Wait wait – You already have a Giant Defy? Why don’t you just ride that to work?

Because it lives on the trainer silly 😉
No, I wanted something a bit more commuter, take a proper rack and guards, slightly less bendy-overy.

No. I’ve only ever used my defy on the trainer. Roadying isn’t something I have ever done for enjoyment.

Ah right, fair enough. Extend finger to shift, curl finger to brake.

Because it lives on the trainer silly
No, I wanted something a bit more commuter, take a proper rack and guards, slightly less bendy-overy.

Fair enough. I don’t mean this to be as rude as it might sound, but in my opinion you’re overthinking it, being prepared to drop £1000 on a short, straightforward ride to work when you already have a good bike that will do the job.

You can get p clips which will enable you to fit any rack you like to your Defy

slightly less bendy-overy

Raise/change the stem?

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide to do. You must have more disposable cash than me!

What about a Croix de Fer? The 20 is around the £1k mark.

If the commute isn’t long then don’t worry too much about SPD pedals. Flats are more versatile.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide to do. You must have more disposable cash than me!

CTW makes it free, right?
I do like the CDF.

If you really need shoe options then shimano do a pedal that I’d clip one side and flat the other, but mtb SPD’s are the best

One spare tube and sticky patches will see you right. Carry a proper pump not co2 cartridges, you’ll have to stop in the cold and rain and the dark, you will fu¢k up the cartridge inflation and then you have to walk home because you didn’t buy a pocket rocket.

Aldi clothes are ok but variable quality.

Ride your defy ; start now, don’t wait for a new bike because you need to do a full summer of riding to get you into the swing of it and get ready for winter which isn’t as bad as you think

Shoes, coat, full emergency outfit, towel all at work. First aid stuff that you hope you never need.

How long is your commute and how hilly?
For anything that is relatively flat and less than 10 miles I personally would use a fixie. They are simple and fun to ride. I would go with drop bars every time.

Genesis Day One

Re. pedals Time Atacs are the best all rounders imo.

For clothing I would go with dayglo visible as someday some half asleep cager will try to kill you.

If you leave a lock at work make sure it is somewhere that a thief cannot come and practice meddling with it under cover of darkness.

I’d use the defy, get some mudguards on it and a Carradice sqr bag (I have the slim, it’splenty big enough).

Pedals I’d go for some shimano m520s and whatever MTB shoes you fancy.

Hey! So do I. Maybe we’re brothers!

maybe 😉 …mines the orange MK1 model…is yours the same?

OP another thing i would recommend especially if you’re riding in the dark is spoke reflectors to make you more visible from side on traffic

so your bike kind of looks like this…a bit harder to miss

^^that ones for you SaxonRider!! 😀

Let me wheel out my standard photo…

Basic requirements (for my commute)
Mudguards
Rack
D lock
Proper horn
Good, rechargeable lights, with back ups front and rear
Reliable highly puncture-resistant tyres

Some other options that make it nicer for my commute and general use
Rack pack that slides straight on (with pannier side pockets)
Rucksack/pannier combo for laptop if I need it
Hydro brakes
Drops
Spd/flat pedal combo
Bottle cage
Reflective spokes

To be honest, I’ve been using my brompton recently as I’ve hurt my neck and the drops on my commuter irritate it. It’s surprisingly good!

I pretty much take my pants/t shirts for the week in a light backpack on Monday.

Then no need for a backpack rest of week, panniers are pants tbh…lighter makes a far nicer commute.

You can sling an alpkit drybag on the handlebers if you want to carry sandwiches nice cheap and waterproof(which is good).

I use flats on Spec Roubaix with normal tyres – cyclepath here is pretty clean and tbh after years of going with super heavy tough tyres found the normal roady ones are fine – about 2 punctures a year.

I carry a few tubes and tools in a plastic waterbottle.

I do 10 miles each way but sometimes do 20in and 10out in the summer carrying the kitchen sink on your bike just makes life miserable.

I’d use the defy and take it from there…

I rode mtb with slicks and sometimes a pannierfor 9 years and wont be going back.

