Thx, I didn't even know Pirelli made bike tires!

They didn't arrive until late last year and to be honest I'm not a super big fan of them. They roll fast enough and are great for dry hard packed gravel/crushed stone/$hitty roads but as soon as it gets wet they get a bit squirrely. My commute is mostly on a road that tractors use to get to different fields and a bit of rain and the mud off their tires has made a couple mornings interesting so I'm not even going to try the same roads with a bit of wet and a ice this winter. The file tread on the RH tires was fine last year so I imagine the knobs on the RH should be great this year.

Motobecane Fantom CX
 

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...aec22b44a0.jpg
From bikesdirect in 2007. Originally yellow, but was glass blasted and PCed. My son's company does industrial coatings, so he took the frame minus the fork which was left original. Upgrades included new wheelset, bb, Ultegra brifters and ders, Vuelta Corsa 50x40 crankset, Sh 9 sp 12-25 cass, new cables, sheilds, saddle. Topeak Road Morph, Delta Megarack, PB 45mm full fenders, new hb tape, Jandd bags, SMP 32mm tires.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...def508df63.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...41e2e46096.jpg
When moving to New Zealand I had to sell the Motobecane. Replaced it with a Reid hybrid and Viva fixed gear. Theyre both Australian brands made in Taiwan. The Reid was 3x7, but I converted it to 1x7. Set the fixed up for light utility. Did a few upgrades like Brooks B17s, leather grips, Basil LOUD vintage style bells, dual-sided clipless. Put 32mm SMPs on the Reid and a braced seatpost rack on the fixed. They're both perfectly serviceable bikes. Not expensive, but they're well maintained. They more than make up for having to sell The MB Red Rooster.

Here is my commuter mini velo with 20 inch wheels.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1016c06db.jpeg

Why front panniers?

We went with the front rack because the bicycle doesn't have enough rear eyelets to support one. The rear fender uses the left side brake mount and a P clip on the right side. We could have also used additional p clips but I wanted to try a front rack at least once. The front fork did have more front eyelets so we decided that the designers probably saw this as the place to have a rack. I didn't like a rack only attached to the saddle tube either. BTW, the front rack means the panniers sit lower which offers a lower center of gravity and avoids heel clearance issues. It also spreads the weight more evenly as I sit upright closer to the rear wheel.Having a rear rack would have done the opposite.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cd4125ed6.jpeg

Flats on winter tires on

Current commuter.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8c571fda88.jpg

My commuter among NJ/NYC subway trains for the last 2 years:
Riding among bumper-to-bumper traffic, I keep the bike size small to make myself a smaller target.
Super narrow handlebars to travel between car mirrors.
No locks, because I don't really leave it out of sight for extended amount of time, with the bright color frame, mismatch grips, amount of dirt & grime on it; the thieves don't really care for it.
Rubber bands and toe straps that serve as parking brakes; that have deterred theft a few times.
For $125, this bike has been a good value commuter.

https://i.imgur.com/4naAPtq.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ffa203f476.jpg
Surly 1x1 with Alfine-8, Sanyo Dynamo and Open-bars. With winter studs, it has served for 10 years as an Edmonton commuter. Long live 26 inch.

[MENTION=413096]caribou22[/MENTION], that's really nice. Is that cylinder on your rear rack a speaker?

Thanks! No, it's a food thermos that I bolted to the rack to hold a tube, tools and a small cargo net.

Well that's just nifty. Can we get better pics of the setup?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e5b20c06f.jpeg

so I’m about 80% finished on a re-think of the Karate Monkey

love it!!!

That is noice! I think gumwall tires look really cool. And that is a very chubby crankarm for such a small chainring. But the bashguard looks cool.

Used a short piece of angle aluminum, and drilled four holes in it (two for connecting to the rack, two for the thermos). Drilled and caulked the holes in thermos and bolted it all together with SS nuts and bolts. With the loop on the lid, I can run piece of aircraft cable to lock together the saddle and lid with a U-lock. The lid can't be rotated off (I had the contents of a seat bag emptied once). The heavy black wire is the pic is 1/4 inch irrigation tubing that I use as conduit for the rear light wire.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1f0149dc30.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...16263f8d63.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...50db6d7aa5.jpg

[MENTION=413096]caribou22[/MENTION], that's cool! I wish I remembered where the hacks thread got to.

Here's my commuter. Also doubles up as my winter road bike and gravel bike (separate wheels).
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fbc5edbeb.jpeg

pretty pumped on my super pro! surly rack & bag - planet bike fenders, advent drivetrain, ks dropper, topeak bag, redshift bars, pdw cageshttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/DK...-no?authuser=0https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6X...-no?authuser=0https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dK...-no?authuser=0

[MENTION=249656]WestMass[/MENTION], your pics aren't showing up.

hmmmmm I can see them. can others?

yup

Nope, just a gray circle with a line through it. Might be a work network protection thing. Where do you have them hosted?

It's weird, I often can't see posted pictures because of firewalls, but I specifically remember seeing WestMass's cool Surly and noting the username, but now I can't see the picture. (Maybe I saw it when I was at home without firewalls)