best bike for commute

earthmover

I am still debating whether to go for a road bike or hybrid for my new commuting bike. I currently commute on an old mountain bike which I think i will keep and use for just general riding around town, with the kids and on some tracks if needed, just may need to change a few bits on it which are now worn etc.

My commute is 10 miles broken down as follows, approx 5 miles on country road, 1 through a small village, 3 on a recently tarmaced bike/walking trail, and 1 on single carraigeway. Obviously there is the condition of the raods in some places such as potholes, and on the traiul often get some broken glass, and tree debris, i suppose the usual stuff.

so should i get hybrid or would a raod bike be more than suffient for this. I intend on using it throughout the winter so i suppose the option to but slighlty wider and bigger tread tyres is there should i need to.

alfeng

The ROAD bike won't have "extraneous" mounts for fenders or racks ... and, the tire size is usually limited to 700x25 on most contemporary, ROAD bikes.

If you are going to ride in the Winter, then you will probably want to mount fenders on the bike ... so, the HYBRID is probably the better choice.

earthmover

What options are the with fitting bigger tyres on a road bike , and i thought that u could fit fenders to a road bike, also considering a cyclocross possibly

alfeng

The confusion may be mostly a matter of nomenclature ...

Most contemporary ROAD bikes are detuned racing bikes ...

Before ~1985, you would be correct in presuming that a ROAD frame could generally handle larger tyres & fenders ...

It seems that the advent of "touring" frames with cantilever brake mounts sealed the fate of regular ROAD bikes no longer having large tyre capacity ... and so, other than department store bikes, ROAD bikes for-the-rest-of-us separated into two lineages:

• quasi-racing (which ARE raceworthy)
• touring (which devolved to "hybrid" bikes where the drop bars were often replaced with "flat" bars).

True cyclocross frame/bikes lack water bottle mounts OR "fender" eyelets. An exception is the (aluminum) REDLINE frame which has both and is commonly used for CX racing by non-sponsered riders.

For the longest time, the money has been in providing detuned racers ...

Recently, there have been niche bikes being offered by some manufacturers, which use 700c tyres but which are not detuned racers (i.e., further evolved touring bikes).

earthmover

Thanks for that, in relation to using a road bike then, my biggest concern is its suitability for bad weather riding, I'm not averse from getting wet(which has been most days during the past few weeks) I just want to be sure of safety, presumably you can fit tyres with more grip for bad weather riding?

Im not overly cocerned about using fenders as I have changing and showering facilities at work, and I have to carry very little in terms of luggage, at least nothing that cant be fitted into a small rucksack if needed.

alfeng

In addition to the CX bikes (130mm rear spacing vs. the 135mm rear spacing generally found on touring & hybrid bikes), there ARE some medium-range "touring" bikes which may be worth looking at -- FUJI & TREK are two brands that come to mind who have steel (a good thing) framed bikes.

MONGOOSE has an aluminum touring bike.

The attached pic is my old, FORT CX bike in a transitional state with 700x32 clinchers. Note how tightly the wheels "fit" in the frame.

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Robbie Hatfield

I used to use a Schwinn World back in the day. For awhile after that, I went to a Trek 800. Now I use a lwb recumbent with a power-assist system that runs through my standard gearing. No looking back! I can work as hard or as little as I choose, and this lets me take the ebike on days where I would have otherwise taken the car.


Robbie

earthmover

What is the general opinion of the Focus range of bikes they seem to have had good reviews but has anyone actually used one or could recommend one looking at
http://www.focus-bikes.de/englisch_...&kategorie=road

Ones im considering are cross expert, cayo triple, variado expert

saver_mind

i use a Giant cypress alloy frame I do 2-7 day tours on it and commute 10 mil
es round. it does everything i need it to do.