Bike recommendation for work commute

[fretted]

I fancy a new bike for my commute to avoid public transport when the lockdown is over.

I used to ride a hybrid to my previous work but switched jobs a few years ago where I had to carry a suit, shirt, shoes, towel, laptops to the office. The long hours and having to carry all the gear made me opy for public transport instead.

I would like to know what people in my situation do to carry on with cycling. Do I need to get a bike rack and panniers, get a wingman backpack, etc? My current bike is not too heavy but I live on top of a hill so the ride home can be quite tough and i think a lighter bike or a fixie may be more enticing.

In short, what do people ride when they have to change for work and carry their work equipment with them?

 

[Quartz]

Get yourself an ebike. And how about leaving stuff at your workplace? If you're changing into your suit at your workplace, why not leave it there?

 

[OspreyO]

I had panniers on my old MTB. Bike is now worn out.

As soon as funds allow I'll switch to a eBike though.

 

[MadMossy]

ebike is what you want/need. They flatten hills thanks to the assistance and can carry as much as you can cram on it and not suffer from the added weight that much.

A hybrid with luggage space can be had pretty cheaply, Halfrauds do a large range, but personally I'd spend a bit more and go for something that will last and support your local bike shop, who will in turn support you very well.

 

[Junglist]

a fixie may be more enticing.

I've recently just got my first fixie and I hate to say it but I absolutely love it and have had so much more fun riding this than I have my hybrid. It came with track gearing (48/16) but I changed it to a 48/17 and now hills are quite mangable without spinning too much on the way down. Been trying to do 100miles a week since I've had it and it's been a blast to ride. I never thought I'd enjoy it quite as much as I am.

You can get them for relatively cheap online, i got mine from Mango Bikes. I got the Point Blank (cause i liked the shape of it, can't lie) but they have a few different models, the cheapest being £355 for a complete bike but I think the OG Level 2 is probably the better buy as it has better parts and I believe it is lighter.

I can already see myself getting another Fixed gear bike from Cinelli in a year or so as I didn't want to get an expensive one and not like it but as it turns out, i love it.

 

[Daaaavvveee]

I use a Hybrid bike and a set of Panniers, fit all my work clothes/lunch in there fine.

 

[DereksDontRun]

how far is the commute? and what's your budget? e-bikes are great, but expensive and also v v heavy, so tbh, unless you're doing 10+ miles each way, then I'd just use a normal bike...

There's actually 2 forms of hybrid bikes... Think of a line with mountain bike one end and road bike the other. a traditional "hybrid" is by the mountain bike end, it's basically a soft mountain bike made to be more road-going (smoother tyres, etc). But, at the opposite side there's a road bike there's been made a little more robust and less aggressive (meaning bigger tyres and a more upright seating position - so basically more comfortable) - these are either called cyclocross or gravel bikes (without going into the differences between the 2).

When I was doing a lot of bike commuting I went for a cyclocross bike (before gravel/adventure bikes had become as popular) - it had similar gearing to a road bike (so a LOT quicker on the road than a mountain bike, or hybrid) but it has much bigger tyres and could cope with light off-roading with ease, so canal paths and cobbles were fine.

I would 100% suggest looking at a gravel/cyclocross bike with mounting points for mudguards and panniers over either a hybrid or e-bike.

As for bags - personally I started with a backpack and soon changed my mind. It just makes your back sweat and is a pain if you need to add/remove a waterproof layer mid ride. Moving that weight as low as possible helps, so paniers or a bag off the seatpost is way better. My bike can fit paniers but I wanted to use it without them too, so I stumbled upon a Carradice SQR Slim bag which was amazing. You fit a smallish mount onto the seatpost and then the bag can clip on/off easily. The bag was big enough for a pare of shoes, trousers, shirt, towel and my lunch (plus a pump, spare tube and toolkit).

Finally, you mentioned fixie and hills... if you've got hills to mess about it, traffic and traffic lights then just avoid a fixie (unless you're already v used to them)... fine for couriers who use the bike all the time and want minimal maintenance, but for general commuting then gears (and a freehub) are there for a reason... Nothing against fixies, but if you've commuting and either have pressure to get into work by a time, or need to get home after a knackering day, the last thing I'd want is a quirky bike and something without gears...

