[apatron]

I have a pretty long commute. About 23 miles each way with a couple of good hill climbs thrown in for good measure. I've done this on my MTB and it is doable but just not fun on that beast of a bike. I'm looking for something lighter and faster . I need gears (and maybe even a triple up front because I'm a panzy when it comes to long endless hill climbs). I want to start riding in 1 to 3 times a week just to get in better shape, just not quite sure which way to go with a commuter bike. I used to be a roadie so leaning towards a more traditional road bike but not a fan of being that hunched over with a backpack for the ride in. Just starting to look into this more seriously and I'm looking for any suggestions!

Thanks

 

[PaulRivers]

1. An "endurance" road bike. They're a full on road bike, but typically have a more upright riding position (saddle level with seat, not below it). The first one that comes to my mind is a Specialized Sectuer. If you're willing to drop some cash, a full carbon Specialized Roubaix.

The drawbacks of these bikes is small tire clearance, so you can't run bigger/wider tires or regular fenders (you can get the clip on type). The Surly Crosscheck is the usual suggestion for a completely commuter-oriented road bike - buuuuut for 23 miles each way I'd be tempted to go with my favorite roadie.

2. Get a rack for the bike and carry your stuff on it - it's going to be waaaaaaaaay less sweaty in the summer, and more comfortable as you say when you're a little more leaned over.

Another tip is that if you have somewhere you can keep your stuff at work, there's a certain number of things you don't have to carry back and forth. For example, you can leave a pair of regular shoes at work and you don't have to carry them back and forth.

In my opinion, for a 46 mile round trip commute a road bike is that way to go for sure.

 

[Solomon76]

Build your own bike and you can get exactly what you want and you can have fun putting it together. I absolutely love my Nashbar 'X' frame build. I've made day trips on it that have been longer than 150 miles.

 

[apatron]

Thanks for the advice! I haven't really looked at the more "endurance" oriented road bikes or the difference in ride position (haven't looked at a road bike since getting my 5.5 spot:thumbsup: ). Sounds like that might be the solution for me. I think I'll need to go for a few test rides and see what these feel like. As for building the bike, I have 2 daughters (3 and 5) that love to "help" me work on my bike, car or whatever project I have going on. It would be a blast putting this together with them Just need to make sure I have a few extra parts

 

[PaulRivers]

Thanks for the advice! I haven't really looked at the more "endurance" oriented road bikes or the difference in ride position (haven't looked at a road bike since getting my 5.5 spot:thumbsup: ). Sounds like that might be the solution for me. I think I'll need to go for a few test rides and see what these feel like. As for building the bike, I have 2 daughters (3 and 5) that love to "help" me work on my bike, car or whatever project I have going on. It would be a blast putting this together with them Just need to make sure I have a few extra parts

Be aware, though, that if you build your own bike -
1. If you buy new parts, it will cost far more than buying the bike off the shelf
2. If you buy parts from ebay, you will need to know what works with what.
3. Even if you buy parts from ebay, it will likely cost more than it would have to have bought the bike off the shelf
4. You will also need to factor in the cost of customized bike tools. Obviously, the cool thing is that you still have those tools for future maintenance after building the bike.
5. You may put a lot of time and effort into building the bike up, only to find out that the frame is the wrong size. Or just doesn't ride well - etc etc. You usually don't have a chance to test ride a frame you're going to build up.

 

[PaulRivers]

Thanks for the advice! I haven't really looked at the more "endurance" oriented road bikes or the difference in ride position (haven't looked at a road bike since getting my 5.5 spot:thumbsup: ). Sounds like that might be the solution for me. I think I'll need to go for a few test rides and see what these feel like. As for building the bike, I have 2 daughters (3 and 5) that love to "help" me work on my bike, car or whatever project I have going on. It would be a blast putting this together with them Just need to make sure I have a few extra parts

Glad I could help.

If you're looking for more commuting advice, another more highly trafficked forum would be bikeforums.net, commuting section.

It gets a lot more traffic than this forum does for commuting related topics (were you a commuter looking for mountain bike advice I would suggest the opposite - this forum seems to have more mountain bike related traffic than bikeforums).

 

[apatron]

Glad I could help.

If you're looking for more commuting advice, another more highly trafficked forum would be bikeforums.net, commuting section.

It gets a lot more traffic than this forum does for commuting related topics (were you a commuter looking for mountain bike advice I would suggest the opposite - this forum seems to have more mountain bike related traffic than bikeforums).

Thanks! Tons of info on bikeforums.net:thumbsup:

 

[Legbacon]

If you need clearance for larger tires try some cyclocross bikes. My Marin came with rack mounts and I have room for fenders with my 32mm tires. SRAM 10 speed cassettes can be had with 32 large cogs now so there is no need for a triple anymore.

 

[O.T]

I think Cyclocross would be the perfect choice.

 

[zombinate]

cyclocorss could be fine. I think I would be more into a Randoneur type bike like the Surly Pacer or Raleigh Record Ace. can carry loads, a bit more upright seating position, but without the high BB and unnecessary (for this application) overbuilding that many Cross bikes come with.

 

[apatron]

cyclocorss could be fine. I think I would be more into a Randoneur type bike like the Surly Pacer or Raleigh Record Ace. can carry loads, a bit more upright seating position, but without the high BB and unnecessary (for this application) overbuilding that many Cross bikes come with.

Good points. I rode in this morning, on my MTB, came down to the coast and along the bluffs in Del Mar. Alot more scenic than sticking to the pavement . I think I'm leaning more towards something with a beefier tire capacity than the typical road bike and definitely need some carrying capacity. Had such a blast on the ride in just enjoying the ride I think I added another 4 or 5 miles to the commute :thumbsup: