Considering a Road bike for commuting... good idea?

(ant) wrote

my commutermobile of choice: surly crosscheck, with 28c tires, and a
front cross lever. burly, fast, comfortable, etc.

Right on, brother. Count me as another delighted Crosscheck owner.
I've got mine set up as a fixed-gear (74 gear inches) with
inverted-tread tires (rated as 38c, actually measure as 34c). Rides
like a freight train, and goes anywhere, including dirt, with no
worries. To my mind, it is the perfect commuter bike: fast,
comfortable, nearly indestructible, and extremely low-maintenance.

Way fun to ride, too.

CC

"Fabrizio Mazzoleni" wrote in
. ca:

Tom, you only need 39x21 on a road bike,
there are only eight climbs in North America
that require a 23 cog.


Name them.

One thing I can't believe no one has mentioned yet is that road handlebars
are considerably safer than MTB handlebars.
Since they are narrower, you are *way* less likely to be clipped by a car
while riding on a road with little to no shoulder.

- Boyd S.

I ride both and I find this statement to not be true at all. If motor vehicles
are close enough that a few extra inches of handlebar width is the difference
between getting hit or not, then you must be either Superman or a nut case or
both. I've certainly been passed very closely and very fast but never that
close. And over the years I've come to realize that how I position myself
laterally has a lot to do with how motorists pass me. If you teeter on the
edge using as little lane as possible, you are inviting motorists to pass, and
sometimes they do it unsafely. Counterintuitively, if you move further out
into the lane than at first feels comfortable, overtaking motorists are
induced into being more cautious when passing. They tend to slow down and move
over. Your lateral position is critical in how you expect motorists to
overtake.

Wayne

I own a small size SUV and a MTB. The SUV allows me to transport up to 3
bikes inside without the need of rack.
I never felt comfortable on a road bike. Even when I ride on a bike path, I
prefer a MTB because I prefer its riding position.
Since keeping in good shape is one of the reasons I bike, I get more
exercise with the same distance on a MTB too.
It's nice too not to get a flat tire every week.
On the ohter hand, I love cross-country trails where a light MTB with front
suspension is a must. So there you go, a MTB is a "on model fits all" for
me.

(Hunrobe) wrote in
:

Boyd Speerschneider

wrote:

One thing I can't believe no one has mentioned yet is that road
handlebars are considerably safer than MTB handlebars.
Since they are narrower, you are *way* less likely to be clipped by a
car while riding on a road with little to no shoulder.

- Boyd S.

The difference in handlebar width makes you "*way* less likely" to be
clipped? No offense meant, but exactly how wide are your flat bars? Your
shoulders are the same width no matter what kind of bike you ride. I
think you're picking non-existent nits.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

My handlebars aren't flat (except across the tops).
I use drop handlebars like most road cyclists.
They measure 40cm across the top, which is less than 16".
Another poster in this tread mentioned that his MTB handlebars are 27".
27" is considerably wider than my shoulders; it might not be for you.
So that's like adding another 5" of unnecessary "please clip me" length to each side of the bar.
No thanks.

I have been passed within 2 inches of my current handlebars, so I don't care whether or not any of you have.
The driver might have known where his SUV stops and I start.
But I'm not willing to bet my life on it.

So I stand by my original statement.
If you don't like it ... blow me.

- Boyd S.

In article ,
(Luigi de Guzman) writes:
(Tom Keats) wrote in message ...

And I think it gets drivers to give me a *wider* berth than
I might otherwise get.

Respectfully, the key word here is *think*.

Many drivers have a very poor idea of the dimensions of their own car.

I've witnessed much evidence of that lately. Y'know how sometimes
trends among drivers become apparent? For example, one might notice
an increase in drivers parking/pulling out of the wrong side of the
street for awhile. The trend I've noticed lately is folks trying
to parallel park and getting their cars stuck sideways in the street
so they can't advance or reverse. And then getting flustered as
traffic builds up on either side of them. Maybe it has to do with
kids learning to drive while they're on summer vacation.

To suggest that the difference of a few inches between flat bars and
drops is enough to convince them to take a wider line vastly
overestimates the judgement of the motorist at speed....

