On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 at 09:20 GMT, Andrew Reddaway (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
Stuart Lamble wrote:

Well, I'm making the big move: leaving the nest to strike out on my
own. *shudder* This raises a few questions vis-a-vis transport.

SNIP

If you're looking for a "transport" bike, road vs hybrid, you could
also consider a touring-style bike - like a road bike / racer with drop
handlebars, but a bit more rugged, more suitable for carrying gear,
mounting mudguards etc. They tend to be expensive and not very common,
but the Mongoose Randonneur is reasonable (check out the current
thread), or maybe a Fuji.

Good point. Being a sysadmin, Stuart, are you going to want to take
your laptop to and from work? Are you going to want to put panniers
on? Panniers add much to the weight of your bike, but by the time you
put laptop and stuff in, this no longer matters. Then all of a sudden,
the weight of the bike no longer matters either.

Personally, since I managed to do away with my car a couple of years
ago, I have needed to go shopping on my way home, almost every
day. Now that I have the GVBR bike, and a decent set of panniers with
*a lot* of room, I can buy a tonne of shopping, and all get it home. I
won't need to take extra trips just to go to the shop anymore.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the software. --me