psycling

Hi everyone. I'm the owner of that Firefly Ti Commuter. My brother mentioned that he made the post so I figured I'd come over here and answer some questions. Here goes...

The lights are powered by a generator in the front hub. There's a switch on the back of the front light that is used to turn the lights on or off. When on, the lights are on when the bike is moving, and shortly thereafter (there's a capacitor to hold some power in reserve for stop lights and such). All of the wiring for this is internal to the frame / fork, where possible.

I haven't weighed it yet, but I am curious myself. So I'll check and report back. The bike was built with weight in mind, but it isn't a weight weenie bike by any stretch. The back end certainly feels a bit heavy with the rack, fender, Rohloff hub, disc brake, etc.


Thanks. The bar decision was a hard one for me. I can see drop bars working well with this type of bike too. In the end, I went for a somewhat upright position with flat bars to allow for easier visibility in traffic. The grips that I put on there were chosen specifically to give me a variety of hand positions to help make up for not having drop bars (I'm a roadie!).

The Tout Terrain was one of my inspirations for this bike :-)

The fork is steel. You can make Ti forks, but most people don't. To make it work, you'd end up with something nearly as heavy as steel and a LOT more expensive. Carbon would offer a generally better ride as you can have a little give and keep it light. I choose steel here due to the load requirements and the front disc brake. There are carbon forks that would work with this build, but I felt more comfortable with steel. Plus, that opened the door to some custom internal wiring, too!

Thanks for the warm introduction. It's nice to find some new (to me) bike forums to play on. Cheers!

Silver

psycling, what bags are you using on your Firefly Commuter?

dygituljunky

That is an incredibly beautiful bike. I wish more commuter bikes had a rack built in; it only makes sense. I can't get over how well done that bike is.

jeffpoulin

Is it a sin to covet your brother's bike? That is one of the most beautiful bikes I've ever seen, road bikes included.

Sixty Fiver

It is a Raleigh branded Nitto stem I pulled off something... usually prefer my bars to be lower but for a bike that goes off road a fair bit the position is nice, especially on descents. There are some cross levers up top and when I am on the road the position lets me spend a good amount of time in the drops, even when I am climbing.

yellowhammer

That's great, thank you. You have a fine collection of bikes, I'm very envious!

hughes208

new to biking, and I love it. I picked up this cheap mongoose mtb from walmart and already started upgrading the crappy parts (shifters,grips, and seat) I am going to use the money I save by riding to work to get a "real" bike in the future

I also repainted it and added a rear rack

Sawtooth

Nice looking ride. If I were you I would not spend too much money upgrading the mongoose. Just ride it to death.

hughes208

^i had that thought toobut the seat and shifters were KILLING me and thank you

djork

Hartsu: What type of light mount do you have on the fork? Is it custom or can you buy one?

TedC

Hey Bikeforums, I have not been here in a while. I have recently tarted a new job, at an office which has bike storage, as well as a gym with showers and lockers - basically it was meant for commuting by bike to. So I made the practice run last weekend on my singlespeed commuter and decided I did not like the ride in the drops, or even on the hoods, i wanted a more upright ride - so I picked up some Wald upright bars. Next step is fenders, and rack. I am excited to make the commute.

I feel it looks a little silly with the short wheelbase of an 80s road bike (Fuji Ace which was found in the trash once) and the bars, but man, does it ride nice.

*edit* Also, saddle angle - blah blah, still making adjustments

psycling

They are the Intrans Panniers from Philosophy Bag Co. I actually just visited their page so that I could give you a link, and was pleasantly surprised to find my bike on their home page :-)

JeePakXJ

here is my baby lol Trek 7.2fx

ddez

Every time i see sixty fiver around town he's riding something different it seems. Every bike he has is first class. He's known to be about the best dang bike mechanic around these parts and he's forgot more than most know about nearly all years and all makes of bikes. And no he didnt pay me.lol.

WonderMonkey

2011 Cannondale Quick 5

NoTrail

I'm certain that it's not. Otherwise I'm in trouble.

Sixty Fiver

But now I owe you a quarter... or a coffee and have to say there are folks here and IRL that make what I know look like a small drop in a very large bucket



Most days I am riding the same bikes... my Shasta is my workhorse and my Moulden is my light travelling bike so they see tons of miles between them.

Yesterday I went down to the new shop and decided Reg (1955 Raleigh Lenton) needed to get out for a stretch and had just fitted up my Carradice bag which is a great carry all... have had this bike for nearly five years and like taking the old guy out on longer rides but he has served me well on many a commute.

"Reg" stems from it being a "Reg Harris Road Model" and it was originally sold as a fixed gear model with an option for a three speed... at the time dérailleur equipped bikes were still rather rare if films from that era are any indication. You see a lot of internally geared bikes, single speeds, and fixed gear bicycles but very few derailleurs.

hartsu

Light mount came with the lamp,
but you can buy it separately.

HardyWeinberg

My 7 yr old has moved up to her big brother's 20" bike.

X-LinkedRider

This bike we just built up for my friend about 3 hours ago out of parts consisting of an old nishiki, and old kia road bike, and parts of of my many various projects. Not the prettiest, but not the ugliest and totally usable.

oldskoolwrench

I used two similar GI issue 'butt packs' to make a set of panniers for my commuting bike. I put a thick piece of cardboard cut from a 3 ring binder in the bottom of each bag to stiffen the bottom, and used some zip ties and a couple lengths of fiberglass rod from a kid's rear flag to attach the bags to the rack. They don't sway, can support a good amount of weight, and 'fold' the same way as a grocery pannier does to stay out of the way when not loaded.

It's a bit of DIY engineering, re-purposing well made equipment, and ending up with something that's functional and does what you want it to do!

Looks great!

Alan

tastewar

Nice! Does she "commute" to school with it?

On another note, this forum's pagination hasn't been broken in weeks -- anyone else notice? What's up with that? :-)

Sixty Fiver

Very nice build.

Sixty Fiver

Time flies doesn't it ?

My daughter was testing her new road bike last week... will be adding a rack as she wants to do longer rides and might want to use it for her school commute as well although her Raleigh 20 is her townie.



Last year she moved up to a 24 inch wheel on her mtb.

JReade

I put some upright bars on an Old fuji I have, I use it for grocery runs and to the bar etc. It's amazingly fun to ride in the upright position on a sportier geometry bike! Responsive and quick, I find myself taking deep corners with it regularly.