Good bye public transport

Fidius

Well after years of saving hard and working 12hr shifts at my local sweat shop (only joking) ill start again i needed a cheap and cheerful bike for my commute to work and back and managed to pick this up from flea bay and to be fair im pretty happy with the cheap and cheerful bike the guy who sold it me purchased it in 2007 and had it a week before sticking it in the loft (back injury) .... 7 years later and £140 from me i got my budget buster commute bike in mint condition and to be fair it rides like a dream just had a pannier rack fitted as well as i cant be arse'd with honking a ruck sack around :}

rock shox Judy TT
shimano deore v brakes
Scott grips and specialized saddle
truvativ crank, handle bars and stem
shimano deore rear and front mech with shimano cassette
continental tyres explorer

Initialised

Not bad for the money, I run a similar bike as a spare and for the odd bit of trail riding, same tyres.

Those tyres wear out quickly if ridden on tarmac and aren't puncture resistant. I flatted one on a thorn yesterday, the kind of thorn my kevlar lined tyres shrug off. They are pretty good in mud, leaf litter, gravel etc... Sooo... if your commute is mainly tarmac consider getting slick tyres with puncture protection like Durano, Marathon or City Jet, it'll make you faster.

andrewc3142

Good on you. The best bikes are the ones you bond with.

Agree re rucksacks. Depends on what rack you've got, whether it doubles as a mudguard, but if not that would be a worthwhile addition for commuting all year round.

Also, as above, some slicker, more puncture proof tyres would be a good investment. Just need to make sure they're no wider than your rims. I'm a big fan of Contis. Others swear by Schwalbe - some of our family bikes (and the Croozer) have them - good but heavy and a pig to fit.

Happy commuting.

mrfpb

I agree about the conti's not being very puncture proof. I got regular punctures on them commuting in Newcastle, and eventually switched to Shwalbe Marathon reflectives, which have done really well so far on gravel roads, country roads and canal paths/trails. I always assume I'll need new tyres and tubes when buying second hand.

damocles10

Good for you!!!!

The Rookie

I'd lose the heavy and near pointless (they are very poor forks) Judy's and get some rigids!

Other than that there are lots of good tyres, the Schwalbe CJ is an excellent budget tyre but something like a Conti Sport contact, Panaracer RiBMo or WTB Slickasaurus is faster rolling (used all 4 at some point as well as some Spesh Nimbus which were disappointingly draggy despite being more expensive tyres).