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Moots
and also
less value focused
seems legit😂😂
Singlespeed, belt drive and 32C road tyres set up tubeless. Works for me.
Only certainty is that the first commute to a new location will end in disaster.
One puncture (pre tubless) and found my pump had died since last being used.
One major accident (not mine) meaning a huge detour.
One torrential downpour flooding roads in the area.
And the interview for the new job occurred on that Wednesday a few weeks back when we had snow.
Sorry about causing that folks of Surrey...
How ****ing long is your commute??
My commute used to be 15 minutes longer on the "commuter" (Fixie, puncture proof, mudguards) Vs the road bike. But that was 1h40 Vs 1h55 each way (25 miles). It was doable as my boss was quite relaxed about timekeeping, but not every day!
Puncture proof tires do feel dead, in the sense that you can't feel the road like you can on nice tyres. But after a few wet rides you just get used to it and chuck it into corners regardless.
Besides, even if there wasn't a trade-off between speed Vs time spent fixing punctures, that's not the reason. I want to set off at 8:00 and be at my desk at 9:00, not set off at 8:15 and occasionally not make it in until 9:15, so I'd need to set off at 8:00 anyway to be sure of making it on time. I just want to roll out of bed, jump on the bike and have consistently uneventful commutes.
Fixing a puncture on a nice summers evening isn’t a pain. Dark, cold and rain it is. Never noticed the extra weight of marathon pluses, not sure what this ‘dead’ feeling is. No punctures in the years since I swapped tyres.
I hated having Marathons on my bike. Kudos if you don't feel it / don't care but they definitely 'feel' slow to me - at least the ones I had a few years back. As with everything, it probably only adds up to a couple of seconds on an average commute, but I enjoy feeling fast.
Tubeless with the current 35mm G-Zeros and Stans has been bombproof for me, and less (perception of) drag.
tthew
Your’re right to avoid riding chrome plated rims in the wet, bloody lethal things! Are they rod brakes to, to complete the triumvirate of ineffective stoppers?
Err yes that's certainly a contributory factor. The brakes aren't rod fortunately, they're quite tidy Weinmann callipers but they're pretty ineffectual even in the dry, howl when damp and need some forward planning to clear if wet - so it's best not to use them.
How ****ing long is your commute??
25miles. So the Marathons change it from a 1hr25/1hr30 each way, to 1hr40/1hr45.
They are great tyres that I still use on my 'pootle to the shops with shopping basket and panniers' bike, and i also use some on the wheels of our kiddie bike trailer, but I would never want to use them again for commuting.
Marathon Supremes for anyone moaning about the weight of marathons - you get the puncture belt but you forego the sidewall protection so smashing it into kerbs is off the cards
Marathon plus on the other hand..... Those and an alfine - surprised you get to work.
I commuted almost continually through 10 years and 3 jobs.
~4 years of 10 miles each way, plus a regular extension to do some training/race (Route was Village=>city centre=>industrial area). Maybe half a dozen punctures in 4 years (usually running Michelin Pro2 or similar, Ultegra or D-A equipped race bike, except when weather was properly bad, then had a second bike with guards, still running ultegra and decent/racy tyres, but 28s). Couple of crashes from inattentive motorists, but nothing more painful/expensive than scrapes and bruises. Never actually broke stuff, just wore out over time.
~18 months of 20 miles each way, Village=>peak district=>industrial area on the edge of the next town, same bikes, essentially, same sort of issues, no punctures that i can remember. Most expensive non-wear and tear disaster was having a jersey shredded by a close passing lorry that hooked the fabric of the sleeve. Very lucky not to go under it. Nothing other of note, except endless close passes on the busier roads.
Then 5 years of about 12 miles each way, either offroad through the fields etc, only had to use about a mile of tarmac. Or on road using the same/similar bikes as above. Only a couple of punctures. One or two run ins with motorists, lots of close passes.
Think the moral of the tale is to change jobs so you have a decent cycle commute.
Only commuted to or from the current job about 20 times in the near 20 years i've been here. Because it's 40+ miles each way.
Think the moral of the tale is to change jobs so you have a decent cycle commute.
It’s 9/10 of the reason I don’t ever look at other job opportunities
@reeksy hope that Thunder Burts have improved since your experience, I've got a rear one ready to fit for my Badger Divide ride. 🤞
Although I did a 95km ride yesterday on a mix of roads, trails, paths etc with Nobby Nics and they were actually not too bad, maybe just leave these on 🤔
I tried single speeding my hardtail and commuting on that for a bit. It was horrible. Will take gears any day of the week. Only problem I ever had was when I decided to fish tail a crashed shopping trolley as I rode past writing off the rear mech in seconds. Hydro disk brakes always too. Never a problem.
