Commuting bikes/Bikes with panniers/racks – Show me yours :-)

Looking to build up an original inbred* for quick outings to the shops, commute into work.

Bike will need to have full guards and to complement the guards perhaps panniers?

Looking for a bit of inspiration of this cold, damp Monday 😀

* canti tabs and horizontal dropouts 🙂

My tricross fixie – soon to be replaced with a cotic road rat alfine due to general decrepitness of the spesh – needs new wheels/tires – tires are worn oot and the wheels have started to break spokes at the shoulder ive been chasing them round. , BB , brake arms and cycle to work scheme just opened at work- seemed rude not to take the chance to get a nice bike.

jaynes day one alfine 8

My Boardman CX commuter

SKS Chromoplastic Road Mudguards(700×35-38 Wide)
TorTec Ultralite Rear Rack

Here is my Cove Handjob set up for commuting.

Bar ends make a big difference. It has a Raceblade XL front mudguard that I picked up on Ebay. I have seen a few as there is often not enough clearance on road bikes for these. They will fit suspension forks and you can adjust the arch.

Panniers also help. I have ridden this for up to 75 miles at a time and find it very comfortable.

Evil Resident in full commuter mode

My Giant SCR2

My Dawes Super Galaxy

Both about to be sold/ebayed to pay for the build on my Salsa Fargo frame. Also using this as a runabout, good load carrier too.
Real Classic

Nice bike turned ugly commuter:

Bag is a Carradice SQR Slim – good alternative to panniers if you don’t want to (or can’t) fit a rack.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/carradice-sqr-slim-bag-including-sqr-bracket/

(have since bought SKS Chromos to complete the look but haven’t be bothered to fit them yet – which I kinda regretted this morning!)

Just started to put together my Pompino for the winter. I have bought SKS Blumels – have you cut the wire down to suit the fit?
Ordered a TorTec ultralite too

Revolution cross

In “Rack off” mode…Removal and fitting is a 2min (and one kilo) job.

2002 On One Inbred, vertical dropout. DThe down tube split open near the head tube a couple of years ago, but nicely repaired (and not very nicely painted by me) there’s a good few years left in it yet.

1×7 speed, with a retro deore thumb shifter, 44 up front and something like 12-28 cassette, though I’m not certain.

Pannier rack is Blackburn EX1, and the pannier is the excellent Ortleib back roller classic.

Tyres are Schwalbe city jets.

Front wheel is a Scott hub on its original (2001) sealed bearings Mavic XC517 rim. Rear is an Shimano STX 7 speed off my 1996 Kona Lava Dome, again, orginal bearings, and I don’t ever remember servicing them.

2004 P7. 8 speed, with a Topeak Super Tourist Disc Rack.
Made a few changes since this was taken. Added a 36 tooth middle ring (kept the outer ring as bash/chain keeper), swapped the rigids for some Recons, swapped the tyres for Schwalbe Marathon Plus and switched to flat pedals for the sake of my poor old knees. (John Wayne style pedalling is an unfortunate consequence of the kiddie seat).

Considering it cost less than £200 to build, I am extremely pleased with it.

This is my Pompino with Carradice SQR seatpost mount with rack and Nelson saddlebag.
I moved away from rack and panniers as I wanted something that was quick and easy to remove from the bike and also didn’t add any weight to the bike when not in use ( the plastic seat post mount weights nothing with the rack and saddlebag removed )

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9sn3x8ptak5zqhq/2011-07-23%2011.58.52.jpg

edit: can’t figure how to link directly to a dropbox image!

Doesn’t have them yet, but will have

😀

Kaffenback, now has full length guards and ergo bar ends. I now have a “spare” small Roadrat frame if anyone’s interested 🙂

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6VUd5RNJSf9MHJ5amUxdEwzZzQ

Plenty of room in the panniers here!

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Not ideal for a quick run to the shops though.

I keep thinking of a Kaffenback… MUST resist 🙂

I have a singlespeed Scandal which currently serves me for road duties and is set up with carbon forks and City Jet 1.5’s. I have a set of Crud Catchers on there at the moment but like the look of the SKS Chromoplastic/Raceblade mudgaurds, would offer better protection.

The frame doesnt have any mounts for full length guards so how would they be attached?

here’s mine,

it’s a bit Frankenstein,
but it works and is pretty much what I want from a touring bike.
adapting it was a bit of a head scratch as it can only handle 22/32/44 chainset. this is one area where shimano doesn’t have a suitable off the peg front mech to use road sti’s with mountain bike crankset, but somehow I’ve wangled it (far too long and boring a story to go into)

the other issue is going to be mudguards, the mk1 inbred and forkisn’t designed to have full mount mudguards so I’m gonna have to fashion up some mounts out of p-clips and some old reflector brackets, which should work.
it’s not going to be pretty but I’ve managed to build it up using all my spares I had, only thing I’ve bought are the brakes.

