Commuters! Opinions Please!

In my experience, tire width makes less diference than tire quality. For years I road my bike friday pocket rocket pro to work with 26mm primo comet kevlars. Even toured with them on packed dirt in chiapis. The tires were great, but the bike got stolen while locked in a bike rack (hence the reason to ride a beater). My beater is still a pretty good bike though, I fixed up my old terry classic touring bike, upgraded her to drop bars and an ultegra/XT mix. In the beginning I used panaracer pasela tires, 25mm wide, but not tourguard and flatted a lot, so switched out the rear only for the 32mm wide TG tire and have been fine. But, some days I have taken in my terry titanium Isis which has 23 mm shwalbe stelvios which also have a flat resistant compound built in, and have had no problems. I am now on cape cod, with sand and coastal roads, and have no problems with Isis and her skinny 23mm tires, but I do have pretty decent bike handling skills. In fact, I have yet to have a flat since I put the stelvios on her. They are really nice fast tires!

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Originally Posted by vj_pdx

3.5 miles. It's nothing, really. Or would be if I were in better shape.

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hey, my commute is a full half mile longer than yours. but going up that hill coming home IS hard. and you do it with a 3 speed!!! wow!!
your bikes sound like cruisers. (am i right?) You are really doing great!
put you on a hybrid or a road bike and you will be going up the hill a lot faster.

I just got a new road bike and uphill is one of the places that i've noticed the difference!
good luck.

Thanks for all the encouragement, ya'all!

Yep, the Townies are cruisers. You sit in a semi-recumbent position, and so you can't stand on the pedals on hills, which to me just seems intolerable. They won't fit in the bike racks, and since I'm usually cycling alone, I'd like that option for getting home after dark. And it just feels so very slow. Very comfortable, but very slow.

(For some reason, I still think I'm a teenager and 140#, and that I should consistently be able to go that fast!)

I'm going back to my LBS this morning to try, try again! Thanks again!

Wow, I wouldn't want to ride a Townie up a hill, but they sure are fun along the beach.

Try lots of bikes out and see which one(s) you like best. Try going up a hill if you can, although that's not always possible in the bike shop parking lot. I bet you will enjoy riding more if the hill was more comfortable.