[Closed] Could I have some bike/kit advice for a newb commuter

pompino would fit the bill very well, probably. will take proper guards, rack etc. and so long as it's not got massively steep/long hills you'll be fine. simplicity for a commuter is a Very Good Thing.

I currently commute 32 miles round trip per day and I bought a ~£600 road bike, thinking it would be more efficient and therefore easier for my journey, after I cut out a chunk of train in the middle of the commute (used to be 5.5mile cycle-7mile train-3.5mile cycle on mtb with schwalbe hurricanes). I have since come to regret doing so.

BTW, there are road bikes well suited to racks and guards (and you're right, you DO want guards!). For cheap new bikes, have a look at the pinnacle range at Evans - they seem practical to me.

However, for year-round (ie including winter) cycling, calliper brakes can be a pain. I found they got gritted up even with mudguards in place, and need cleaning often. also, I am right off rim brakes; again because of grit and subsequent rim wear. It can be mitigated to some extent by constant cleaning of rims and pads, but this is a pain. FWIW, I favour BBB brand brake pads for being some of the most rim friendly and they are cheap (wiggle). Tektro, Shimano, Clarks all were far worse for me.

For road bike tyres, I liked vittoria Rubino pro3s in 25mm width (recently found out they can be had in 28mm width on rosebikes.co.uk). They are very puncture proof with good allround performance wrt weight, speed, grip (they don't excell at anything).

All that said, I no longer use my road bike. The one I chose, in particlular, was a harsh ride and this becomes very fatiguing, day after day. I now use a 20yr old steel-framed claude butler mtb and love it to bits. My experience with the road bike taught me the value of a drop-handlebar to give multiple hand positions for comfort/relief; and the ability to duck out of a 20mph headwind on bad days is a benefit that cannot be overstated. So Claude now has a drop bar.

For tyres, I found that Continental Sport Contacts (26x1.3")are very very fast (as fast as the rubinos mentioned); no punctures in 1500miles, but one torn sidewall (when heavily laden with stuff for a weekend stay at my girlfriend's). I replaced the torn one with a Vittoria Rubino pro3 slick (26x1.5") and it is great, though not quite as fast as the conti it is much tougher and still plenty fast.

Overall, I found I am slightly faster on the mtb and the cantilever brakes cope with the weather better. The extra speed comes from the way the tyre respond to tarmac that is not perfectly smooth. On the road bike, rough tarmac sucked huge amounts of speed out of the ride through vibration energy. So that's a double-whammy for rider fatigue. The plumper mtb tyres steamroll those sections, with very little loss elsewhere. I found any speed disadvantages only really come into play above 20mph. As an example, I sometimes coincide with a guy on a mid level road bike: I slowly reel him in on uphills, mostly stay with him on the flats, he edges slowly away when the speeds get higher but when we get to a rough patch of tarmac it's as if he has put the brakes on (the first time I nearly ran straight into the back of him).

Currently, I am building my next commuter which will have disc brakes on a carrera subway frame with a rigid tange steel fork, 1x8 drivetrain, drop handlebar with bar-end shifters. I am tired of rim wear.

As far as luggage goes, panniers are good for lugging volume, but create wind resistance. A rack top bag (trunk bag or rackpack) would be better for wind resistance and is probably the cheaper way (provided it's big enough). Personally I don't like backpacks, but many do. I am looking to buy a seatpost bag for my next build so I don't need to fit a rack, and my luggage will be higher up behind me, out of the wind. I'm looking at Vaude bags, Altura Arran and night vision seatpost packs and the silkroad offroad post pack.

Mudguards, look at Blackburn Cloudburst, SKS chromoplastics, tortec chromo tec. You want full wrap (up to and including chainstay bridge) to protect front derailleur.

