Sixty Fiver

My Trek 7500 cross conversion... right before I parked it for the night.

trombone

My bike. I actually got around to cleaning it, and so thought I'd take a pic while it looked so nice. Normally it's very grubby, and is weighed down with a lock, water bottle, pump, saddle pack, lights (including my very fetching 'plastic bad and elastic band' waterproofing or the rear one), computer...

rdrk

built from the junk box yesterday - i got a little tired of riding around pullman, wa on a singlespeed. this monstrosity will give me a few more options with the unavoidable hills. i'd been wanting a seven speed for a month or two and when i finally did the part math, i figured i had all of the stuff.

the bike itself is from everywhere. the frame is from a fuji that was thrown off of a building in ann arbor, mi. i kept the frame and scrapped the rest. for a good year or two it was my fixed gear junker for getting to work and back. the wheels and the bar end shifter (there's a unibroue cork in the opposite bar end) are from a trek 520 i got used over the summer. great bike, but the frame rusted through. so in the current incarnation, this bike will see the worst the weather has to offer.

dngspot

My new Giant FCR 2. My old bike is a Trek Y26. This bike should have come from Walmart due to its quality. The Giant is much better for the commute,

guitardude7889

This is my commuter, dubbed "The Cream Machine!" Its a '08 Trek Portland with full fenders on it.

Hydrated

Why do you make your Surly sit on newspapers? Does it pee on the floor?

Ventana Rider

1992 Cannondale R600
Shimano 105 7-speed with downtube shifting
700x28 tires
Cygolite Rover II LED headlight
Cateye & Cygolite rear flashing LED's with a surplus USGC xenon strobe on the rack

Choccy

Here is my current commuter without the rank and panniers and with Trailblasters rather than Marathon.

Drive side

Non drive side

Choccy

And this is what I commuted on for a while.

Drive side


Non drive side

EasyEd

Hey guitardude7889, How do you like that trek portland? I've been thinking about one of those. It sure is a nice looking bike!

guitardude7889

I wouldn't trade it for the world! Its incredibly light, nimble, and handles the rain perfectly! If you were considering winter commuting where it rains/snows, i would take off the fenderettes it comes with and put on the full fenders. Its definitely worth it. The disc brakes are a dream, and take practically no work to get up and running. I looked at the "Lemond Poprad Disc" and the "Trek Portland', both of which are extremely similar in components. Difference is the agressivness of the frame. The lemond was much more agressive and bent over, while the Portland was more upright. I found the Portland much more comfortable to ride, and I find that i am comforable in the drops. The lemond is just to bent over for me, and i wasn't comfortable in the drops for more than a few minutes. I felt like my knees were hitting my stomach, thats how agressive it was. Ride both, as both are equally well put together and have exactly the same components, just different frames. The Lemond also comes with a STEEL frame, while the Portland comes with an aluminum frame. I must admit i was more pleased with the Steel frame rather than the aluminum, but on the flip side, i've heard that Steel frames are more likely to rust than aluminum. I often have to park my bike in the rain without a cover, so that was a concern of mine. I've had my bike for a few months, i got it in the begining of october, and i haven't had any adjustments done on it yet. The people at the LBS who put it together for me accidentally built an '07 instead of an '08. After they built the '08 for me, they commented that the '08 seemed much sturdier and well put together than the '07 did. If i were you, i would look for the '08 instead of the '07. And no matter what you get, make sure you lock the hell out of that thing when you get it. i've had bikes stolen all around me, but mine hasn't been touched because i dont take chances with my locks. hope this helps.

guitardude7889

why did you take the drops off?

Sixty Fiver

My slush bike...

mandovoodoo

I've spent 2 weeks once again commuting regularly by a real commuter bicycle. First time since the 1980s. I've commuted off and on via road bike, but rarely just for commuting. Always part of a "ride" and moving pretty quick. Haven't had a poke along, wear normal clothes bike for a long time. Converted a Fuji Professional all Campy for commuting, did that for a few weeks off and on. Clearly wasn't going to do for long haul. No way to really mount a rack, fenders, etc., 25s would barely fit. So I got a LeMond Wayzata on eBay. Current setup has F & R racks (old Blackburn lowriders in the front), and a handlebar bag mount. Replaced the stem with a longer one, got different high-rise bars (couldn't cut down the carbon bars it came with), and replaced the bontrager tires. They were incredibly harsh. Just running junk tires, 23s. I really would prefer 28s, but I need to kill off all my old tires first! It's a bit odd riding non-drop bars, but I'm getting used to it. Oh, and I put on powergrips. They're great. I normally ride with the front bags for clothes and work stuff (clip boards, etc.), and the trunk for bike support stuff. Spare tire, tube, tools, whatever. Planet Bike fenders. I use moderately stiff sole leather casual shoes cuz I can work in them. And I carry a messenger bag with my laptop. I'd rather have it on the bike, but I don't trust the panniers I have.