Perhaps. But /this/ handle bar is 3/4 of a yard wide; more, with
the mirror attached. That's considerably more than a few inches.
The drop bar on my road bike is 14 1/2 inches at its widest, and
that's with plush foam tape on it. The flattish handlebar on my
mixte is 21 1/2 inches wide. I'm quite sure that I do get more
leeway with the wider bars. Maybe it's because, as I previously
mentioned, the wider bars induce me to ride more into the lane and
away from the door zone. To a large extent, motorists around here
seem to be quite trepadatious. I often have to encourage them to
pass me. I do get buzzed by yahoos every now & then, but I doubt
handlebars have anything to do with that.


cheers,
Tom

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In article ,
Wayne Pein writes:

Counterintuitively, if you move further out
into the lane than at first feels comfortable, overtaking motorists are
induced into being more cautious when passing. They tend to slow down
and move over.

I guess when drivers /have/ to move over somewhat, they
figure "in for a dime, in for a dollar", and are the more
willing to move over even more. OTOH, if they see an
opening right in front of them, they might be more likely
to try to just squeeze through it.

Your lateral position is critical in how you expect motorists to
overtake.

That has been my experience, too. If mere width was much of
a concern, all kinds of trikes, pedicabs, bike trailers,
cargo-carrying "work bikes" and other stuff would be getting
clipped all over the map.

As you say, riding further (deeper?) into the lane makes a huge
positive difference, as compared to the closer passes one
experiences while cringing in the gutter.


cheers,
Tom

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On Wed, 6 Aug 2003 12:50:13 -0400, "Paul Bielec" may have
said:

I never felt comfortable on a road bike. Even when I ride on a bike path, I
prefer a MTB because I prefer its riding position.

That seems to be a factor for a lot of people, probably a majority of
the general public if the grousing I used to hear about road bikes in
the '70s was any indicator. People used to bitch and moan about how
they couldn't get a "real" bike anymore, just "those ones with those
stupid upside-down handlebars that force you to ride standing on your
head". I was riding a road bike at that point, but there was no hope
of convincing a lot of folks to try one. I suspect the general
public's attitude toward road bikes is probably not much different
today.

Since keeping in good shape is one of the reasons I bike, I get more
exercise with the same distance on a MTB too.

Yup. Efficiency and speed are secondary to convenience and enjoyment
for lots of folks, and there is *nothing* wrong with that if you're
not trying to win races.

It's nice too not to get a flat tire every week.

Now, *that* sounds familiar!

On the ohter hand, I love cross-country trails where a light MTB with front
suspension is a must. So there you go, a MTB is a "on model fits all" for
me.

You're certainly not alone in that category. (But there are also a
lot of folks on knobby-tire mtbs whose better choice would be a
smooth-tire hybrid; on the other hand, the mtb probably cost them a
lot less than they would have spent for the other bike, and if they
like it, I fail to see where it's a bad choice.)

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I tend to agree with Buck. To ride in town I prefer a hybrid or whatever
it is called with 700x35 tires and a straight bar. When I go downtown with my
road bike I don't feel too comfortable in the traffic. If you have to ride
any distance on unpaved roads don't get a road bike. I also favor my
hybrid because it has lights (half of the year I commute by night),
fenders (it may rain), and rack (I do sweat much more if I carry my bag on
my back). Overall it certainly costs weight, but I feel it is worth it.
And you will still have a better efficiency than with a mountain bike.
Can't give you a recommendation for a model as I don't know what is on the
US market...

Jacques

My wife has a hybrid as she does only very light off-roading (dirt paths).
The hybrid suits her riding style perfectly.
As for me, my Giant has an aluminium frame so it is light, 24 speeds,
adjustable front fork, and I inflate my tires to full pressure when on
pavement. So I still cruise at 15 mph on a bike path.

"Rick Onanian" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 20:01:32 GMT, Werehatrack
wrote:
You're certainly not alone in that category. (But there are also a
lot of folks on knobby-tire mtbs whose better choice would be a
smooth-tire hybrid; on the other hand, the mtb probably cost them a
lot less than they would have spent for the other bike, and if they
like it, I fail to see where it's a bad choice.)

Those people would probably still be better off with the minor
expense of smooth tires; then again, the gnarly-looking knobbies
found on very inexpensive MTBs tend to be much more smooth and
pavement-efficient than they look at first. That is, often enough,
the only effective difference between a MTB and a specific hybrid.

--
Rick Onanian