One bike to rule them all (commuting)

flatpat

After a recent bike theft, I'm considering whether I could downsize to a single bike to cover a daily light commute (only 6 miles a day), weekly offroad night rides and the occasional trail centre/welsh mountains/kid portage/40 mile road ride.

Nothing offroad is too techy but I would need a half-decent suspension fork & gears.

A 29er sounds ideal for this. A 48 outer ring, sets of slick/knobbly tyres, lockout suspension, seatpost rack and cheapo mudguards should make it adaptable.

So, that's kind of OK - my question is, can I deal with the hassle of cleaning and prepping the bike before and after a mucky November night ride?

Does anyone already do this? Does it become routine or is it a pain in the backside?

oodboo

I bought a CX bike for commuting and commuting is all I use it for. It get's no love except the occasional drop of oil on the chain.

I was thinking about doing something similar as I find the cx bike isn't as good as I would like it to be off road and I'm managing to get more and more off road sections in my commute so I'm looking at getting a 29er for commuting and xc stuff. I'll be keeping my enduro for the rough stuff but it's overkill for a lot of the riding I do. I was also hoping the 29er would be a jack of all trades. I was thinking about having weekend tyres and commuting tyres but was wondering if constantly swapping them wound be a ball ache.

oodboo

The 29er I was looking at is the Focus Black Forest 29er 2.
http://www.focus-bikes.com/int/en/bikes ... -20-6.html

flatpat

Hmm hadn't really thought of it from the CX angle.

I suppose I could try some bigger CX tyres on my Kona Sutra (my current commute bike) and see how it runs in the woods. Can't see the wheels staying true for long - the bread and butter Bristol trails are generally fairly smooth but the interesting bits are a fair bit rockier.

passout

Personally I'd have two bikes - a decent MTB and a cheap commuting tool. You won't be as stuck if one gets nicked or needs repairs. No constantly changing tyres or cycling on road with draggy off road tyres. You could also have a low maintenance commuter - probably a single speed that takes guards. Get one with a flip flop hub so you can run S/S or fixed gear.

SE single speeds are cheap & if I'm honest a little nasty - I have an SE draft lite & like it. Also consider Norco Indies, Revoultion is worth a look and Vitus make some decent cheap single speeds (see CRC).
I

supersonic

What is your budget? I wouldn't say a 29er was any better, or worse for what you describe.

I use an MTB as an allrounder like this, far more verstaile than a CX bike.

bails87

For a 6 mile round trip you could ride almost anything. The bike going walkies while you're at work would be the main concern.