Ordered one of these six weeks ago, but Bianchi is slow to deliver...2012 Volpe, steel CX bike. My commute is 12ish miles each way with about a mile of unpaved towpath...that and the rough roads in DC made a CX bike an easy choice.

I think they're great, but I definitely agree they're not better for everyone. Hence the smiley.

Considering your propensity for speed hubs and your disclosed interest the beautifully illustrious Seek, I'd just like to place a few more candidates on your plate for possible consumption:

1) The Raleigh Cadent i8 and i11 (and remaining performance hybrids)
www.thebikestand.com/raleigh-performance-hybrid.html

2) The Trek Soho
www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/town/urban_utility/soho/soho/#

3) The Kona Dr. Fine
https://konaworld.com/asphalt_commute...ontent=dr_fine

4) The Kona Dr. Good
https://konaworld.com/asphalt_commute...ontent=dr_good

- Slim

PS.

The Kona Dew Deluxe
https://konaworld.com/asphalt_commute...ent=dew_deluxe

* Recommending the Kona Dew Deluxe Just Because She's So Very Pretty!

This. On my hybrid, I find myself moving my hands a lot from a comfortable riding position to a position where I can shift. On my road bike, my hand spend 95% of their time in a position where my palms face each other. This is more natural and less stressful. I can ride and shift with my hands on the hoods. On drop bars, you will be more bent over instead of upright. It will take some time (a couple of months if you ride 3-4 times a week) before you body adjusts to this riding position. While the majority of commuter bikes I see at work are flat bar bikes, I personally favor road bike riding position. Once the rainy season is over, the hybrid will be banished to the depths of the garage until next winter. Or if I want to leave it locked to a rack while running errands.

I you plan on doing frequent 40 miles rides, the road bike will be faster because of the more aero riding position. It will be more comfortable because of the better hand positions.

That Spot is a nice bike indeed. I'd like to see a closeup of the rear dropout though and see how easy it is to remove the rear wheel. If you ever feel like writing a review with some pictures we'd surely love it.

Take a look at the Salsa Casseroll and Vaya if you have a local dealer. Both are well equipped for the price and would make great commuters. The Casseroll is more of a road bike and will be faster and lighter, the Vaya better if you would like the option of riding on unpaved roads and trails.

Other great options: Soma ES or Doublecross; Gunnar Sport or Crosshairs. Here are some shots of my Casseroll in various guises.

You forgot touring bike. Longer wheelbase for comfort and to handle your panniers. Heavier frame for durability and load capacity.

i'd get a cross, and replace chainrings/cassette if necessary to get gearing you like. change the tires and even wheels later if you like.

of course, i ride most of my commutes in a 20lb road bike with 23s and love it. but it's not the most practical and i have crashed and hurt myself before. it takes me about 33 mins of riding time to cover my 9 mi commute in the morning if i ride fast (much of it is downhill). +5 mins if i ride slower. add 5 mins to elapsed time for traffic light stops, etc. i love my drops and my brifters.

also, i rarely ride on roads posted as 35mph or more, since that means 50mph or more in reality.

So I ordered a Charge Filter (Apex) from Performance... for now. (Yeah, the 46T big ring is a bit ironic given my original post.) I say "for now" because it wouldn't be the first time I availed myself of PB's "100% satisfaction" policy.

And so begins the semi-OCD refreshing of the "order tracking" status page.

So how is the Charge?

I've got basically a flat bar road bike with 700x28 tires, a 48t large chainring, and a road 9 rear casette. With short bar ends, I find that I can easily get into an aerodynamic enough position that maintaining over 30km/h on flat ground is not a challenge. Perhaps with a drop bar I could go even faster, but I find my flat bar is plenty fast for my liking.

Welp, before the Charge Filter arrived I picked up some 700x23 tires for my 29er MTB (full XT drivetrain & hydro discs) to see what triple-digit tire pressures are like, and get some practice mounting them (for the inevitable roadside flat repairs). Rode the MTB that way for a few weeks, and it worked better than I expected. When the Filter came in I rode it about 40 miles using my own wheels/tires/seatpost/saddle so that (1) I'd have a closer comparison between the two, and (b) I would avoid putting visible wear on the Filter, in case I decided against it.

Which I did. If the MTB hadn't done so surprisingly well, or if I didn't already have it, I would have been very happy with the Filter. But it's hard for me to spend whole-nother-bike money on something that isn't significantly better than something I already have. (Also, I wasn't a fan of the amount of lever travel required to row multiple gears with the SRAM Double Tap.)

So, all that wondering aloud only to find out I apparently had what I needed all along! Looks like y'all were right.

T'was dead sexy in black with white slicks, though:

+1. Any bike with a top end of 50-12 is fast enough unless you're Contador.

I have a 2011 Kona Jake CX bike with a high of 50-12, and after 2400 miles of commuting and 2 gran fondos this year, I can tell you that an ametuer rider will never spin out of that gear except for steep descents, when it's faster to not pedal anyways.

They're fine. I spent a few years commuting 10-12 miles one way with 23 traffic lights and 10 stop signs. The wrist position is more comfortable than on flat bars. While you can mate bar-ends to flat bars, on a road bike that position still lets you use the brakes.

If you spend appreciable time on a sidewalk a wheel chair makes the most sense because you're likely to need it after you get hit by a car at a driveway or intersection because drivers aren't looking for traffic moving faster than walking speed there (if they're looking - texting is often more interesting than driving).

My main commuter bike is also a Gunnar Sport, but I also commute at times on a Bob Jackson World Tour (touring), Waterford RST-22 (sport touring) and DeBernardi SL (Italian racing). My commute route is about 30 miles round trip with lots of hills but good pavement, so I prefer a road bike for the lightness as well as aerodynamics. Timewise, my commute is about 5 minutes longer each way when I ride the touring bike. However, the touring bike can carry much larger loads and handle larger tires, so it is great for riding unpaved trails.

If you want the flexibility to ride off-road or unpaved trails, I would recommend a cross bike, tourer or something like the Salsa Vaya. If you plan to just ride on pavement, a sport touring bike should be faster and reduce your commuting times. A touring bike is worthwhile if you often need to carry larger loads or plan to do any loaded touring, plus most touring bikes can handle much larger tires so can be ridden just fine on unpaved trails and roads.

+1

+2.

On my roadbike (which I no longer own), I never really liked being in the drops. I did like being on the aerobars a lot, however (I don't like weight on my wrists, but don't have a problem with weight on my elbows). But it's all personal preference.

Cheers,
Charles

Is there a thread that covers all the many different styles of handlebar out there? One mostly hears about flats and drops, with increasingly lesser mention of risers, butterfly bars, mustache bars, and H-bars.

Personally, my butterfly bars give me more interesting hand positions than either drops or risers with bar ends, and they allow me to switch from riser bars without having to change brakes and shifters. I can toodle along forever without hand discomfort, no matter how aero or "prairie-dog" my position, and I can get comfortably tucked in and aero to fight the headwinds by grasping the inner side of the butterfly bars like so:

I am wondering why there aren't more bikes that come with trekking bar setups direct from the factory floor?

They look weird. And people think weird doesn't sell. (For what it's worth, I like weird.)

I vote "road" without question ...