That's a beauty that looks like it doesn't want to be stolen.

My Rivendell Sam Hillborne serves as my commuter to my school, as well as my all around St. Louis bike.
Lots more pics and build write-ups at www.PipesBikesandLeather.com

Salsa Las Cruces

DSCN2007 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Nashbar Flashback

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Moots YBBeat. It’s my winter bike with studs.

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Dean mountain bike

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

And a glamor shot of the Dean

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Since I'll be "commuting" to my home-office more often on this cycle, I replaced the race-style Y2K drop-bars with a more comfortable short-reach bar (26mm x 44cm Soma Highway One) with fresh tape.

My Journeyman after cleaning it up after some gravel riding! i am not sure if posted this picture but I really like this bike.
Upgraded the brake calipers to Hy/Rd and I want to upgrade the drive to GRX. 9-10 speed upgrade.

Salsa Journeyman 650B- Great Bike!

Have you ever thought that every bike represents its owner? Seeing yur bike, I'm like seeing you. Sorry for such weird thoughts, but I'm pretty bored on quarantine...

Absolutely. And it is most evident at the bike coop where I volunteer. The volunteers there have fascinating bikes, and each one tells a story.

Not a commute pick. Took it around 7PM on the way home after afternoon ride.

I'm noticing a lot of drop bars. I'm entirely new to the biking world. After doing some research, I bought a Trek 'FX 3 Disc' and I can't wait for it to arrive to the bike shop!

Is the FX 3 Disc considered a "commuter" bike? Just so I know whether I should post pictures here when I get it.

A commuter bike is a bike you commute on. There are some bikes which are designed primarily for commuting, but those designs vary enough that there really isn't a proper class of bikes called commuter bike, at least in my view. My spouse has an old 7.3 FX (the FX3's predecessor) and it's a fantastically competent bike.

Gotcha! That makes sense, and I'm glad to hear someone else praise the FX series. I'm so excited for it to come in! It really fits my riding style. Also aesthetics are important to me; I love the sleek look.

I'm not as much of a Trek fan as I used to be. They are one of the evil Big Three™. But the FX is a winner.

Another thing that works for my spouse is that she prefers to step through a bike rather than swing her leg around. I find it odd that women have that preference, because aren't they generally more flexible in the hips than men are? Anyway, she can step through this, and I can tell that it does not suffer from being a twisty frame. It is light and stiff in the right ways.

I'm still extremely new to biking, and was unaware of there being a Big Three, haha. I'll be more aware of it from now on.

One bike I saw that was not a part of the big three - and is incredibly similar to the FX Disc series - is the Cannondale Quick, which is incredibly sleek looking and seems to be very well-liked. Either way, I think I made the right decision, like you said the FX is a winner, but the bike world sure is huge and a bit intimidating to get into. I'll be alright, though. In a couple years, I'll know my way around!


While I'm here, let me ask you, if you don't mind. I went for the FX 3 Disc over the 2 because of the carbon fork. How important is that? I read that that's a feature mainly seen in higher end bikes. Is that correct? I'm sure it doesn't hurt, obviously, but is it a game-changer type of feature?

I had previously a 7.5 FX disc and it is a great bike. Later swapped for a newer 7.4 FX that my son rides few times now.
I got a 7.2FX for my wife that rarely rides and now I got her a cheap e-bike I got on CL - Now she is able to keep pace if I ride on leisure pace.

As for me, 3 years ago I got a cheap aluminum road bike and since them didn't look back.
Then, time goes on and learned about the comfort of steel bikes for a longish rides and along learned the fun of building/maintaining a bike.
One thing I like on drop bars is that you have various positions to hold the handlebar and in long rides you can change the position.
And lastly, I can go much faster with a road bike than hybrid ones

The big three are Trek, Giant, and Specialized. These companies are all evil in some ways but also fantastic in other ways. You may need to choose a favorite based on who is least evil, like the cable companies.

The Cannondale looks great, too. Maybe I just like this class of bike, whatever it is called.

The nice thing about the Quick and the FX is that it can be a stepping stone bike but it might also be the last bike you buy. And they're not terribly expensive.

The carbon fork reduces weight, and reducing weight is almost always a good thing. I only know one person who replaced his fork with something heavier, but he has special needs, and he has a stout, heavy body. The carbon fork might also be better in absorbing shock than the aluminum it replaces, but I don't really know. So since you spent the money on it, it's a good thing.

Kona Dew 2009

Picked up my new 'FX 3 Disc' (2020) today. It's my first real bike purchase and I'm loving it so far. Rode it around the neighborhood today. It's fast, comfortable, and just rides really nicely. Fits my riding style and my aesthetic preferences. It's super sleek looking.

I do think I might have to take it back to see if the disc brakes are functioning properly. I'm hearing a noise when I brake and it's definitely not an instant stop, even at slower speed.

Also, I have no clue how the DuoTrap works. My Wahoo will not find the sensor. I don't know what to pair it with on my iPhone.

I'm pretty much done with this for now save for some proper front lighting even though I don't often ride at night - chicken, or egg? Anyway, I'm sure something will change as I tend to tinker with bikes like this. It's the 1971 International frame and fork that noglider nudged me into buying 4 or 5 years ago. Now it's my commuter, grocery getter and local casual quickie rider. Thanks to Covid I've only ridden it to work once.

Absolutely love that shade of blue

And the yellow especially makes it pop. Lovely monsterX!

It's been another about 1500 km since I posted the photo above, but it's been a pain on longer rides because the frame is simply too short for me to ride comfortable with a reasonably-sized stem (I'd need 110+ mm to get the fit I'd like, and I absolutely hate long stems). This made me revisit a project I'd originally abandoned years ago, which is converting the thing to a gravel-like drop-bar configuration. I found the shifters and brake levers I bought for that purpose back in 2016, got a compact drop bar, and this happened:



I decided to keep the single chainring and ordered a 10-speed 11-42 cassette and a RD extender, but I had to have the bike ready to ride before they arrived, hence the old 11-36t CS-HG50 from my parts drawer. I'm using an old LX (M570) derailer that surprisingly handles the 36-tooth cog perfectly fine,

I'm still trying to figure out the best position of the handlebar and the brake levers (I've never had a drop-bar bike that actually fit me, so this is my very first time doing it), but so far it seems to be working quite well. The hoods of the brake levers feel a bit too small to be comfortable, but I've already ordered a pair of Tektro RL520s anyway (to be used with my Avid BB5 MTB calipers - short-pull levers like the ones I'm using now can be made to work but the setup gets VERY finicky and prone to misalignment), so I hope that'll help.

I like the Microshift bar-end shifter (BS-A10, sold as a pair) a lot. It's in a comfortable position, indexes very nicely, and can be switched over to friction mode if there are any problems with the indexing (which is extremely useful since I don't have an inline barrel adjuster and the one on the derailer refuses to move). The build quality is also very good and the shifter indexes with little to no preload, making shifting a lot easier than I expected.

Other planned changes not mentioned above are a rigid fork (still can't decide whether a CF fork would make sense or not), a sealed-bearing headset (for said fork), and a bigger chainring (36t instead of 34).

Some serious built rigs in here. I didn't know people carry so much stuff with them daily, crazy.