As of September I shall be free to commute to work every day, hooray!

It’s a 24 mile round trip, 80% on-road, 20% on hardpack & muddy path.

I want a s/s commuter, and prefer steel but would like to know your thoughts on what you would choose to ride.

I like the idea of a Pompino or similar CX type set up so I can run 32mm tyres for the off road section.

I have used a Langster in the past and actually quite enjoyed it, but the 20% off road section would get a bit hairy in poor conditions.

Anything out there to trump the Pompino?

Anything out there to trump the Pompino?

anything without canti brakes imo. I am about to get rid of mine as the brakes do my head in; not even the fact that they are shady in the rain – i can deal with that but the fact that as the pads wear they go out of adjustment and need faffing to sort. they can wear enough to do this in one ride (or a wet week of commuting).

if you do ride with them work they will brake on the inner surface of the rim!

EDIT: changed the front to a disc on mine which has been ace. need to do the rear too.

http://sscx.me/pages/single-speed-cyclocross-bikes

i nearly bought a pompino a few years back but i dont like the direction they went in since ‘that blue’

Pompetamine?

I picked up one of those cheap pompinos they were knocking out a few months ago, I replaced the front forks with some cotic carbon ones I found cheap on ebay and added a lyra front disc and second hand 700c disk wheel – loving it for commuting, should be about as low maintenance as its possible to get and cost very little. 😆

I’m happy with my Genesis Day 1.
I’ve a 20 mile round trip but its 60:40 off-road:road

Do they still do a tricross single? I liked mine so much I had it made in titanium 🙂 I couldnt reccomend it enough

Commute on a Pompino here – V brakes on mine so not had any of the adjustment problems above. Maintenance is limited to pumping up the tyres and occasionally oiling the chain. It’s cheap enough that I’m not too precious about locking it up in town either.

The only minor annoyance is that I can get a bit of heel rub with panniers due to a combination of the short chainstays and my size 12s – not a deal-breaker as I usually use a rucksack for my short commute anyway.

pompino with Vs here too (I had cantis and yes they were rubbish), if it ever dies I may well replace with pompetamine and discs.

Guy on my commute has a Viva fixie, looks nice but I can’t find one on the web, seem to be all sit up and beg jobs on vivacycles.

BTW what gear inches do people use for a mixture of road and easy xc commutes?

BTW what gear inches do people use for a mixture of road and easy xc commutes?

I’ve found 58″ (29er, knobbly tyres and 32-16) just about gets me to work without getting too sweaty. Could probably go significantly higher if I had showers etc at work, but 57″ results in a slight sweat on the climbs (enough to wake me up) but not so much it’s not dry by the time I arrive at work. 52″ is the default for off road, but it’s too spinny on a flat road or cyclepath. I guess with CX tyres I’d be able to go higher again.

wow, are the (frogleg?) canti’s that bad?
ive always thought they looked pretty cool, and imagined they had a pretty good cam action.
On the other hand, the mini v’s really don’t appeal to me.

I tried Pompetamine a while back and liked it, but asides from additional cost, im a real anal stickler for details and I don’t want to run one s/s when it has tabs from gear cables ( :oops:)

have you seen thison fixed gear frenzy?
At 219 its v cheap.

Cheep, but surely useless offroad, and the spec looks woefull (Hi-Ten frame etc). For £200 you coud pick upsomething nice built from reynolds off ebay, just avoid anything the fixie-nichesters would be bidding on.

wow, are the (frogleg?) canti’s that bad?

used them in the early years of mtbing, seemed ok then Vs then discs, going back to cantis was rubbish, faff to set up, the pads that came with them were rubbish and shredded the rims (loads of swarf just peeling off the rim) so I binned em and got some mini Vs.

TINAS currently running 70.1″ (according to sheldon) onroad, 58″ seems like a big drop, I’m only thinking canal towpaths and sustrans routes

oh and if it’s for commuting make sure it has clearance for mudguards essential for UK commuting IMO

72″ tarmac only, I would only cope off road if it didnt include a hill.

soob – i came to this from your link

http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/m14b274s195p7904/ALL_CITY_Nature_Boy_Complete_Bike

seems a bargain for a bike with a quality frameset?

I bought a used Kona Paddy Wagon from Ebay for about £230. With 28mm tyres, it would easily cope with hardpack. Soft mud may ba a challenge. The 69″ gearing is ideal for a flat commute (Cadence is 5x speed in mph). Anything less will be too slow for your 80% on road. Oh, and ride it fixed.

32:16 is great on tarmac 32:18 is a good all round gear.

i’ve got shimano short arm cantis on mine. v’s might be better. i think caliper brakes would suit me better; at least the pads don’t slip under the rim!

tricross is worth a look; it has clearence for 1.8/2.0 tyres front rear (certainly the green one did) which could make for interesting fun.

surly cross check is a nice ride too.

32:16 is great on tarmac

42:16, surely?

32:16 is great on tarmac 32:18 is a good all round gear.

What size wheels (hence the convention to use gear inches).

Inches = gear ratio * wheel size

e.g. 32:16 on a 26er = 32/16 * 26 = 52″

TINAS currently running 70.1″ (according to sheldon) onroad, 58″ seems like a big drop, I’m only thinking canal towpaths and sustrans routes

I’ve got a short but 1in3 hill to winch up before pretty much a 4 mile coast down into work with the last 2 miles almost flat at the moment. My commuter back home (Darn Sarrrffff) is a SS roadie arround 76″ and that’s tolerable without a shower but big enough to push if you want to use it as interval training on the hills.

I use my Genesis Day One for what you describe… Drag up a Cat 4 Climb from the TdF when it was down here – 42×18 gears

V brakes, Rack mounts, steel & 35c tyres

Have got 44 – 16 on my pompetamine which is perfect for my commute which is 10 miles (each way) with only a couple of small hills.

I did try it once on my love/hate whch is 32 – 16 but I felt like I was spinning too much and my legs didn’t like it

yes, I rode 32:16 once to work when my other bike was out of action. I was 15mins late..

Hijak but slimjim did your refund arrive?

I did try it once on my love/hate whch is 32 – 16 but I felt like I was spinning too much and my legs didn’t like it

I use my Scandal for commuting which is set up 32:16. I’ve been thinking of changing the ring to a 34t as find I spin a lot on the flats but have a few hills on my 11mile commute.

I have a steel s/s with mudguards in the classifieds…

Hijak but slimjim did your refund arrive?

was promised a resolution today… have heard nothing. have emailed and tweeted him, depsite a dozen tweets today mine is currently unanswered