As my friend who dislikes the term race bike says, any bike is a race bike if you ride it hard enough or fast enough.

I still don't think my Surly Long Haul Trucker counts as a race bike, though. :-)

How dare someone ride a fast, agile, light bike with no intention of racing on it! What, are bikes supposed to be fun or something???

The nerve of some people...what's next, driving a car that can go 90mph on city streets? Buying fancy clothes without being a model?

I know a couple of people that commute on bikes that are too light to enter into that race with.

Let's not get confused here. Your old racer is called a "vintage" bike, which is perfectly acceptable for commuting.

You're a native of ze 41?

That's too rough a neighborhood for me.

Ah, so now even clipless shoes are out of the "commuter" realm?

5 years old is vintage in the 41.

I got a race-ish bike that's got a Brooks saddle, Carradice bag, bar speakers and MKS Grip Kings. It's comfortable, carries ~30lbs of stuff if need be (with cargo net and some fixin' on the Bagman), doesn't need clipless since I don't wear those anymore. There's something else I use for foul weather but I see no reason not to go out w/ this one if it's sunny out. A bike is a bike, and one that gets me a little quicker to work means an extra minute or two to slack off elsewhere.

I don't blame your friend because it's not always clear to me what people mean when the say "race bike". To some folks that's anything with drop bars so your LHT would qualify.

People have looked at my bike and asked if I race. I always hesitate and then say, "I've done a few triathlons." because while they are races, triathlons are not bike races in the traditional sense. They also tend to complicate the question of what is a race bike.



This bike qualifies I think. Notice the disc wheel. The shoes are pre-mounted to the bike for a quicker swim to bike transition.


Here's a few thousand other bikes. Triathlons are great places for bike porn:



The balloons aren't there to make the atmosphere more festive. Some folks tie them next to their bike so they can find it when they come out of the water.


Below is where the concept of a race bike gets a little confusing:



Is bike #3221 a race bike or not?

Perhaps that's the only bike he owns and he is also using his commute for training.

Here is my commuter:



12 miles a day, 5 days a week and 50-60 mile rides on weekends plus a 25-30 miler randomly during the week on evenings if i have time

I used to ride a Trek Madone into work, but I soon grew tired of the constant flat tires and having to wear a backpack into work. I sold the Madone and bought a Surly LHT. The LHT allows me to use Panniers and is much more comfortable on some of the rough roads on my commute. Also, the LHT allows me to install a heavier duty intertube (slime extra thick 26" tube) and liners in my back wheel to prevent flats, which i have not experienced in about 2 years of commuting on the LHT.

That reminds me, my one concession on the tempo is I'm running 28's and that's the max for clearance.

I run Mr. Tuffies on the clincher wheelset I have for the Pinarello. Save the tubular wheels/tires for fancy days.

My training/commuting wheels have tire liners too. The switch to tubulars on race day feels like heaven.

Define "race bike".

I commute on a Litespeed frame with 40.6cm chain stays, deep drop bars, and straight block cassette. Race.

I still ride a 32 spoke wheel set I built 15-16 years ago albeit with the second front and third rear rim (originally Reflex clinchers, now Open Pros). Campagnolo C-Record hub forgings are the sexiest ever. Retro.

I kludged on a rear rack when I realized I was too old to ride 25 miles round trip with a back pack and got a pannier. I have a triple crank so I can accommodate hills without loosing middle aged spread, giving up the tight cassette which feels so good on flat ground, or returning to the horrible ADHD front shifting which went with a compact crank. Fred.

Functionally I've raced it. Race.

I also rode it on a 420 mile supported tour with 30,000 feet of climbing. Tour.

I waver between getting around to a visit to the city for Dan Nelson to weld on some rack eyelets (the P-clamps squeak a bit) and having a custom titanium frame built that's a little more amenable to this sort of thing (fenders in the rainy season would also be nice) with longer chain stays, eyelets, and long reach brakes or cantilevers.

My HOA only allows me to have 100 square feet of storage shed which is too full for more bikes, my carpet inside is way too nice for more bikes, and I'd either need to park outside or get a van to use as a bike garage if I acceeded to N+1 and even in that case it'd be about the same.

To me it looks too sporty for touring, but what do I know? Did it work well for that?

Sort of Apples and Oranges.

I can walk to an LBS with credit card in hand and ride home on a Trek Madone. Can't really do that with an Indy car.

Still, there are folks who drive to work in the same car they use for Autocross.

It worked great where I threw my luggage in the back of a truck so it was waiting for me at the next city and all I had to do was ride, hydrate, eat, and sweat.

I found the riding position very comfortable for 6-7 hours a day in the saddle. It'd be too stretched out for a lot of people, although they're not 5'10 with a 30.5" inseam and long arms.

I don't race any more, but arguably this would be the $2500 race bike. its my latest road bike, a 2011 CAAD10 which I bought for $1500 last oct.
lately I've been riding it a lot. I don't own a car.

I also have this Surly Big Dummy that I've ridden a lot thru the years.

in the last 5 years, I've lost count how many times I have moved. I know for sure that I moved all my belongings at least 3 times via BD.

which of course is yet another inspiration to get rid of that much more junk...

at any rate, I've been fortunate enough to seemingly pick jobs or maybe its that I pick the place to live where I'm as close to a job as possible.
once I get things organized, I pretty much shoot for having as much time to myself as possible, including having the time to ride before work.
currently my job is less than 5 miles away. Its a super easy "commute" up the hill to work which takes less than 30 minutes, but being that I love to ride, and I'm fortunate to have Pebble Beach as my backyard, my favorite daily rhythm is to ride before work. thats a no brainer!

typically I'm scheduled for a stretch of days in a row. so I organize my uniforms, food, etc... and setup my locker to handle the up coming days, which reduces the demand for me to carry a bunch of stuff too and from work. Typically I don't even have to go grocery shopping during this timeframe.

so I get to ride for an hour or two before work, I get my ride in, hit the employee gym, shower, and clock in. When the shift is done, I either ride yet another hour or so thru Pebble Beach, or I can just bomb straight down the hill which is about 10 minutes.

bike never goes "into" work, but instead we have dedicated bike lockers, which completely enclose the bike.

I commute on my CAAD8. It has a Topeak Dynapak to hold my lunch and roadside repair essentials, CRUD Roadracer MKII fenders, lights, megahorn and iPod speaker. I have a 36mile round trip- just over an hour each way.

Funny enough I'm in a similar boat.

I don't see a problem with it unless your worried about ride comfort (man up) or worried about theft. People commute in race cars constantly. The guys from IPS motorsports pick their kids up from school in a twin turbo ZO6 with a two speed tranny and a cage. Guy on the 3000GT forum had absolutely no interior besides gauges and a seat in his car and daily drove it. People define a street car in different ways but if anything it is awesome to daily drive a badass car, even more so to have a comfortable but fast car.

I do get to park my bike inside the building in a secure room with keycard access, if i had to lock it outside, i'd use my 10 year old trek 6500 mtb. I find that my specialized ride is so smooth and graceful i can't imagine anything beating it. I mean, i just pedal and i go.. and go and go and then i'm home. I've had 1 flat on the way to work.. actually 1 flat since i've owned the bike lol