gerbus

Hellllllo cyclists. I'm a former year-round commuter cyclist (Vancouver) who's been off for a year or two due to:
1. Having a baby,
2. My body complaining (hips, legs really tight, wrists bothered by bearing a lot of my weight),
3. My bike falling out of maintainable condition (it's an old-school Nishiki 18-speed with 28mm tires).

I want to get back into season-irrelevant cycle commuting, but I need a new bike and am suffering from choice-paralysis, so I'm looking for some well-reasoned recommendations.

Here's what I'm after:

I want to be comfortable on my bike. A lot of that I assume is fit, so I want it to fit me really well (I'm 6'4, 36yrs old, and like a 61/62cm frame).

Mostly I'm going to commute with it (40mins each way), often in the rain (I want disc brakes).

I'm going to carry my laptop back and forth from the office (so at least one waterproof pannier).

I want to ride on forest paths (I don't care about jostle, I just don't want flat tires).

I want the option of camp-touring with it (so maybe two panniers and/or a rack).

I want to put a child seat / trailer on it.

I'm used to a slow gear ratio of 0.956 and a fast gear ratio of 3.57, so ideally I don't lose either end of that range. I like to go as fast as I can down bridges.

I like to switch up my wrist positioning a lot (end of the drops, front of the drops, sides of the bars, middle/top of the bars), but I also like to always have my fingers on the brake levers. On my past two bikes I put in lever extensions so I could brake while on the top of the handlebars. So interrupters or suicide levers or whatever you call them are important to me.

When I'm not in the drop outs, I like to have my back in a neutral relaxed (tall) position.

I'd like to spend under 1.5k CAD, don't care about buying a 2018 or 2017, but probably will buy new.

Help me find a bike! Preferably I want to just go somewhere and buy it and do a few mods afterwards. Not really interested in building up from scratch. Thanks!

MiE

Not sure what your talking about with the bars but I am currently in the market as well and am looking at the co-op cycles adv 1.1 at Rei. It had a real nice feel to it, came with front and rear racks, the handle bar is well built up and cusioned. Overall a nice bike for around $1300.

Brian25

Hi Gerbus,
It is a total advantage that you already have a bike. To use data from your old bike is going to be crucial to figuring out what bike to find that you will like (dimensionally). I suggest that you measure and record these vital dimensions: A.) Preferred seat height (crank center to the top of the seat). B) Reach; from saddle nose to the handlebar center. C) How high the handlebars from the front tire. So for instance if your handlebars on your old Nishiki are a 12" above the front tire and you want to be more upright, then you know to check out bikes with handlebars that are 13" The preferred seat height is particularly useful to have bikes that you are considering set up with that height now that you have measured it. Good luck.

J.Higgins 

The Surly Big Dummy will fill all of your listed requirements and keep on giving.

fietsbob

Yea , the other cargo option, long john style .. front extension ...

Larry vs Harry - Bullitt now offering a Mid Drive Motor, option.

DropBarFan

How about IGH/belt commuter? In rainy regions it can save a lot of maintenance time. Most have flat bars but I find them tolerable for <1 hr rides.

https://www.rei.com/product/122465/c...es-cty-13-bike

fietsbob

I have found my drum brake hub wheels to be reliable for 30 years without any need for pad replacement..

And they work in all the worst weather.. now that bike is my studded tire equipped one..