All,

I recently started a new job and the location and culture of the company are great for me to potentially commute to work on a regular basis. However this poses the question what type of bike would be best? I went to the Performance Bike website and saw road bikes grouped into the following categories: city, commuter, endurance, fitness, racing and specialty. Plus there are mountain and hybrid options as well. I'm no bike expert. So I just wanted to pose it out there to the forum and see what people's thoughts were. Here are some facts about my situation to help you in your suggestions:

• I'm 5'8 about 170 lbs and in pretty decent shape
• My commute will be approximately 15 or 22 miles each way depending on the office location I need to go to on a particular day
• The terrain should be all paved roads with bike lanes, sidewalks, or paths. I don't intend to ride in the rain.
• The elevation is pretty flat with no major hills.
• I don't need to bring anything with me each day except a change of clothes (shirt, pants, and shoes), a small lunch bag, and my lock.
• I don't want to carry a backpack, so I'm thinking a trunk bag on a rack over the back wheel would suffice. Maybe panniers on very rare occasions.
• I currently have a GT Series 2 road bike that I purchased a few years ago and have about 2000 miles on (possible to use this daily but wondering if it would be best). Also was thinking it would be a pain to take a rack on and off if I wanted to use this in a race or something.
• I am not too concerned about comfort as I am used to riding 20+ miles at a time on my GT road bike and have no problems.
• During the winter I will be riding before dawn and after dark at times so visibility is a concern. I will for sure want to put a headlight on my handle bars.
• The place that I will be locking my bike while at work is outdoors and public. Its fairly secure since its an underground garage for only the building tenants but still theft is a small concern.
• In relation to the line above I don't want to spend too much for a new commuter bike, maybe around $1000.

I think that's all the pertinent information that I can think of, if there is anything else you'd like to know please ask and I'll add it. Otherwise thanks in advance for your suggestions.

The GT roadbike sounds fine for your style of commute.
For luggage, consider a Carradice SQR saddlebag with a seatpost-clamp.

You can carry a lock or leave one at the office lockup

Oh that looks interesting. I've never seen one like that before. I've only seen the ones that sit on a rack. With it being somewhat suspended from the top rather than the bottom does it tend to bounce around a bit more?

That's a pretty good distance each way. I'd gravitate more towards the touring line of road bikes. They'll be a bit more comfortable and versatile than a road bike designed for pure speed.

If you're comfortable on the GT, I'd use that. Get a rack (once you get it set up, it's only 3 or 4 bolts to put it on or take it off), a lock (which you can leave on the bike rack at work), decent lights and blinkies, and some tough commuting tires. Easy peasy, and much less than $1000.

If you don't commute to work, I'm sure your employers will fire you. They'll fire you either for sleeping on the premises when you should be home or for not showing up for work. Commuting means going back and forth, so you better, one way or another.

Oh, you meant BIKE commuting?! :-D :-D :-D

Sorry, just messing with you.

I say do it. Don't worry about getting all the questions answered before you start. You'll realize what you need to improve once you've started. And be sure to have fun!

If its the 22 mile each way, consider multi mode or part time. At least at first. That's a long way. Not saying it cannot be done, just saying the distance is significant.

15 or 22 miles is a fair distance but if you are already used to doing 20 miles on that GT, I would say you're all set to go. Just get a seat post rack and a small pannier bag for your change of clothes and lunch and have fun. I have 2 bikes that I use regularly for commuting 15 miles one way, a touring road bike for good weather and a rigid mountain bike built up as a road bike for rough roads and it can take studded tires for winter riding . Both are equally good and each has their own feel and pros and cons.

A Carradice bag, with the Bagman Quick-release support, would be a good luggage solution. The support mounts to the saddle rails with one bolt, takes a couple minutes. The bag can be removed from the support by pressing two spring loaded knobs, takes 5 seconds. The small Carradice model (Pendle) might be too small, but the medium (Barley) should be big enough. The total won't cost more than a good rear rack and a quality rack bag or pannier, and it doesn't matter if your bike has eyelet/mounts for a rear rack. Carradice are hand-made in the UK. If your saddle has carbon rails then the Bagman won't work.

