jettore

For the commute you describe and the weather conditions I'd look for something similar to this.
https://salsacycles.com/bikes/vaya

Bike Gremlin

I second Acid's point. For me, wear includes normal road riding, as well as daily thrashing, bashing etc. That is on regular basis. Not talking about accidents, just everyday bumps with walls, posts, other bikes packed. So for me, in terms of wear, some crash resistance is a must and I also go for MTB groupset. Doesn't break as easily and a MTB part is usually half the price of a road part (cassette, brakes, not to mention STIs!).



When I was a kid, you could just let your bike drop on a side when stopped and you expected nothing to happen to the bike (except for some scratches). MTBs are a lot closer to that ideal, while road bikes are a lot more sensitive.



I have both a road, a "trekking" (almost like a MTB, with a bit longer tubes and 28" tyres), and a MTB. Both the trekking and MTB have MTB parts and have lived through lots of crashes no problem. Only the road bike has road parts and is used in dry weather for sport and sometimes commuting.


To answer the OP:
Get a good MTB, Acera or better groupset (or equivalent SRAM, whatever you choose), get some tyres with thread like these:

https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=...04;mid=6;pgc=0


Or more aggressive if sand and mud are not too good compacted:

https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=...04;mid=6;pgc=0


And enjoy!


I have 3 bikes: MTB with fat tyres, hybrid with 37mm tyres and a 23mm road bike. On not good roads, road bike is tiring. I have to watch where I ride (where wheels go), stay standing more often so it ends up being more effort. Also, for commuting, road bike can carry less weight (it is ridiculous to put panniers or rack on the road bike).

acidfast7

+1

over here, for daily commuting a city bike is relatively ideal with the following specs:

IGH
integrated fenders
integrated rack
integrated chainguard
dynamo
integrated front/rear lights
no drops (get caught on stuff)
perhaps a city front-suspension with lock out
rear wheel guards (so straps don't go into spokes)
front rear drum brakes
Schwalbe Marathons

this is for several reasons:

1. bikes get left outside year round (the ice just melted and people are using the bikes left in the ice again). in fact, most rental bikes don't ever get put away, they stay outside in the weather year round.
2. minimal maintenance. (besides a flat tube, what's going to break on these bikes?)

I can understand if people want don't want a heavy bike, in that case a nice trekking/expedition bike would be the next best choice.

Also, I guess in America with it's significantly limited cycling infrastructure, car and bikes share the same space, so a "road" bike/rennrad makes more sense, as ridiculous as it sounds.

cyccommute 

I agree with much of what you said except this last thing. It depends on the road bike. Or, perhaps, on what definition of 'road' bike you accept. I consider this to be a road bike



And I don't consider putting panniers or racks on it to be ridiculous at all. It even does an admirable job of handling dirt. It's done two loaded trips down the Katy Trail (+200 miles)



and several dirt road short cuts while on various tours. I'd not use it for mountain biking...I have dedicated mountain bikes for that...but it could handle sand, mud or grit that my mountain bikes can handle.

Booger1

My road bike(ex-touring bike) is 35 years young with 100,000's of miles on it.....no need for another yet.

It will keep up with the latest and greatest......if it had a better engine....

K'Tesh

Yeah, but the cops are more likely to pull you over when you're taking the little red thing out for a spin...

droy45

I love your bike there cyco. Is that a mtb frame with drops? Are those 700c wheels or 26? It kind on looks like one because of the long cage derailer.

cyccommute 

Nope. It's a Cannondale T800...the finest touring bike ever made.

GrouchoWretch

Holy smokes, look at the melons on that!

spare_wheel

because you live in san jose, kalifornica.

canyoneagle

If you haven't already done so, try some 35-40mm tires (tyres) with a "city" or "semi-slick" tread at appropriate pressure. These will roll better than the knobby tread tires that most mountain bikes have, and may provide the benefit you are seeking without having to spend too much money.

Bike Gremlin

You are right, it depends on the definition. Guess my definition of a road bike would be more like a race bike. Round here most road bikes I see would need more spokes, stronger wheels and fatter tyres in order to take up some load apart the rider. I keep my road bike light for sport. Fenders, panniers, racks etc. would make it a heavy commuter, not much quicker than the hybrid I already have, just more expensive.

Your bike setup looks VERY nice indeed. Cool.

B. Carfree

I've had several steel frames wear out, if joint failure counts as wearing out. Two touring bikes had chain stays cease to connect to the seat tubes, one touring bike had the seat tube lose contact with the bottom bracket and a tandem also had the stoker seat tube/bottom bracket junction fail. Being steel, all of them were repairable, so maybe that doesn't count.

The mileage range to failure varied from just a couple thousand miles (but it was a thirty year old bike that got built up for the first time just months before it broke) to 250,000 miles. Oddly, the fastest breaking bike and the longest lasting bike were the identical make, model and year.

haphaeu

Hei! Quite a lot of good stuff here. Thanks!


