Help me commuter-ize my MTB!
 

Been quite a while since I've posted here, I rebuilt an old Schwinn a couple years ago and this site helped provide a lot of great advice and guidance. Figured this was the place to come for tips on my newest bike. I recently acquired a used Diamondback Response MTB in a trade, and I have decided to make it my primary commuter. It seems like a solid bike, aluminum frame with suspension fork and disc brakes, and it is in good shape other than being left outside for nearly a year, so I'll have to give it a good teardown/rebuild to remove a little rust and re-grease everything.

Stock photo, but my bike is basically setup like this one:
http://blog.dealrocker.com/wp-conten...Bike-2012.jpeg

My goal is to make this thing more practical for my 3 mile (one way) commute, without spending too much money. First on my list is definitely road-friendly tires, lights, and reflectors. My morning commute will be before dawn, and my evening commute at dusk.

Tires... I keep going back and forth between a less-knobby MTB tire, something with less rolling resistance but still functional for dirt, or a tougher city tire, something that could still handle a dirt trail if I needed to (had Schwalbe Marathons on my road bike and loved them, but I'm hoping for cheaper...) . My commute is all paved, but full of potholes, cracks, RR tracks, and debris. I will be keeping the front suspension fork for that reason. I would like to keep around a 1.75-2" width tire to compensate for the rough surfaces I'll be riding over. Does anyone have experience with Geax Evolution City tires? I like the price, and it seems like a road-friendly design that could handle a mild trail on the weekend. Kind of a cool tread design, too.

As far as lights go, I think I'll be going with a flashlight mount, and couple front/rear blinky lights. Seems like LEDs are the way to go for strobes? These Blackburn Voyager click lights caught my eye, seems slick with the lens/push switch combo. They make a red version for the taillight also.

One other thing I'm undecided on is grips/bar ends. My road bike had bullhorns, and I like the forward hand position, so I'm considering adding bar ends. Can anyone suggest a good, cheap, bar end option?

I'll probably add a rack, although that will be down the road. For now I'll most likely use a backpack with reflective belts strapped around it to add some visibility.

Looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say, and especially looking forward to some good-weather commuting now that winter is slowly on it's way out!

Fenders.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...71295100_n.jpg

D'oh! I knew I was forgetting something. I don't even know where to start with fenders, never used them on a bike before. Time to start the hunt for suspension fork-compatible setups... anyone have suggestions?

I'd probably leave the tires as is. Your commute is short enough a little extra rolling resistance will be helpful if you're looking to get any fitness benefits. Some lights and fenders if you're planning to ride in the rain and you're good to go.

Get new tires when the current ones wear out.

It's time for new tires, the current ones are about worn out. They are cheap knobbies with the center tread worn all the way smooth. Makes for less rolling resistance, but I'm sure there's not much rubber there for flat protection :D

As for fenders, I think I may fab up a fender to fit under the rack, I've got some material (sheets of Kydex plastic) that I can heat-form and cut into shape to fit into a splash guard that should work with whatever rack I find... as for the front, it seems the suspension fork compatible fenders seem to break off a lot, anyone use something like the Zefal Croozer splash guard?
http://www.nashbar.com/images/nashba...ZR-NCL-TOP.jpg

Chances are if the weather is lousy, I'll be driving, I'm not as hardcore as a lot of you guys!

Front fender

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A2TE9IQP68MWQU

Rigid front fork for disc.

I've got the rim brake version. Works great. Heavy (compared to my half pound Leader fork), but not near as bad as a cheap suspension fork.

It will keep your knees dry and crap off your water bottle. anything else is fair game for a soaking.

.

Get a full rear fender, it'll keep a lot of that sand-like grit from the rainy roads off of your drivetrain and your drivetrain will last longer. The longer a front fender is, the more useful it is. A long front fender with a good mudflap will keep spray off your feet when the road is wet, but it's not raining at the moment. It's nice to be comfortable riding in that road conditions at least. It's also nice to be able to ride in and risk a possibility of rain for the ride home and not sweat it. I'd swear the weather forecasts are always pessimistic, if I let any chance of rain keep me from riding it'd happen a lot less. For a three mile ride, fenders can help you stay in non-cycling specific clothes, it's a bummer to get caught out in an unexpected rain and show up with a skunk stripe of road mud and grit down the back of your clothes and pack.

A) bell
B) Airzoundz horn
C) reflectors
D) lights
E) tires
F) bar ends

I'd either skip reflectors or get lights that incorporate them. If skipping them, replace them with reflective tape. There's a thread here "making your bike glow down the road" with great examples of this like:

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/4162/zmmr.jpg

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-down-the-road

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/706/z398.jpg

For the frame and fenders I get that effect from "Peterson Manufacturing 465-4K Red/White Reflective Marking Tape" that I get from amazon, but I suspect any truck stop sells it as well. It's still going strong after two years commuting almost every day in Seattle.