15-22 miles is not a long ride when you're out on a weekend, but if you're running late for work and facing an unexpected hill or headwind and have to push yourself - it can feel long. Start with just one day a week, leave way early, get a feel for how long it takes, then add more days as you are get comfortable. Not sure where you live, but at this time of year I'd think rain is increasingly going to be an issue.

Look, the GT is a fine bike to commute on, but you don't need an expensive English gentlemens bag like the overly expensive Carradice, a simple bag made by Topeak, or even a Performance/Nashbar bag is fine, just make sure it comes with a rain cover. A simple Blackburn or Topeak rack is fine too.

I'd say ride the GT as your commuter ... and if you want, go N+1 and get a new road/touring bike to avoid having to remove the rack/fenders

I commute on a road bike. There are racks that clamp to the seatpost. One kind uses screws, the other uses a quick release lever. I have the screw kind, wish I had a quick release. It's on the list.
I use a Nite Rider rechargeable front and rear. Don't go cheap on this. Get something bright.

I like the Jandd rear duffel bag for commuting: https://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FDRP

For 22 miles, I'd get a touring and/or cross bike.

I've got the Topeak QR Beam Rack that uses a quick release to attach to the seat post (and only to the seatpost). The trunk bag (I think it's the MTX EXP) has panniers that zip out of the side pouches, and a dovetail attachment at the bottom that slides right into the rack. Since you're parking in a semi-public place, I'd probably just detatch the whole rack from the seat post and bring it in with me, but you can just bring the trunk in and leave the rack attached if you feel safe.

Oh, and I second the Niterider lights. I've been very happy with my Lumina 650 up front and two Solas in the back (one on the trunk bag and one on my helmet). I am upgrading to a Dinotte XML-3 and 300R setup to give me a little more illumination of the streets with no lights and the unlit MUP.

Good luck,

KB

I don't have anything helpful to contribute that has not already been suggested in the responses above, but I am here because of your thread title. It made me think of a paraphrase of Yoda - "Think not. Do, or do not. There is no think."

You may want to rethink your approach to weather and comfort. Not sure where you live, but even after rain has ended, you'll still get really wet and dirty. I'd be very concerned about comfort, as you'll be riding over 2 hours a day. Get a bike that takes a rack and fenders. In the long run, these will make the difference between getting on the bike every day or not.

My thoughts on getting started on the distance and time. It's what I did so it HAS to be the way to go, right?

At first I was concerned if I could make it both ways comfortably and then of course the time factor was there. So I did the following:
- I mapped out several places along the way that I could park my vehicle and leave it during the work day. For my old work place for a 14 mile commute I had a 5, 8 and 10 mile place identified. On the first day I drove to the 5 mile park spot and commuted from there. I did that a few times until I felt good about it then moved back to the 8 mile and so on until I could go the full distance both ways.

- Sometimes I went a longer distance before I could do the full commute by taking my bike to work and riding the entire 14 miles home. Then I rode back to work the next morning and drove home.

- I did a combination of the one-way full distance and shorter full commute (5, 8, 10) until I knew I could do the full and then I went for it.

- From that point on I did a combination based on how I felt and how much time I had.

I have the Lumiina 650 on front too. The brightness toggles through three brightness settings. I always use the lowest because it is still brighter than most replaceable battery lights, and definitely bright enough. It also lengthens the battery life. The on switch turns from green to red when the charge is low, and when it goes red, you'll be fishing (or wishing) for a spare. It happened to me early on, and now I just make sure it's always charged. I have a Solas mounted to the Seatstay, and a flasher on my helmet.

I too am a fair weather commuter, but have recently been eyeing my wife's mostly un-ridden Diamondback front susp. MTB as a foul weather bike. It just needs fenders.

