For years I biked to work, nearly year round rain or shine. I had a more casual dress code and could easily roll clothes up in panniers. Now I am at a new job where I have to wear a suit and tie every day. I haven't biked in since starting the job as I have absolutely no clue how to commute with a suit and not look like a hobo when I get in. There is a YMCA nearby with showers, so that is not an issue for me. Does anyone have any advice on a practical way to do this?

Coat-hanger.

i frequently ride 20min with a suit carefully rolled in my messenger bag. comes out fine.

but, suggest high wool content (tropical weight in summer) for wrinkle resistance.

Cant you just take them on monday, commute the rest of the week and take them home friday? Or you can drive them in on a weekend and then commute all week.

i see dozens of people commute in a suit everyday.

Maybe he has no place to hang a week's worth of clothing where he works. I sure don't.

And your climate is much different than it is over here. Me I ride a mile or two and I'm dripping wet this time of year. I'm betting PA gets its fair share of summer humidity.

not really. you guys commute on road/race bikes rather than city bikes for no good reason ...

I have had good luck with a tri-fold garment bag. I can carry it like a messenger bag or, more often, it is strapped atop my rack.

Ditto to acidfast7. Look at the videos of Amsterdam bike commuting. People wear suits and even long wool coats. They all ride hybrids/urban commuting bikes and no one rides like racing athletes. The point of commuting for them is to get from A to B, not a physical workout. I find changing clothing at work regularly a big hassle, so I usually ride in whatever attire I wear at work (fortunately one's upper body remains still during cycling; only the legs move ). How long is your commute, OP? If too long, summer heat would indeed be a problem, but then leaving your suit at work sounds a good idea. You can ride in a shirt, then put on the suit at work.

I think a lot of their commutes are fairly short.

hnsq,

The light garment bag idea works pretty good if you can figure out a way to strap it down with too much wrinkling. You could also try this; a garment bag pannier.

Or, as others have mentioned, you could just ride with the suit on.

FWIW, Nashbar has a garment bag that hooks onto a bike's trunk rack as a pannier set, of sorts. I ordered it myself, but it's so wide (think "wide" in terms of sleeve-to-sleeve distance) that it hits the arms on my trunk racks on certain bikes and that keeps it from lying level. YMMV, but it will hold the shape of your clothes...you just might have to bungee-tie it to the rack in several spots, as it sometimes feels unwieldy. (BTW, it's not waterproof, so keep that in mind, as well)

Edit: I just now see where Oldskoolwrench posted basically the same thing above...my bad for skipping ahead, but the Transit and Nashbar bags are pretty much the same thing, differing prices aside.

Something along this line is what I was thinking (The garment pannier). I did remember seeing one before, and it wasn't my imagination.

I have a uniform I wear that is long sleeve. I rode in if for a while but now that it is getting hot I roll it and put it in my back pack or I take all of them to work on Saturday for the next week. When I get to work I take a shower and put them on.

There is no way I could wear a suit riding fast or slow in Korean summer and not come out looking like a wet dog. The longest commute I can get away with is 3km before I sweat too much. I'd see if I could take the pants and jacket in on Monday and then just fold up the shirt and tie etc in a bag. I usually put my work clothes carefully folded in my backpack and wear my cycling clothes to commute in for anything over 7km.

Roll the jacket and put it in the pannier. Wear a short sleeve dress shirt. I arrive in fine shape after a 10 mile commute. One of the advantages of cycling is that the relative wind makes it far cooler than walking.

First of all, thanks for all of the replies so far.

I do have an office, but the door is glass, and there is no decent place to hang clothes where people couldn't see them walking by. They are fairly big on appearance here, so I am sure it wouldn't go over well if clients could see clothes in my office, so keeping a week's worth at work might not work out.

This might work for me eventually, but as much as I hate to admit it, I am very out of shape. Two years ago I was commuting 11 miles each way without an issue, but in those two years I have gained 20 lbs and absolutely could not make it without sweating my a** off. A year from now hopefully it will be a different story.

the biking garment bag is a great idea...I have one of these for traveling already, I haven't figured out a way to attach it to a bike yet, but it fits in the overhead compartment of an airplane, so I might be able to get it to work. I will have to try it on a weekend to see how wrinkled it actually gets...

I think commuting in Europe and US is really apple and oranges. The average distance europeans travel is significantly shorter. Btw try riding those cruiser at "leisurely" speed on a US road and see if the cagers don't give you a mouthful, let alone dangerous.

First, thanks for the advice everyone. I wanted to give an update on my situation. I decided one wall of my office is my 'suit coat storage'. I don't know if the pictures do it justice, but you can't see them from outside the office or from the chair across from my desk, given how the window is sunk away from the wall. Now that I tested it a little, I am going to bring a few more in, going up the wall. I also have shoes permanently in a drawer, which means all I need to carry day to day is a shirt, tie, pants, and towel (no lockers at the gym I signed up for). I am only a week into it and am already down 4lbs, so if that isn't motivation enough for me, I am not sure what is.

Sounds like a bad plan. All the money you have invested in owning multiple suits will be wasted if you keep losing weight and they don't fit.

You need to choose your work clothes better, a jersey like this should meet your needs.

Oh man...I lol'd hard. Now my boss across the hall wants to know what's so funny...

P.s. I want this jersey now.

I do this every day. As someone mentioned above, Nashbar has a garment bag pannier, which is what I use, and I love it. I have a CX bike with a Topeak Explorer rack and it fits perfectly. I keep my suit jackets and shoes at work, so I just have to bring in a shirt, pants, and tie (and towel, of course) every day. On the days I ride my rackless road bike, I neatly fold my shirt and pants and put them in a tupperware container, which keeps them dry and wrinkle-free.

I regularly just fold up a suit in my pannier (not a garment bag style, but that's certainly a reasonable option). Even when I fold it up the night before, I don't think it ends up particularly wrinkled and I work in a conservative law firm environment. Just wear decent quality wool suits. More important, I think is transporting your dress shirt. I get all of my suits "in a box" from the dry cleaner (folded on a cardboard back and then placed in a plastic bag). Costs a bit more, but they come out of the pannier good as new that way.