I’ve been doing my 15 mile (each way) commute for the past few months on my Trek road bike with a backpack on.

The route is on twisty A roads from Cheltenham, through Stroud and out towards Cirencester and I have just over 1000ft of ascending to do on one leg.

I’ve just upped it to three times a week and was starting to suffer from back pain on the way home with the backpack. So I decided to get one of the Topeak RX beam racks so i could fit a panier.

This has releived my back considerably, but has made the handling of the bike very poor.

I’m now looking at commuter style bikes such as the Cannondale Badboy (always wanted one) but am concerned about the gearing, at the moment the road bikes 54/11 top ratio is perfect powering along the flats. Has anybody got something simelar that does the same commute? Whats the gearing like? there are quite a few other commuters doing the same run as me , and apart from one guy on a slick tyred mtb everybody else is on road bikes.

Also what are poeple using for transporting clothes/breakfast/lunch etc on these long commutes?

Steel road bike with mudguards and rack.
Relaxed cockpit set-up.

Badboy/similar is fun for town but for that amount of road, I’d go for a road bike.

54/11 is a massive gear!

Just built up a Singular Gryphon with 50-34 by 11-36 and a pannier rack for a 23 mile commute.

All works (franken-groupset) save the Avid BB7s which I hate and are being replaced.

Seems very fast on slicks handles well – we’ll see how it goes from there.

Panniers and 42:19 fixed

Same distance 300m climbing

Brooks saddle and lots of lighting

My commute 36-38 miles roun trip and was wondering the same.

My top tips: ALFINE 8 and Disc Brakes

I discovered that the winter grit goes through drivetrains worse than some of my off road mud fests, hence an Alfine. As for disc brakes. People say a good set of rim brakes on the road (with no mud etc) are fine but in London my Discs have saved me numerous times.

I also lusted after a Bad Boy but in the end puchased a ridiculously cheap Carrera Subway with shimano disc brakes and an Alfine hub. It eventually morphed into an On-One Inbred and now I think I’m going to make it a 29er Inbred.

Forgot to say, as for gearing, lots of playing around with rear cogs and chainrings until I was happy… Now I’m no longer commuting on such a flat route I’ll need to change the ratios.

If your doing Cheltenham to Stroud, i am assuming that means fiddlers elbow, through Painswick and down into stroud that way? I would not be looking at single speeds or fixed for a commuter. As for discs, not really needed either there is very little braking on that route.

My view would be get a proper road bike, maybe look at a winter training frame rather than a race frame, mudguards are nice. Can you take stuff in one day a week and ride with nothing the rest of the week? could you get away with a small saddle bag? etc. I tend to use a courier bag but try and take as much as possible to work when i drive, this means food in fridge at work if poss, clothes etc.

Currently doing Cheltenham to Evesham and sometimes go over Cleeve, i don’t envy chelt to Stroud as a daily.

Mind you what kind of speed are you doing to need a 54×11? on a standard loop of Chelt Painswick stroud slad, chelt i don’t find i need a bigger gear than 53×13, including the pedally fast bit from Painswick to Stroud, ?

Proper rack might let you get panniers lower and screw the handling less. Don’t find having the pannier on to affect my bike badly/much at all (speshy tricross).

Cheers all,

Deffinitly don’t need disks, mrmo has the route right and I hardly need to brake at all.

I’m a big guy and like to push big gears slowly so the big gear is perfect for me, it might be more efficient but I’ve never got on with the leg spinning technique.

By the sounds of it I’m probably best as I am and just getting used to the difference with the panier on 😕

Steel road bike with mudguards and rack.
Relaxed cockpit set-up.

Same here, but no rack – I used a Wingnut instead, which is great. Saying that, if I did my commute more than twice a week (15 miles each way) I’d seriously look at a pannier.

Road bike is a Genesis Skyline/Ridgeback Solo with 48/18 gearing and bigger Conti touring tyres – got sick and tired of punctures.

I have an original Cannondale Bad Boy which gets very little use nowadays since I bought an audax type bike.

If you are interested I would be willing to consider offers for it. I am 6 feet tall (I think the frame is a large). I am based in Up Hatherley if you are interested.

Those clip-on racks are usually a bit flimsy, and if you’re putting a few kilos on it I would expect a bit of ‘tail wagging the dog’ effect.

If you’re comfortable on the bike why not stick with it and get a saddlebag, something like a Carradice or Ortlieb (the more touring roadie tyre ones), or a bikepacking-style one from Bikepack.eu?

Just make sure they fit and remove easily: Something like a Carradice Barley is great for carrying a few clothes and your lunch for work, but a bar steward to get on and off *unless you buy extra quick release bits), and not a great shape to carry any distance.

Hey Kieran,
This might not work for you, but…

I take an enormous pack on Monday morning with 5 x shirts, socks, undies, 2 x trousers and leave it all at work (including the pack). Then Friday evening, bring it all home. So 2 out of 10 single direction commutes are really slow and rubbish, but the rest of the week… 🙂

Adski

Road Bike/Tourer (make sure has mounts inc rack mounts):
Full Mudguards
Carradice SQR Slim / Tour – far more stable than a beab rack

Gearing something with SRAM Apex or 105 triple is good

as above do two days heavy with clothes etc then you get three days light

Sort of following on adski’s point, but can you just take clean clothes on the days you’re not on the bike, and then ride unencumbered?

It’s what I do.

Personally I’d not want a slower bike, I want my commute to be over with as fast as possible!

Sort of following on adski’s point, but can you just take clean clothes on the days you’re not on the bike, and then ride unencumbered?

That’s what I did when I had a long commute. In fact I barely took anything in and out. Couple of suits and shoes would stay at work. Shirts would go in to the cleaners once a week (near work) and all I’d take in and out would be undies and socks – jersey pocket no problem.

Panniers and 42:19 fixed
Same distance 300m climbing
Brooks saddle and lots of lighting

Trailrat rides my bike! The Beamracks are nice for carrying a decent rackpack (I use the MTX rigid sided), but not really suited to proper panniers. Too high and tend to sway.

What you need is a decent rack with proper panniers. I use a Topeak which still takes the rackpack if needed, and Ortlieb Downtown (plus a cheap Lidl pannier for overflow clothes on occasion). If your bike has no eyelets, then P-clips and a Tubus Fly rack will be fine. If it has mudguard racks only (as my bike does), then a normal rack and a seat-tube adaptor from M-part is your friend.

As for gears, I like fixed, but my route is flat. Spinning downhills can be tiring.

Commuters need to be ready-to-go reliable. Mine has puncture-proof Durano Plus tyres, full SKS guards and lights bolted to the rack. If I wanted gears, I’d go with an Alfine 8 speed, because reliability trumps weight.