The basic bike has a pretty normal road geometry. 853 with aluminum fork. Tiagra w/ R440 shifters. V brakes are OK. Bontrager crank I don't trust. I have another I'll put on, an FSA alloy triple. Bontrager Select wheels I don't really trust, but they seem to be doing OK.

My commute is only 3 miles, but I have a brief stretch of 25% right up my road. That's out of the saddle in my low gear dead cold! Then a downhill back to the lake. Then another climb. And another. Finally a bit of level and I can see the Smokies on the horizon with the morning sun rising over them. South of them, the Unicoi Mountains and Hangover, my favorite spot. I pass the dairy ranch, then let Lulu the ancient bassett chase me. Then down to the lake again, to my shop, Gianna Violins. It's a beautiful short country ride. And I'm really enjoying the bike.

I've been riding it other places, too. Nice to have a utility bike as well as a performance bike. And yesterday Gianna rode alone the first time since her accident this summer. She was almost in tears she was so happy. So she needs a commuting bike. She ordered a little trailer to bring the dog to work - that's cute!

I notice I still have a Snowshoe trail tag on the trunk bag handle. The bag was on our Gary Fisher tandem then - we were riding the tandem off road up in WVa. Funny how these pieces of equipment have memories coming out of them!

abmtnbkr

Beautiful ride mandovoodoo!! Is the bracket on the handlebars for a light system?

mandovoodoo

Bracket is for a handlebar bag. If I don't need the panniers or I need access to things (e.g., cellphone or camera) during a ride I'll pop my handlebar bag on.

If I think of it, I'll photograph my commute next week. Can normally see the mountains really well in the morning and sunset in the evening this time of year. It's a funny commute. I live and work on the left bank of the Tennessee River, but get down to River level one additional time. In between I pop up onto the limestone karst plain. So it's up down up down to work, unless I take a longer route.

reueladhikari

The bike does pee excess lube so the newspapers on the floor. :-)

paulwwalters

Hey, here's mine. I read a ton on this and ss/fg but don't post much.

I ride about 10 miles/day, I've had this since August. I wear a backpack and my light setup is a PB Superflash and a Fenix L2D CE. My lock is an Onguard Mini Bulldog.

I want some skinny slicks for this, as I ride onroad 95% of the time.





My other babies:

Lamplight

I've recently changed several things on my main commuter, so I figured I'd use that as an excuse to post a new picture.



I've got a Deore rear derailluer ordered. I had the Acera laying around and wanted to use a cassette with a 34 tooth large cog, so I tried it out. So far it's been kind of disappointing.

Cody Broken

Lamplight that is one hellafied rockin front rack! And I dig the 57 (guestimating) steer tube spacers.

Is that a DIY MR16 halo headlight?

Lamplight

Thanks! The headlight is just the one that came with my Basta generator light. It's actually pretty cheap and crappy, but it works. I had a DIY light on there with a 12 volt battery and two 20 watt MR11s, but I got tired of it because it was soooooo heavy. It was more than bright enough though. There are so many headset spacers because my LBS only had small ones at the time.

BikeManDan

There is something just wrong about this....

guitardude7889

While im sure a full-suspension MTB has a comfy cozy ride, i dont think it is best suited for commuting. It just looks weird with the slicks on it. I say you use your other bike as the commuter, throw some knobbies on the santa cruz, and rip up the mountiain!

scoatw

Saturday Dec 15,2007 Coming home from a Ice storm

testtube

Here's the current incarnation of my winter commuter:

(might change pic if I get access to better camera)



Of note:

On-One Il Pompino (gift from wife for my birthday!)
Nokian W106 700x35 (excellent in winter on compact snow and ice)
Avid BB7 Disc Brake (again excellent when snow/ice starts to stick to everything including bike)
Bontrager Grippy Tape (always grippy even when wet!)
Surly Dingle, 17t/19t (for those days when conditions change while at work, my derailleur is a 15mm wrench)
Crank Bros. Smarty Pedals (were cheap, but I can tell these will die quickly)
NiteRider BlowTorch HID (people seem to take me a bit more seriously with the 40W of light)
Planet Bike SpeedEZ fenders (a little too small for tires, but do the job...)
Surly hubs laced to Salsa Delgado Cross rims (my first wheel build!)