Dave Mayer

I commute every day, often over extended gravel and sand trails. These are good enough that I can ride a road bike with race tires, with little risk of flatting.

A full-on race bike will gain you about 10 kp/h speed over a full-suspension MTB with knobby tires with no extra effort. A race bike will be about 5 kp/h faster than a regular MTB with disk brakes, front suspension and slicks.

This is due to a combination of tire rolling resistance, weight and aerodynamics. A race bike is particularly nice in stop 'n go traffic, where you have to make lots of accelerations. Light wheels are the biggest benefit here.

Race tires and light wheels will certainly fail easier and wear out faster than MTB wheels. Disk brakes will also be much easier on rims, especially if you're riding in the rain.

Sand and road grit is a big wear instigator. If you're riding a bike with a derailleur system and rim brakes in the rain and sand, be prepared to replace rims yearly and chains several times per year.

So you have to make tradeoffs here. What I ride? In the winter I ride a hybrid with a Shimano Alfine 8-speed IGH. 28mm folding tires and light rims. I go for light weight in everything but the (heavy) rear hub. The IGH saves me a world of trouble with drivetrain wear and performance issues. Make sure you have full fenders.

In the summer, I commute on a 15-pound carbon bike with carbon tubular rims. A joy to ride and very fast.

haphaeu

I've made my choice, after your nice tips... am going for a cyclocross. Very good trade off between the fast asphalt bit and the gravel paths. Also good for the days you're feeling like taking the long way home. Since it rains quite a lot here, light integrated fenders would be nice. Looking to stay under 10 kg (22 lb), and a budget about 1000€. Let's see what I can find here...

Bike Gremlin

Agreed. I prefer standard gears, even in the winter (wd40 does the job).


I couldn't imagine not having the sturdy old metal fenders (that are a bother to take off). There is always some puddle of "water" somewhere.

I usually carry a lot of stuff on my bike, in work clothes, so speed is not something I aim for.

I almost always doo that, however, some protection from chain is always practical for me. Some pants flap sometimes in spite of a strap and when I ride road bike that's one more thing to watch out for... unlike the dedicated commuter.

Carrying lights is a bother. Worrying about batteries etc. I use that system, but would not mind dynamo hub and lights bolted to the bike. Sounds more practical to me.

Drum brakes are good on motorcycle, not sure how they work on bicycle. Maintenance free, the least troubled by mud/rain/snow. I like drum brakes.


Irony, yees?

Each to their own. This is what most people that commute year round ride in my country (the flat part of it):

Bike Gremlin

No, you were talking about wear of a bicycle. So did I.

haphaeu

Found some options.


Wilier 2013 Triestina Cross

https://www.bikebuster.no/detaljer-no/121177.html
~ 1770 US$, weights 9.0kg (18.8lbs).

Merida Cyclo Cross 4-D 2013

https://www.oslosportslager.no/produk...013-28776.aspx
~1440 US$, weights 10.3kg (22.7lbs), as found here

Both good cyclo cross bikes.
The Wilier is lighter and more costly... and the Merida has disk brakes, which I tend to prefer.
As brands, not sure which is would be better.
Also, need to check if I can fit fenders in these.
Any experience with any of these models/brands?

Dwayne

Neither one has rack attachment points if at some point in the future you'd like to add a rear rack, just something I noticed. I love not having to wear a backpack and being able to bring some groceries home, too. Also harder to attach fenders. If that doesn't matter to you, I'd go with the Merida since it has discs.

haphaeu

For the rack, I really don't want it. As I don't use it frequently, it would be just extra weight carried every day back and forth.
Good point for the fenders. I really wanted to know whether those thin and light fenders could be attached to any of them. Those large mountain bike fenders are not an option, I'd prefer to get wet

Dwayne

You can get some pretty lightweight racks. Racktime makes the LightIt that weighs 530g with hardware for a reasonable price, but if you spend more, Tubus makes the Airy at 230g. Just throwing that out there.

