Show me your long distance commuter bikes

Looking for inspiration from what bikes people are using for lengthy commutes

Thanks

Define ‘lengthy’ before I contribute any more then get shamed out of the thread… 😳

I built one – when house hunting and considering doubling the commute to 50km round trip.

Never liked the bike for commuting – I rebuilt it as a gravel/ tourer; which was much better & then moved to a house the same distance from work; just a different direction – I’m still commuting on my old commuter.

No photos of the ‘super commuter’ but it looked a lot like this gravel bike but with a dynamo hub & less bags.

Does me nicely for trapping  up and down the canal, done loads of daft things on it already, most recently a 95km slog through peak district mud and only had it a couple of months.

I do an 84km round trip twice a week. Depends upon work load and weather (main requirement is over 5 Celsius).

I use a Roadie…

Mostly a Ribble Ultralight Aluminium frame with Shimano R500 wheels and Sora/Tiagra 9 speed groupset.

But occasionally on a Van Nicholas Euros Ti frame with <1500g wheels and a 105 11 speed groupset.

I carry an Osprey Rucksack – most of the load is food and drink!

https://lfgss.microco.sm/api/v1/files/790ff0e55ed05fee7c43cbe23db7e41778d90020.jpg

32 mile round trip every day through Londres. GT Grade running 1x, hunt wheels and hydro’s. Ring recently changed to a 46t Sram

Work Bike by Keith Whitten[/url], on Flickr

My regular commute is only a mile each way but I have ridden the following on this:

Dunwich Dynamo 110 miles

London to Brighton night ride and home 146 miles

4 day french tour 320 miles.

Either/or to be honest, commute is 20km either way but I usually extend in summer. The Superfly feels faster but is cursed with squeely disc brakes in the wet, and I’m at the end of my patience trying to fix it, so I rarely take it out on wet days, and the summer road bike comes out on dry days.

The Charge is perfect for the wet weather but is off the road at the moment with snapped spoke/grumbly rear wheel bearings. Looking to add some gears for next winter just as a wee project and so I can use it for longer weekend jaunts etc.

Edit: FFS! Have no idea what I’m doing wrong with image posting now, and am not going to trawl through that 35 page megathread to find out…

I was riding 7 miles uphill to work ( to be there for 6.45 am.  I built this.  Added benefit – no need to lock it as no self respecting theif would steal it

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>IMG_0009 by TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr</span>

Grrr, can’t get images to work!

24miles each way (depending on route choice, the shorter option isn’t necessarily quicker).

Currently between commuters since November as I was working away a lot and sold my old bike (good job really, it’s not been above 4C or dry for weeks seemingly). Previously I used either my Salsa El-Mariachi (which was fine, but now sold as it didn’t get used off road enough since getting a fat bike) or my road bike, again was fine but the lack of full guards that fit anything bigger than 23mm tyres was a compromise. In summer I’ll just use that with supple 25mm tyres.

Building my new (to me) commuter.

Based on one of these

With:
M:Part Primoplastic guards
GP4Season 28mm tyres – I’d rather 32mm or 35mm but I already had these spare and my other 38’s didn’t fit properly under the guards
Shimano DH-T785 6v/3W dynamo hub
Topeak Super Tourist DX rack – can’t decide if it’s worth fitting it, TBH with a bit of organisation I rarely carry more than a flannel, gym towel and underpants, but it does make a good place to mount rear lights. And my parents just got Topeak DXP top bags which are really useful with the mini panniers.

Still need:
Rims – might re-cycle the OEM maddux ones as I already have a narrow 29er wheelset which would do for summer CX use and TBH the weight savings in swapping them are actually really minimal, downside is no wheels while I build them.
Rear Hub – thinking shimano, but do have a Hope XC spare which is probably the better option.
Light/s – Watching an Exposure Revo on ebay mostly because I really like the Red-Eye and very little of my route is around town so dazzling is less of an issue, if not something from B&M.

How do you do links?

Basically as many of the above, with dynamo hub lights, mudguards, drop bars (and in my case a pannier rack).

On dry days when I have no luggage, I’ll take the road bike, which is always fun to ride.

On icy days, I’ll take an old MTB with a rack and ice spikers, which can be a bit of a drag.

I picked a second hand road rat frame me 10 years ago and it’s seen me through roundtrip commutes of up to 58 miles a day to my current 14 miles.  It’s been built up for whatever best suited the routes in from country parks, bridleways, country roads and city centre riding.  It’s done some cross races, the odd sportive and audax event. I can’t say it’s a bike I have ever loved, and it’s fallen on and off the roster, but it’s the bike I’ve kept the longest?

And yes, it currently has mismatched wheels, shifters and mechanical disc calliper’s….the front isn’t even compression less cable, the horror!

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I had a 32 mile round trip in my previous job, did it once a week on a flat barred, single speeded Spesh Allez. Full guards but no rack or similar, used a car on the other day so carrying stuff around was easy

I now do a 21 mile round trip on a commuterised Pinnacle Arkose (with 1×10 and hydros) but do it daily

Much prefer the geared bike with rack etc than what I had before. My legs generall feel quite tired as they are, SS would just make it harder

[PS – not saying that those are big mileages!]

Not that I’ve done much commuting in the last year but this is the main bike for a speedy hour each way.

Put nice bars and tyres on now and the “old” Ultegra on from the summer bike at it’s possibly nicer than the summer bike now :0/

I’ve got a few for my 20 mile each way commute.  Pinnacle Arkose 4, the full on winter/wet weather commuter, lights, full guards with long flaps. Old Kona Jake the Snake with 32mm GP 4seasons, dry day commuter, also knows as rainmaker as every time I ride the thing it rains on the way home 🙂 . A dolan prefissio, sunny day commuter

Only 2 e-bikes so far. Thought there would be more.

