Yippeee!! I got a commuter

[Aggie_Ama]

DH and I went shopping for his dedicated commuter today but I found mine instead. :D The shop had a 2007 KHS Flite 300 on sale for $579. It was perfect price and bike, I wanted a low end road bike that would accept a rear rack and be under $600. Total with tax, new Crank Brothers Smart pedals and bottle cages was $670. :D Now I just have to decide which Basil panniers she gets.

[bounceswoosh]

Nice! Congrats!

[KnottedYet]

Congratulations! Very nice! And Basil panniers will look great on her!

[Tri Girl]

Congrats on your new commuter! Pretty bike. Those Basil's will look fab-u-lous on her! You must post pictures when you get them on.

[Melalvai]

Now I just have to decide which Basil panniers she gets.
Then you'll want fenders, and a brooks saddle, and lights, and a rain suit, and...
I've been wondering for the past year if I will ever make it through my list in my lifetime. :)

[F8th637]

I'm with Melalvai on this one. :D Congrats! She looks like a beauty!

[Aggie_Ama]

Then you'll want fenders, and a brooks saddle, and lights, and a rain suit, and...
I've been wondering for the past year if I will ever make it through my list in my lifetime. :)

Maybe fenders, but I will not be doing much rain commuting. Texas has terrible thunderstorms (think hail, funnel clouds, etc) plus the WORST drivers ever in the rain. I have lights and yes that saddle may be gone first week. It also has 42 cm handlebars and I normally ride 38 cm. The shop didn't have anything smaller than 42 so he said try them out and give him a call to order if I hate them and he will swap them. They feel different but I am not sure I will swap them, these actually have room for lights and a computer.

[Melalvai]

Maybe fenders, but I will not be doing much rain commuting.
Famous last words.
Right up there with "I will not ride if the temperature is below 25*F."
Did I say 25? I meant 20. Er, make that 10. Aw heck, who needs all 10 toes.

[Aggie_Ama]

I took her out for a spin today just to remind myself how to ride the Crank Brothers, I haven't been on my mountain bike (same cleat system) in ages. This bike does not have as good of components as my primary bike but the shifting was relatively good. Not as crisp but good enough.

I do have one problem with the front wheel rubbing. :confused: I just put the wheel from my Cannondale on it for now, I need to take it to the shop to have it checked out. I didn't notice when I test rode it since the shop is on a busy highway and I couldn't hear the rubbing noise.

I am not going to do the Basil Panniers at this time. My main reason is I hate not being able to see what I am getting and no bike shops have them here. I bought a rack and the Novara Daisy Rear Rack at REI today. The rack is pretty slick but once I loaded it my bike is HEAVY!!! I am a bit nervous about tomorrow's commute with a load. :o

[Aggie_Ama]

Her name is Hilda....

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/AggieAma/hilda.jpg

This morning's ride was not slow and it was nice not to have the fatigue of carrying a back pack. :D We also only hit one light out of ten!

[PscyclePath]

I did right about the same thing the week before last... I went for the Euro-style city bike, though...

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t108/TomEzell/100_0186.jpg

Yehuda Moon (http://www.yehudamoon.com) ought to be proud... now all i need is one of those rain capes ;-)

Tom

[coyote]

Nice bike! Congrats on the commuter. I love having a rack. I'm not sure I can even ride a bike with a backpack on :)

[Aggie_Ama]

I did right about the same thing the week before last... I went for the Euro-style city bike, though...


Tom

I would rather have a bike like yours but thought my 12-28 mile commute would be better on a road bike. My co-worker wants to get a bike for a 2 mile commute, maybe I can live vicariously through her!

[sgtiger]

Congrats, Aggie_Ama and PscyclePath! Your commuters are lovely.:cool::D

[withm]

I did right about the same thing the week before last... I went for the Euro-style city bike, though...

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t108/TomEzell/100_0186.jpg

Yehuda Moon (http://www.yehudamoon.com) ought to be proud... now all i need is one of those rain capes ;-)

Tom

Beautiful bike Tom. What is it?

My commute is 14miles 1 way - I've been using my Portland (more road bike style but with rack, fenders, drop bars, and disc brakes) which seems to be the perfect bike for the job. Oh, and I really like riding it too. :)

Martha

[PscyclePath]

Beautiful bike Tom. What is it?

My commute is 14miles 1 way - I've been using my Portland (more road bike style but with rack, fenders, drop bars, and disc brakes) which seems to be the perfect bike for the job. Oh, and I really like riding it too. :)

Martha

It's a Specialized Globe/City 7. Basically a hybrid frame with 700C wheels and 38mm slick tires. Triple chainring, 8-speed (11-32) cassette. Linear-pull V-brakes, fenders, and a rear rack rated for up to 100 pounds of stuff. It comes fully built-up on the LBS floor; it even comes with a bell.

One thing I really like about it is that it has a generator in the front hub, so when your wheels are turnin' your lights are burnin'. My first real commute on it two weeks ago involved a return trip through the downtown area in the dark, and I found that when you stop at a light (I've taken the LCI pledge not to run those things any more -- at least when someone else might be looking) the lights go out. So, I added a big battery-powered tail light set to the rear end of the rack, and moved the headlight set from the MTB that I had been using as my commuter over to this bike.

I'd been looking hard at a Portland, and may eventually move up to something like that, but I got an excellent deal on this one... a little less than half what it would cost me to order a Portland and build it up as a commuter/city bike.

So far, the Globe has been as good as it felt when I tried it out in the parking lot. I moved my rack trunk and occasionally my panniers over to it, and it's been a lot of fun. Not only is it nice to have a place to carry stuff other than in my jersey pockets, but I've made a point of riding it strictly in street clothes. Not to mention that it's been fun catching and dropping a lot of the local road/recreational riders with it ;-)

[sundial]

Did ya shop at Richard's store? I have been debating about converting my Sequoia to a commuter or getting a Globe. Me thinks it would be much more fun to ride a Globe. :)

[PscyclePath]

Did ya shop at Richard's store? I have been debating about converting my Sequoia to a commuter or getting a Globe. Me thinks it would be much more fun to ride a Globe. :)

Yep... I actually bought it from Robb, but I got it over at the WLR store. They had them on display at the Earth Day festival back the end of April, but I was up to my eyebrows with little cyclists at the BACA bike rodeo, and didn't pay a lot of attention to it at the time.

I've been using my 29er as my city/commuter because the shortest route to the office runs over a little less than half a mile of graveled doubletrack into the back side of the industrial park, or a little longer distance of ill-kept dirt road. Problem was, there wasn't a good way to carry a change of clothes or my other stuff on the MTB. The Globe has wide enough tires to handle both roads and while it's a little heavier, it cruises a bit more smoothly on the paved parts of the trail. It's hard to really pick between 'em, since each can really get the job done, but the Globe is a lot more convenient for tooling around town. And after cruising around on either of these, I feel like I can fly when I bring out the road bike :D

Tom

[sundial]

Are there any more Globes on sale? :D

[PscyclePath]

Are there any more Globes on sale? :D

Richard said they bought three initially to see if they would sell... They sold the first one they put together to show off for Earth Day; I bought the second one, and they had one left and were planning to order more.

The city/commuter bikes are becoming quite popular here in the Rock these days, for some reason...;)