I'm really wanting to start riding a bike to work. (October in Ohio is a perfect time to start such things..)

I was looking for an appropriate road bike to replace my rusty/ancient Huffy comfort bike. Last night I was talking to a friend of mine about my ambitions and he offered that he had a GT Chucker 1.0 gathering dust in his garage. Apparently his little brother bought it a couple of years ago and then never touched the thing. The brother moved, and it has been sitting in the back corner of the garage since. Last night I put air in the tires and road it home.

So, now I'm trying to decide what to do with this thing. It is really a lovely bike.. Much nicer than anything I have ever owned, that's for sure. But it is also pretty big and has super chunky tires that seem not terribly efficient for road commuting.

So, I was wondering what you fine folks might suggest for a newbie commuter who is not really in proper bike riding shape but who really wants to be. I have two pretty big hills sitting between my home and my work with a 5 mile commute.

Should I leave the GT as is and ride it? Should I swap some parts out? Should I go back to my quest for a decent road bike?

My town is also home to what I'm told is a most excellent mountain bike trail.. So if I do manage to get myself in proper bike riding form, I will make sure the GT gets some use somewhere.

Thanks!

Just start riding, man!

Seriously. It sounds like a nice bike. Out of the gate, the only thing I would consider if I was you is replacing the "chunky" tires with road slicks and throwing some fenders on there for wet weather. Make sure you have a front and rear light and helmet and HIT THE ROAD!

After you've been riding for a few weeks/months, you'll have a better idea of what you want

When I decided that I was going to start riding again, I bought a Kona Fire Mountain to be a donor bike for an Xtracycle conversion. It didn't take me long to decide to get rid of the knobby tires. I also swapped out the handle bars so I could have more hand positions.

My commute is about 6 miles with a couple of hills.

This is what works for me, might not work for you.

Welcome to the commuting world, ride safe.

The one thing I would suggest (in addition to the slicks), is to take the bke to a local shop and get it fit to you (if possible), and to make sure it's in good riding shape. Few things make you not want to ride a bike more than bad fit leading to discomfort and mechanical problems.

After that, get on it and ride. When I first started, I had to take the bus halfway across town and only ride between home/bus stops/work. Then when I decided I could ride the whole way I had to stop in the middle if the big hill to catch my breath for a week or so. Eventually you reach the point where you can tell the hill to kiss your ass as you ride over the top.

Apart from smooth tires, put bar ends on to provide an alternate hand position for longer rides.

slicks and put the max psi in those tires, lessen the rolling resistance

That's not an ideal bike for commuting, but the price is ideal. I'd want to be really, really sure that the brother in question wasn't going to pop into town and want his bike back in a year or two before I made any investment in it

I'd second what wneumann said about bike fit. The shop may want to charge you a stiff price for a full fitting. Try to negotiate something more basic for a price you'd be willing to pay. Remember that this is a service, and anything more than giving you a quick guess about the saddle height will cost something. If the bike is close enough to be fit well, the full fitting is likely worth the cost (I'd guess about $100). It's cheaper than a new bike, and the results are likely to be more satisfying in the long run.

If they tell you the bike is way too big or way too small, they're probably right. They may be able to make it work anyway, but you'd probably be better off with a different bike.

What they tell you about how to set up the bike may seem wrong to you. For instance, they'll want the seat higher than you think it should be. Trust them on that.

There's also a good chance they'll want to sell you a new stem. This isn't a scam. If they don't do that, there's a good chance they haven't done much of a fitting. The stem change will probably be necessary to give you optimum reach to the handlebars. Figure on spending around $40 for that.

Throw lights on that sucker and go! It's 5 miles, you could ride practically anything that distance. In short time those hills wont be an issue. In fact, you'll find yourself trying to beat your best effort/time.

Welcome!

Slicks, fenders, lights/blinkies. And ride the heck out of it. By spring you'll have a good idea of what works and then you can reward yourself with a new bike.

My recommandation would be to get the bike as close to fit for you as you can and go. With a little research and a little trial and error you should be able to get the fit really close. After that, just start changing out what you feel needs to go (as long as it is okay with the brother who actually bought the bike of course.) I started my 4 mile commute on a knobby wheeled big box store MTB bike and just figured out what I needed to do one step at a time. You will most likely want to change out the tires for something a little faster but the knobby tires will get you there, just a little slower. It's possible you'll decide that the tires are not on the top of your priority list, a rack and trunk bag, lights or new seat may be something you decided you need to upgrade before springing for new tires.

That sounds like a good idea. The local bike shop in town is actually really cool, so I wouldn't mind throwing some money their way anyways. Thanks!

Fortunately this seems super unlikely. The bike was going to be sold on Craiglist by my buddy before he talked to me. I'm trying to convince him to tell me how much he was going to sell it on Craigslist for so I can throw some money his way, but he is refusing so far. Either way, it seems as though it is mine now.

I've been reading through some of the articles on https://sheldonbrown.com, and was reading about some of the common mistakes with saddle positioning. Was planning on starting to follow his guidelines tonight. Strangely, I found his article about the proper way of starting to ride a bike to be pretty educational. My "cowboy method" is apparently wrong.

Thanks for the help!

Sheldon Brown's site is awesome. You're definitely on the right track now.

I learned how to shift and brake from him. The things you think you know!

No kidding! I read his breaking document for beginners earlier and found out that I've been doing it wrong since about 7th grade. My dad bought me a Schwinn Sidewinder at the local bike store at the time and the owner told me that the I should only ever use the front brakes in a real emergency and that I should only use them in conjunction with the back breaks. "Never, ever use the front breaks alone. You will go right over the handle bars." I haven't touched the front breaks on a bicycle since. Plan on spending some time in a parking lot re-learning how to stop.

Also found out today that my "cowboy" method of getting on my bike and going is wrong. Fundamentals!

That's a good plan. although a grass field would be even better. I planned to figure it out on the road. Within a week of reading Sheldon's article I managed to flip myself over the handlebars making a panic stop (it really is harder than you'd think if you've got your weight distributed correctly). The good news is, that in two years since then I haven't done it again, and I do stop primarily with my front brake.