New Commuter Bike

Fatbadger
Fatbadger Posts: 51
edited August 2010 in Commuting general
Right, I'm looking to commute to work and am currently in the process of getting my boss to set up the cyclescheme however I need advice on a bike.

It will have 2 uses,


Commuting:
Firstly I will ride it 22miles to work and 22miles home for most of the year and up to 3x a week. It is important that I can take my 15" laptop and SLR Camera and ideally my lunch box back and forth so I was looking for different ways of carrying these.

A) Different kinds of bag, backpack or messenger bag. The downside is that I don't have showers at work so the less sweaty my back gets the easier it will be to scrub up in the sink :D I know a lot of commuters use messenger bags but wouldn't they slide around?

B) Panniers. The problem here is that I don't think most of the quicker road bikes I was looking at have mounts for them although I did see this on another post.
alfablue wrote:
LOOK! Just seen this on another thread:

Axiom Streamliner Road DLX. No mounts needed, sits 4cm behind dropout.
171285;Warehouse;Warehouse.jpg
available here for £29.99

Does anybody know if they are any good? If so that will easily fix my storage problems.



Sportives:
Quite self explanatory, this is why I want to go for more of a racer than standard tourer.


Obviously I have less than £1000 to spend through cycle scheme. Ideally £800 or less would be better. I am attracted to 105/tiagra shifters for when I do sportives.


What is the best mix of the two? Any help much appreciated!

Comments

  • if you have the money to spend, go for a long tail, no back toting at all and you will come to find it indespinsible. Look at www.xtracycle.com I have an old trek that I turned into a longtail and I could not live without it. I also have a motobecane fixie as my other fast bike. So I have a stationwagon and a sports car.
    Good luck
    If it aint fixed its broke.
  • Alphabet
    Alphabet Posts: 436
    you could go for one of the topeak beam racks:

    http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=28767

    there are loads of different ones, but this has side frames for this bag:

    http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=28663

    which has pop out panniers for when you need em. whole thing just clips on, no straps or anything. you can get a waterproof cover too if need be as it's only splash proof.


    don't use it with a carbon seatpost though...
  • izthewiz
    izthewiz Posts: 154
    Got one of those Topeak bags for my missus. She takes it shopping and can get a week's stuff in it. She just unclips it, takes it in and fills it, then clips it back on to ride home. Super convenient.
    The only bad view from the saddle is of the point of impact rising rapidly to meet you.