when I was commuting year round I considered one bike my "year round commuter and another my "joy ride" bike which I would use for commuting during fair weather months. commuting lays an aweful beating on a bike and if do it year round you may want racks fenders etc. it's always nice to have a "nice" bike to play with on the weekends. also the nice bike can be a back-up commuter. nothing wrong with what you're doing. see how it goes through the fall. after a couple months, you may find yourself wanting to keep this sweet ride from the abuses of commuting

Does my '11 Kona Jake that I got for $900 count as a race bike?

Do you race it?

Very cool pic... Looks like a Colnago next to the Schwinn hybrid? If only the parking lot at work looked like this...

Spend less time looking at and/or coveting other bicycles.
Spend more time enjoying what you have.

fify

Personally, I would be a little nervous to see a Schwinn hybrid in a race. The shame of being beaten would be hard to get over.

I did a winter group ride once that turned into a 70 mile marathon. 70 miles is a long way for me in any circumstance but on studded tires it was a killer. Anyway as I surveyed the field before the ride started, I saw an old Schwinn Typhoon and was reassured. "How bad could it be if somebody's riding one of those?": I thought.

The dude on the Schwinn was kicking my ass pretty much the whole way.

Looks like a Trek to me but I'm sure there was a Colnago or two around some place. What's cool about events like that is the wide variety of bikes and of participants. From pros, to olympians, to people who are just hoping to finish.

A few years ago I did the Olympic distance Tri at Pacific Grove. There was one guy on an old Trek hybrid who not only didn't bother to remove his rack and panniers, actually turned on his blinky for the race. Safety first!

Good for him !

While most bikes are welcome to race at a triathlon, it can be a hostile place for fixies, - both a front and a real rear brake are required. At the last one I did they made a guy pay a visit to the mechanics tent to see if they could rig one up for him.

I commute on a Trek 2.1, because I've never had a road bike and that's what I picked out. In hindsight, I probably would have gone with something a little different, maybe CX for the wider tires? Regardless, I don't want to mount luggage to it. I bring what I need to work with my car and try to commute without a backpack. If I do bring a packback it's just got a shirt and underwear or something else I ran out of in it. Bumps seem bad at first but you get used to avoiding running over the bad stuff, and stand up or bunny hop what you can't avoid.

Bikes are bikes. My commuter is a Cervelo (https://www.cervelo.com/en_us/bikes/2012/R3/). The freehub on the wheel is currently bad; so I'm riding my Specialized this last week (https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bik...ui2mid-compact) while I'm shopping for a new wheelset for my Cervelo.

Ride what you like. I like the wind-in-the-face feel personally. I don't race, so neither are "race" bikes in my book.

ohh damn can we make it 11 miles as I commute on 2005 LeMond Versailles and enjoy it very much

No, unfortunately I'm going to get in more shape and do more group rides before I start entering Cat 5 crit races. Right now it's all stock, and I've added 2 water bottle cages, a saddlebag, and a Cateye Velo 5 computer. No fred stuff tho

To many riding a "racing" bike to work might seem like an impractical choice but for me it makes complete sense.

Though I know the mantra around here is N+1, I have no interest in having more than 2 bikes. I haven't quite given up competing so I want a decently fast road bike. I also want a capable all-terrain bike that can double as my winter bike.

This leaves out a dedicated commuter but that's OK, how many people have cars that they selected primarily for commuting?

Life is more than getting back and forth to work.

I commute on my System Six hi-mod that I built from scratch (about 5,000 worth). I thought of going the route of a commuter but decided to just have one bike all purpose. After over a year of commutting I am sure glad I made the choice. What I did to keep it racing light was go with carbon throughout and replace all bolts with titanium. Now for a commutter its crazy light which makes for less weight to haul around.

Don't forget, there's CX season this fall. It's a great way to dip your toe into racing. Friendly vibe, safe, and you've already got plenty of bike right there with your Jake!

I ride a road bike to work, my mule. In my hands, I could never label a bike 'race'.

lol my bike that i commute in has 700x 20c tires

New to the forums... I commute on a "racing" bike, but I certainly don't race so it's just a bike to me. Fuji Team issue, ultralight aluminum with carbon fork. It's a monster for the commute, geared in 32/59 and 11/23.

32/59 ? Didn't know that there was a bolt pattern that would allow a combination like that. Or is this a triple we're talking about?

I'm probably wrong. That's what I had written down from the guy I bought it from and I've never counted.

probably 52/39.

Here's my commuter next to my soon-to-be Fuji SST 3.0. I'll most likely commute on it once or twice.