Commuting on Carbon

itboffin

I know a couple of you on here commuter on carbon frames, I can see the attraction after all for many of us do more miles commuting than social riding so why not use something lighter/faster less eye bleedingly ugly (the Spank BSO)?

I get the weight saving and durability is fine mostly, but thing is how much would you spend on your commuter bike or frame?

A cheap frame from Ribble or Planet-X or perhaps even one of those chinese carbon jobs it's still going to be £300+
i'm very tempted still by one of these.

FM039


or

FM098

greg66_tri_v2.0

The carbon part of this question is a bit of a red herring. Isn't the real question how do people justify to themselves commuting on an expensive or very expensive frame?

My thinking is based on the following:
- life's too short to waste on crap
- therefore I ride on the best stuff I can afford
- I don't have a garage or other space to store a fleet of bikes
- by keeping my fleet down to one and a "spare" I can spend more on those two than if I had a fleet of 5+
- I would probably draw the line at commuting on something I couldn't afford to replace

I don't really see anything magic about carbon per se. A £300 carbon frame may be a great buy and last a lifetime. Or it may be too flexy, or too stiff, or suffer from cracking or the BB shell coming out (and there are plenty of carbon frames out there costing many times £300 that suffer one or more of these issues).

You could say almost exactly the same thing about a £300 Ti frame, or a £300 steel frame.

Get a good frame. Don't get one just because of its material.

Anyway, what do you care? You're such an aged old duffer that you should be looking at one of these, not some fancy carbon frame. It looks like it has a built in Sanilav. Ideal for you nowadays:

cjcp

Wot Greg said.

The bulk of my riding is the commute, so I don't want to commute on cr@p. I'd consider commuting on the Scott again if I didn't have to lock the bike up outside.

DrLex

cjcp wrote:

Wot Greg said.

The bulk of my riding is the commute, so I don't want to commute on cr@p. [...]

QFT! Not looking forward to going back to MTB when the weather deteriorates.

CiB

I do all my commuting on an reasonably expensive bike (BMC SLX01 fwiw), and don't even go for the n+1 approach. If I'm out on the bike I want it to be good so bought a good bike to ride. 20+ miles to work on a jalopy just to postpone the wear on a nice bike doesn't appeal and as my commute is my twice & thrice weekly TT it warrants the right gear. I don't see the commute as a commute - it's a nice distance bike ride to fit in before & after work, and as a bonus I end up where I need to be. Commuting is bike riding in the end, same as sportivs, w/e centuries, club rides. It's still a bike ride - it wants a decent bike to do it.

Anyway it doesn't need justifying - folk at work sometimes raise eyebrows at the cost of a nice bike but pointing out that spending the same dosh on a car gets you a bag of nails that you'll hate normally gives them the light bulb moment. Two grand to sit in someone's bogey disposal site + ashtray, or the same money for a bike & the chance to grin like a loon every time you use it? No contest.

meanredspider

Agree with all the sentiments here - I hate it when I read that something is "ok for commuting" - WTF does that mean? I spend a couple of hours a day riding a certain bike, wearing certain clothes and certain shoes. I don't get to choose the weather or, mostly, the route. Personally I'd therefore spend more on commuting than the "fun" stuff.

bunter

I have to replace most of the drivechain and a whole range of other bits of my commuter on an annual basis because I ride in almost all conditions. I can't afford to do that on my weekend bike. My commuter has disc brakes, which while heavy, mean I can actually stop when I need to in heavy traffic.

If I had the money and my commute was longer I guess I would consider commuting on a more expensive bike...

veronese68

I agree with many of the above posts. Most of my riding is my commute, so my best bike is my commuter. Security would understandably put some people off using a really nice bike for commuting. Otherwise I don't see a reason not to. Take pleasure in your commute, and if you wear stuff out you've had good mileage out of it. When the roads are gritted might give a reason to wimp out for a really nice bike though.
My commuter is a good bike by my standards, but it's primarily a work horse.

barry_kellett99

You're all either loaded or Fair weather riders.
Like the guy above, riding a geared road bike through the winter for me would mean new chainrings, cassette, chain and most likely several other drivetrain bits on the other side of winter. I did it for a couple of years and got tired of changing the bits and meticulously cleaning the bike down in the evenings, every evening and still ending up with it all gone to pot.

Then you have the issues using race tires on the commute over the distance. And you won't want mudguards on your proper race bike. But you cannot commute in all weathers without guards unless you have a completely leather arse, or perhaps smear yourself in vaseline every morning?

Then you have issues with it being attractive to sticky fingers.

Screw that.

Singlespeed, steel, 28c Lead lined tires, slightly more relaxed, Mudguards, Loadsa lights. And Its still pretty quick. And excellent training for when you get to take the nice bike out.

asprilla

I tried fixed, but at 21 miles each way it was just too long to do 5 days a week and so gears are required.

Commuting makes up 95% of my riding and so I'd rather not ride anything other than a nice, light and comfortable geared bike given the volume of miles I do and am likely to do in the future (I'm looking to move house and I very much doubt it'll be closer to work).