I find having a bell essential. There's a reason it's actually one of the few bicycle specific laws in a lot of places too. It's a nice alternative to shouting and sometimes more effective. IMO, it's worth paying a bit more for a quality bell, my old favorite for the past 15 years, The Temple of Tone, just got dethroned by the Crane Suzu. I bought a black painted Suzu for my girlfriends bike and was shocked at how superior the tone is on it. It penetrates. Despite having a Temple of Tone for each of my planned builds in my stash, once I heard hers, I had to order a Crane Suzu for my commuter, it's so good.


If you are considering the flash light solution, you can get a nice T-6 Cree with two batteries and a charger for about $16 delivered from ebay. With a two dollar flashlight holder you can mount it on the handlebars and quickly take it with you. I picked up an extra pair of batteries for mine online, and now I'm all set. I'm seeing a lot of different options for these on ebay right now, keep in mind that you want it to be balanced and have a smooth handle to go into the clamp and stay there. Look through them for a compact light, plastic cased, with a smooth barrel. Mine is SUPER bright! It's got a flash mode, but it is so bright that it would be punishing to others on the road, lit up solid and aimed slightly down it's unmissable but not eye-assault. I actually run a Cateye Reflex combined reflector and light as my front flasher, day and night. That one just stays with the bike.


You can combine a rear reflector with your rear tailight, Cateye's Reflex model nicely combines the two functions, and I think gets overlooked by thieves because at first glance it appears to be a standard reflector. Often fender mounted tail lights combine the two, certainly my PDW Fenderbots do, and I like the Spanniga Pixeo I put on my girlfriends bike even better. The clear upper housing actually fills with red light like a lantern, it has real nice side visibility.

I found the reflective tape did pretty good for the rear view too:

http://imageshack.us/a/img96/3602/xg34.jpg

That's the seatstays and also I pinstriped the fenders in reflective tape too (makes a nice outline of the tire from the side too, like having reflective sidewalls), pedal reflectors, and the reflector on the Portland Design Works Fenderbot tail light, in the flash of my phones camera.



All the above I consider minimal safety equipment for riding (along with a a helmet mounted mirror).


If you wait on replacing the tires, pump them up quite a bit for city riding (if they're full on knobbies, I'd probably overinflate them some). Tire liners (like Mr. Tuffy's) can extend the life of tires along with providing flat protection. I can't recommend a tire in 1.75", I really like 1.5" tires (Vittoria Rando Pro and Panaracer T-Serv). Lately I've been eyeing the 2" Big Ben tires, I'm going to have to come up with different fender solutions if I go that route though, the only 1.75" tire I liked (Continental Town and Country), they changed the composition of and discontinued it in 1.75, and it just isn't the same tire in 1.9", although it remains popular with police departments.


For a good, cheap bar-end option, I actually really like old school MTB long bar ends. Bicycle co-ops and recyclers have these for a few dollars and new ones can be had for not much more. If you actually spend a lot of time in them you can wrap them. I like them for a place to rest my hand as well as for climbing. I like ergo grips too though. I have one old MTB that has them right now and I'm always surprised how much I use them when I take it out for a spin.

I have some like these:

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/5594/adsc0564.jpg

(Image borrowed from this thread)
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ound-Road-Bike

I'm actually hoping to cut and weld an angle into a pair like this so that they align nicely on a non-flat handlebar soon, because I miss these and want them on my commuter.

Grips/Bar End: On my MTB commuter I use leather ergo-style grips, with mini bar ends. Plenty comfortable, but I don't ride it in the rain..
Tire: Favorites for a bike that might go off road are Conti Travelcontacts, Gatorskin-like slick in the middle and knobbies on the outside if you sink into loose stuff. Great tires, and they look legit on a MTB frame.
Pedals: Thermalite platforms with fixie straps.
Fenders: No, I'll use a different bike if I have to ride on a rainy day, one with thin tires and full wheel fenders. I had a slashguard for a while, hated it.
Lights: Minimal, Knog or RavX USB on the front and superflash under the seat. My commute is plenty well lit, the only purpose lights serve is to attract driver attention.
Rack: My MTB commuter uses a Delta SuperSherpa. Great price, light and has been perfect for my needs. However, if you don't have eyelets, or the disc bracket is in the way, I guess you are going to go the p-clamp or seat clamp route.

Now that you post this... I'm might go with a rigid fork up front, rather than keeping the suspension fork. It'd be one less part to de-rustify, which is always a plus. :thumb: I didn't realize they could be had so cheaply. My only concern is that it will change the geometry/stance too much, I'll have to take some measurements to verify... but, this seems like a good option. Thanks for the link!

Medic Zero, thanks for all that info! I actually just read through the "making your bike glow" thread and I like the idea of using the reflective tape, especially the orange/red on the seatstays. Those old school MTB type bar ends are just what I'm looking for, I will probably wrap them for comfort also.

Thanks guys for all this input (and any more that comes!), can't wait to get the bike on the road. Although my list keeps growing....

I run 26 x 2" Marathon Supreme tires on my 'commuterized' mountain bike and really love them. Pricey but the quality and lack of any flats in just abut 6000 miles of riding makes them worth while in my book. Still plenty of life left in them, so the cost per mile is pretty good. They replaced a set of standard Marathon tires, and the lighter weight of the Supreme model drastically improved the responsiveness of the bike.

