How do you define "Commuter" in this forum?
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I'm not aware of any rules 
I'd say using your bike for transportation.
I'd say using your bike for transportation.
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5,451 Posts
No rules. I like the 'transportation' definition. Transporting yourself to work is most common, but you can 'commute' to lots of stuff.
"Work to live, live to ride, ride to work."
"Work to live, live to ride, ride to work."
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3,321 Posts
I think frequency is a big part of it.
You frequently ride to get from point A to B (and maybe C, or A', or whatever).
It doesn't have to be daily, but you do it often enough that you learn the best route and your various options. You learn what sort of traffic to expect. You learn what clothes you need for the given weather conditions, and how icky you're going to be when you get to your destination.
Of course some people may commute once a year on bike-to-work-day which is great, but it's not generally what we talk about here.
You frequently ride to get from point A to B (and maybe C, or A', or whatever).
It doesn't have to be daily, but you do it often enough that you learn the best route and your various options. You learn what sort of traffic to expect. You learn what clothes you need for the given weather conditions, and how icky you're going to be when you get to your destination.
Of course some people may commute once a year on bike-to-work-day which is great, but it's not generally what we talk about here.
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1,614 Posts
Bike + travel to or from someplace = commuting.
I agree that there has to be some repetition to the activity, though. The folks who ride to work one day a year for bike to work day - not commuters. Ride to the beer shop once a week and maybe to work two or three times a summer? Yeah, I suppose so. Biking to the trailhead - that's a bit of a gray area, ain't it? Normally I would say, no that's not commuting, but if you normally drive to the trailhead and decide to ride that trip instead, that could be considered a commute - travel by bike when you would normally drive.
But does it really matter? If you want to call yourself a bike commuter when you ride to work/store/school/wherever not strictly for recreation once a year? Be my guest.
I think most of us here are a bit, well, fanatical about transporting ourselves by bike so we wouldn't call that commuting for our own purposes, but we all started with a single ride.
I agree that there has to be some repetition to the activity, though. The folks who ride to work one day a year for bike to work day - not commuters. Ride to the beer shop once a week and maybe to work two or three times a summer? Yeah, I suppose so. Biking to the trailhead - that's a bit of a gray area, ain't it? Normally I would say, no that's not commuting, but if you normally drive to the trailhead and decide to ride that trip instead, that could be considered a commute - travel by bike when you would normally drive.
But does it really matter? If you want to call yourself a bike commuter when you ride to work/store/school/wherever not strictly for recreation once a year? Be my guest.
I think most of us here are a bit, well, fanatical about transporting ourselves by bike so we wouldn't call that commuting for our own purposes, but we all started with a single ride.
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I think an important part of "commuting" is that when you get to where you're going you have to get off of your bike and do something else - no matter how sweaty and gross you may be. Biking to the trailhead is really just going for a longer bikeride.
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7,757 Posts
Pretty much nearly anyone who will post here. We're an inclusive rather than exclusive community.
We're an inclusive rather than exclusive community.
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18,453 Posts
What's wrong with just calling it riding your bike?
Why name a sub-forum "Commuting" then? And why are you posting in this sub-forum for that matter?
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370 Posts
Commute:
verb
1 [no object] travel some distance between one’s home and place of work on a regular basis:she commuted from Westport in to Grand Central Station
2 [with object] reduce (a judicial sentence, especially a sentence of death) to one less severe:the governor recently commuted the sentences of dozens of women convicted of killing their husbands
(commute something for/into) change one kind of payment or obligation for (another).
replace (an annuity or other series of payments) with a single payment:if he had commuted some of his pension, he would have received $330,000
3 [no object] Mathematics (of two operations or quantities) have a commutative relationship.
noun
a regular journey of some distance to and from one’s place of work.
