Is your brain full yet, or does it just keep expanding?

noglider hope expanding, once recovered i will spend some time scrolling in the post of pics of vintage road bikes lol

Very good bicycle

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3dc301512c.jpg
If nothing unexpected happens, this bike will have gone 3000km (~1850mi) in 2025, on the way to my work and back, tomorrow. It's a good bike, dependable and comfortable.

Good job with >3000km already in 2025, I bet you make it to 2000mi over the remaining 2 months!

I have a routine where every New Years I go around and record all the odometers (cars and my bike) and tally up the annual mileage. I had a good run in the late 20-teens where I was around 2600mi/yr on the bike (and one year with <1000 miles on "my" car), but then for 5 years my work situation changed and I wasn't able to ride as much, buncha years with only 1000 or so miles on the bike.

Work situation reverted starting this summer though, so I'm hoping for a big year of bike miles!

I picked up a Topeak MTX BeamRack at the LBS the other day and installed it this morning before the commute. In doing so, I've added more weight to an already rear-heavy bike, (the IGH is heavy) but oh well. It doesn't spend much time airborne, so balance isn't as important. It has a built-in rubber cord, so if the MTX bag isn't brought along, the rack can still be used.

http://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikeforu...d63971c1fc.jpg

It clamps onto the seatpost with a 4 mm Allen bolt and two sets of clamp pads in different thicknesses are provided. I wound up using a thick one for one side and a thin one for the other. This will let me bring my favorite MTX trunk bag along for commuting duty, and if I do a serious gravel ride, I can just unclamp it with the one bolt and clip my rear fender back on.

You can see the snap on mount for the front fender by the front bottle cage, and one can tell by the state of my downtube that I was surprised without it recently.

The zip tie under the saddle was to hold a saddle pack up. It was slipping down so the zipper was inaccessible. I may be able to cram that under the saddle too if needed, so the zip tie stays for now.

The bar bag is the Burrito Bag from ROMP out of Duluth.

The bike is a Priority Apollo 11.

Is the BeamRack stable? Some day I might put smooth(er) tires on my Krampus and make that my urban assault vehicle. Oddly for Surly the OG Krampus is lacking attachment points, so I'd have to do something like the BeamRack to be able to carry stuff.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e88e888b9f.jpg

My T.S. Isaac Stratus fixed gear commuter. Highlights include a Gipiemme Crono Special pista crankset, Dura Ace track hub, Modolo bar and stem, and Brooks Swift saddle. Normally it has a Son dynamo, but it froze up and is being repaired by Peter White at this moment, so I am running a Superbe track hub on the front. Tires are Fairweather Travelers 32mm--no longer available stateside apparently unfortunately as they were the best value in supple tires.

It seems to be!

The only caveat is its 20 lb. weight limit; that's what the conspicuous marking sticker says. Oddly, I got a set of pannier supports for it too. I can't imagine needing panniers and a rack and not needing more than 20 lbs. capacity...
That could mean:

• Panniers only, and bulky but light cargo
• The rack is conservatively rated for the weakest possible seatpost at the longest extension

A nice bar bag might be a good idea for a Krampus. Something a bit bigger than my burrito bag. Maybe a fanny pack too?

Especially since my bar of choice is Jones H Loop, so there's that giant empty space just cryin out for a bag!

I should just suppress my cheapskate nature and spend invest $75 on the bag that Jones made to be perfect for their own bars

I think you should too, if you have faith in their quality.

I just bought my first bespoke bag this year:

• Tern Vektron S10 bike
• Tern Luggage Truss for the head tube
• Tern Go-To bag for the truss

It's a really nice setup; just perfect. That bag was $160 or something, but it feels like it, too. Nice zippers, nice stitching; a nice thoughtful design overall. The truss also felt like "too much", but again, it's perfect for the application, having been designed with it in mind.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...08644ca7f.jpeg
All bagged up!

Yes, I already got over myself and got Jones grips, and even though it was a ridiculous $30 (so much shipping!), I have to admit every time I ride I'm like "damn, these grips are pretty great -- just perfect for these bars"

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...49dbbf5e6.jpeg
Greetings! 2016-ish Cannondale CAADX. I commute around 5 miles each way. I’m very fortunate to have bike paths through parks and golf courses a lot of the way.

Nice looking bike
 

love the racks

Pretty fancy commuter!

Got a tail light on the rack, I hope? ...or do you not commute in dawn/dusk/dark?

Even though my spouse never plans to ride in the dark, I installed dynamo lights on her bikes for those unexpected times. And she ends up using them occasionally because life.

This is my commuter bike. Gravel bike with 32mm / 30mm road tyres. Long commute so need something that’s pretty quick. Considering pairing this up with a road ebike to take some of the work out of it and graduate to 4 days a week next year.

I did have full mudguards on it but a tricky rivnut issue is keeping me to a raceblade on the back at the moment.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9eb685697.jpeg

http://i.imgur.com/0i1Xm1tl.jpg

My commute bikes, from oldest to newest. Went thru multiple bikes in less than 1 year. Finally found the right commuter bike for me: drop bar gravel bike.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0490652662.jpg
Excluding bikes my parents bought, this was first bike that I purchased. Trek Dual Sport 3 Gen 5.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0ecd31e126.jpg
I had difficulty riding into headwind. I thought 650b x 50mm on Trek Dual Sport was slowing me down, so I bought used Trek Allant 7.4 with 700c x 32mm tires. Made negligible difference, wind or no wind.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...184f24dece.jpg
Finally found the right commuter. Dirt cheap Walmart Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer for $288. Works great as commuter. More efficient and faster, especially going into headwind.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e2b02ea9c7.jpg
Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer on very early morning commute. Beautiful morning light.

The lesson here (for you, anyway) is that your position makes the most difference, not the value of the equipment. Are you, by chance, thin? I'm a thin person, and headwinds affect me a lot, and hills don't. A heavy friend has the opposite observation. I think it's the surface-area-to-mass ratio.

Hi D00M and welcome to the thread. How interesting that you went from two Treks to an Ozark Trail gravel bike and prefer the latter! I wonder if you will eventually get back into a Trek gravel bike. I have a feeling that when you went from the Dual Sport to the Allant, the aerodynamic gains from the thinner tires were canceled out by the addition of fenders. If you add fenders to the OT and it then feels slow, you'll know. ;-)

We've got to help you streamline those robotic arm device mounts. They're not allowed on drop bar bikes. Gotta be aero, hahaha. ;)

The thin guys I know are not affected as much on climbs as I am, and are only affected more by wind when they're wearing baggy clothes that flap in the wind. This makes a huge difference. Form-fitting clothes are a cyclist's secret weapon.

Because I mainly commute, I don't have much experience with hills. Condition and aerodynamics are most important in my experience. When I started, I can only go around 5 mph into 15 mph headwind. Then after 6 months, I could ride 8 mph into 20 mph headwind. Then with drop bar, I can ride 10 mph; and much less tiring.

Yes, those are big differences. They are even more than I would have expected.

After 3 months with Ozark Trail, I did end up buying Trek Checkpoint ALR. I'm still using the Ozark Trail for commute. Checkpoint is for weekend recreational rides.

I'm in the market for another gravel bike now. Probably a Checkpoint SL5 or -6 or something in steel. We'll see.
A friend in the club just had her Checkpoint ALR frame warranteed because it cracked at the luggage rack boss. She paid some extra and upgraded to a carbon frame, says the ride is noticeably better, so I'm going to see if I can afford to go that route.