Commuters! Opinions Please!

[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

[betagirl]

I commute in Chicago, where the roads are good but my route has a lot of glass, sometimes gravel if they're doing construction, and other various things in the bike lane. I ride my Trek 1200 road bike with 700x25 tires. I have continental ultragator skins on the front tire and michelin erilium on the rear. The erilium has a kevlar tread, which after 3 flats in a week I was all over that I've had good luck with them so far. I've ridden in rain also, and my traction was still good. I don't think you need knobby or wider tires for what you're going to be riding on persay.

[snapdragen]

Another good "bomb proof" tire is Panaracer Pasela TG (Tour Guard) I've used them for years, I've only had three flats since 2000.

[Kori]

I just started commuting to work on my MTN bike. It's 14 miles each way but both times I've done it I worked past dark so my hubby picked me up. I need to stop doing that though or we won't be saving gas money.

Anyway, I thought I needed a road bike but now I'm not sure. I'm not going for speed or making a sport of riding. I just want to get some exercise and save on gas. I also like the option of riding in the gravel and dirt along the busy road when the shoulder is small. I rode a beautiful trail today that was part gravel.

I'm also lucky that I work at a fire department so I can shower at work and dress casually. Almost everyone there ride bikes often too.