everydaycommuter road bike
 

I have asked at LBS about road bikes that I can put fenders and a rack on it. They said it has to be more of a touring bike type. I do not want to spend so much money $1000+ on it. Although am willing to if the bike is still light and potentially fast. I looked at Treck lane which can have fenders but does not say anything about racks. Is there any road bike that can have both? or at least same geometry and just swap the bars?

I was also hoping to maybe take it on a tour one day so if it could have front rack that would be great.

Does a bike have to have separate mount points for racks and fenders on front or back?

I have used the crud roadracer fenders before and do not want to use them again they do the job but I want something permanent.

All four of my bikes are road bikes. I commute on all of them. Two have full fenders and rear racks mounted year 'round. One of those is an entry-level Trek. A third bike gets Cruds in the winter. I agree with you, Cruds are not at their best in the commuting environment.

You don't need separate mounts for fenders and racks. My low-end Trek has one eyelet in each rear dropout. The rack and fender both mount there. The fenders are a tight fit through the brakes (I use SKS P35s over 25mm tires.) I had to modify the way the rear one mounts through the brake--I couldn't get it tight enough to the brake with the factory clip--but it works, and works well.

What may have thrown your salesperson was when you said you may want to take it on tour on it one day and use a front rack. This is where you'll need the different geometry of a touring bike.

A front rack requires slightly different front geometry on account of the load and how it affects handling. The heavier loads common in the rear common in touring also require different geometry. My entry-level Trek does not like heavy loads in the rear. It gets skittish with more than 20 or 25 pounds back there.

My other full-fendered and rear racked bike has slightly longer chainstays--about halfway to the length of those on a touring bike--which stabilizes things nicely. That bike is perfectly content with 60 pounds or more on the back. It is not touring geometry in the front, so I wouldn't mount a front rack on it.

To summarize: If you want one bike to tour and commute on, save up some more money and get a touring bike. "Pure" road bikes don't handle well with the extra load. If you'll stick to commuting and only carry loads in the rear of 25 pounds or less, then a "pure" road bike (like the entry-level Trek) will work just fine. But be certain the fenders will fit through your brakes.

Check out the Specialized Tricross.

You need a bike with more tyre clearance than a typical road-race which uses 39mm drop, standard calipers.
You can pick a frame setup for long drop (57mm) calipers which has clearance for 28-32mm tyres + fenders. Soma ES is typical of this breed. They usually have fender eyelets front/rear and rack eyelets rear (sometimes sharing lower eyelet) but are not setup for front panniers.
Cyclo cross bikes use cantilever brakes for more generous clearance, usually up to 38mm. The entry level models have practical features such as fender and waterbottle eyelets. Some have rack eyelets. (race CX bikes lack any elelets). Some cx bikes have disc brakes.

I prefer caliper to cantilever brakes. They have better bite and control and are easier to setup. Disc brakes are good for all weather riding. Some bikes have mini V brakes ut they sometimes interfere with rack mounting or fenders.

My fav style for a practical roadbike is the Soma ES style.

I would suggest that you consider the Salsa Vaya, the Jamis Aurora, the Surly Ogre, or Long Haul Trucker.

Touring Bike...

Check out the Tourist from Bikes Direct, Nashbar's touring bike, and the Jamis Aurora (Bicycle Bannanas in Reno, NV has a 2009 with a 55cm frame for $659 w/free shipping) to name a few. If you buy one online, though, you either have to do light assembly and final adjustments, or pay someone to do it for you. The Tourist, however, comes with a rear rack and will set you back a total of $599 to your door.

Yeah, a touring bike will work best for you. It's worth saving up some money for it.

My Specialized Secteur Triple is a standard aluminum framed road bike with rack mounts. Its just the right combination (for me) of road bike and commuter bike. I've done charity rides and centuries with it, and I put 30 miles a day on it commuting.

I have yet to put fenders on it, but I'm sure that between my LBS and I, we can jerry rig something.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...1/DSCF2154.jpg

Check out the Torker Interurban.

I've seen them new for less than $600. The components are nothing spectacular but they'll get the job done. What nice is you have a good platform to upgrade and build upon.

I managed to score just the frame and built it up with parts I had. Rides very nice and quite fast.

It's not what many will consider a standard road bike :D Besides relaxed geometry, it has rack mounts, that can't possibly be a standard road bike :D As long as it has the clearance for fenders, I'm sure you will find a way to attach some using p-clips on the stays.

Did you swap that high tensile steel boat anchor it had for the fork? I'd spend a bit more bucks on 100% CroMo steel bike.