Thanks to all who have responded. I went to two bike shops today and presented them with the same question and got two totally different answers. One suggested I just get the seat post rack and use my current bike as others here have suggested (they even had the slide and lock one that KenshiBiker mentioned above). That seemed really cool and I was basically ready to go with that option but just wanted to check another store for comparison sake. The second store was a totally different experience. They suggested a whole new bike - the Trek FX 7.6 is what the sales person recommended. It seemed like a very nice bike, but very different than my road bike in that it has the flat mountain bike style handle bars, didn't have clip in pedals (I guess I could change that out), but the main reason she suggested it was because it was a bit more sturdy and could handle a traditional rear rack that bolts to the bike. She also mentioned that the seat post racks only hold up to 20 lbs and she thinks that the regular things (clothes, shoes, cell phone, lock, etc) would be more than that. So now i'm even more confused than ever. On the one had I like the idea of not having to spend $1000 on a new bike and just getting the seat rack for my current GT road bike (although the cost of the seat rack, bag, lock, and lights will be about $400 based on the prices I saw in the store - however I guess those would be the same on a new bike anyway). However on the other hand I don't really want to fiddle with taking a rack on and off every time I'm going from commuting to leisure/racing rides with my road bike. Plus I'm thinking the idea of a somewhat durable second bike that would be used for commuting might be nice for other uses as well (walking the dogs via a seat post leash attachment, leisure trail rides on the weekends - not major mountain biking but just nice trails, attaching a children's trailer and taking the kids for a ride on weekends, that kinda thing). So I guess I'm more torn than ever now, LOL. Just wanted to update everyone with where I was in the decision making process. Additional feedback is still welcomed.

Don't put too much into this, it's only a bike ride.

Twenty two miles is a long commute and your looking at 2 hours each way. That's a lot.

15 miles is a stretch also and if you can get it closer to 10 you will really be able to enjoy it every day.

I'm guessing that the first guy was an independent LBS who was looking for repeat business, the second may have been a Trek affiliated chain store with a commissioned sales staff. If you are using the Trek only for commuting, and have a decent road bike. the 7.2 FX will do the job just as well, for a lot less coin. Of course, a commissioned sales person would be interested in getting you into the highest priced bike they can.

There are lots of lights, see these sites for beam comparison then buy what you can afford. the first series of comparisons are all headlights, there isn't a lot of tail light comparisons but there is one.

https://reviews.mtbr.com/2013-bike-li...rd-beam-photos
https://reviews.mtbr.com/2012-bike-li...pattern-photos
(the above are two different years worth, but a lot of 2012 models remain unchanged and thus are the same).

https://www.thebicyclerepairshop.com/...ison-test.html
(a few headlights but this is the only tail light comparison I could find for American based lights).

https://www.thebicyclerepairshop.com/...ison-test.html
(just more headlights).

I hope that helps. Performance also had some comparisons for some of the lights they sold but I think they removed it since I wasn't able to find it.

I can vouch for the the Phillips Saferide, this is a fantastic light but granted a bit expensive though not as bad as brighter ones. And I can vouch for the Light & Motion Vis 180 (NOT the Micro Vis 180). The full size Vis 180 is so bright that during a bright sunny day it looks like a road flare! I do recommend that you find the brightest rear tail light you can afford since most accidents occur from behind. You don't need the brightest headlight, those can cost over $500 and simply not needed; there are plenty of lights you can find for around $100 that will more than do the job. I do recommend that as you get money to add to your lighting, such as a tail light on the helmet, then a headlight on the helmet, you can put the helmet lights on flash and the bar headlight and taillight on steady. Steady, according to European studies and their law is steady only, aids drivers in ascertaining distance from the object whereas flashing confuses peoples depth perception. Flashing, according to American studies but law doesn't require flash or steady, alerts people to your presence faster than steady. So I do both! You can get by with lower costing helmet lights since they will be flashing.

so I am also thinking about commuting and wanted to know what you guys wear... do you ride in full kit? do you ride in regular clothes?
what kind of distances do you commute? (I am a newbie with this...)

I'd wear whatever your comfortable in. I've always commuted in regular clothes but you're talking about a longish commute so bike clothes might be more comfortable.

+1

I live about 4 miles from the office but I will often use one of the legs as a training ride and take a long detour. For example, this morning's ride was 29 miles. I rode in bibs/jersey/arm & kneewarmers and I just carried my office clothes in my backpack. On the way home this evening, I'll just ride home easy in my office clothes with my bike clothes in the backpack.