Cycle commute!

SDK^ said:
I ride to work for fitness reasons, not speed reasons ;)
A lighter bike would mean a lower work rate.

I also use the bike for serious off roading at weekends
Click to expand...

Nothing is stopping you riding with identical physical excursion on a road bike. If you like a work out on a bike, why not let the wheels bind against the rims all the time?
 
My 2003 Kona Blast mountain bike has 26x1.9 knobbly tires at the moment. I’m looking to put on something more suitable for road use. Maybe a daft question, but am I right to assume I can use slick 26x1.5 tires? The rims are “Strong DBM 26x1.5 Aluminium CNC”.
 
clv101 said:
My 2003 Kona Blast mountain bike has 26x1.9 knobbly tires at the moment. I’m looking to put on something more suitable for road use. Maybe a daft question, but am I right to assume I can use slick 26x1.5 tires? The rims are “Strong DBM 26x1.5 Aluminium CNC”.
Click to expand...

It will be fine with plenty of pressure in the tyres.
 
mrthingyx said:
7 miles to work on a double suspension effort from Halfords - can't remember the brand... it's the one they import from Spain.

I can normally do it in about fifteen/twenty minutes. But I have managed it in under that. Although I wasn't in much of a mood to do anything once I arrived at work...
Click to expand...

7 miles in 15 minutes, thats just under 30mph average speed?!

wow, nice!!
 
This is my general cheapo hack. Paid £125 quid for it, ridden twice a couple year back. Not ridden it for a long time, need some way of transporting it for an interesting ride.

bike.jpg


I'm contemplating using it for a 7 ish mile daily commute but the route is rather boring and I will have get my 9-5 shifts back as I don't fancy cycling after 8pm or before 8am. Would save me a good penny and it will solve my get fit conundrum. If something has no perpose, I tend to not be bothered. So a cycled commute would be great.
 
I have a 04 CB Cape Wrath, fitted a rigid fork to the front (as the stock forks had seized!). Semi slick tyres, disc breaks, rear pannier rack and full mudguards.

3.5 miles each way, generally late march - october commuting 2-3 days a week. Not much of a petrol saving, but every little helps. During the summer I tend to cycle in using my 04 Lemond Etape road bike.
 
Used to have a Genesis Day 01 before someone nicked it from outside St Mary's.

I now have a Ridgeback Flight T2. Basically the same as my old one but with carbon forks. Great for London, accelerates nicely, but I would seriously consider a drop handlebar for anything longer that what I do at the moment. Max riding time on mine is about 40-45 mins. Loads of people are now riding similar sorts of things, they've become very popular it seems. I couldn't imagine riding a full suspension bike around London, quite a number of people do though.

rb_flight_t2.jpg
 
I am just about to buy myself one of these, Trek 7300 Hybird:

Y5862E_BIG.jpg


Only chosen this one as it was recommended by the guy in the shop, so would be really interested in other peoples recommendations?

Main use will be commute to work (3 miles road) and for occasional canal path / New Forest cycling with the family. Budget £375 max.
 
Last edited:
The Trek has a 'lockable' forks so I can loose the suspension for when on the road. I didn't purposefully look for one with suspension, in fact I would be more than happy without it, it just happens to have it and it seems like a good idea?
 
If I don't need my car and it isn't sub zero temperatures then I'll often ride in. This is my bike, again knobbly tires making it not that suitable :p

Image020.jpg


TBH though I'm not going to bother anymore. Its mostly NSL/50 limit country lanes with blind bends. If I keep riding in long enough I WILL cause a head on crash due to the impatience of drivers who overtake with no clue if something is coming often on the bend itself.

Final nail in the coffin was my neighbour trying to lurch his car up the side of me as I was pulling in to the close leaving me with the option of slamming into his car, a parked car or taking my chances bouncing up the curb. I chose the latter. We are talking a 10 second delay at most if he had waited behind me :rolleyes:
 
Update time guys!

Due to some crap weather (well, thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it! :p) I only started cycling to work properly last week. I have worked out I am cycling about 9.1 ish miles.

Monday Last week I was struggling to do much less than 44-45 minutes for the journey. I was not really using the road to its full extent, and stopping more than if i was planning more carefully. I did get this down to 42-43 mins by Friday, but felt I was carrying too much weight.

I have decided that carrying a 1.5 litre camelback for a 9 mile ride is a bit daft so thats staying at home for now. I am also only taking my laptop+powepack home on Fridays, and back in on Monday mornings, and leaving it locked in a drawer at work. (same with my work shoes too)

This morning I suprised myself, was running late, and had my laptop/shes etc with me. The motivation for not being late meant I did the run in a PB!! I got it down to 34 minutes, which is just over 16mph average speed :D I was most chuffed considering this is still on nobbly tyres on my mountain bike.

I found my brother's racing bike over the weekend, its a specialized visp 05, which seems to have some crappy reviews, but by the looks of it, its never been used, the seat post does not have a clamp, and the brakes are rubbing and have never been setup. It has some look SPDs on it, with shoes that fit me, so I might have a go on that after this week, and see how it is. If its pants, I wont bother, stick to what I have, and maybe get some slicks for the MTB.

So, anyone else started recently, or got any updates?
 
Last edited:
3 Miles each way.

My trusty steed is a GT Avalanche 1.0 2006 with the forks locked out and slick tyres fitted.

The slicks made the ride this weekend fun (mud + slicks = bad) but the wife neglected to inform me of the route before we left. Git.

2179044166_e34d2c2e57.jpg
 
I've been keeping up about 4 times a week, so at 26 miles a day i'm doing just over 100 miles a week.

Really happy with it so far, I average around 15-20 mph on the flats, max speed i've reached is 37.1 mph downhill.
 
This isn't my actual bike, but it's almost the same (apart from mine doesn't have the gay mudguard on the back and I've got sexy blue tyres)

ribble1we0.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom