What Type of Bike Do You Use For Commuting?
 

I started commuting this summer with a brand new hybrid and have become addicted to commuting by bike. This w-end I converted my old MTB into another commuter for bad weather days. I did a test run , and enjoyed the more aggressive, aerodynamic sitting position and the wide tires that smash through road debris, provide more stability on the gravelly parts and allow me to take short cuts over rough unpaved sections. It does have much wider tires than the hybrid, but I switched from knobbies to smooth tires, and I don't think I'll lose much speed (if any).

I had assumed a MTB was going to be much inferior to a hybrid or road bike for my commute and was genuinely surprised by how much I liked the MTB's features. I guess it won't be long 'til I get a road bike.LOL.

The bulk of my miles is on a '92 Cannondale T600 touring bike. With over 83,000 miles on it, we've seen quite a bit together. My round trip commute for the past eight years is a half century, so the miles are adding up quickly. For winter, I switch to a '95 Cannondale H600 hybrid. Given the crap it goes through, in 17,000 miles it's run through about the same number of components as the T600.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/..._cross_cx2.htm in yellow and is my full-load commuter/utility bike w/trunkbag, rack, panniers, lights, full coverage fenders, etc. It was purchased in May of 2008. The only changes made were to a 40t small chainring and the stock tires to SMPs as the CX tires were/are too soft for long asphalt miles. This is what I use on Mondays for the week's food and clothes. Over 16,000 miles w/one re-pack and slight re-truing of the rear wheel. Original comps except for the tires.

The rest of the week I ride my 80s Fuji Del-Rey fg conversion. 48x16t. 79.1 GI. It's got a seatpost rack/trunkbag combo big enough to haul my daily food containers and clothes homeward. Full compliment of tools, SKS Raceblade fenders, NR Trailrat 2.0 10w halogen and requisite front and rear blinkies like the loaded commuter. Pushing 10,000 miles now w/one bb replacement, 2 re-packs. Same comps...it's about 2.5 years since the conversion.

Btw, my commute is 41.2 miles rt. They're a great combination of bikes for commuting.

Agreed. The only thing hybrid bikes have on MTB's is more options for racks, fenders, and other commuter accessories. I know all that stuff may be important if you are living car free, or if you commute come hell or high water, but for the sheer enjoyment of the ride, the MTB wins. Some MTB's like my Cannondale F400 do come with a few basic rack eyelets.

Road bikes are great for their sleekness and speed, but getting the fit and adjustment right is critical.

I commute on road bikes and converted all terrain bikes.
On my road bikes I run 700 x 28 tires and a seat post rack.

The others are not the usual MTB's, but older, 90's vintage all terrain bikes. Specialized 'Hard Rocks', to be precise.
I have the large frame version, with narrow, subdued tread tires and straight and/or low rise bars. Next one will have drop bars.

This
http://www.brucew.com/images/wordpre...opped-1024.jpg
2006 Trek Portland, shown here wearing its studded snow tires


or this
http://www.brucew.com/images/wordpre...opped-1024.jpg
2000 Trek 1000 "Yellow Bike"


and on nice midweek days in the three seasons, this
http://www.brucew.com/images/peloton...trait-1024.jpg
1999 Schwinn Peloton "Blue Steel"


or this
http://www.brucew.com/images/litespe.../1st-photo.jpg
1996 Litespeed Classic, "Jeeves", shown here wearing Blue's components. These days it wears Ultegra 6700 and Velocity A23 Pro Build wheels.

On a perfect week, like last week, I ride a different one each day.

I use an old MTB converted to commuter duty.

Started out the summer on a '94 Trek 1400 roadie, switched to a '91 Trek 820 MTB, loved it so much I bought a (NEW!) Giant 29er... working on a rebuild of a Trek 800 to be a winter commuter, Nokian studded tires waiting in the shop for me to pick them up...
Me, a dedicated daily commuter... who knew?

Well it was an 84 bridgestone 300 ss conversion, but now it's an 88 raleigh technium the chill. I am actually quite enjoying the chill. Little heavy though.

like tsl, I rotate.

On sunny days when I have nothing to carry, I break out the road bike. no racks, no bags, leave my clothes at work. this is the very fastest way to get there.

If it's rainy or I have stuff to carry, I'll ride my folding bike. It's a Xootr Swift reconfigured with drop bars and skinny tires, so it's plenty fast and has a rack for me to carry stuff.

For snow and ice, I switch to my IGH hybrid with a belt drive.

