My commute is around same distance but I only manage 4 days. I use my old road bike and reckon anything less would be too much. I suppose it depends a lot on the terrain. My ride is downhill in and uphill back around 1000ft so not too bad.

Use to do a hilly 18m each way and a 21m each way. And all year round.

To be honest done 4 days out of 5 was fine, Id be more concerned about what the riding is like. Both of my commutes were either largely segregated from traffic or quiet genuinely good fun back lanes. It was never a chore it was a joy!

Then I got a puppy, which screwed over the option of regular commuting.

I used to do 20 miles each way, SS, but in fairly flat Cambridgeshire. It was hard work and fortunately work moved after about 9 months to just 12 miles. So do-able, but not the pleasure something shorter is.

15 miles each way, every day here.

Relatively flat, along the coast into Edinburgh  no hills to speak of but the wind is a massive factor that would completely rule out single speeds for me. I’ve had 11mph average into the teeth of a gale and 20+ mph average with the same wind behind me.

I’d agree with what’s been said about choice of bike. I use an Orbea Avant carbon road bike with 28mm tyres and discs most of the year (plus a roadrat set up with ice spikes for when the temp drops). I do a detour on the way home a couple of times a week to add a little extra mileage and some hills so want to be riding a bike that is actually fun to ride.

HTH

18 miles each way will be a decent commitment on a daily basis. I agree that single speed would be a bad idea. Just the difference due to the prevailing wind in each direction would make gears worthwhile for that distance.
My choice would be a road specific commuter, i.e. a cross or fast touring type frame that will take rack and full mudguards with room for 28mm tyres, and drops.

My commute is 21km (13 miles) each way and while I can do it every day I find that after a few weeks it really starts to grind you down. Not so much that you can’t keep doing it but that you just don’t feel enthused about getting out at the weekend. I’ve occasionally done it on the single speed and it’s hard work but then I’ve not done a lot on the SS.

You don’t say how hilly the commute is, mine has 360m of climbing for the two rides combined, that can have a big effect on how you feel.

If you are looking at a new bike (no reason why not 🙂 ) then a CX/Gravel type bike would let you vary your route for a bit of off-road when conditions allow. Something like the Pinnacle Arkose or Genesis Croix de Fer. They’ll take guards, dynamo, racks so are pretty adaptable.

Same. Traffic lights, the great leveller. Well, that and Death. But mostly traffic lights.

Done 17 each way, London, fixed gear, dropped bars, full mudguards. It was ok but I did find it was expensive in terms of time as including clean up the commute was a good chunk over a hour (1:15 I seem to remember) which is too , long IMO. Didn’t find it too much physically but I was about 28 at the time.

I don’t think a ebike would speed things up unless it was hilly but would reduce fatigue.

17 miles each way in to London for me but I only do it 2 or 3 times a week.  I take a quiet route with cycle paths so lots of stopping and starting and it usually takes about 1 hour 20.  Front door to desk is the same time as train and tube commute. I think I have the heaviest commuting set up in London – old touring Bike with huge pannier full of files, laptop, breakfast, pants socks and shirt (in shirt shuttle) but I am in no rush. I do have a locker for suit and shoes and take a second pannier when it is change over day.

good luck

Mine used to be about a flat 9 miles each way and I did it every day on a single speed. Now it’s 18 miles, it’s not hilly but slightly downhill all the way in so slightly uphill on the way home. It was too much on the single as i really wanted a lower gear for the way home.

I did this for a few months last year, for a time I was without a car.

First week I did on the fastest / most direct roads. Was shattered by the end of the week. Made a stupid move and ended up unconscious in a ditch – but very lucky!

After that I found a quieter route, actually didn’t take any longer as the lack of traffic meant I kept moving better. However through winter I found it really hard, and would occasionally get up earlier to make a ridiculously long detour by public transport, just to avoid riding.

I didn’t want to go near a bike at the weekends.

Just to put this in perspective – I am a middle aged, slightly unfit, female – you may well make a better go of it!

25 miles each way for me, but it’s too much to do it there and back every day, so I do 1 journey, 4 days a week, ie I drive in Mon and ride home, ride in Tue and drive back, wed off and repeat thur/fri. That works really well for me, no carrying bags of clothes either. And, 1 set of lights in 25 miles, happy days, cycling through Surrey/Sussex countryside!

I do 20 miles each way, pretty much every day.  I love it but I wouldn’t like it to be my only option, that would be tough.

I’ve been doing it for 10 years and doing it 5 days in a row is still quite hard work.

As always,it depends what your commuting conditions are like.

I have a mixture of 16 to 20 mile each way routes(road and offroad). I will mix and match depending on what time of year it is or how I am feeling,usually 4-5 days a week. I am very lucky that most of the options are idyllic and even the main road routes have good sight lines,low traffic (at the times I use it) and never feel dangerous.I don’t think that I could go back to inner city commuting or anywhere with lots of traffic,too much of what I enjoy about the commute is the thinking time.

I used to do 19 miles each way from west to east London. I could rely on it taking 1hr 20 minutes +- 5 mins, which was pretty achievable. Doing it every day though did become a bit much, and there were 178 sets of traffic lights which was a real bore. I used to use a Trek Portland with 28mm GP4Seasons and a rack and panniers with mudguards (obvs).
I ended up not doing it every day, it just became too much as well as working a 10hr+ day. When the weather was better I sometimes rode my best road bike and there were a couple of time I got below the hour, but that was during the Olympics when there was significantly less traffic. There was a guy I’d sometimes catch on the journey home, on an e-bike. If it was a particularly grim westerly headwind I’d sit on his wheel for a mile or so to give me a break 😉