To sum up:

1 Drop handlebars good (multi-positions)
2 26" tyres can be had that are perfect for commuting the distance
you want
3 full mudguards good
4 Disc brakes good
5 Racks not necessary (in many cases)
6 Rigid forks a must
7 For rim brakes, BBB are good pads
8 Consider your train alternatives (may want to use train for a
portion of the journey once or twice a week whilst building fitness)
9 Rider comfort is as important to long term speed/fatigue as cycle
efficiency

If you convert an mtb to drop bars, bear in mind there are brake levers available for either v-brakes & cable disc (eg tektro RL520), or calliper and cantilever (eg tektro RL340).

Hope maybe something in there is some help.

i'm going to cut and paste your post a bit...

My budget is paltry to say the least, so I'd like to look for something secondhand. It's got to be left chained to an inanimate object whilst I'm doing the studenty-stuff... so nothing too flash.

so, you'll be limited for choice then, it'll be cheap, and hopefully crap-looking, or maybe just crap.

idiots like me will tell you that you definitely need a XXXX XXXXXX (their bike of choice), which is great, but a tight budget limits you to whatever is available.

i think you're after an old touring bike, but A) good luck finding one at all, and B) it won't be cheap when/if you do.

example: something like a Dawes Galaxy, would be boring enough to go un-noticed by bike-thief-scumbags, but is actually a brilliant choice for covering miles in comfort.

but you can't afford one.

so, i'd suggest you'd be better off spending what money you have on clothes / panniers / lights / marathon plus tyres / mudguards.

and using the most reliable bike you can get with the change.

Firstly: Where is your masters? I work in the CS dept in Manchester.

Second: How much stuff do you think you'll be carrying? If not much then maybe look into a cheap road bike (with mudguards) and a decent rucksack?

Like already said, if you want a decent commuter/touring frame it's probably not going to be cheap

As long as your route isn't too hilly single speed is the way to go IMO. I commute 11 miles each way through the centre of Manchester an a Kona Paddy Wagon and love it to bits. It has SKS Chromoplastics fitted and would take a rack if I needed it to. I got my 2010 model in 'as new' condition for just over £200 on eBay. I have since changed the bars from drop bars to bullhorn bars as I found I wasn't using the drops and have changed the wheels to a pimper hand-built set but apart from that it is stock and it is perfect for my needs.

Word of caution for cheap road bikes - it's the wheels that are the let-down. Rims wear fast (though not so fast that it'll be an immediate problem). Hubs crap out due to poor sealing and lack of grease (this will hit you during your first winter). So as soon as you get your bike, strip, clean and generously regrease your hub bearings - you'll thank yourself later.

You could get an old Raleigh 10 speed bike or similar. You can pick em up in any second hand bike shop or on ebay/gumtree. Probably be about 50 quid, maybe slightly more. Look for mudguards, and if possible 700c sized wheels, as tyres/rims for old 27" wheels are slightly harder to find. They appear to last forever, my old Holdsworth at home has done tons of miles since I first got it, and never had anything more than brake blocks and tyres (not even a new chain).

On the other hand, I really like my aluminium trek road bike, a lower end one (Trek 1200, but model names are different now) where they are still a bit racy, but have room and mounts for guards and rack. I also have a dynamo hub, which is well worth getting, no noticeable extra drag, you always have lights with you (and they never run out), and in the long run cheaper and way better than battery lights that I had in the past.

Also lights. IMO, you don't need mega lights as long as you can be seen. I go through one patch of unlit country road and in winter it is a pain not being able to see but because I do the route daily, it's not the end of the world. The trade-off is that I use a lower powered light that lets me be seen clearly by others, without using loads of batteries, or requiring constant charging.

I tried a wind-up set: slightly inconvenient, then it broke.

Now I use Topeak hi-lite and red-lite. They use CR2032 cells which can be had cheap from online electronics retailers (DO NOT buy them from the supermarket) and are easy to carry spares for. They have been reliable and provide a surprising amount of visibilty to others. Blackburn do a similar light with a lifetime guarantee.