The only fenders I can think of that would work with those bikes would be the SKS RaceBlade XL, fits up to 32mm tires:
https://www.sks-germany.com/?l=en&a=p...ADE%20XL%20SET

Commodus

O.o

This thread is amazing. It's like talking to my girlfriend's cat.

grolby

I have some pretty extensive experience as both a hobbyist and bike mechanic, and I disagree categorically. Modern bikes are fairly standardized in terms of hardware dimensions, and that hardware is of very high quality; old bikes come in a panoply of different standards and often use hardware made out of what appears to be gray cheese. Modern bikes require, for the most part, a pretty standard, small set of basic tools; older bikes often require a strange and variable array of special tools for basic jobs, pin spanners and the like. Modern bikes, even cheap ones, generally come with components designed for a high degree of adjustability, so problems can readily be addressed; the components on old bikes often have far fewer options, "adjusting" the brakes on the older bike may mean forcibly bending them. And course the new stuff is generally more durable and less prone to going out of adjustment in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, I like old bikes a lot! But this idea that new bikes are less repairable is completely ass-backwards, and I don't think anyone with actual experience in repairing bicycles of all ages would make such a claim.

As far as materials go, it's really not relevant. It all breaks.

Agree 100%.

Like I said, I like old bikes just fine, but it's silly to get all romantic about a bygone era when things were made to last and to be repaired rather than replaced. It's actually more true now, with bikes, than it ever has been before.

noglider 

Steel-framed bikes, when well maintained, last as long as humans do.

Bike Gremlin

You do that often?

haphaeu

Just thought it would be worth bumping this thread I started 6 years ago to add some interesting field research results =)

So, after the nice opinions from you guys, back in 2013 I decided to go for it and got myself a cyclocross for daily commute to work. Since then I've been commuting average 3 days per week, in lots of rain, mud, salt, snow, ice, you name it. In all this time the only problem I had after about 4 winters cyling was salt going into the headset and rusting the ball bearings, which was easy to open, clean and re-grease, and problem solved. Other than that, I've changed a couple of chains obviously, the smaller chanring due to wear (should have changed chains more often maybe), and just now I went for a full cleaning and changed all the cables since all these years accumulating dust the shifters were a bit heavy.

Well, all in all, I think the generally the wear on the bike is visible but only cosmetic. This 105 system is pretty tough, and once properly tuned I can ride for many seasons without having to re-adjust it. Only thing I regret though is not having disk brakes, because I'm tired to changing breaking pads every 3 or 4 months. But the break mechanic is still the original, so also very wear resistant.




5-years spring cleaning (1 year late)

madpogue 

Look into Kool-Stop brand brake pads. They're available in different material compounds for different conditions. Some even have dual compounds in a single pad. The right ones significantly improve braking performance, and should last longer than generic pads. More expensive than generic pads, but much cheaper than a disc brake retrofit.

RubeRad

I think just ride what you have if you enjoy it. If you get a road bike, get one with as wide of a tire as possible (like at least 35c), and put on tires that will get you through the sand.

Also I recommend disc brakes, because if you're riding through sand a lot, you might get sand hanging out in the rim/tire crack and falling into your brakes, embedding into your brake pads, and wearing out your rim.

pdlamb

+1 on Kool Stop brake pads.

If you don't have fenders on the bike, it'd be worth trying to put some on, with a front extension. That should keep the sand out of the chain, and road salt out of your headset.

alan s 

fietsbob

As you say,

You are going to have to clean the bike and remove the sand grit frequently , Or it Wears fast ,

how does every weekend sound?

haphaeu

Thanks, will try them. If they last longer, does it mean they are harder? I change mine so often because I use soft ones, since I'd rather wear the pads than the rims.


I've tried already in the past. But I don't like them. They do a good job keeping dirt out, but I don't like their looks and feel. Personal preference. I'd rather clean more often, accept more wear, but I'll have more fun riding without them.


Improvements since I first wrote this: path is now 100% asphalt, and there's a water hose at the bike parking place at work. So it is easy to keep it more or less clean and heavy duty cleaning can wait couple of months in summer. On the downside, the city is dumping quite a lot of salt on the path in winter... still with the water hose at work most of it can be removed every day, and proper cleaning can wait couple of weeks.

golftdi

Rode in this morning after a hard rain last night. Looking forward to the fenders I ordered last week for my new commuter (Surly Midnight Special).

carlos danger

I guess it depends on how you built it in the first place. I spray my frames internally with grease and oils. Grease all bearings and try to seal off anything moving. Grease all bolts.
I wear out tires, chains, cassettes, chainrings, brake pads, brake discs, pedal bushings, shifter cables, rd pulleys. Other than that nothing on my bikes have ever broken.
I have about 15000-20000km on the steel mtb (no squishy fork of course), and at least 10000 on my main road Ti road bike which is infact a cx bike. They both do winter and summer commuting.