^ how tall are you????

Tall
 

6'4" - 6'5" depending on the day about 205 lbs. Bike fits perfectly. I have a great LBS to help with the fit.

Van Dessel WTF
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pspvuompqn.jpg

First commute was this morning. Really put a smile on my face. Loving the bike so far and the 1x.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...ideProfile.jpg

The previous owner broke off the real derailleur of this 1999 Kona Lava Dome. The broken derailleur flew off and and it hit a few of the rear wheel spokes, crashed the front derailleur, and caused some other damages. I bought it because the frame is my size.

Made it a single speed commuter. Trued both wheels and installed new brake pads and cables/housing.

Lucked out with a magic ratio (42/16). A brand new chain would be impossibly too tight. A used one with just a few strokes with a file on the axle worked perfectly. My commute is only 6 miles and the tennis ball can holds a spare tube and a wrench.

Even with that heavy fork, a steel handlebar and a kickstand, it is just about 25 lb.

Here is my Schwinn Mesa Commuter, it's also my MTB and my winter bike.

New to me 1991 Bridgestone MB4. Really good year for that model. Beautiful lugged large frame of Ritchey Tange tubing, great shape. Nice old Suntour components, pretty much all parts made in Japan.. Light enough, quick, responsive. Great mixed terrain commuter.
Had plenty of parts in the bin.
Changed out bars, grips, saddle, stem, seat post, pedals, and rack from parts on hand at home.
Bought Continental Travel Contacts 26X2.0 and KoolStop Salmon pads new at LBS today.
Fits like a glove, rides like a dream.
Less than $300 out of pocket investment.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p-...s=w777-h583-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Fd...N=w777-h583-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2E...-=w777-h583-no

Keeping it light as of right now :


https://s22.postimg.org/5npnqq40v/20160927_122403.jpg


https://s22.postimg.org/pehvwldr3/20160927_120129.jpg

COMPLETE Newbie! post pic later of my bike-as I bought it... 10 mile commute round trip... but I havent started yet as Im afraid of one stretch of road i have to cross that has highway off and on ramps...

Do you have an alternate route available ? Any other way around that stretch of road to cross at a safer intersection ? You might be approaching this thinking like a car driver.
Does Baltimore have a published bike map with route comforts levels indicated ?
https://www.bikemaryland.org/wp-cont...-2012-rev2.pdf

Use google maps to look for quieter, connecting streets through neighborhoods. Also, DC area has an amazing bike path network that extends into Md. I am more familiar with Capital Crescent trail that hooks up through Bethesda area but I understand that the network is expanding through Silver Spring to and from Baltimore. Lots of people on this forum will have much more relevant input than me. Might also check in with the North East regional forum, especially the Where are the Maryland Peeps thread or something to that effect.
http://www.bikeforums.net/northeast/...oples-323.html
Maybe ask at your neighborhood bike shop to see if they have a bike map in print and/or connect you with experienced commuters riding in your area.

Nice sleek ride you have for a first commuter bike. Beautiful background.
Only thing is, for Full Monte bam, photos taken of the driveside are more satisfying to us bike porn lovers.
Enjoy and Best !

Schwinn Crosscut I bought off craigslist
 

Bought this hybrid crosscut off craigslist and put a rack, drop bars and down brakes and shifters on it. Made it into a neat little commuter for someone.

When I was buying this bike I wondered how I would like the bar end shifters for commuting. Now that I have it... wow. Love them. Love the bike and the steel. I carry a really heavy lock and various other crap I hardly ever use and still love it. LOL

So far for me, this seems to be the perfect bike. #trek520

If you ever get tired of the bar-end shifters, consider Gevenalle shifters as an upgrade. Here's my review (from when they called themselves Retroshift)

Geared down from 1x7 (11-28) to 1x10 (11-36). Seems to work.

Surly Straggler Build
 

I recently built this based on Surly Straggler frameset. Would like to post parts list and some lessons learned along the way, what's the best place on this forum to do that ? Really happy with this build as I'm getting a good blend of performance, durability and comfort!

Start a tread in the Commuting section. I would certainly be interested, I have a cross check but am not familiar with the straggler.

thanks, will do. I've no experience with a cross check, but if I recall the info from Surly, the straggler is much like a cross check in geometry. There's a good comparison of the two on surlybikes.com.

Cool, I'm almost done modifying my Straggler from a fast cross bike custom build to a slow comfy upright tourer/commuter with swept back bars. Will post pics when complete in a couple weeks.

My newly built randonneur/commuter. Second handed frame and a mix of new and old parts.
Just need to sort out some problems:
1. chainsuck when on the 32 T chainring.
2. chain ejects from the upper pulley in the Campa Record rear mech.
3. squeaking Mafac brakes.
http://www.karlstam.com/till_andra/IMG_0524_1500.jpg

Documented the rebuild in the C&V before and after thread, but here's my new commuter. Had its first commute today:

Attachment 540458

Love the "Have a Nice Day" guy. Could use that on my commute sometimes.

nice..I'm liking the straggler a lot so far. I'm running a set of 35s on it now cause they're relatively new, but I'm going to run some 40s on them next season to make use of the frame's allowances. plus fenders.

The frame is pretty flexible, can accomodate lots of different builds, as advertised I think.

looks great !

that's a pretty cool fork