 

[Junglist]

I think as long as you accept you're always in the wrong gear on a fixie you'll be OK. Was a bit bored the other day so i decided to cycle to the office and cycle back just to see how I'd find it and I'm actually quicker on my fixie than I am on my hybrid despite the entire way home being a slice incline.

If you've got loads of hills though i suppose it's not great. But if mostly flat I'd say get a fixie, you'll be surprised how much you enjoy it. Something a bit satisfying, for lack of a better word, about seeing a hill and not worrying about a gear but instead just pushing through it. Want to accelerate past someone? don't worry about clicking through to the right gear, just push harder and you feel the gain right away.

And for me, as someone who is mechanically hamfisted, never having to touch a derailleur again is a godsend and my bike is pretty much silent.
Though it depends on your knees I suppose!

I do think a hybrid is the sensible choice but i find a fixed gear more fun to ride.

 

[fretted]

Hey thanks all for the advice.

I already have a pretty good sporty hybrid, so not convinced that a new hybrid will make a difference. I like the fixie and the bag option, so will investigate. Not keen on the e-bike, as isn't that cheating?

 

[MadMossy]

Depends on the ebike.

A bompton style one, yeah probably is cheating a little, but beats getting to the office all sweaty and flustered.

An e mountain bike or road bike though, well then its actually pretty similar, certainly for me with my 14 mile commute, there's about a 100 calorie difference between my emtb that weighs 23kg with 2.8" tyres and my normal road bike which weighs less than 10kg with 25mm tyres. On average I will burn ~900 calories a day.

What I have noticed though is that with the emtb my speed is consistant to the point where I actually don't use much assistance at all other than on long climbs or starting from a standstill, but its never that fast, on the road bike, I'm slower on climbs but absolutely demolish the mtb on the flat or going down hill. Only reason I take the emtb out sometimes though I tend to do long way home detours going offroad down some sketchy paths or stair sets of doom

 

[Antipasti]

I've recently just got my first fixie and I hate to say it but I absolutely love it and have had so much more fun riding this than I have my hybrid. It came with track gearing (48/16) but I changed it to a 48/17 and now hills are quite mangable without spinning too much on the way down. Been trying to do 100miles a week since I've had it and it's been a blast to ride. I never thought I'd enjoy it quite as much as I am.

You can get them for relatively cheap online, i got mine from Mango Bikes. I got the Point Blank (cause i liked the shape of it, can't lie) but they have a few different models, the cheapest being £355 for a complete bike but I think the OG Level 2 is probably the better buy as it has better parts and I believe it is lighter.

I can already see myself getting another Fixed gear bike from Cinelli in a year or so as I didn't want to get an expensive one and not like it but as it turns out, i love it.

I guess it would be hard to describe, but going down hill what sort of speed does it become difficult, I.e spinning too fast?

Im thinking about getting a fixie, but living in Plymouth, there are hills everywhere!

 

[MadMossy]

I guess it would be hard to describe, but going down hill what sort of speed does it become difficult, I.e spinning too fast?

Im thinking about getting a fixie, but living in Plymouth, there are hills everywhere!

There's a couple pro cyclists near me who both ride fixed gear bikes (for crit racing) but also take them out and about sometimes for rides, being Torbay, it's basically nothing but hills, they also venture onto Dartmoor. So yeah its possible, bare in mind they are pro cyclists though so if your slightly unfit or a little on the podgy side, fixed gear and hills might be a challenge... initially.

 

[Junglist]

I guess it would be hard to describe, but going down hill what sort of speed does it become difficult, I.e spinning too fast?

Im thinking about getting a fixie, but living in Plymouth, there are hills everywhere!

I’ve not yet gone down a hill so steep that I’ve found spinning to be uncomfortable. Remember you can also resist the rotations to slow your decent. At my ratio (48/17) a cadence of about 90rpm is about 20mph. I’ve done about 30 downhill and even that wasn’t too bad. You just kind of let your legs go with it - which is why it’s important you have some form of foot retention!

it’s a really unusual experience the first time you ride as you realise how much you coasted before when going around corners/down hill. Or if you’ve just come out of a sprint and you’d usually relax your legs when your energy is gone but on a fixie you have to loosen your legs so that you don’t get jolted off. Something I didn’t know to expect and not that important but I found it interesting was how much easier riding at really slow walking pace is.