Alfine 8, Tortec Expedition rack, SKS Blummels, B&M Cyo front light, Philips SafeRide rear light. Tried and tested winter configuration.

anyone tried schwalbe marathon spikes ? 700c x 35c on their commuter They much mroe draggy on non icy days ? as im tempted to fit them at first ice and leave them till spring. ive no intention of swapping them about.

for riding on the tarmaced old deeside rail line over winter where it will be frosty im sure.

are they anycope ? they seem too cheap to work esp with the 240 studs, my conti claw 120s were about twice the price :S

Me – a few times last winter. Scarily noisy on tarmac – you get pedestrians casting worried looks over their shoulders! Draggy as a normal Marathon – not noticeably more. The one downside over the Conti Claws is that the tread isn’t as deep. That means they handle ice OK – but will get bogged down a bit in softer stuff. A 26″ Claw will have a wider, deeper tread.

700c wheel.

its either the marathon or the nordic spike but its a much more agressive tread and i dont think ill need to worry about the snow as much. IF theres that much snow on the ground ill take the fat bike and be one of the few in the office – even if i am late.

carradice sqr tour slim is fantastic, can’t believe it took me so long to get round to buying one. Completely aaterproof so far (max exposure = half hour deluge), does a great job of keeping spray off your back. seatpost bracket is lighter when you’re not using the bag than a pannier would be.

full gueards will be going back on this evening. will keep spray out of my face and away from my shoes.

@damitamit any chance of a close up of how that Cyo is mounted please? Does it just go between the fork and the front brake on the brake bolt? Ta.

Now with a longer stem, and seatpost a little further down. Got to say I like riding it.

carradice sqr tour slim is fantastic, can’t believe it took me so long to get round to buying one.

Good innit?

I have a few caveats (which I’ve informed Carradice about):

– the bolt ends inside the bag need covered up if you are carrying anything scratchable in there or don’t like scraping the back of your hand while rummaging in the bag (I glued section of old inner tube over them).
– the straps at the back fall down to cover over the reflective bit (tie them out the way)
– the rear light mount is too low and leaves the light pointing at the ground
– it should have reflective bits on the side too, like the SQR Tour

But aside from those quibbles it is an awesome solution for the money (£63 from wiggle).

@damitamit any chance of a close up of how that Cyo is mounted please? Does it just go between the fork and the front brake on the brake bolt? Ta.

It goes between the brake and the fork on the brake bolt. Thou I cant remember it if was in front or between the mudguard tab.

Ta. Just ordered a Cyo and a dynamo from ze Garmans. How do you find ze light?

Just had an email to say my road rat has been dispatched 🙂

Ta. Just ordered a Cyo and a dynamo from ze Garmans. How do you find ze light?

Tis great for road riding. Shapes the beam to light up the road (and not the trees) ahead. Got another one on my audax bike too.

The philips saferide is pretty cool too. Its like a big glow ring of red light.

Which dynamo did you get? I’ve got a Alfine one on the salsa, and a Shutter Precision pv8 on the audax bike.

I bought this Not as good as the Son range but has a good rep. Mucho cheapo from Rose. Hard to refuse.

My roadrat 🙂

mk1 inbred and forkisn’t designed to have full mount mudguards so I’m gonna have to fashion up some mounts out of p-clips and some old reflector brackets, which should work.

Zip ties work great for fork attachment, both onto the crown (drill a hole through the very bottom of the ‘steerer’), and for attaching the wire rods to the lower end of the fork (just put a cable tie through the bolt hole and crank it tight to the leg – it works incredibly well!).

My Kaffenback fitted with Shwalbe CX Comps for heading down the odd rough track, I’m surprised at how well they cope.

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Kaffenback[/url] by GavinBelton[/url], on Flickr

Standlight goodness

The Surlatron. Midge bars (a bit weird on the road to be honest), second-hand STIs and 9-speed kit, Pitlock wheel and seatpost skewers, Madison stainless rack (ugly welding but half the price of a Nitto or a Tubus), Honjo Koken mudguards (Velo Orange copies are a lot cheaper and look just as good though), Schmidt SON dynamo hub.

Dynamos are a revelation, the newer lights are sooo much better than the old bottle-powered ones.

Now also has some nice fat cream-coloured Schwalbe Delta Cruisers to fill the gap between the mudguards and the tyres.

@Mr Agreeable. I hope you didn’t pay the blind man that fitted your mudguards 🙂