Hello everyone. I used to pride myself on my hilly, 4 mile commute that I traversed on a 24” steel BMX. It was fun and kept me in great shape. Now I work a deskier job further away, have gotten out of shape and am looking for a change as the weather improves.

My commute is now realistically too far to pull on a BMX (about 11 miles each way) so I’ve acquired a proper road bike. I rode flatland BMX as a youngster but sold my last flatland bike in 2018. I still have the 24” GT that I bought used for $75 a decade ago. I also have a TREK single-track 930 26” mountain bike that I converted to a hybrid of sorts - the bike was free, the road tires were cheap and I shoved some dowels in place of the shock material in the front suspension.

Bottom line, I’m very frugal and as such have never had any reason to complain about the quality of my bikes. I take pride in them, in fact.

Building a cheap road bike bike now with panniers and fenders to take me the 100 or so miles a week I’ve otherwise been commuting via car. I’m not sure if these forums have logs so I may throw some things in here from time to time. If such a place exists, please guide to towards it and I’ll clutter it appropriately.

Thanks for having me, and be safe out there!

Excellent

Oh yeah, I picked up a rack today for my truck. I had been lugging my bikes around in my minivan in the past. My Xterra is lifted and has front and rear bumpers and a tire carrier. It’s too tall for a roof mount and any hitch mount would have to be extended and probably flop around a bunch. Craigslist for the win! Snagged a discontinued swivel rack that mounts to the spare tire and allows the bikes to be offset to one side or the other so the wheels don’t protrude passed the side of your vehicle (my tire is mounted well to the left). For $50 and an hour drive, I was super pleased with the outcome. I’ll post some pics when my post count allows it.

Also received my rear rack, pannier bags, fenders, lock cable, lock and a few other things in the mail today. I have to say, today was a good day.

Just waiting on the bike itself to come in later this week. I’ll go through it 100% and try to cram some 28s on it to make the commute more livable. Going from BMX and mountain bikes to an aluminum frame road bike with 23s will probably be a bit jarring. Trying to mitigate that from the jump.

Wish me luck!

I picked up a BikesDirect bike to see if the commuting sticks. Got a tremendous deal on it. It’s a 2009 model Dawes 2300, from their scratch-and-dent, that I had an additional $50 credit applied to. For $250, shipped, I get to see if the hobby sticks.

I should be able to sell this for a profit once it’s set up and clean. Or just ride it. Carbon fork, Shamino 105 everything except the front derailleur, which is their Tiagra. Weight in the low 20s. Again, I’m coming from cheap single speeds and throw-away bikes so this will be a monumental leap forward.

Just hoping I don’t get a flat the first week out. I’ve seen so many pinch flats around here on skinny tires with high pressures that I’m kind of sketched out riding it so far away to start. Never mind the relative discomfort. We’ll see. I’ll throw something up in the blogs area to document my progress.

Thank you everyone for saying hello!

About the 23s you don’t have to run at max pressure there’s a whole new world of balanced pressures look into it so you’re fast but also comfortable

Welcome. Commuting is addicting. I used to do a long commute and was so mellow when I go to my job.

My last flatland rig. Recently sold :-(


The beater.


The 24” GT BMX on the Xterra. Just fits!

My first flatland bike. This thing was wicked. Built it piece by piece from mostly used bits for around $200. I miss it but don’t miss breaking my wrist learning decades.