they're not. Mountain bikes (including freeride and downhill bikes -- which would be what someone might describe as "bombing" downhill) have seats. Those are trials bikes (some of which have seats, and some don't).

Here's a link that explains what trials is.

Here's a short video that shows what trials looks like. (click the download button when the page loads).

Very few people in the mountain bike forum ride these things. It's a pretty niche crowd, and it's not mountain biking, but I think it's amazing to watch.

Ah, that's a new one on me. Looks like a downhill special to my old fuddy-duddy eye.

I watched that trials video and now I need to learn those skills. They'd be invaluable for hopping over the taxis and hobos that litter the streets here. Seriously, that's some cool stuff. Wish I could do that.

The video is cool, but I still question these bikes as practical vehicles for commuting for work, school, or daily errands. With no seat, there's no where for my Carradice.

http://static.flickr.com/53/12957426...389a31.jpg?v=0

My commuter. Not on my commute mind you, I'm not that lucky.

This is my '02 Jamis Nova, minus the panniers, at the top of a bridge thats on my commute now that I've moved. Looking at it, I was pretty intimidated by this bridge...now that I've done it, no big deal, and I'm a regular commuter once again.

No, they're not practical for commuting. I don't really know why they're posted in the commuting forum, because I can't see why anyone would commute on one of them, either.

Nice looking Nova. :beer: I like the colors. Nicer than my '05 -- all black and dark gray. Thinking about getting it painted. One of the guys at the bike shop suggested orange. :eek: Hmmm. Weren't the '01 Novas orange?

2006 Cannondale T-800, Jandd Extreme front rack, two 5-LED blinkies in the rear, two 3-LED flashlights for illumination up front, Planet Bike cyclocomputer (spd, svg spd, max spd, odometer, trip meter, temp, capable of recording data for 2 bikes), FM/MP3 player (not recommended when riding in heavy traffic) loaded with a VERY wide range mix of tunes (Metallica to Mozart).

New commuter
 

Here is a pic of my new commuter.

http://www.akphotography.se/bilder_t...a/CRW_2108.jpg

This is a Crescent from 1980/81 in size 59 cm (23") measured from center of bottom bracket to top/end of seat tube, not top tube. Crescent is a Swedish brand that stars like "Svängis" Johansson, Åke Seyffarth och Ingvar Ericsson have used with success. I believe my bike to be a model 92318.

The frame is made of Reynolds 531 butted tubing and the front fork by Tange tubing.

The equipment is Shimano 600 EX Arabesque. The prettiest group ever made by Shimano. The chainset is not Shimano but a SR Custom and the bottom bracket is a Sakae SR-SC 35xP1. The wheels have Ambrosio Evolution rims and Schwalbe Marathon tires. I´ve built the wheels my self.

The bike is a roadbike but handling with packed front panniers is great. It is stable and smooth. Much better handling than without front panniers.

The frontrack is a Rivendell/Nitto Campee and the panniers are the Carradice Super C Universal made by heavy duty cotton duck.

I love riding this bike and also to ride it with my BOB YAK mounted. Only drawback is the gearing...would like to have a couple of granny gears :D
Chainwheels in front: 42 t and 52 t.
Cassette is 6-speed: 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 22
Riding steep uphills in 42-22 combination is to heavy. Specially with a loaded BOB YAK attached. Puh :o