Old 07-16-21, 09:42 AM
  #16  
adamrice 
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Austin TX USA
Posts: 931

Bikes: Bob Jackson 853 Arrowhead; Felt VR30; Kinesis UK RTD; Hujsak tandem

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I would not get a fancy bike to commute on. I would get a fancy bike to be my "weekend bike." My commuter is a bike I don't mind locking up outdoors, riding in the rain, and not cleaning until the weekend. An aluminum bike with 105-grade components is great for commuting.

Consider the things you can do to your current bike (or your eventual commute bike) to make it better for commuting, and all the ancillary stuff that makes up your "bike commuting ecosystem."

It'll be very hard to reduce your commute time significantly by getting a different bike, but very easy to increase your commute time by getting a flat, so consider tougher tires, or tubeless tires with sealant, or tubes with sealant. I get paid hourly, and the time I've lost to flats on my commute would pay for some really nice tires (in the beforetime, when I was bike commuting). Looking at the stock tires on your bike, I would want fatter tires: I've got 32s on my commuter, which might not fit on that bike.

Consider buying duplicates of stuff to leave at your workplace so you don't need to carry it on your bike. Really good headlight and taillight. Fenders. I'm a convert to disc brakes, especially for riding in foul weather. Obviously there's no way to adapt discs to your current bike.
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