By the way, I live in Stavanger, SW cost of Norway. Medium size city, good cycling paths, lots of them are sand/gravel, and it's safe to just cycle on the road with the cars if you prefer. Partially hilly. Rainy, very rainy. And, there's plenty of parking place for bikes here, you can choose, so I'm not worried about parts of the bike getting entangled with other bikes So by wear I meant dust, sand, whatever solid particles which come with water and get stuck in the parts of the bike, causing surface damage in the moving parts, corrosion, clogs, etc.


I kind of like the idea of a real commuting bike, but they're heavy, 12-15kg. I really wanted to reduce the weight being carried every day.


The bike I have today is a mid-low end 20kg full damper downhill mnt bike (I won this bike, so, can't complain). It's no good for commuting - except if you want extra work out! I plan to keep it, for when it snows a lot, or when it's really muddy after some days of rain. The road bike would be more for taking the road with the cars, or taking the sand path when it's more or less dry.


It's a good point that lighter bikes would tend to last less, because the components are designed for performance, not for endurance. But I'd be happy with something like 5+ years, and as I understood from some good comments in the thread, this would be achieved easily with basic maintenance. As I said before, I had very little expericene with road bikes, and my initial impression would be that they would fall apart after 1-2 years of every-day commuting [ab]use. I can see this is wrong

acidfast7

i really enjoyed Preikestolen.

i only know swedish so "lycka till!"

Dwayne

Actually, in your example both a road bike or rigid MTB would last longer. Your full suspension MTB frame has bearings and/or bushings in the suspension linkage that will wear out and require maintenance, and the seals in the shock and fork will require servicing at some point.

I consider cyccommute's bike a touring bike, not a road bike, that's just the way I'm used to thinking of things though. A road bike to me is designed for low weight, efficiency (at the expensive of comfort), and going fast (again at the expensive of comfort). For commuting I would recommend either a touring bike or a hardtail MTB with commuter slicks (rigid fork is fine, one less thing to maintain) depending on your preference. I prefer flat bars with MTB brake levers because I don't feel like a drop bar brake is as easy to reach, just my style. Both will last a long time with simple maintenance.

cyccommute 

A commuting bike can be anything you like. I commute on anything from a ultralight go-fast titanium road bike...like Slaninar was talking about...to a dual suspension mountain bike. But a bike for commuting doesn't have to weigh a ton. It all depends on how you set them up. None of my bikes break 13 kg (30lb) and only a couple flirt with 12 kg (27 lb). I'm not worried about the bikes being fragile either.

For you situation, I'd suggest looking at a touring bike or a cyclocross bike with 32mm tires. Go as light as you want and can afford. Both will handle the dirt well and neither will be delicate.

Burton

Course now that you've brought lots of rain into the picture - I'd caution you to be very sure you can actually fit full fenders on any road bike that interests you. Some you can, some you can with difficulty and some you just can't.

A hybrid or hard tail mtb is a lot easier in that respect, and if you're going to stick a rack and panniers on it or haul around a heavy U-lock ..... any weight advantage of a road bike is incidental.

CenturionIM

I think it's reasonable to assume mtb frame are built sturdier than road bikes? If you bunny hop, go on/off curbs, ride on uneven surfaces then get a mtb. 8km is not that long, you'd do fine with both.

Note: sand will affect you bb life like no other. doesn't matter what bike you get.

cyccommute 

I've had this discussion with others and I think you are making too many distinctions. A mountain bike is clearly different from a road bike but a touring bike falls into the road bike category as do cyclocross. They (usually) look like road bikes, they have narrower tires for efficiency and many have drop bars. Take the bags and racks off and look at them from 100 paces. You really couldn't tell a difference between my touring bike and a road bike.

spare_wheel

acidfast opined:


heavy, slow, and make flat repair a pain. in europe where people use their bikes for brief trips an IGH might make sense. in the usa many of us actually use our bikes for longer distance transportation, not just quick jaunts.

i prefer to remove fenders when they are not necessary (e.g. ~6 months out of the year).

my heavy piece of crap shopping bike has an integrated rack. my commuters are designed for speed and climbing, not putzing along for a mile or two.

how hard is it to roll up your pants or buy a clip/strap?

$100 buys a 60 lumen tail light and a 420 lumen head light than can be moved from bike to bike.

what stuff? seriously i have never been "caught" in the drops on my road bike.

unless you are popping curbs this is, imo, useless extra weight.

what straps? sandals? panniers?

pathetic stopping power. imo, drum brakes are a terrible decision.

heavy and handle poorly on wet pavement.

i guess when the average european bike trip is only 1-2 miles you don't care much about damage or theft because you can always walk.

cables, chain wear, igh, chain case/crank, brake pads etc.

commuting 10 miles on asphalt requires an expedition bike? hmmm...

pdx has about the same mode share as frankfurt. i wonder why i hardly ever see someone on the 50 lb hunks of steel you favor.

Snowman219

Red is full of win.

acidfast7

me vs. you:


i'll deliver the mail and finish the "commute" before you.

spare_wheel

acidfast7, my favorite commuter is a european city bike sold by a basque cooperative.

looks like this except with a compact and hydros:

https://forums.roadbikereview.com/att..._diemblack.jpg

Commodus

...I wasn't talking about you...