I'm going in the opposite direction. I have a quick-ish 7 mile one-way commute now; rumor has it our office will be moving to a new location later this year that will ad 4-5 miles each way. That's still not all that far.

It's got a trigger shifter.
I'm reserving judgment of the fenders until I ride in the rain with them, which could be on the way home this evening...which is also pretty much mostly up hill.

I put the Topeak rack on the rear for a reason. If I decide that riding still gets me too sweaty to wear my work clothes, I can get their rear basket and just throw my backpack with clothes/lunch into that...which is what I was planning to do on rainy days anyway. I might get a wicker basket as well...so I can GET YOUR LITTLE DOG TOO!! :D

http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/wp-co...7/06/Gulch.JPG

Man, that is a pretty bike, and I don't think there's anything I would actually upgrade (obviously I'd add Dyno lights and a rack, but saddle, handlbars, grips, fenders, tires everything looks great). That makes for a heck of a value proposition when you don't have to swap parts to get it just how you want it.

Hey, did you happen to mention anyplace how much it set you back? Raleigh lists "$$$$$ = 700 - $1,100 general price range" and I don't have any Raleigh dealers close enough to go look around. However, there are some that may be worth looking into.

I got it for just over 1k. I bet if they replaced some of the frills with cheaper equivalents (saddle, grips, fenders, chain guard, etc) they could get the price down to something that would make it more attractive for the average commuter.

I bought that same vest from my local running store, and it is cheap and plasticky. I'm tend to think I'm an average sized guy -- I typically wear medium shirts or the occasional small -- and it feels big and baggy around my torso. I even had the tie knots in the waist band so that the vest wouldn't bounce when I ran. And, surprisingly, it's somewhat hot. The white reflective material traps sweat, so you get bands of sweat alternating up and down your back and chest.

I know a lot of runners who use this the Amphipod Xinglet. It's amazingly reflective for how small it is -- way more so than the teamestrogen.com vest -- but it's design definitely isn't backpack/mess bag friendly.

The Illumnite demos looks pretty amazing, but I haven't seen any of their clothes in-person yet. I figure I'm going to have to buy a jacket eventually, so that might be a good option.

Well, I've got my simple commute bike together (no fenders, no rack, no kid-conveyance hitches, no ... gears!). Took it for some shakedown spins this weekend but no chance to actually commute on it until Thursday (wife is going to drive that day so I don't need to trailer the daughter uphill in the pm after she trailers her downhill in the am)

That does look pretty nice / slick / light

I ride about 2 miles to school, and 2 miles back. My girlfriend and I have a class together, and I beat her home everytime :). I have a cheapy 1980's road bike (just broke a friction shifter) with fenders. Summertime in FL it will be sunny when you go inside your class and be raining by the time you get out. Fenders are a must for me.

Thanks! Nice find. I want something small that I can pack away in my seatbag and pull out just before dusk and at night. This looks promising. :thumb: