Commuters! Opinions Please!

[pikato]

Ok, so I'm finally confident enough in my cycling skills to give commuting to work a shot. My trip is a little over 8 miles one way. Now, in my mind, my normal road bike ('05 Giant OCR 3) tires are fine, but Kirk thinks I need a different set of tires since Corpus is known for having less than stellar roads--frequently covered with sand or dried mud, etc.

I kind of see where he is coming from, as this morning I paid attention to the road conditions as I drove to work, and there was quite a lot of mud & crap around.

Thoughts, please.

[spokewench]

Riding on a little mud or gravel on my road bike does not bother me - but I've been riding a long time, have a lot of mountain bike experience, etc. If it bothers you, then by all means by a commuter bike with wider tires and maybe mountain bars, etc. American Breezer makes GREAT COMMUTE BIKES - or buy a used mountain bike to ride to work - You do not need a road bike to ride 8 miles to and from work.

I have an old mountain bike that I usually commute on just because I like to ride it. I think that commuting is usually a more laid back type of riding than what I usually do so it is nice just to cruise into work - no pressure, no riding hard, just a nice way to get to work and back. I also use some a combinatin of our excellent FUTS trail system and roadways to get to work so a mountain bike is little better for this combination. I hate to ride a roadbike on trails.

[tulip]

My commuting bike is a Jamis Coda Comp with 700x28 wheels. It's great for DC streets, which are mighty rough. I'm hesitant to ride my Luna road bike on those roads, although I have done it a couple of times. The main thing, though, is that my Luna is a WOW bike (red!) and very noticable and I don't want anyone to decide that they WANT it badly enough to knock me off my bike and take it. That, and there are no dropouts for a rack on my Luna, so I can't put a rack on and so I can't use panniers. I don't like riding with anything on my back.

A cyclocross bike would be a good choice, as would a touring bike.

Congratulations on starting to commute. It's great to have fun getting to work!

[newfsmith]

Most of the time I ride a touring bike on my commute, which is only a mile longer than yours, but in the summer I don't hesitate riding my road bike. I ride on some fairly messy roads, with broken pavement, sand washouts, etc. I do look for flat resistent tires, or use Spinskin liners. If your bike takes 26" or 700 tires I strongly recommend Specialized Armadillios. If you need 650's you a limited to the Continentals and Schwalbe touring tires, or Spinskins. If you are concerned about the cost of changing tires, just change your rear tire. Front flats are less common, and are quicker and easier to do. If you have fairly new tires, consider the Spinskins.

If you are riding your good road bike, besides a good and secure place to lock it up, you do need to avoid heavy rain. I haven't damaged my frame, but I have ruined a rim by being forced into a puddle by traffic and hitting a pot-hole the puddle had hidden.

Commuting offers many opportunities for training. I tend to hammer my way to work in the morning, then return home at a more casual pace, on a longer route. I arrive at work well energized and get home de-stressed. Don't let tires keep you from trying commuting. Good luck.

[Ashgarth]

I would LOVE to commute to work on a bike. It is about 6-7 miles along Lake Michigan shoreline and double wide roads so plenty of room. The only thing I am nervous about it locking my bike up and not being able to keep an eye on it in the parking lot, and then there is the fact that there is no shower at work or anything like that. I work in marketing so I have to look presentable etc....I am a little nervous about clothes with wrinkles, makeup etc. Stupid I know, but my work environment seems to limit me....not the fact that I don't want to. :/

[DeniseGoldberg]

I use my road bike for my commutes. Its tires may not be quite as skinny as some of your bikes - my roadie is a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket - but the roads I'm riding on for the most part are in decent condition. There are some bad sections, but I'd need to be pretty careful on my touring bike in those sections too.

The recommendation about using a beater bike? My question is really why... my commute at it's shortest is 18 miles each way. I usually ride the 18 in the morning but I ride home a slightly different way to avoid some afternoon traffic conditions I don't like, and I often add some extra loops as I head home too. So my commute is generally 40 to 43 miles round trip. I wouldn't be happy riding anything but a bike that is perfectly fit to me. (OK, maybe you've been careful and your beater bike is a perfect fit.)

You should ride whatever bike you're most comfortable on given the riding conditions and distance.

I commute only in good weather - although I have been caught in the rain. If I do get caught in wet conditions, the first thing that gets cleaned when I arrive home is my bike. And if I were commuting year round, perhaps I'd ride a bike that I didn't care about as much in the bad weather... and I'd probably use something with fatter tires then. Again, I believe it's based on the riding conditions...

--- Denise