Mine’s a virtually bog standard Whyte Suffolk, I’ve changed the tyres for some Marathon Supremes but that’s it.   I have minimum 18 miles each way but only do it max twice a week, but do it to enjoy the ride so skip days where it’s below about 3 degrees, heavy rain or gusty winds.

This used to do 16 miles each way (I’m not using km to make it sound bigger) my commute’s shorter now…

I sometimes use this to commute if it’s drier (no guards) and I fancy going off road, dry bag strapped on the bars for food and clothing, it’s also good for distances…

This is mine I do a 40 mile round trip 5 days a week (normally) on it, with a Carradice SQR Slim hanging off the back.

It’s got the right length chain and some more sensible sized tyres on now, though still 37c I think.

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My frankenstrosity of a commuter/tourer/shopper/pubber/everything bike.

Thames path, background is Canary Wharf

Currently have a nice 52km each way route to North Wales for one of the projects I work on, do it on this, 1×11 42t up front and 11/36 out back. Just leave my clothes and laptop in the office the day before.

Route is crappy country lanes, cycle paths and some gravelly bits too

simondbarnes: is that Theresa May’s bike?

Only 2 e-bikes so far. Thought there would be more.

I did consider one but couldn’t quite justify it, its too long a commute to not get at least a bit sweaty on, and most hills are short/sharp so there isn’t much to be saved.

That and it would be another £1k or so on top and limit the bikes usefulness (no CX racing in winter, no club runs etc).

Just started using a Planet X london road (160 miles a week) .

Full mudgaurds ,Conti CX speeds(35) ,BB7s and some flared CX drops.

So far position feels good and I wouldn’t think twice about using it on a big road weekender or long distance gravel trip. Ultimately (for me) it’s all about the fit regardless of the bike type or daily mileage.

“simondbarnes: is that Theresa May’s bike?”

😆

And yes, it currently has mismatched wheels, shifters and mechanical disc calliper’s….the front isn’t even compression less cable, the horror!

If the wheels match your mileage is too low lol

One of these, great riding bike, but chain ring and freewheel made of cheese, brakes are ace though..

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/charge-plug-grinduro-single-speed-adventure-road-bike/

That’s why I went with discs, the hubs are pretty rumbly but the rims should last indefinitely!

17 miles each way for me 2 or 3 times a week – takes me an 1hr 30m door to desk which is the same as public transport.

Compared with the lightweight examples on this thread I look a bit of a porker especially when loaded with a single extra large pannier, so out of interest I weighed my commuting set up last night 15.5kg for the bike and 8kg for the pannier and water bottle.

On dress down friday’s if it is dry I might take the Arkose and a rucksack for a change of scene.  I have Nano 40c on so not a lot of difference in speed or journey time and the rucksack makes my back ache by the end of the journey – so not necessarily any better just different in my opinion.

Surprised at the lack of hub gears and belt drives?

my other commuter has a hub gear – it’s just i’ve never ridden it to work (or anywhere really)! still an ongoing project…

I don’t think hub gears lend themselves to long commutes, they’re heavier and tend to come on more relaxed bikes, when in reality a long commute isn’t viable unless you go at a decent speed.

Also, there’s the fear that it wouldn’t be fixable at the roadside, where as you can bodge a derailleur with simple tools to get you to your destination.

jaminb I had exactly that model Galaxy Tour.  It was bloody lush, but sadly worked out a size too large.

nowadays:

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oh ffs I quit!

Surprised at the lack of hub gears and belt drives?

I had an Alfine 8 throughout my last commute, which was 3 years of 24 miles a day. It was a great solution, however after 5 years of use it wore out (clutch head crumbled) and had to be scrapped. I’m currently using a singlespeed because, well, money.

I looked into a belt drive but the extra cost, frame commitment and finicketyness of it put me off. Currently trialing a different type of chain lube (Wickens & Soderstrom No.3) in the hope that it will bring some of the benefits of a belt drive (longevity, non-oily muckiness) to a chain drive. So far it is definitely much (much!) cleaner, but I’ll have to be very patient to see what the longevity is like.

I don’t think hub gears lend themselves to long commutes, they’re heavier and tend to come on more relaxed bikes, when in reality a long commute isn’t viable unless you go at a decent speed.

Also, there’s the fear that it wouldn’t be fixable at the roadside, where as you can bodge a derailleur with simple tools to get you to your destination.

I never struggled for speed when I had an Alfine 8, and managed to fix every problem I had at the roadside (apart from the final one when the whole thing had to be scrapped).

Because the gearing is internal the problems you’ll face are the usual drivetrain (e.g. chain coming off) or cable (e.g. indexing going awry) type stuff. I’ll be honest and say I couldn’t tell you if I had more or less problems when compared to a derailleur set up as I never kept a log.

Ug, had the Superfly out for the last couple of commutes, bike felt great but it was painful noticing all the salt crusting the chain the next morning, forgot I can’t treat it like my singlespeed! 🙁

Reminded me why I don’t use it in the wet though, I have a flat commute with little braking, so that when I do brake it’s on cold wet discs, and they HOWL. I’m on my second set of brakes, probably third set of rotors and possibly 4th set of pads, nothing seems to solve it.

Looking forward to getting the rim braked bike back on the road… still don’t understand how people put up with it, I must have snowflake ears.

@shermer – I’ve probably got a lot of preconceptions about the issues with hub gears to be fair. I’d love to try one, but price is the other issue.

I like my commute bikes cheap as chips.