I need to start riding to work. It’s 14 miles, but pretty crap straight through town. Mix of potholey cycle lanes and potholey roads. I need something robust and comfy, with decent (disk) brakes.

My old (2004) Tinbred is sitting redundant at the back of the garage. I’ve put some spare 1×10 gears on It, and found some Mary bars. Playing around, it appears that 700c wheels fit, but do you reckon skinny 29er wheels with road tyres would? That would give a better ride.

After that it’s mudguards- no rack mounts so suggestions there too please. And I’m still not sure about Mary bars, had them years, tried a few times off road but never really got on with them.

And finally luggage – got plenty bikepacking stuff but that’s not ideal for work clothes / lunch, maybe a rack and panier?

Pics of the abomination with non disk road wheels and tyre clearance…

Assuming 19mm ID rims or thereabouts? Put something like WTB Riddlers or Nanos on them, they’ll handle crap roads and easier off-road OK without being too slow on decent road surfaces.

I know what you mean about the Mary bars.

Look at Carradice SQR bags for commuting with larger amounts of kit, they look a bit naff but do the job. Clip on and off in seconds. If you don’t like the look of the SQR range then their traditional saddlebags are also good.

32will fit with guards.

Be a man and go SS or dropout depending fixed.
You can get seat clamps that give you the upper rack mounts. Don’t buy a beam rack they are shit. Otherwise go for a calssic saddlebag. Like a long flap.

the best thing you can do for commuterisation IMHO is to fit mudguards so I’d be prioritising that. Without eyelets you’re looking at concocting some attachment points for the stays if using regular guards or something like these could be the solution

Roadracer mk3

Re bars, I would personally go narrower but it a personal comfort thing.

I’ve got  box of old bars (I’m a hoarder) so plenty of options there.

The carradice saddle bags look good Whitestone, I hadn’t thought along those lines.

Singlespeed, na, I want it easy over the col du Itchen Bridge thanks!

P clips for the mudguards. Proper mudguards are much better and look better when properly fitted compared to race blades etc I’m nice and close fitting. Black for that frame IMO.

it appears that 700c wheels fit, but do you reckon skinny 29er wheels with road tyres would? That would give a better ride.

700c wheels = 29er wheels, so ride and fit will be exactly the same

IHN- it’s a 26er frame so I was surprised my road bike wheels fitted (although rear hub too narrow). The question is will a slightly wider 29er wheel with a taller tyre fit? Need to borrow one to find out!

Ah, bigger tyre, gotcha. I’ve used 29er wheels in a 26″ frame with 38c tyres before, it’s whether you’ll get guards in as well, which is the key commuting question.

Or, just use 26″ wheels with a big fat slick tyre.

Another alternative, but one that’s going to cost, is the road plus system. Basically the road equivalent of 650b+, very roughly the same effective diameter as a 700c wheel/tyre combo. I don’t know if it’s readily available for your drop-out sizes.

I’ve put Mary bars on my runaround town bike. It’s a 2012 Kona Cindercone and the bars give it a bit of a sit up Dutch cruiser feel. Good for short rides to the pub & shops etc but not sure I’d take it14miles or more!

Commuters need mudguards really, so that and the frame shape mean you’re limited on tyre size- so no matter what it’ll look pretty gawky. Just got to embrace that really, either that or go with 26er/650b wheels and big fat boots like a supermoto or something)

Clearance looks pretty good. Throw some 29er wheels and some marathons / lifeline copys on, the biggest ones you think will fit under the guards, it’s a guess but I think you’d manage 35’s under guards if the mudguard was tight against the wishbone.

SKS blummels/chromoplastics for guards, basically the longest ones you can find. P-clips and/or cable ties in the appropriate places work fine for securing them in my experience.

Jones bars or the alpkit copy might work well? You can get a funky little bag that goes in the gap in the bars that I imagine would be handy for keys/phone/gubbins.

re: Rack, either one of those clamp on seat post racks? Or a carradice saddle bag with the metal frame that clamps onto the saddle? Or depending how meaty the dropouts are you might be able to drill/tap them and fit something like a tortec velocity lightweight rack, again using p-clips for the seat-stay attachment, I’ve done it in the past and it works fine.

I’m commuting on my SS Cooker.  25 miles each way.

Luggage – generally none, I leave clothes at work, occasionally dropped off via car or in the bike trailer.  I’ve actually stopped washing/showering at work, just a wet wipe to the undercarriage, no ones commented on BO. Bar dry bags are less faff than seat packs IME, just two loops/clips and it’s on, the koala has 6!

It takes me 1h50 on the SS mountain bike with proper 2.2 mountain bike tyres including taking the off road diversion. It takes 1h30 flat out on the road bike. You can mess around with position and tyres all you like but even a those extremes it’s only ~20% difference in speed, You’re only going to save 10min per hour and be a whole lot less comfortable, more prone to punctures and everything else that goes with it.

Mudguards – get full length ones for the winter, they’re so much better than raceblades (which won’t fit the tinbred anyway)

Gearing – I like SS, but only have 330m of climbing each way, but near in mind that means you get an equal amount of coasting which helps with the whole not having to shower.