Best commuting light , albeit expensive , is a dynamo hub setup ... By far the best light investment I made for commuting

joe's post hit while I was typing - yeah I would agree with dynamo hubs. Also hub gears. Not sure what OP's budget is but bloke at work got a KTM from Wheelies as an insurance replacement. It's hubgeared rear and dynamo front (and good quality hubs which obviates something I said earlier) and around £500:

http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p57090/KTM-City-Line-7-28-2013-Hybrid-Bike.aspx

Could be fitted with an unconventional bar like this:

http://www.somafab.com/archives/product/the-sparrow-bar-490520560

or

http://www.somafab.com/archives/product/lauterwasser-crmo-handlebar

to give a drop effect whilst retaining flat bar levers and shifters.

Bike includes rack, mudguards and lights which offsets the cost somewhat. I would be tempted to switch out the fork for a rigid (rose bikes or on-one)

I don't think I would have a dynamo hub myself:

1 Added resistance (okay, maybe not much but I do everything I can to optimise my rolling efficiency, within reason. eg won't use marathons or nimbus tyres due to rolling resistance)

2 Disc brake compatibilty - probably could find one, but choice is going to be limited

3 Cartridge bearing compatibility, again there probably is one....

I'm moving away from cup and cone as a bit of an experiment. I like them, and with proper maintenance and adjustment believe they probably are the fastest rolling option, but my bikes don't always get proper maintenance. A neglected cup and cone hub = wheel rebuild. I imagine cartridge bearings will need changing more often than a cup and cone hub would, but doing so should be less hassle.

Thanks for such a great post mickolas! Taking your sage I'm going to try it out on an old mtb I have in the shed. It really is nothing special, which helps me with my hopes that it wont get nicked!

Forgive my stupidity, but how do you set-up the controls with drop handlebars? I looked at your suggestion of RL520 levers but that means using the tourer "gears on the end of the handlebars" approach. I'm not so keen on those. Are there any STI levers that could do v-brakes? Or am I missing something?

Del: the pompino is lovely....and out of my price range, unfortunately 🙁

woah... lot to read here.... i shall return... enlightened!

Also - Aldi kit is excellent VFM. Lidl is okay too but I find Aldi slightly better quality. The cycling stuff comes in two or three times a year, in a big wave and lasts up to a month before it's all sold out.

And if you don't have overshoes, I would recommend getting some.

Are there any STI levers that could do v-brakes? Or am I missing something?

buying sti units, even second hand, is an expensive option.

thanks for all the info. I've been riding for quite some years, so i would like to think I have the fitness, but I've never even considered the logistics of commuting before, so this is certainly out of my comfort zone.

I understand my unreasonable request; wanting something suitable but cheap, the trouble is that the bike is going to need to be chained to... errrr., something whilst I'm being all studious. I can't see the point in spending big bucks on something that is going to be:
A) ruined by chaining it up each day and
B) Stolen if it looks half decent.
not that I have anything against the good people of Canterbury. I'm sure they are all lovely.

Unfortunately there is no v-brake compatible sti lever. Your options would be:

1 fit older cantis (few quid off ebay) and use stis

2 fit newer cyclocross cantis and use stis

3 use v-brakes, stis, and a device that alters the cable pull. IIRC you will find ones called "rollamajig" and "travel agent"

4 I am looking at bar end shifters myself - people do seem to like them although I've not tried them yet. Claude has crappy shifters off a cheapo road bike, in the middle of the bar. I've found them fine, if inelegant, but I do sometimes accidentally shift gear when I stand up to pedal.

5 Use a different bar like the soma sparrow or Lauterwasser that give a drop using mtb components. Only one hand positon with these bars though. (I guess you could use bar tape up the middle of the bar, but you won't have access to the brakes....)

