Commuting Bike
 

I recently moved into commuting distance of my work. Its about 6 miles one way, I ride through downtown Kansas City and some of the roads aren't the best. I currently have a Trek 1000. I have been thinking of selling it and getting a Cyclo-cross bike mainly a specialized tricross. Does anyone have any experience with that bike or if it would make a good commuter bike, or would it be more logical to keep my trek 1000.

Edit* Yes I realized I spelled commuting wrong in the title :(

With the CC bike you have more tire options but I do not see anything wrong with T100 =) welcome to BF

The Tri Cross is a good bike.

I rode with this young lady from NY to LA, 4200 miles.
She road every mile on her Tri Cross.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...rls/franDe.jpg

I think your current bike is fine. However the Tri Cross is a nice bike as well.

You also need to think about is how much you think you can sell your current bike for versus the cost of purchasing a new bike.

You followed her for 4200 miles and you didn't even get her name :D. They usually call that stalking where i'm from ;). At least that is what they charged me with.

I'm willing to spend around 1,000 on a new bike. The trek is getting kinda old, the previous owner didn't take very good care of it. The ball bearings are going out on the wheels (I repacked them last summer) but I'm afraid they won't last too much longer, tho I'm sure they will be fine for the foreseeable future.

If you can afford it, do it and you wont regret it =) Get something thats good and dont be afraid to spend the cash on it

My suggestion is to test ride as many bikes as you can. You can also fix up the Trek and keep that as a backup.

+1

I have thought about it. Just then I would have three bikes in my apartment :eek: If I sold my Trek could just use my specialized rockhopper as my backup, but that thing isn't very road friendly.

I've been looking at the Tricross. It looks like a great bike. The only thing I don't like about it is the tall head tube. If you like your bars low, this may not be the best bike for you. This means you can't really go as fast as you want to. Sure you can put a stem with a drop to it, but you will be limited to how much drop because of the cantilever cable stop. You could run mini-V's and get rid of the stop all together. I am in-between sizes so this model does not look like a good fit for me.

The Trek 1000 is a good bike, but if memory serves, it is more of a road racing bike, which is less utilitarian than other options.
+1 on trying out some different bikes to see what you like. I'd imagine KC has a plethora of shops to check out. It is worth spending time seeing what is available before taking the plunge.

In your price range (or up to $1,200) I can see many options:

http://www.masibikes.com/steel/randonneur/
http://surlybikes.com/bikes/cross_check_complete/
http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/stee...t-townsend-11/
http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/steel-road/clubman-11/
http://salsacycles.com/bikes/vaya/
http://salsacycles.com/bikes/casseroll/
http://civiacycles.com/bikes/bryant/..._tiagra/#build

Great bang for the buck, but you can't ride before you buy (you can return, though):
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ane/outlaw.htm
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/..._pro_rival.htm

Other possibilities exist - a flat bar and/or internally geared hub bike might suit your needs and riding style, too.
This one has an 8-speed internally geared hub: http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/perf.../cadent-i8-11/
Trek's Soho series: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/road/commute/soho
Trek/Gary Fisher Fast City Series: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...mute/fast_city
Swobo: http://www.swobo.com/catalog/product...Path=2448_2449
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/gt/gt_tachyon_1.htm

So much depends on your own needs and preferences.

A cx bike would certainly do the job. My preference for commuting 10 miles or less urban is a hardtail/stiff fork mtb w/1.75 street tires. The smaller frames are more responsive. Having ridden both a rb and an mtb alternately for a few months I settled on an mtb as described. Rode it for 5 years. My current rides are a cx and fg, but I live rural w/a 40 mi rt commute. Some people aren't bothered by drop bars urban. My experience was a feeling of more overall control and better reponse time to situations w/flat bars.

Thanks for all the great info. I would prefer drops, I like my trek, just want something I can mount fenders and bags on and use larger wheels for when winter comes around. I know trek makes some commuter bikes like the portland and lane, has anyone used either of those?

I say get it. There was one Tricross model on sale locally at Bike Source for $800 the other day, whichever model is Sora with a triple. It looked nice.

I just got a Kona Jake CX Bike. Took it for its first real ride today, and it's fantastic. I would have had no problem going with the Tricross.

I do, I do! :)

My first road bike was a Trek 1000. My second road bike, and my primary four-seasons, all-conditions commuter, is a 2006 Trek Portland.

