From Commuter to Road Bike Commuter (My Story)

geordiefella

Step 1. Borrowed a bike 2 years ago. Road bike. took a while to get to work, new route, knackered, badly needed a shower, wore too much. got soaked (no guards)

Step 2. Bought a hybrid with Rohloff (thinking hard about giving this up to fleabay and would have done if it weren't for the Rohloff hub itself which is supergreat). Cycled this to and from work for 20 months. Loving the riding.

Step 3. Bought a road frame and built it up. Reason i use the roads is that its much faster. Super fast sometimes, and this has led the hybrid, even though reliable, to feel heavy and slower, but i'm still using it, especially as its poor weather.

Next: Road bike developed a crack, so i got a supersix replacement. This is lovely and far too good to be an all weather machine. So now, I'm trapped poor weather with the hybrid. I had use my road frame from time to time and when it cracked it was clear it wouldn't fare well under poor conditions

So now: Thinking hard about losing the Rohloff. Reason being that its unlikely i'd come across one again really so i'd miss its reliability. But the speed and agility that a road bike brings is undeniable (if you get comfy with a good saddle). I've given this a lot of thought, and originally fancied a steel road frame and toyed with the idea of a genesis day one but moving towards titanium roadie as best feeling bike for every day use. Plus, on road rides it means i've always got a road bike to ride. Really, I suppose i need the two, no three, or maybe four! (*sighs*).

Anyway, no car anymore, just a bike.

Anyone else had a similar progression?

gbsahne001

Step 1 : removed aged hybrid from parents attic, where it had been for the past 10 years
Step 2 : serviced said hybrid - needed nothing more than new tyres
Step 3 : started using the hybrid to and from the station in the morning and then cyled the 14.5 miles home
Step 4 : started to skip one of the train sections and before you know it cycling both directions

Step 5 : obtained a high spec'd CX with Dura Ace throughout, which I then started to use for extended trips including a JoGLE
Step 6: back to the hybrid for winter but also now obtained an MTB, which means lots of mud and lovin it.

If the Hybrid gives up during the winter; fair chance then next years Winter bike will be the CX, with a new road bike to follow; something like the Focus Cayo maybe.

Cafewanda

@ Geordiefella - as many bikes as you can find room/reason for

My progression:

Step 1 - Age 42 - buy (way too big)hybrid and have cycling lessons
Step 2 - Nervously cycle local streets with beloved niece. Crash into the occasonal wall, lampost and cars *shh*
Step 3 - Park bike indoors and spend 2+ years looking at it whilst envying cyclists from the top of the bus
Step 4 - Age 45 get on the bike and start commuting to work. Cue panic attack at E&C roundabout, the occasional near miss and gutter cycling. Discover BikeRadar and my life is complete/ruined 8)
Step 5 - Two more cycling lessons. Increased confidence. Browse Cyclecraft, meet BR people, go on two rides. Sell and buy another hybrid smaller than first hybrid. Sell that one for current one.
Step 6 - Buy road bike which is now in it's own bedroom awaiting it's first ride. This could be a while..............

Tthinking about a folding bike next C2W scheme next October.

Oddjob62

Cafewanda wrote:

road bike which is now in it's own bedroom awaiting it's first ride. This could be a while..............

:evil:

EKE_38BPM

Cafewanda wrote:

Buy road bike which is now in it's own bedroom

That is really showing the bike some love.

Cafewanda

Well, I was prepping for my marathon which took place a month ago and now it's cross-country running season so I'm out most Saturdays with a long run on Sunday mornings. It's winter+rainy season and I don't want it getting wet.

I have a frame I bought back in April which is still in a box in said bedroom. There's a theme here isn't there?

EKE_38BPM

You did a marathon last month? Well done, I couldn't/wouldn't run that sort of distance.

My brother is a compulsive (but not very good) tinkerer and I called his bedroom the room where technology went to die.
Sounds like your bike room is where bikes go in order to await their birth.

Cafewanda

Bike room!! That's the new name for that bedroom .

Most of my bike stuff is in the hallway and I realised this morning that my waterproof stuff/gloves live there too.

Great way to dissuade family from wanting to stay too long at mine :twisted:

Alphabet

BMX when i was a nipper, rapidly moved on to MTBs up to the point where i totalled my lovely '95 Kona Cinder Cone around a tree at Penshurst Off Road Club.

Went to uni and made do with a '97 Specialized Hardrock for getting to lectures and @rsing about. Spent the next few years thrashing it around the woods and hills and generally getting muddy. Commuted on it with skinnies occasionally at my last job, once or twice a week for 10 miles - only in good weather and all that.

Bought a Kona Kula this Feb - spent a lot of time petting and hugging it. Commuted on it every day on skinnies and took it to Dunwich overnight for a swim. Bought an old benotto racer and some track wheels on fleabay - made a singlespeed. Flipped it to fixed and the MTB is back to being reserved for getting muddy at the weekend.

At the moment I'm pretty happy with the pair of them. Tempted to respray the benotto, but she's a commuting hack and i love her, scruffiness and all. I will never go back to the trains.