@peekay that's more than I'd ever consider doing by bike so hats off for that. I am surprised that tyres can make that much difference to overall speed on the road but probably shouldn't be. I can see how the balance can swing from safe to fast in your usage case for sure.
Never noticed the extra weight of marathon pluses, not sure what this ‘dead’ feeling is
my pal is like this, he genuinely does not notice stuff with his bike, he just gets on with it. I pointed out to him on a ride that it sounded like his bottom bracket and wheel bearings were fubar'd. When I checked them, there was a fair bit of play with both the crank and wheels, he'd not noticed. He also rode with Marathons and noticed no difference from the road tyres he'd swapped them with.
Maybe some of us suffer from "princess and the pea itus" 😆
irc
Full Member
I commuted for about 5 years on a 1*8 Edinburgh Bicycle Courier.
I had one of those. Bonkers cheap. When I stopped commuting, I just left it at Marylebone unlocked. I hope someone is still using it. Before that I had Coyote Dual 16in jump/play bike singlespeeded with 5 inch forks. That was a lot of fun when any stairs formed part of a commute.
@crazy-legs fair enough. I might try again this summer then. I'm having to travel from Euston to Waterloo about once a month.
I should caveat this by saying this isn’t my first foray into bike commuting, I’ve done it on and off for 7 or 8 years, with very few mechanical maladies or punctures really. It’s just the first 4 trips I’ve done to my new job, which is the same route as my last one, have lead to the above issues and associated swearing. Tyres are Tufo Gravel Speedero 40mm, and these have been the first issues I’ve had with them, in I guess about 8 months.
As with everything, it probably only adds up to a couple of seconds on an average commute, but I enjoy feeling fast.
Up to 10 mins difference between my commuter and my gravel bike each way.. there is about 4.5kg between them unladen; cheap heavy 36 spoke wheels, heavy 40mm tyres, full wide SKS Edge mudguards, Brooks B17 and a rack on the commuter make for a slow exit from the (many) lights.
I've learned to just pedal slower, the commuter is a miserable experience if you try to push on, load it up with 15kg of camping gear and tootle everywhere at 10mph and it is transformed to a comfy and enjoyable touring bike :)..
That doesn't sounds like bad luck but preparedness / maintenance / kit choice. All of which can be addressed.
When I commuted by road / pavemenet in London I ran Gatorskins with slime innertubes that reduced punctures from every couple of weeks to about once a year.
Other than that, over several thousand miles of commuting including road, off-road etc I've had a small handful of punctures, all repaired and carried on.
I failed to get to work by bike and had to walk a few miles precisely twice. Once because I took the wrong size innertube and had a puncture. Once because I was riding tubeless and went out with no spare tubes and no pump, just CO2, and to add to this hadn't maintained the sealant so ended up stuck.
Over the same timeframe I failed to get to work via car exactly the same number of times (flat battery in both cases).
Good luck OP - it's do-able in a reliable manner once you get really well prepared and in a routine!
38 years cycle commuting until retirement 2 years ago.
continental top touring tyres (before shwalbe were available ).
full length mudguards all year.
schwalbe marathon plus tyres for the last 20 years IIRC.
pretty trouble free really.
Don't spend money on the commuter. Mine is a 12 year old + Cotic X that I hated the day after I bought it. The frame version of those Marathon + tyres. Run the chain and sprockets until they snap then a bit longer. The BB7 brakes are made from the left overs after taking the good bits from 3 sets and making 2 good pairs for other bikes. Generally fine except they need tools to adjust and eventually they touch above the rotor line and stop working, you get a week to think about it though. Tyres are tubeless with a nice, but dicarded Schwalbe G One Spped in 35mm on the front and currently some horrid 42mm Conti lump on the back. Inner two ring of a road triple gives a nice low gear on no longer wanted road cassettes and tons of pop rivets hold the mud gaurds together.
Good enough for 11 miles each way , 7 off road, and the Verderers final descent thrown in at times.
Don’t spend money on the commuter.
Disagree. Mine is the bike I do 95% of my mileage on. The bike I ride most should get at least some of the nice bits.
I'm certainly not gonna give you any advice Tom, pretty sure you know what's what! That is a rather unfortunate series of events!