The Tricross is a good bike. If you're limited in the number of bikes you can have in your apartment (Get a bigger apartment! My apartment fits four bikes comfortably.) then the Portland may be the better choice.

If I could have only one road bike, my other three would go and the Portland would stay. Put another way, last year, and so far again this year, my Portland has more miles than my other three road bikes combined.

After a few years off my recommended list, the 2011 Portland returns to my recommended list due to two major changes:

1. They finally got rid of the paired-spoke wheels.
2. They restored Avid BB-7 brakes to the parts spec.

Detractors say it's an expensive bike for a 9-speed, and that the stock "fenderettes" aren't very effective.

First, they haven't ridden one. The frame is what makes this bike. I also have a steel road bike and a titanium road bike. My Portland rides better than either one. There is magic in the frame.

Second, my older 10-speed Portland goes through chains every 1500 to 2000 miles, and 10-speed chains are twice the price and more. Nine-speed chains tend to last longer (or at least they do for me) and are considerably cheaper. Cassettes too are half the price. If you're going to wear out parts anyway--and on a commuter you're certainly going to wear out parts--it's far cheaper to wear out 9-speed parts than 10-speed.

Third, it's true, the stock fenderettes aren't the best, but they're better than nothing. I put mine on my Litespeed, and put full fenders on the Portland--two different sets, actually. I have a set of SKS P-35s for the three-seasons, and a set of SKS P-45s to go over the studded snow tires for winter.

Anyway, the Portland is an excellent choice for a do-it-all road bike.

While designed to fill the commuting role, it's just as happy hauling home insane amounts of groceries as it is on fast group rides through the twisties. It's just as fast as my other bikes, but not quite as quick. It corners like no other bike I've ridden, and is the best descender in my fleet.

I throw my cross tires on and it's happy to go play on single-track and get all muddy. Even with its road tires on, it ignores things like gravel and potholes, and makes no protest over taking a dirt road instead of pavement.

The only thing it's not stellar at is climbing. It's only an adequate climber. Even so, I got mine to the top of Mt. Evans (14,130 feet) but one of my other bikes would have been easier. The reason is that the disc brakes and disc brake wheelset add some extra rotational weight. This is also why it's not quite as quick as my other bikes.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. I love my Portland, and think it's an excellent all-rounder. Its worth looking at and test riding, even if you end up buying something else.

The Tricross and other cyclocross bikes are often regarded as better commuting bikes than their road counterparts. I would be concerned that the road bike will fail you in the winter (unless you don't plan to commute in the winter), the Tricross would fit tires that would make biking in the snow and ice easier. Alternately you could just zip tie your road wheels, but that's a sorta half-assed solution. I would say to try riding to work and back on a day that you're off, and seeing if your route will be okay with the road bike, and if it isn't, pick up a tricross, or another similar cyclocross bike.

Another thought, and it helps if you're proficient with working on bikes. Once you find a few models you're interested in, try and pick one up used. craigslist is great for used bikes. If you've worked on bikes before, I have rarely seen a bike in such disrepair that a few bucks worth of parts and a good tune-up couldn't fix. I purchased a Trek OCLV 9800 mountain bike for $500. I believe it came out around 98 or so, so it is older, but it was in awesome condition and it was light! What came next? I ripped the mountain bike tires off and replaced them with Michelin road-slicks. The handlebar neck was really low and too far out for comfort, I replaced it with a neck that could be adjusted low or high with an allen wrench and also added an additional 2" extension (I prefer to ride upright when I commute.) The handlebar shifters were cutting into my hands, so those went, replaced by trigger shifters. I was getting carpal tunnel in my wrists, so the handlebars were replaced with H-tec handlebars. I won't talk about what bodypart was aching due to my seat, but I replaced the seat with an all leather one with spring absorbers in the back (the best purchase of all my parts, it's riddiculously comfortable). Lastly, I replaced the clip in pedals with PD A 520's. These are great as one side has the clip-ins when you have your bike shoes, and the other side is a flat pedal so you can ride with any shoes. After all is said and done, my modified Trek is the most awesome commute bike I could have ever imagined. I LOVE riding it everywhere and recently bought a biknd helium bike bag so I can take it on trips and have my own bike with me. It was great tooling around San Diego and the Hawaiian islands! Good luck with your purchase.