I’m really loving the experience. Sure hills will make you work harder and I’m sure there will be a hill that will make me just get off and walk up it eventually but there is something rewarding knowing when you’ve made it up a hill it was all your own legs doing.

luckily rear cogs aren’t that expensive to change (I spent £20 on a rear one but can find them for about £5-10 for cheap ones until you know what you want) and takes about 10 minutes, if that, to change over. Just need to find out what gear/gear inches work for you. I found 79” to be a bit high when starting from 0 but I’m currently at 75” and think it’s perfect. I’ve heard anywhere between 60-75” is decent without spinning out too much

it’s quite addictive though. I’m already looking at frames of ones that I’d like to build my own from scratch. Would love to make a really light one

 

[Antipasti]

There's a couple pro cyclists near me who both ride fixed gear bikes (for crit racing) but also take them out and about sometimes for rides, being Torbay, it's basically nothing but hills, they also venture onto Dartmoor. So yeah its possible, bare in mind they are pro cyclists though so if your slightly unfit or a little on the bodgy side, fixed gear and hills might be a challenge... initially.

I’ve not yet gone down a hill so steep that I’ve found spinning to be uncomfortable. Remember you can also resist the rotations to slow your decent. At my ratio (48/17) a cadence of about 90rpm is about 20mph. I’ve done about 30 downhill and even that wasn’t too bad. You just kind of let your legs go with it - which is why it’s important you have some form of foot retention!

it’s a really unusual experience the first time you ride as you realise how much you coasted before when going around corners/down hill. Or if you’ve just come out of a sprint and you’d usually relax your legs when your energy is gone but on a fixie you have to loosen your legs so that you don’t get jolted off. Something I didn’t know to expect and not that important but I found it interesting was how much easier riding at really slow walking pace is.

I’m really loving the experience. Sure hills will make you work harder and I’m sure there will be a hill that will make me just get off and walk up it eventually but there is something rewarding knowing when you’ve made it up a hill it was all your own legs doing.

luckily rear cogs aren’t that expensive to change (I spent £20 on a rear one but can find them for about £5-10 for cheap ones until you know what you want) and takes about 10 minutes, if that, to change over. Just need to find out what gear/gear inches work for you. I found 79” to be a bit high when starting from 0 but I’m currently at 75” and think it’s perfect. I’ve heard anywhere between 60-75” is decent without spinning out too much

it’s quite addictive though. I’m already looking at frames of ones that I’d like to build my own from scratch. Would love to make a really light one

Thanks for the info - I’m considering whether to build my own from an old road bike frame or buy purpose built.

I remember years ago when I started cycling, I went out with a local bike club for a ride on Dartmoor. We must’ve done about 60-70 miles that day and some nutter turned up on a fixie!

He seemed to keep up ok, for what I remember!

 

[Junglist]

Thanks for the info - I’m considering whether to build my own from an old road bike frame or buy purpose built.

I remember years ago when I started cycling, I went out with a local bike club for a ride on Dartmoor. We must’ve done about 60-70 miles that day and some nutter turned up on a fixie!

He seemed to keep up ok, for what I remember!

Also checkout State Bicycles too. It was between them or mango for me but I went with mango in the end.

https://www.statebicycle.co.uk/collections/core-line

You can get a complete one for £299 from them but it's a bit heavy at 11kg

 

[Antipasti]

I like your point blank, but it’s a bit pricey for me atm.

I definitely want drop bars too.

 

[Junglist]

I like your point blank, but it’s a bit pricey for me atm.

I definitely want drop bars too.

That was the other day on a ride (and cheeky cider in the sun)


You can customise the OG and the OG Level 2 to both have drop bars or pursuit bars and they're a bit cheaper, are they in your price range?

 

[Antipasti]

I’d probably hold out for the PB after our hopeful house move!