But definitely had a bad stint a while ago. I'd been using Marathon pluses for ages, but fancied trying some gravel capable tyres. Switched to Panaracer gravel Kings. A very bad decision indeed. Four or five punctures in a week, although I was running tubes at the time. Decided that was the time to get the commuter set up tubeless, got some Schwalbe G-Ones, and the rest is history! Bloody great tyres for my needs, and not a single picture for about a year and a half. Luck may play a massive part in that though!
Not so stealthy ad. If anyone wants a new super commuter, my sturdy, well used but reliable Charge Plug is in the classifieds. I'll throw in mudguards, pannier rack and a set of gravel wheels & tyres.
Think the moral of the tale is to change jobs so you have a decent cycle commute.
This^^^
16 years of 30 miles each way by car, which got slower and slower, never mind more frustrating due to the awful driving standards.
Ditched that for a job 4 miles away and an easy bike commute, mostly along reasonable bike paths. Predictable time, pretty much free exercise, saving loads on fuel and - for a Brucie bonus - earning more money.
2 punctures (well, the same one, twice, dues to shoddy patch application, on my part) in 9 months
Thinking back to the two years of Stockholm commuting, my biggest issue was a chain exploding coming off the lights one time. I was clipped in, but _JUST_ managed to get my feet out before I fell over in the middle of the four way junction.
Did the same. Wasn't so lucky, and now have a fake front tooth. Come to think of it, all my mechanicals have either caused or been caused by a crash. Key is to zero in on the "zero" maintenance parts like singlespeed because it's super hard to make yourself fix the commuter if your fun bike/s are also in need of attention. Clearly I'll have a puncture tomorrow now, but I've never punctured in 6 years of different commutes, other than one worn out rear tyre telling me to get itself changed
Disagree. Mine is the bike I do 95% of my mileage on. The bike I ride most should get at least some of the nice bits.
I disagree. A commuter bike should be a 20+ year old frame with bits bolted on that don't work very well but still well enough that you'd feel bad throwing them in the bin. Those bits are indestructible.
Nice bits just breaks.
On the subject of what bike...
Eldest_oab bought a £125 Facebook marketplace special Edinburgh Cycle CoOp 26" wheel hybrid. Full guards, with extended flaps, steel heavy duty rack on, chromed steel bars. He's added a second saddle(!) on the rack and a pannier. He's now done a year of commuting to uni and 3 evenings a week of Deliveroo. The second saddle on the rack is to give backies to the pub...
His house of 6 started with 17 bikes between them - all the others are on posher road bikes or MTB. They've now got 20 bikes as the housemates area all slowly going down the 'cheap n simples with mudguards' route realising that he doesn't worry about theft and still has the house Strava KOM for the uni commute.
I’ll never get a mechanical when cycling to work - I’ve seen enough Jeremy Vine videos to know that cycle commuting makes you feel obliged to cycle into danger and pedal faster rather than brake when someone might start to drive near you. I think I’d rather drive.
Good luck with the biking!
I’ve seen enough Jeremy Vine videos
Sample of one.
More swearing this morning.
Front tyre stayed inflated overnight after pumping up yesterday morning (didn’t ride home as got the train, as need to be somewhere soon after work, not in a sweaty heap). Fine when I left the house, squirming all over that place after 5 of 6 miles. ‘No problem!’ thinks I, as I’d packed a pump for just such an occasion. Attach pump, top up air assuming that now all the sealant I’d put in had now got to where it needed to be. Unscrewed pump, which, it turns out, had got stuck on the valve core, pulling it out.
I’m sure you’ve all heard people have a sweary tirade before, this was worse. I have a front tyre that holds air, as long as you don’t ride it. New valve? What else could it be?
I'll take your unscrewed valve core and raise you a 'got puncture, took wheel off to fix and reinflated with wheel leaning against bush. Just as I was finishing pumping the wheel toppled out of the bush, snapping the valve body where it joined the pump head but above the bottom of the presta valve so the broken bit just span inside the pump as I tried to unscrew it meaning pump was permanently attached to the uninflateable wheel, 5 miles from work'.
Anyhow
1 - make sure valve cores are tight
1a - assuming it's a Lezyne pump, get the new hose with the bleed valve, or wait a minute before unscrewing it
2 - what sealant?
3 - is it possible you'd picked up another puncture that caused pressure loss?