Define what sort of touring you are planning.
Credit Card touring doesnt require much in the way of actual gear. You are mostly carrying your clothes and bath items and staying in hotels. You can get away with more of a Sport bike since you will not be carrying a lot of weight and doent need very large panniers.

Full blown unsuported touring is where you really need to consider a full blown touring bike. It will be heavier as a full touring bike will have thicker tubing, stronger wheels, stretched out frame. The geometry will be such that front racks will be able to handle more weight.

No offense but a LOT of bicycle sales people really try to push their preferences onto the customer and that tends to be towards racing bikes. There is NOTHING wrong with using a Touring bike as an every day bike. Yes its a little more weight but its in stronger wheels, stronger frame. It will take a lot more commuting abuse as a result The only time it will be a negative is if you are trying to be competitive racer. If you are wanting to participate in benefit rides, Socials a Touring bike is perfect.

Now I'm a cheap skate and willing to wait for the right bike to show up on the used market. I'm riding a T700 Cannondale that I bought Used for $250 and did some upgrades including used STI brifters and 105 Derailleurs. Some quick math I have roughly $500 in it not counting the VeloOrange bag, Brooks and the front rack (its style thing and I paid a premium for it) and the AirZound. Normally the rear rack is off in the summer. I change cranks and wheels for loaded touring. As pictures it set up more for fast commute.
$250 for bike in stock form with bar end shift.
$100 for used brifters, Derailerus and cranks.
$30 for Topeak Explorer rack on sale
$30 for 11-28 Cassette
$50 for Planet bike lights on sale.
$35 for the fenders on sale
$495

EDIT: Forgot the Saddle
Brooks Saddle was a Gift from the wife found used for $80. The Surfas Saddle that was on it was a nice rider.


http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...3&d=1304863157

No, but I've thought about it. It doesn't affect the ride insofar as the bike is just as comfortable as my all-steel Crosscheck.

Any suggestions? Disc perhaps?

I'll second Grim's advice about considering a used touring bike. I have a '92 Cannondale T600 I use for my half century commute and it handles it extremely well. It's pushing 89k miles these days (gotta hit that magic 88,888 on the odometer first :-). I found the same bike on ebay a few years ago for $300 for my son. With a supposed 5k miles on it by the original owner, it should have a lot of life left in it.

I've been upgrading the components as they wear out, usually by stock piling clearance items when new stuff gets introduced. It's currently at the (9 spd) Ultegra/XTR/XT level.

Oh, it probably rides fine, it's just it probably is 2x as heavy and half as strong as CroMo fork. Nothing really wrong with that if it doesn't bother you though. I'd probably try one of the CroMo Surly forks.

Like someone else pointed out, you need to figure out a)what type of touring (which determines the amount of stuff you'll be schleping), and then b) what is the likelihood that you'll actually go touring. Or vice versa.

Touring rigs make great commuters, but not all commuters would make even good touring rigs. Consider a CX as the daily driver and then hook up a trailer for touring, depending on duration and gear selection.

This. www.bikesdirect.com has several CX bikes that would do the job. A cargo trailer can be had on e-bay for 100.00 shipped. That would keep the load on the bike to a minimum and one could change cassettes for a lower gear ratio if needed for 30-50.00USD depending on brand.

Btw, a friend of mine just got a double baby-trailer and it converts easily for cargo use. He looked in the 'Free' section of our local CL and there it was. :p

I bought a stripped specialized sirrus frame, fork and wheels and it turned out to be great at commuting and so I took it on a 1100km tour last summer... my sirrus is an '06 and so it came with a steel fork that had lowrider mounts... the frame also had three bottle cage mounts too, and rear rack mounts. I put the heavy panniers up front and just carried the tent on the rear rack and it was fine riding, even for 180km on the last day. The sirrus is still sold in a few levels of trim but it might be possible to snag a used one and swap out for drop bars like I did.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3511/5...c706f5f0_z.jpg

+1 on the Windsor Tourist from BD. I'm in my third year on this bike and it hasn't let me down. I changed out the crappy tires for some Panaracer Pasela TG for a better ride and the brake pads suck so I put on Kool Stops. Be forewarned the wheelset may need to be trued like mine did. If you can't or don't want to put the bike together and do the adjustments needed you would be better off with a LBS item instead. My LBS guys tweaked this bike for me after I put a few miles on it things like truing the wheels and tightening the spokes and remarked I had done yeomans work on the assembly. A few have remarked the hubs and BB might now have been greased well but mine were fine. Its not a sexy bike but I've got some vintage stuff if I want a sexy bike to ride. :)