I’d go with the wierd bendy bars, my current flats ache after 25miles of the same position non stop, I’ll be fitting fleegles once I’ve found a nice 110mm stem that fits nonOS bars.

26″ wheels, 1.75 or 2 inch slick tyres (about the same rolling diameter as 700c 23mm) and full mugguards.  Job Jobbed..  Probably want a bigger chainring,, maybe an old big ring at 42/44T .

I too have a 26″ frame with discs and no mudguard mounts, its proving a proper ball ache getting guards to fit.

What are you finding difficult? I fitted full guards to several bikes without mounts so have dealt with a fair few different solutions.

I would recommend 27.5 wheels with 47c tyres and a set of muguards, that should cover it.

My Whyte Glencoe is a great commuter bike

keithb

26″ wheels, 1.75 or 2 inch slick tyres (about the same rolling diameter as 700c 23mm) and full mugguards.  Job Jobbed..  Probably want a bigger chainring,, maybe an old big ring at 42/44T .

^This 2″ wide 26″ tyres will be perfect for commuting alternatively flog frame and buy frame with mudguard eyes etc.

Also flat narrow bars best for commuting imo

@TheBrick if I move the p-clips above the rear disc caliper the guard stays are at such an angle that they didn’t reach the mounting points on the guard, the rear most one was almost horizontal.

I considered the Blackburn Cloudburst as they have movable clamps but they don’t come wide enough to cover my 1.95 tyres.

I think I’ll end up taking them down a shop and getting them to fit some, there are some intricate bent guard stay pics on the internet but its more time / skill than I’m willing to put into it.

Bending the mudguard stays is no bother or am I missing something? I’ve just fitted some SKS jobbies to the OH commuter which only had eyelets half way down the fork.

My commuter is a 26 Inbred btw but as others say-mudguards are a must. I put a self rapper into the seat stay tune on mine but you could use cable ties round it and p-clips lower down?

I think I’ll end up taking them down a shop and getting them to fit some, there are some intricate bent guard stay pics on the internet but its more time / skill than I’m willing to put into it.

After reading your first paragraph that was what  I was going to suggest, some sort of dog leg. Its quite easy (in terms of force), a couple of big pliers. Work from the mounting (p-clip) and up towards the mudguard one bend at a time.

Your old 26er wheels with Marathon of your choice. Plus Tour for me.

26″ old “DH-ish” rims and big touring tyres on my old zaskar, plus guards and a rack, massively raised stem with midge bar and roadie shifters for 1×10.  There is a bit of gentle offroad on my commute but even if there wasn’t I’d be going 26

I use those MK3 crud guards for the Sunday road spin, work really well

I did it to my old M-Trax.  Would do the same again except for gearing* – Flat bars. SKS guards.  1.75 Marathons. Wrapped bar ends.  Fitted some pedal cages and toestraps.   Dry, comfy, plenty fast and eerily silent even with the (well-fitted) guards.  Flew over potholes (already compliant f+f + played with tyre pressures)

Job done.

* Since singlespeeding I run out of gears much faster so would change to suit/drop the triple.

^ * edit

One other thing, after a while the slightly harsh-feeling stock alloy bar-ends got changed (above) to these Procraft Evo (xl?) (below) which I have to say were IME one of the best upgrades ever for paved/gravel/mile-munching an MTB

I’d also go sluck 26s but i’d go bigger. Big apples are great, comfy and fast perfect!

They’re pretty goid offroad too aslong as there is no mud or wet grass.

@TheBrick if the stay didn’t reach when it was straight, putting a dog leg in isn’t going to make it any longer.

I’m hoping that the shop can try a few different models to see which will work without me having to buy one of everything and trying to do it myself.

Classy looking ride, Malvern Rider.  What’s the reason you’ve not set the mudguards closer to the tyres? To allow debris to get round and out again while you’re off road?

how wide are the rims on the wheels that are currently on the bike ? considering it’s 2004 vintage you may get something in 26in size that would reduce the overall volume enough to provide a suitable commute tyre, I wouldn’t try and get super slim just for the sake of it, its your position on the bike that is the thing that slows you down, the upright position is so un-aero!

P clips for mudguards are definitely the way forward, make sure you protect the frame underneath the clip with some cut up squares of old innertube

Why not just use mudhuggers front and rear? That’s what i’m using on an inbred with 26inch wheels for commuting.

Classy looking ride, Malvern Rider.

Thanks nedrapier.  It was at first meant to be a cheapy one-bike-for-all hybridisation,  but I did get a little obsessive and polish-y 😉  Upgradeitis set in and woops, full period XT drivetrain, XT hubs, handbuilt on Sun rims, XT thumbies and BB.  Worked like clockwork though.  tbh if it had disc brakes I’d have probably kept it, but I’m glad it went to a good home.

What’s the reason you’ve not set the mudguards closer to the tyres? To allow debris to get round and out again while you’re off road?

Yep, the first set (SKS) were set a little higher than normal because I used it also as an MTB, swapped tyres regularly.  Same deal with the second set pictured below, yet looking now it seems they were set were a little too high 😳