[Closed] Commuting on innapropriate bikes..

ridden (and do ride) a bmx to work for a about 2 years. carnage for the proper commuting bit. great fun for messing a bout on when i get a bit bored mid-commute.

Used to commute 17 miles on a full sus.

Used to commute from Aberdeen to Cults on my mum's BSA 1930s ladys' shopping bike. It had giant wheels, a full chain oil bath thingy and a basket. I loved it but broke it after several months of bunnyhopping and rough ground on the old railway track 🙁

Sometimes I ride in on my Five, but then - there is an excellent cheeky bit i can ride that makes half my journey off road and has 2 [Napoleon Dynamite quote][i]sweet jumps[/i][/Napoleon Dynamite quote] on it.

Still better than taking a car no matter what - ride whatever makes you
smile!!

Do you live in London? 😀

Everything here, from 8-10" DH monsters, to £5k+ ultralight road race bikes. Love seeing stuff like Santa Cruz Bullitts and the like, slicked up for the rat race!

🙂
I'm a northerner so basically my "lethal" ride is dicing with back to front forked bike shaped objects mostly.
Not a heroic commute like you London folk.

i use a road bike for mine not sure what i was thinking off at the time but it seemed like a good idea at the time
Singlspeed off road in winter for about 80% along canal

Cycled to work today on my 5.5" full suss fitted with bash guard and saint brakes. Downhill all the way until town so didnt notice much difference to the HT.

I'm amazed your FS's, 5's etc mentioned don't get nicked when you leave them.

Ride my Enduro SL all over London (though never leave it locked/unattended anywhere!) If I need to leave a bike then I ride my lovely little Brompton instead. Riding the Enduro is sweet though, bomb down stairs, find little (and not so little!) drop-offs to tackle, it makes riding fun!

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My old London commuter. 16inch frame, 2.3 knobblies, 5 inch fork, flats. Awesome it was, hit a Merc who decided to pull out in front of me and only broke a brake lever. Indestructible it was.

I only commuted about 10 miles a day in London, so it didn't seem worth having a "fast" bike. The Coyote was perfect for some after-work step/urban hooligan action.

I also overtook a few guys on lovely road bikes in full sponsor logo'd kit. Still having said that, the odd Halfords special with rusty orange chain did for me as well!

I'm thinking of starting soon. 8 miles each way. I don't want to leave my proper bike outside so going to have a go on the fat tyred, small framed jump bike. It's pretty flat and mostly cycle path so should be fine

Used to commute to college in Marple, from Cheadle (about 8 miles I think) on a 1950's Hercules, with 3-speed Hercumatic gears, and rod brakes on steel rims. Made me the man I am today (i.e., ****ed knees, and terrified of hills). 😆

I am on a Kona Shred [img] [/img], bit like this but now single speed with rigid forks, but I did overtake a Cannondale Prophet on Church Road in Brighton this morning, which I thought was a bit OTT

Fully agree that a small jump bike does make a city commute more fun. Did it on a road bike once and was terrified by the pedestrians stepping out in front of my and the comparative lack of brakes

[img] http://render3.snapfish.com/render2/is=Yup6la0%7C%3Dup6RKKt%3Axxr%3DG-qpDofRtglf7mrPfrj7t%3DzrRfDUX%3AeQaQxg%3Dr%3F87KR6xqpxQQeex0eQxaPQxv8uOc5xQPlaGPlJa0QQlqpfVtB%3F*KUp7BHSHqqy7XH6qgXGQQJe%7CRup6aQQ%7C/of=50,378,442 [/img]

i commute about 20 miles on this once or twice a week...

Apologies, was mainly checkin' to see if i could upload images!

😉

If I ride the inward leg on the canals I take my mtb which does feel a bit silly on the return leg doing train and road.

Innapropriate bikes for commuting? I would have thought the number has gone up recently thanks to C2W!

Passed a guy on a unicycle once.

Commute on my NS bikes society, steel hardtail with 2.35 knobblies and 140mm pike. Still try and race anyone and anything I see though.

