Switched out to dual purpose tyres on my mtb, parked up the motorcycle and decided to try and cycle the last comfortably commutable day in my week. What a blast! The new tyres give me better and more comfortable rolling speeds, the shoulder is wide enough that I can avoid most cars, and I don't have to put up with the various obstacles you see on the bike 'path' next to the shoulder.

I thought my average speed was being limited by my body and bike. Wrong answer. It was the path. At least 10-15km/h faster cruising speeds, better climbing, descents just plain fun. The wake from the large buses and trucks can be disconcerting when you're used to having 150kg of motorcycle to absorb more of the force... but I have to that again.

yes it can become a "habit".

Haha i personally like the draft from passing vehicles, this morning i was going about 15mph with a head wind but when a rush of traffic caught up to me i was pushing 19mph with less effort than 15 lol gave me a nice break (i just began commuting, and im a little out of shape doing 20mi round trips, so my speeds my not be all that fast haha)

I read recently that bike paths are designed for 10 MPH riders. Feh. Makes me glad that there simply aren't any bike paths anywhere near where I live - nobody can complain when I'm riding on the road, which I would be doing in any case.

I'd be fine with 10 mph -well, I guess I'd make it 12 or 13- if I only had a clean and unobstructed path to use.

But I guess my average is about 10 mph anyway on my commute. But that's with a lot of time and effort used up in getting away from the main drag as much as possible.

I guess I don't really need a path. But a good one sure would be nice.

But I haven't even touched on the real topic, have I?

Yep, it's definitely addictive. But in such a good way.

What we need is a law -and don't bother telling me that I'm a crazy socialist. I already know it - forcing people to bike commute.

Then we wouldn't need a law forcing people to bike commute.

I haven't touched my 50% trails route to work since figuring out a decent all-road route. There's something thrilling about playing in traffic the whole way.

I wonder if there would be speed traps for this haha. That would be a site, bike cops literally crouched down in the bushes with a radar gun.

I can relate. I tend to gravitate toward the most heavily trafficked routes as well. Not fast traffic, mind you; just heavy traffic...which usually means slower than normal and backed up at lights.

slower and backed up is good. Thats the whole reason I decided to ditch the cruiser motorcycle for the bike. The cars all get caught up for 2 km or so and it actually makes it longer to commute on the motorcycle despite the fact I can get up to 90km/h in the (few and far between) clear sections. With the wide bars and physically large presence the shoulder isn't an option. With the bike in crawling traffic I can use the shoulder or the bike lane when its clear to sail on past all that. I think I could do better on a smaller scooter, but then if I'm doing that I might as well ride the bike.

I too enjoy commuting by bike, with a mtb bike you can ride on any road condition.