On the Shwalbe tyre front, I can also recommend City Jets. I used them for years of commuting daily through Hulme and Moss side where the cycle paths are strewn with glass, syringes, knives, splintered baseball bats and human skulls, with no puncture issues.
Tom - I'm quite disappointed that you use a humble Shimano 105 rear mech. I'd assumed you'd use one that had been chiselled from a block of titanium by tiny magic elves, that shifted though the power of thought alone.
You're slacking! 🙂
1 as tight as they’ve always been, couldn’t tighten them anymore by hand this morning
1a a specialised road one, can’t remember the model.
2 muc off. No issues across 7 bikes over last few years
3 possible I guess, but odd that the tyre lasted pretty much exactly the same time as before
@binners, maybe if I had, I wouldn’t have had an issue? Makes you think…
can i add, i think using tubeless on a commute is not something i would do.
in a puncture situation i can change a tube in a couple of minutes and be on my way.
with tubeless the faff of trying to get a seal, or to plug a bigger hole, or then change to a tube anyway, whilst covered in spaff, is not something i would want to do at the side of a busy city center road.
ps, i have some bomb proof schwalbe big ben tyres going cheap if you want them.
Only work 3 days a week in the office now, but still ride nearly every time. Can count on the fingers of one hand the disastrous days I've had in the last ... er well, it's since the 90s I've been commuting. Use the most expensive bike I've ever bought for it these days and the only things that's died was the crappy Dura Ace crank arms. Oh, and 1 wheel.
Love it, and really hate driving, so will do it til me legs give up.
Oh and tubeless tyres are the best invention ever for commuting! 😀
I think I’d lose the tubeless aspect of the wheel that keeps going down, clean it all out and fit a tube. With gp4000’s in 25c I’ve had maybe 2 punctures ever with it. Both whopping big bits of glass.
If you’re going to continue with it then I’d consider re-taping the rim and new valve and set it up like new. Personally I’d use Stan’s instead of muc off.
I use a Lezyne pump and I think it’s unscrewed a valve just the once - I prefer the screw on abs head to the other type with a lever to pull to lock the valve on. I just make sure the cores are more than hand tight using a little red alloy valve tool (maybe Stans too?).
On the value / fancyness of a commuter - if I had a few miles to go to get to a train station where it had to be left out I’d ride something cheap and unfashionable with full mudguards / rack. It would never be a singlespeed though - sod that.
If commuting where I have a secure car park then I’m going to ride something I enjoy riding and feels nice and responsive. So in this case a road bike weighing probably in the region of 8kg, di2, Hunt wheels, gp5000s, Hope RX4 brakes etc. I have now switched out the racey frame for a gravel one with a more relaxed position and with mounts for proper mudguards and a rack. I plan to get some bolt on mudguards and hopefully some kind of quick release rack so I can ride without a backpack on but still whip said rack off for fitness riding.
@ton Do you miss the commute?
Like you I commuted (all seasons) for decades,it was a massive part of my day to day.
Once you get a good route(and bike) sorted,it is a lovely thing.
Just commuted in - 25k 350m climbing 25% off road. Blazing sunshine but around freezing till the last few k when it warmed up.
Top of the South downs looking over the sea with only the sheep for company is literally the best way to start an otherwise fairly boring day at work.
My commuter is currently a Trek Procalibre with plenty of upgrades and definitely tubeless - havn't had a single flat this year but if I do dynaplug will sort me out - do carry a tube as well though. The same route on my non tubeless pinnacle arkose gave me a puncture every couple of weeks till I moved to tubeless.
I miss my cycle commute.
Started a new job in October - 50 miles away. It's only one day a week in the office (which means carrying laptop etc when I go in there) but the hassle of riding is not worth it. I did mock up a couple of potential routes but even multi-modal doesn't really work.
What killed a lot of my previous cycle commute (15 miles each way into Manchester) was the move to mostly remote working and having laptop etc all at home and needing to be carried in.
On the other hand, the sudden extra space in the office meant that me putting my bike in one of the smaller offices suddenly became tolerated so with the far more secure bike parking (rather than the previous arrangement of leaving it in an underground car park opposite), I tried to do it more often.
Singlespeed road bike - nothing to go wrong, completely reliable, easy to clean. It's a great bike - must be nearly 20 years old now. Proper Trigger's Broom of a bike but it was a great commuter.
Once you get a good route(and bike) sorted, it is a lovely thing.