I keep meaning to include "the woods behind nationwide" into my commute but can never be arsed to get up early enough...

I use anything from a cyclocross bike, MTB hardtail, MTB singlespeed or "burly" spec Orange Five. Usually one of the first two though.

I use my Malt 2 for commuting, but that's not too outlandish and I do treat myself to some nice XC ont he way home so that I can arrive sweaty but happy from the office. It lives in the building though and it was only when I was threatened with H&S that it stopped living by my desk...

Makes a change from the 25 year old 10 speed road bike that I used to use (and is still at the office).

'08 SubZero with 180mm...

[img] [/img]

I rode that right through the last winter, snow and all. The vast majority of my trip to work is through parks, and I can even mix some singletrack, rocks/roots/steps into it. It's a trail bike primarily; I just didn't see the point of building a different bike getting to/from work.

Commuting by bike- no rules!

(Used a mtb with knobblies for 6 yrs back in the 90-'s and comfy steel reynolds tubing, great in the dry)

I'm amazed your FS's, 5's etc mentioned don't get nicked when you leave them.

Drag it up into the office innit!

Often commute on my Five, I go past a lot of trails so if it's nice I'll take a cheeky xc commute and take in some of the mini DH lines.

I rode into the office this morning (i live at the top of Sheffield, work at the bottom) on my brakeless fixie. That was innapropriate 😆

I use a full carbon road racing bike, but my commute is 25 miles of sometimes very busy A roads so its completely appropriate, I want it over and done with as quickly as possible. Only a TT bike would be more appropriate.

I've taken my BLT a few times, much harder work than my old slick shod Stumpjumper but more fun (especially if i can find steps and other shortcuts) It also seems to ward off bad drivers and suicidal pedestrians as well

Now and again I ride my 5.5" bike to work. The feeling must be the same as those in Chelsea tractors, lording it over the plebs. 😉
Kerbs and pot holes don't bother me.
I often see a guy on a big Santa Cruz Driver 8 with Boxxers on. He looks comfortable.

This is my new toy, reckon I can do the 8 miles to work on it so I can play at lunch, or just leave it there?

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I keep passing a bloke in Bristol on his Stinky De Luxe with bar ends on heading the other way. Looks wrong.

Does a Specialized Tri-Cross SS count as inappropriate for commuting?

Used my old orange sub 5 (complete with slicks)for the past 4-5 years.

Just seen a guy today on a very pimp race BMX rolling down Waterloo bridge. His saddle was lower than the top of his back wheel, and as he was sat down his knees were round his ears.

Most incongruous thing? I've never actually seen SPDs on a BMX before. Especially paired with Spesh S-works carbon disco slippers...

My current commuter, upgraded to carbon forks since the picture was taken.
[img] [/img]
Probably about £3000 at new prices

My previous commuter, Blur/Rohloff, about £3000 again at new prices.

[img] [/img]

Nicolai Helius for a 3.5 mile central London commute here. Bought a Giant Escape M1 as a more 'appropriate' bike for the purpose, but haven't used it yet. 😳

On the other hand, full sus and big tyres are [i]ideal[/i] for the state of the roads. Some of the potholes are nearly drop offs!

I had the plan once to ride to work each day on a different *cycle* I owned, I had five at the time. This plan was halted when I realised I simply couldn't ride my unicycle more than about ten mitres without falling off.

I still rode it one day on my gimp though, 20 miles on a rather heavy singlespeed jump bike wasn't much fun.

i see a chap everyday going to work with a suit on riding a Spesh BigHit

I used to commute on one of these for about 3 years. [img] [/img]

I know one guy who cycled from Bristol to Stroud on his mtb with fat tyres to buy a rear mech from Noah.

Slow and tough ride!

When I worked in MK I used to do my commute on this (about 8 miles each way with the odd cheeky trail off the Redways)
[img] http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yhu2rh&outx=800&quality=70 [/img]

And one day I had the bright idea to take this.....nearly killed me. Never again
[img] http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=ygx6ye&outx=800&quality=70 [/img]