The only thing I think you need to add for winter commuting is lights and mudguards. I can't get guards to fit properly on the carbon frame (not even RRs) and with lights on the cockpit feels very cramped indeed. The result is that I've bought my Ti frame for the winter. It's expensive where it needs to be (frame, saddle, shifters, etc ) and cheap where it needs to be (chain, cassette, BB) so I get the best of both worlds with little in the way of compromise.

bails87

You're all either loaded or Fair weather riders.

Rubbish!

Carbon doesn't melt when it gets wet! Or when it gets cold!

I've got a carbon and an alu (CX) bike, I only commute on them, so don't have a 'race' bike or a 'sunday best', my fun riding is done on the MTB, my road bikes are purely commuters. I do 15 miles each way, with enough hills to get through a decent range of gears. I want something light, comfortable and reliable for my commute. I agree on the attractiveness to theives issue, luckily I've got either secure parking, or the option of bringing my bike into the office, so it spends the day next to my desk.

As for the cost of replacement parts. Tiagra is 10 speed now, so I could replace the 105 on my Ribble with Tiagra bits as and when it wears for not much money.
I don't understand the "I'll be using it a lot, so I'll get something cheap and not as good" mentality.

greg66_tri_v2.0

barry_kellett99 wrote:

You're all either loaded or Fair weather riders.
Like the guy above, riding a geared road bike through the winter for me would mean new chainrings, cassette, chain and most likely several other drivetrain bits on the other side of winter. I did it for a couple of years and got tired of changing the bits and meticulously cleaning the bike down in the evenings, every evening and still ending up with it all gone to pot.

I call BS on that.

A clean every 3-4 is all you need in winter. Meticulous cleaning every evening? Entertaining hyperbole, but not true.

barry_kellett99

bails87 wrote:

Rubbish!



Carbon doesn't melt when it gets wet! Or when it gets cold!

I never mentioned carbon



I agree. Frame material is irrelevant.

Greg66 wrote:

I call BS on that.



A clean every 3-4 is all you need in winter. Meticulous cleaning every evening? Entertaining hyperbole, but not true.

You can call whatever you want on it, I've been there and worn out the components.

Perhaps the route makes a difference.

My quickest route is all on a busy main route so I suppose it stands to reason that it would be gritted more often than my longer back road routes?



I ride my set up in all weathers, pretty much every working day. I would maybe give it a clean down once every 2 or 3 months if I can spare the time, mainly the brake blocks and rims get a wipe. 2 full years on it and I am still waiting to re-experience this:

notsoblue

Most of my commuting is riding, and I enjoy long rides and sportives etc... so I consider my commuting training for that. And if I'm spending between 1-2 hours a day on a bike, it may as well be one I really enjoy riding.

Gussio

Commute is often the best part of my working day and I am keen to maximise that enjoyment by riding a nice bike. Agree with the comments above about riding what you can afford, within the limits of what is reasonable if you have to leave a bike chained outside. Also, a shroud has no pockets.

Commuting on steel, being down with the kids as I am.

meanredspider

bails87 wrote:

You're all either loaded or Fair weather riders.

Rubbish!

+1

Wet weather lube on the chain and a squirt of GT85 after particularly mucky rides and all is good between the odd weekend clean.

The only problem I've experienced is water getting into an unplugged hole in the frame and collecting in the steerer/headset bearing causing it to corrode over time. A tenner and all was fixed.

MonkeyMonster

london roads while obv gritted n all more often less salty per se but still clear because of the traffic - so less shit in a way but still rideable - likely drier for the same reason - more cars means more pickup and/or evaporation due to increase in numbers so it's drier. Course there are still days when captain dumpalot seems to have been on the road just before you and your bike weighs twice as much but they are the rarity. quick clean with plus lube after and you're good to go once a week if you must.

veronese68

meanredspider wrote:

bails87 wrote:

You're all either loaded or Fair weather riders.

Rubbish!

+1

+another 1

Tiagra equipped Kona Jake, mudguards fitted and it's on it's 3rd year. Needs chain and sprockets now. Rims are getting quite worn. Cleaned rarely, but lubed every week. Used through most of the winter, except for snow when the MTB gets used. Not much grit through Bushy Park though.

ex-pat scot

Asprilla wrote:

I tried fixed, but at 21 miles each way it was just too long to do 5 days a week and so gears are required.

Commuting makes up 95% of my riding

Me too, but I'm persevering on Fixed. With a planned foray into SS using my trusty Cannondale tourer for winter duties.

spasypaddy

greg where do you get a Ti frame for £300?

apreading

If I were allowed another bike, I would get a Pompetamine with Alfine hub gears - best of all worlds for comfort, winter-proofness and maintenance, surely?

meanredspider

apreading wrote:

If I were allowed another bike, I would get a Pompetamine with Alfine hub gears - best of all worlds for comfort, winter-proofness and maintenance, surely?

Expensive though - especially the 11-speed which was stunningly expensive