Dlock in work

popping to the shops on the way home must be fun.

popping to the shops on the way home must be fun.

I’ve never felt the need, in 10 years of commuting by bike, to pop into the shops. For me commuting by bike is about carrying the minimum I need not carry stuff like a lock and rack/pannier just in case I need a loaf.

I guess it depends on your commute, if you’re having a short spin through town then yeh doing the shopping might be a consideration, not for me though.

I’ve tried a few things and now seem to have settled on a road bike (Trek Domane) with mudguards, rack, SPDs and gatorskins (23mm at the moment – 25s fit but not with the mudguards I got – they did fit with my old guards but when I got a new set after the old ones cracked I ended up having to fit narrower tyres).

I carry tubes etc but my commute is short enough to push the bike either the rest of the way home or to work if I really need to (approx 5 mile commute so I’m never much more than a couple of miles from one end or the other of it, and there are bike shops en route to replenish supplies).

The bike has bottle cages but I only really use them if I’m doing an extended commute (or if it’s performing its alternative role as my winter bike).

Normal gears and rim brakes. I did have an alfine hubbed disk braked commuter at one point, but although it didn’t require much maintenance, when it did it was a lot more faffy than this set up.

I guess i could just get the wife to get the mid week milk as she rides home.

or i could ride home then jump in the car and drive back to town.

or i could accept that my commuter/tourer has racks on and that my pannier plus small cable lock weighs next to nothing. Sure i wont get any STAAAAAVVAAAAS on my 15 mile ride out of the city but ride heavy race light. Its worked for me for many a year – i dont do training.

nice and warm bike shed under the stairs 😀

or i could accept that my commuter/tourer has racks on and that my pannier plus small cable lock weighs next to nothing. Sure i wont get any STAAAAAVVAAAAS on my 15 mile ride out of the city but ride heavy race light. Its worked for me for many a year – i dont do training.

That’s fine, it works for you. I ride a heavy commuter too, I juts don’t need to do any shopping on the way home, not everyone does

I regularly do the shopping on the way home, saves me time from having to jump in the car and do a big shop. Only have to do that every few weeks now

Probably stop in the shop a couple of times a week to get a few bits, having a bike makes that dead handy. I’m about 90% of the way home by the time I stop to get supplies

The rack pack with fold out panniers is really useful, I also carry a fold up rucksack for anything that doesn’t fit inside

On monday I used my ex-commuter (a Surly LHT which had been demoted to shopping duties) on the commute again, it was great! slower uphill but really nice to be sat up and enjoy the sunny morning. Rode in trainers, baggy shorts and a hoody, rather than cycle shorts, jersey and fluro. Over my 10mile commute it only took 50min rather than 40min it normally does. As an extra bonus I had 2 empty panniers for the ride home so took advantage to stock up on some ace Pies for dinner, which I cant normally do with my current, pannier-less, commuter.

Untitled by Richard Elsdon, on Flickr

Basically anything will suffice as a commuter, sure there are better ways to do things and im more guilty than most for buying specific kit for certain jobs/rides but dont forget to enjoy your commute, if you’re just focussing on gritting your teeth then you may as well be in the car (unless you like that sort of thing).

EDIT:

Doing the big shop by bike is great fun too!

Untitled by Richard Elsdon, on Flickr

😀

I’ve got a folding bike trailer If I’m planning on carrying anything interesting……works with all my bikes and takes about 5 seconds to attach. Bought it cheap in a sale on a whim but turned out to be a great thing to have.

I have a 13 mile commute each way my set up is:

Pinnacle Lithium (flat barred/ deore hydros and gear)

I swapped it to 1*10 as I worked out exactly what gears I need and I didn’t need the weight or faff of a double at the front.

Mudguards, even if it isn’t raining there is still usually damp and crap on the country roads I use.

Pannier rack with ortilob pannier bags (a total must!!!)

My clothing is lidl long bib tights which are windproof, cheap as chips and I will be getting more when then pop up again!

Marathon + 28mm tyres with gloop filled inner tubes, after one puncture in the rain I will take a bit of energy loss for the reliability of them!

I might get bar ends as I would like a couple of extra hand positions