I used to do a daily commute, 7 miles each way down a canal towpath (Stretford to Altrincham). It was a really pleasant way to start the day. I'd see the odd person walking their dog and the odd bloke fishing. The main road that ran parallel to the canal was hellish, nose-to-tail, almost stationary traffic (it was actually quicker by bike), so theres the smugness factor too 🙂
I've just finished a placement with a 7 mile each way commute, 95% of which was off-road, which was nice too.
I commute 8 miles each way and it's brilliant.
I've got a genesis longitude with a dynamo and Busch and muller front light which takes away the faff of making sure everything's charged.
I've tried a few tyre combos for mixed road and cheeky path route.
Vittaro terreno tubeless. Managed to ride from Southampton to Glasgow on these without a puncture, but started getting a few on the commute. Running a high pressure the sealant just wasn't up to it. I then changed to.....
Schwalbe hurricanes with tubes. Don't, just don't. Clingfilm would be better. Averaged 3 punctures a week. Fast rolling though. Then went to.....
Maxxis crossmarks. Best Compromise. Used these for 4 years on my XC and never had a puncture that's taken longer than 5min to deal with. Never punctured on the commute which is 2 min longer than the hurricanes.
fasthaggis
Full Member
@ton Do you miss the commute?
i sure do mate. i proper loved it, and in the winter for some strange reason even moreso.
it was like 100 miles a week of free cycling if you get what i mean.
i ride the same distance now i have retired, but it seems more of a effort to do so. we dont ride far away from home has we need to be on hand for the grandkids.
i would like to add, i dont miss the bit in between the commute in and the commute home........ ;o)
I've always commuted by bike and it's the single main reason I go into my office.
The mainstay is a 30-mile round trip along Bristol's two main cycle paths (Bristol > Mangotsfield > UWE), which is great headspace and low stress due to the lack of traffic. Since the pandemic I'm much more flexible and can therefore - like today - avoid peak times. In winter I use an "all road" relaxed geometry custom steel bike with discs, proper mudguards and 35c tyres. Dry weather sees me use my sharp-angled stainless steel road bike, though less confidently / comfortably since I broke my back in a crash last summer while doing this same commute (accident cause still unknown, but suspect a pothole or mechanical & didn't involve anyone else).
Less often I do a 15-mile round trip, which is more direct but means crossing the centre of town and therefore takes nearly the same time. However it's less punishing on my kit in bad weather, so I'm going to start adding this shorter route back into the mix while using a flat bar 650b "road plus" bike now and again.
Over the years I've extended commutes to take in local road loops, gravel and MTB as takes my fancy.
That's always easier in better weather, so I also discovered the turbo trainer during Lockdown. I've been keeping the miles up this way over the winters since 2020 - albeit with fewer physical benefits of actually commuting.
Cycling around 4,000 miles a year (much of it commuting) has many benefits but my body has become used to it over the years. I guess it's because I have become very efficient at one thing that my body has optimised around fewer calories, meaning I don't get the excuses anymore to eat whatever I want. 😉 I've had to add regular running now on my days off cycling to maintain my usual weight.
On the plus side, it's so vastly cheaper and can be a lot more varied than driving to work. I use this to justify a completely wallet-open approach to my bikes, confident in the knowledge that they'll get used well. 🙂
P.S. I advocate using the best bike possible for the riding you do the most. I can understand that some people don't get the benefits from great kit, but I mean who would want to regularly commute a long distance car journey in a base spec shopping trolley car instead of a grand tourer?! Manchester to Monaco in a Ford Fiesta, or in a Bentley? Tools for jobs and all that... I know what I'd choose. 🙂
I advocate using the best bike possible for the riding you do the most
Guess the reason people commute on low spec bikes is cos of the theft danger? I've always worked on secure sites, so don't have that worry..
Guess the reason people commute on low spec bikes is cos of the theft danger? I’ve always worked on secure sites, so don’t have that worry..
I think there are two schools of thought to it:
- use the cheapest bike/kit you can on the grounds it'll just get trashed
- use the best possible bike/kit on the grounds it needs to stand up to daily (ab)use
Factors like storage, security, drying/changing/showering facilities and so on obviously come into it too. For me, I wouldn't be able to do a 12-15 mile commute (which used to be my standard) on some sort of ratbike, it'd be too unpleasant and the road and traffic conditions meant things like good brakes, strong wheels, tough tyres etc were mandatory. Anything else would just have fallen apart. A 2-mile commute, yeah I'd do that on a ratty old £100 Halfords special...