is this bike ok for commuting?

neiljohn
neiljohn Posts: 35
edited March 2008 in Commuting chat
I am shortly moving house and my commute of 4 mile will be increased to 14 miles each way.
I currently have a Revoultion courier bike with flat bars which I use.

I also have a Specialised Allez bike which is a few years old. If I put a pannier on that fits to the seatpost - would this be a good commuting bike?

Would it also be an idea to upgrade the brakes from sora to tiagra or 105? Or upgrade the lot to Shimano 105?

Comments

  • Shadowduck
    Shadowduck Posts: 845
    Hi, welcome to the forum!

    The Allez would be a better choice than the Courier for a 28 mile round trip, no doubt. Personally I'd go for a rack rather than a seatpost mount on the pannier but either way is better than a rucksack!

    Any particular reason you want to upgrade the brakes? Anything wrong with them as they are?
    Even if the voices aren't real, they have some very good ideas.
  • alfablue
    alfablue Posts: 8,497
    I think changing the brake calipers would offer ony a small improvement. If they are unsatisfactory at the moment, are they set up right? Other components would have more potential benefit, changing to a 105 groupset gives improvements with shifting, weight and durability, but there is not much point in changing components that are working okay, even if Sora, makes more sense to wear them out.
  • dazzawazza
    dazzawazza Posts: 462
    neiljohn wrote:
    Would it also be an idea to upgrade the brakes from sora to tiagra or 105? Or upgrade the lot to Shimano 105?

    I installed Koolstop Salmon brake pads on my Sora equipped Allez (£7 a pair) and can easily lock out the wheels. I've ridden my wife's 105 equipped bike, which still has the original pads, and the braking performance isn't as good as my bike.

    There's nothing wrong with Sora, especially on a commuting bike.
  • PrettyBoyTim
    PrettyBoyTim Posts: 163
    You should be able to stop the wheel from moving with pretty much any brake* as long as it's set up right. I'd be very surprised if you needed to upgrade the brakes.

    * Unless the bike is supplied with plastic brake levers, like the crappy mountain bike my daughter was given. Luckily she's light and can lock the wheels, but when I tried I wasn't able to. The brake levers would bend rather than apply enough pressure to the wheel!

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