I have 3 bikes and they are all singlespeed. My main commuter is a KHS fixed gear, with full fenders, front and rear racks. My other ride is a Surly 1x1 which I also run as a fixed gear with 700cc wheels, my Surly is my most favorite bike, it's my do it all bike, if I only had to have one bike this would be it. I have few other wheelsets for my surly, all 700cc and SS, this bike also has full fenders and a medium sized ,#139 wald basket on the front. And then I have an old RM Vertex (2006). This is the bike that stared it all. When I first started commuting in Sept,2007 this is the bike that I used. I made a lot of changes to it. Got rid of suspension fork and installed a rigid fork, got rid of all the stickers and painted the frame flat black, converted to SS, added full fenders and front/rear racks and drop bars. My RM doesn't see as much use as before, but I still use it for winter trail riding,
I keep it as my emergency back up bike, it's all banged up, scratched, ugly.. but very functional.. Damn ! , I need to buy a camera and start taking pics.

I commute on a 2008 Kona Fire Mountain Xtracycle, outfitted with fenders, front panniers, handlebar bag and a Dymotec 6 dynamo married to a Lumotec IQ Fly Plus light. I have PBSF taillight and 2 generic blinky/taillights on the rear.

I used to rock a Magicshine and a Down Low Glow, but I killed their batteries. I really miss them, especially the DLG.

Right now my bike is the equal to a department store hand me down special (this things been in iraq for like 4 years already) Both shifters are gone the bottom bracket is so clogged with sand I gave up on trying to fix it up. Its on its last legs but I got it for free so I can't complain

At home I have a trek 1000 and a dawes sst al that I'll be rotateing

I've got a Diamondback Insight RS hybrid fully fredded-out for commuting. The last couple of months, however, I found myself riding my old Panasonic road bike almost exclusively. I only pull the hybrid out of the shed if I'm expecting rain, as it has fenders. I could mount fenders on the Panasonic but I love the clean look without it.

During the winter I have my Giant mountain bike set up as my dedicated ride.

Steel road bike (surly pacer) with a seat bag big enough to carry my stuff.

Main commuter: aluminum hybrid (Rocky Mountain Metropolis) with internally geared Alfine hub. Has kind of a harsh ride, not that comfortable for long distances. I prefer my touring bike (R.M. Sherpa) for longer commutes where I ride to the pool for a swim first. It's so much more comfortable, I'm thinking of leaving the studs on the other bike and retiring it for winter-only use.
I'm always amazed at the sheer variety of bikes that people commute on. I've seen everything from an Electra Townie to a Cervelo time trial bike in the rack at work. Last year a fellow would even show up on a unicycle from time to time. It shows that there is no one perfect commuter bike that suits everyone.

Flat bar road bike (Giant FCR3) with the flat bar changed to a trekking bar, rear rack, Brooks B17 saddle , and Michelin City 32 tires.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=216395

This after the Kona Jake the Snake was rear-ended on my bike rack last summer.

I figured with the WC I would want to ride it even in the sub -20's but I replaced the car with a jeep just to make sure.

till the weather gets bad, I am using a Merlin Extralight Road
then I will switch to a Specialized Allez Epic
or my steel bianchi cross bike

Cheap European bike, got it to try out commuting to work. Held up remarkably well so far, will probably be getting something nicer when I finally decide what I need.

http://www.specialbikes.gr/eshop/ima...?productid=267

On-one pompetamine fixed gear road bike or a giant scr1 road bike


Used to use a hybrid but that has slowly become relegated to the back, even with the drop bar conversion it was never as good as the road bike :)

Very cool. Is that black thing attached to the seat stay an old school generator? Euro bikes are awesome. So sensible and efficient. Luv 'em! :thumb:

Seeing as you're already in Europe and if you've got the fundage try this one: http://www.quitmann-ms.de/eng/big_apple.html W/t Rohloff hub it's my dream urban commuter. The 'Speed' version w/t 700 wheels and Rohloff hub would be my dream rural commuter. :)

Short wheelbase 'bent gets me to and from work a couple of days a week. Rear fender stays on almost all the time and the front is added if rain is a possibility. Panniers on the rear rack.
Roads are reasonably smooth - current tires are 20x1.35 and 26x1.25 instead of 1.5" F/R that I previously used.
This is a very nimble bike.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...nMM/BWVRex.jpg

That black thing WAS a old bottle dyno, but I've taken all the electrics off since they were totally-utterly useless! The dyno's resistance was so great that I needed to downshift to be able to cope with the drag.

Very nice bike on the link... don't know if my budget is enough for it, but it will definitely be looked into thoroughly!

Edit: I was amazed at the Rohloff hub system! I actually found the local distributor for Rohloff products in Greece, but I have to admit that as great as it is, 900 euros ($1300) for the kit is way out of my budget! That's the budget for the whole bike I plan to purchase (hopefully)!

Last bike purchased... I got a Bike Friday Pocket Llama, Rohloff hub, disc brakes,
I fitted some Trekking bars,
Shall see how it goes over the winter ..

Front hub powered light on the front is low enough,
as is the modified taillight mount, kludged,
for a B&M4D toplight, I relocated to the rear , just behind the back
of the seatpost mounted waterbottle cage, since I don't have a rear rack on it.

So as to Wear my Rain cape, and not have any issues
with wet hands from leaky gloves.

Or the rain Cape covering the lights..