6 Google "trekking bar" for other options which may or may not appeal

7 On-one bingo bar acts like a TT bullhorn bar but takes mtb parts.

One thing I have found is that whatever issues you find, some ingenious bugger will have found a work-around. Including using two handlebar stems mounted on the steerer (if your steerer is long enough) and fitting a drop bar underneath a narrow flat bar or a TT bar. Ive even seen a trekking bar with a bullhorn bar above it, with TT extension bars mounted on the bullhorn. Some people just won't take "You can't do that!" for an answer.

I like it! improvise... now! where did that blowtorch go?

but I get the idea, there is no convention.

Added resistance (okay, maybe not much but I do everything I can to optimise my rolling efficiency, within reason. eg won't use marathons or nimbus tyres due to rolling resistance)

2 Disc brake compatibilty - probably could find one, but choice is going to be limited

3 Cartridge bearing compatibility, again there probably is one....

The resistance of a hub dynamo is next to nothing, people worrying about drag from dynamos have usually only ever ridden old sidewall dynamo systems. My light has auto-turn on and off, so it goes on when it is dark, and back on when it is light. It often turns on when you go through tunnels, or under trees on a dim day, and the only way you know that it has turned on is that you can see the light, I can never tell if it is on without looking at the light from it. It is way less noticeable than the difference between a slightly less pumped up tyre, or between a touring and a racing tyre.

All makes of dynamo have disc brake versions (shutter precision are the current most fancy, light & efficient one I think).

Oh, and I'm pretty sure shutter precision hubs have cartridge bearings.

And you get everlasting actual ride in the dark light for very little weight penalty (200g or so extra on the front hub, but the lights are extremely light compared to most decent battery lights, what with having no batteries).

I stand corrected, shamed and humbled. Had a quick sqizz at those SP hubs and they do look the very thing. I think there will be one in my future.

As for the OP, a £90 hub may be a little excessive while he's getting set up.

However, just as I'd finished saying that no issue exists that some clever bugger aint solved I go and get hoist by my own complaining petard (or something).

Joe - In looking, I spotted one or two owners are concerned that bearing change (long-lived though they claim to be) is a factory job, not for the home mechanic. Have they got that wrong? Seems like it should be a diy job.

I've got a bar end shifter (1 by 9) and I like it. Quicker to change gear, will last for ages, you can feel what gear you're in at the lights without looking down between your legs at the cassette.

9 speed's fairly cheap now we're onto 10 and beyond.

Joe - In looking, I spotted one or two owners are concerned that bearing change (long-lived though they claim to be) is a factory job, not for the home mechanic. Have they got that wrong? Seems like it should be a diy job.

I think it isn't a home job on my shimano one, but it seems perfect after more than 7000km (7300km on the current speedometer which was bought a year or two after the hub), I'll probably upgrade to a shutter precision one if it ever breaks.

On the Shimano one, I hear it is possible to DIY, but because there is a delicate cable that goes between the non moving bit and the moving bit, or something like that, it is also possible to break it.

Tourer sort of thing, Ridgeback do lots of interesting stuff? Might find one second hand.

Tricross is a tough/road/commutey sort of thing, always loved mine, lots of those around for cheap as well.

Thought I'd best point out: Claude had a quill stem to begin with. As I was converting to drop bars I wanted:

1 Shorter stem to keep the reach correct
2 1 1/8" compatible to access a greater range of stems
3 Modern 4 bolt stem so I don't have to unwrap the bar tape when I take the bars off

I bought a quill-to-ahead stem converter but got a 1" version by mistake - luckily I had a shim that came with a 1 1/8" stem I had bought previously.

I opted for a Deda RHM01 (stands for Rapid Hand Movement, s****) compact drop handlebar because it was cheap and I didn't like the deep, anatomic drop on my road bike. I do like this bar and, speaking as a non-roadie-type-person, find it much easier to spend more time in the drops.

I commute a round 10 mile trip daily and my charge plug suits me fine. I've tried loads of different bikes but this one just seems to suit me fine. As long as it's not to hilly where you are I'd reccomend it.