I think the key here is regular, daily travel between home and work or school. I really don't care who posts here. If someone rode their bike to work one day this year and wants to talk about it, more power to them! If someone is even a little curious about riding a bike for part or all of their commute then I think they are welcome here. I liked the comment that this forum is inclusive rather than exclusive. I see very little arguing, posturing, preaching or troll like behavior on this forum; I like it. Okay maybe a little bit of preaching, but mostly the "preaching to the choir" type.
verb
1 [no object] travel some distance between one’s home and place of work on a regular basis:she commuted from Westport in to Grand Central Station
2 [with object] reduce (a judicial sentence, especially a sentence of death) to one less severe:the governor recently commuted the sentences of dozens of women convicted of killing their husbands
(commute something for/into) change one kind of payment or obligation for (another).
replace (an annuity or other series of payments) with a single payment:if he had commuted some of his pension, he would have received $330,000
3 [no object] Mathematics (of two operations or quantities) have a commutative relationship.
noun
a regular journey of some distance to and from one’s place of work.
I think the key here is regular, daily travel between home and work or school. I really don't care who posts here. If someone rode their bike to work one day this year and wants to talk about it, more power to them! If someone is even a little curious about riding a bike for part or all of their commute then I think they are welcome here. I liked the comment that this forum is inclusive rather than exclusive. I see very little arguing, posturing, preaching or troll like behavior on this forum; I like it. Okay maybe a little bit of preaching, but mostly the "preaching to the choir" type.
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4,071 Posts
Maybe we could change the name of this thread to "The Philosophy of the Commuting Forum, and who has a right to post there":skep:
I agree with MTBX that we don't really care who posts here. And nemhed that if you rode your bike to get from one place to another and had questions or comments then this is the place to talk about it.
Gundam168, why do you ask?
I agree with MTBX that we don't really care who posts here. And nemhed that if you rode your bike to get from one place to another and had questions or comments then this is the place to talk about it.
Gundam168, why do you ask?
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18,453 Posts
Lately, I don't see myself as a bike commuter. I rode bikes to get to school on and off through high school and college and again for my graduate degree, and to work on and off in between. So at the time, I was. Hopefully I'll be able to arrange my life to make it feasible again. For now, when I ride a road bike, which I do on the same public roads as everybody else, I'm quite content to call it cycling, or just say I'm going for a ride. I don't see any shame in that. You've as much as said that your motivation is riding for pleasure, and I think a lot of us get into it that way and then add commuting when it becomes feasible or we realize it's been feasible all along.
Something I find useful about this forum is that it's hard to find other groups that can talk about fenders, racks, bags, lights, etc. And, I like to think I have useful information to share on occasion. Aside from a brief period when I could leave enough stuff at my office and had a secure place to leave it to ride in on a racing bike, I've also always found it useful to have a bike dedicated to commuting.
It seems that this is also a good forum for mountain bikers who don't want to join roadbikereview.com or bikeforums.net to come and ask road bike questions.
Something I find useful about this forum is that it's hard to find other groups that can talk about fenders, racks, bags, lights, etc. And, I like to think I have useful information to share on occasion. Aside from a brief period when I could leave enough stuff at my office and had a secure place to leave it to ride in on a racing bike, I've also always found it useful to have a bike dedicated to commuting.
It seems that this is also a good forum for mountain bikers who don't want to join roadbikereview.com or bikeforums.net to come and ask road bike questions.
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370 Posts
Good points all around. This sub-forum does seem to be the best place on MTBR to discuss the practical issues of regular transportation by bicycle, whether you call it commuting or not. I also have a tendency to gravitate towards the the bikepacking sub-forum for similar reasons, although I don't consider myself a bikepacker. I feel like somewhat of a fraud calling myself a mountain biker since the vast majority of my biking miles are back and forth to work, but I'm definitely not a roadie. Everything I ride has at least 2 inch wide tires.:thumbsup:
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3,321 Posts
Weather, clothing, drivers, route selection, lights, safe riding practices, bicycle infrastructure (or lack thereof), how to carry something bigger than a toolkit, durability of parts, retro-grouch parts...
Those are some of the common topics around here?
Those are some of the common topics around here?
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