I think you won't know what you're missing until you get TWO FULL FENDERS. Saying that a short fender is better than nothing is missing the point. Full fenders are no burden to install or keep, and they really are the best.

Also, I couldn't stand knobby tires on the road, only because I grew up riding road bikes. My wife feels the same. Knobby tires are really annoying except on very loose surfaces.

The rear is easy. Just get a longer bolt and spacer for the left side. Maybe a little bending of the stay,and it'll go right around your caliper.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=368173

The front is a little trickier. On top of your fork,the cross brace should have a threaded hole. You'll put the fender's top mount there,just with a smaller screw. For the lower mounts,you'll prolly need to use P clamps. If you go with a rigid fork,then you'll just need a longer bolt and spacer for the left side,just like the rear.

Just make sure the fork is 'suspension corrected'.

The "suspension corrected" part in the description is supposed to take care of the geometry problem.

I was quite surprised at the level of workmanship that went into mine. The finish was flawless.

I just took a look at your commuter link in your sig- your setup is very close to what I'm envisioning for my bike. Thanks for the input! I'm definitely interested in adding the rigid fork, although I may wait a while as my goal was to not spend too much money getting this bike rolling... but heck, building it into what you want is half the fun of riding, right?

Another vote for slicks and fenders. Also a rear rack sooner rather than later if you don't want gigantic back-sweat.

A few years ago, when I had a <1.5 mile basically commute in SoCal, I picked up a 2002 Trek 4500 hardtail MTB, which I think is similar to yours except for the brakes (rim on mine). It was great for the short commute. Last year I moved to the Seattle area and a 9 mile commute. I got some advice when I posted some time ago on here, and I can summarize what I did to convert my bike from essentially stock to a pretty good commuter. I typically ride ~2 miles to the bus in the mornings, and 8 miles back home in the evenings with a lot of hills.

Lights: I got a Cygolite Metro 500 for the front light. It wasn't cheap, but it works quite well. For the back, I use a Solas Nightrider on my bike, and a Flea 2.0 on my helmet. The great thing about the rechargeable lights is that I can just plug them in at work using a phone charger. I don't see a good reason for reflectors, but I'm sure they won't hurt. I'm not sure extra lights will help. A few lights ensures you are seen pretty well, and 1-2 lights on both front and rear is what I see most people around here using. The one time I was hit was in broad daylight with perfect visibility when someone just didn't look in the bike lane to see if anyone was there. Defensive biking is the only way to avoid getting hit.

Horn: I picked up an Airzound recently, and it's pretty good. A bell won't do anything in traffic.

Barends: I've been slowly looking into this myself, but just have the standard bar for now.

Fork: I replaced my bad suspension fork with a rigid fork a few months ago (Surly suspension corrected fork - ~$90+install for me), and have definitely noticed an improvement. I also noticed that I feel the road more so, but not enough to make a huge difference. But I run my tires at 60psi, so if I dropped them I'd probably make things nicer for myself. Most of my commute is on decent road, with some railroad crossings and the like thrown in. But I recently rode ~5 miles on a gravel/rocky trail currently under development and survived, even with the rigid fork.

Tires: I got Serfas Drifter 1.5" tires and have been very happy with them. No punctures thus far, and they still look good. No issues on wet roads. I haven't tried icy roads.

Fenders: I got Cascadia ATB fenders and have been very happy with them. They block almost all dirt from going more than a few inches above my ankles. I still avoid wearing clothes I don't want to get dirty if the roads are wet - but not much gets on them unless its raining.

Rack: For three miles a backpack is probably fine (or a messenger bag, which was my preference). I realized I needed panniers for anything longer than that though. Since I needed them to function as a bag to bring to the office, take on the bus, and mount on my bike, I got the Topeak MTX DXP bag with one of their super tourist racks. Definitely not cheap, but it made my life much easier since the bag quickly and easily slides on and off the rack.

A lot of my options were somewhat pricier than other available items, but it might give you some ideas

You have to get the right size still though. Earlier models of suspension fork had different lengths of travel. I replaced the old shock fork on my girlfriends 1996 GT Pantera when I converted it to a city and light touring bike. Turned out great. I measured the fork length with a bit of compression (like with a person on it) and went hunting from there. There are quite a few options out there in the $100 - $125 range.

:thumb:

If your fork doesn't have a lock-out, changing to a rigid fork is probably going to improve your enjoyment of riding the bike quite a bit. Knobbies and a squishy fork are a big part of what make riding an MTB on the road not as fun. If you replace the fork with the right length one* and switch over to slick tires I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how nice riding an MTB on city streets can be.

* I did fudge a little on the measurement for my replacement fork. It had fairly aggressive geometry for what we wanted to do with it, so I figured lowering it just a touch would tame it a bit, and that seems to have been the case. It's super nice now.

https://scontent-b-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/...38053409_n.jpg