what bike do you use for pure urban ridin'?

[bruno]

i commute and do errands daily on my fendered iro jamie roy fixed gear. avg. around 30 miles a day--22 mile roundtrip commute and a few miles of errands.

[ptaylor]

Hi Bruno.

I'm on my 4th 'commuter' bike in the past 30 years. The others have all been either stolen or destroyed by errant cars. In my mind, an urban bike needs 4 features:
[list=1]

• Good headlights and tail lights
• Fenders
• A kickstand
• Quality (read expensive - like Schwalbe Marathon Plus) tires

Paul

[tofubicycle]

I typically ride a Surly Steamroller set up as a fixed gear with alt-flat bars, a front brake, a rear fender, a bell and lots of lights. Though I'm beginning to lean towards 26" wheels full fenders and a front rack for commuting...

--
......... __ o
.........-\<,
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i'd rather be biking.

[ron_bike4peace]

man, i use to ride an old univega during the winter (i live in the seattle area, nasty wet winters) and then ride my salsa laraza during the summer. that's when i had a 14+ mile commute everyday. i still have the salsa, nicest bike i've ever owned and i've had a few. i use a bridgestone cb 0 for my everyday use and touring. if you don't know, the cb 0 is a "city bike". it's kinda like the xo, but more of a touring geomemtry and not as nice a frame. but it's a great bike. i've riden across the country the past 2 summers. i've upgraded it with all new old stock suntour xcpro, the famous moustache handlebar and brookes saddle.

This message was edited by ron_bike4peace on 1-27-07 @ 3:51 PM

[DaveB]

My errand/rain bike is an '83 Trek 400, lugged steel frame and fork with a mix of parts-box components.  The drive train is a SR triple crank, and Shimano low-line derailleurs with 7-speed indexing downtube shifters mounted on Kelly Take-Offs. Most of the benefits of STI/Ergo at a small fraction of the cost.  It has fenders and a rack and weighs a ton.

Where I live (suburban Pittsburgh) a fixie or single speed isn't suitable for all but a very few relatively flat areas.  

[bruno]

i'm adding to my collection of bikes a surly karate monkey built with a rolhoff speedhub. should start the build next week sometime as my lbs had to order the frame. (i needed a small one). should be real nice for haulin' groceries and all since i plan to equip it with racks and all.

[Sailariel]

I ride a lugged Miyata 100 Cross with Planet Bike fenders,luggage rack with topper, Nashbar panniers, and lights. I changed the downtube shifters to bar-ends. The wheels are American Wheelsmith with Shimano 600 hubs. I have platform pedals on one side and SPD on the other. It`s an older bike but is in mint condition. I just put on some 38C tires.

[driftlessregion]

64 cm Trek 330 from early 80's (?) Reynolds 531 lugged frame bought last year on eBay. 1998 105 triple with Nitto moustache bars and bar end shifters. Fenders of course with a small canvas saddle bag but will get a large Carradice Nelson Long Flap bag soon. Tires are 700/28 at 90 psi.

[hpaul3]

I have an '80s lugged-steel Taiwanese road'ish frame that I actually rescued from the trash pile in front of someone's house, on trash day.  (I did ask first!) It was about 10 minutes from the landfill.  I put it together with mojo recycled parts: a road wheelset from an old bike, a hi-rise stem for $4.00 on ebay, a Performance close-out flat bar for $9.00, the small ring and crank from an old Shimano 600 set, and spacers and a BMX freewheel from my local shop.  Oh, clip-on fenders too.  Those were the most expensive parts on the whole thing.  It rides very nicely, it's smallish so it works out to be very heads-up with the flat bar and the gear (39x16) spins out at about 22 mph.  I put some chunky 700x32 close-out Performance tready tires on it for bomb-aroud curb protection.  Works great!

[ptaylor]

Sail: How do you like your pedals with SPD on one side and platform ot the other. I only know one guy who had those, but he liked them. I'm kinda suspicious though, he was anxious to sell them to me.

Paul

[undies]

I only have one road bike right now and that's what I use for most urban riding. It's a Nashbar touring frame built up with drop bars, fenders, 105/LX 9-spd. drive train, 36-spoke wheels with Salsa Delgado rims, and 700x32 Pasela Tourguard tires.

My town is flat so I could easily get away with a fixie, and I may try one sometime if I stumble upon a good deal on a frame. I did ride a single-speed (freewheel) Univega around for a while, but didn't totally get the SS appeal. I don't mind a little extra drivetrain maintenance in the interest of mechanical advantage.

[Sailariel]

Ptaylor, I really like the pedals. They are great in town, especially where there are a lot of lights. I also like the fact that if you need to run to the store for some bread or milk, you just jump on the bike and go--no need for biking shoes, etc. I recall that they were not expensive--made by Shimano and of good quality. The bearings are servicable.

[dougstetson]

My best commuter was a folding Dahon Helios I used in San Francisco. Jay Gaerlan, a gifted bike guy in San Francisco, (http://www.gaerlan.com/)used the Helios aluminum frame and added front suspension, seat post suspension, 24 gears, fenders, a rear rack that allowed me to carry a briefcase pannier or a grocery sack pannier without hitting my heels or the ground, and combo SPD and platform pedals as well. He chose Vuelta rims that never went out of true, and Schwalbe Marathon tires that never suffered a puncture despite daily rides through SF streets with debris and potholes.

The big advantage of the folder in SF was being able to take it on the BART subway trains, folded, at any time of the day. Ordinary bikes are restricted to the first and last cars, and forbidden during rush hours. Busses and the CalTrain communter train allow bikes all the time in special facilities, so folding was not an advantage there, but being able to take the bike into a restaurant or hotel or library, folded, was a huge advantage. I had a hybrid stolen, while locked with a Kryptonite cable lock to a standpipe in a lighted, covered garage patrolled by an off duty SF policeman at an in-town SF hotel. The cable had been cut and no one saw anything. After that, the folder came in with me when I was visiting in town. Most places simply accomodated it as they would a wheel chair (which the folded bike sort of resembles). Great commuter -- carried my gear to work and back, and on errands. Quick to set up and take down, every bit as fast as the public transit in SF, but with a reliable schedule: I could leave when I wanted and be on time at the destination.


Doug Stetson
San Francisco bound

[boonebikeguy]

I got all you cats BEAT. I ride a 1970 custom built one of a kind Puegeot toruing bike. It is like piloting a Y-wing from Star Wars...big bulky slow as hell but comfy and fun. Drool fools here . I WAS trying to sell it on e-bay...but in my heart I just could not do it. I'll consider re-building the wheel-set and mounting contemporary compact cranks and clipless pedals and ride IT across the nation...that'd be tight.I just mounted a new saddle that is pretty comfy. I mount a MARS multi  light in the back..I ride it up here in Boone everday...and I assure you it would put hair on you chest after a week of commuting on this monster in the mountains. No one here can TOP IT!!!! LOL If thay can then I'm all jealous and stuff.

"Love is a river where crazy people drown"--Kyrgyz proverb

[boonebikeguy]

Sail: How do you like your pedals with SPD on one side and platform ot the other. I only know one guy who had those, but he liked them. I'm kinda suspicious though, he was anxious to sell them to me.

Paul


don't buy them in my opinion those types of pedals SUCK, too many problems with tensioning and nothing sucks more than being in a  climb and your pedals release your cleat......Just my 2-bits, but I'd never buy those things unless I rode around a parking lot and that's it.

"Love is a river where crazy people drown"--Kyrgyz proverb

This message was edited by boonebikeguy on 5-4-07 @ 8:08 AM