Bored with commuter bike - considering alternatives.

[Tangled Metal]

I've got a planetx London road and a recumbent. I'm bored of commuting on them. Good bikes for their uses but not very, well they're boring to ride. Or I've just got bored of them.

So my question is whether there's a better commuter bike out there for me? Certainly less than the £1000 C2W limit. Even if I don't take it up I don't want to spend too much. I'd like a faster bike that's capable of taking rack and pannier and is an all year round bike.

I've seen a Boardman women's hybrid road bike that looks good but not sure I've seen the men's equivalent. It was like a flat barred road bike. I'm not a fan of the limited hand positions of flat bars but it's different so if there was an option for more hand positions without being too ugly. Perhaps an aero bars?

So what's your opinion? Anything worth looking at right now? I don't even have an idea if what bike type is best.

[Cyril Haearn]

Boring is good

[Tangled Metal]

Boring is bad.

Speaking as a retired whitewater kayaker and retired climber (the adrenaline fix lessened as I got over my complete fear of heights through climbing cumbrian multi pitch classics in trad style).

I need a bit more excitement on my rides. I wonder if a there's a good mtb route I could do into work with my planetx bike on hypers 32mm. A bit of sliding around or squirrelling as I call it is fun. My recumbent is a bit too squirrely for off road riding. Marathon racers or something with urban in it isn't a good grass / mud tyre I've learnt.

Seriously though I want to go faster but still want a rack, guards, lights and of possible easy off road capabilities without suspension. Not sure there's a bike for all that less than a grand.

A bit of contraryness for you. I want to try flat bars again but can't stay on them for even close to half an hour without pain in the lower arm. But I can't stand the butterfly bar style of solution. Maybe I should look at those bikepacking drop bars that flare really far out.

Ooh! A gravel / bikepacking bike. Any decent ones for less than a grand. I could slick them out or nobby them out for road or off road. Spare wheels for road use too so I pick the wheels for the riding rather than swap tyres over.

Any ideas?

[Cugel]

I've got a planetx London road and a recumbent. I'm bored of commuting on them. Good bikes for their uses but not very, well they're boring to ride. Or I've just got bored of them.

So my question is whether there's a better commuter bike out there for me? Certainly less than the £1000 C2W limit. Even if I don't take it up I don't want to spend too much. I'd like a faster bike that's capable of taking rack and pannier and is an all year round bike.

I've seen a Boardman women's hybrid road bike that looks good but not sure I've seen the men's equivalent. It was like a flat barred road bike. I'm not a fan of the limited hand positions of flat bars but it's different so if there was an option for more hand positions without being too ugly. Perhaps an aero bars?

So what's your opinion? Anything worth looking at right now? I don't even have an idea if what bike type is best.

As its just up the road from you, go and have a look at the "gravel" bikes on sale in Wheelbase at Staveley. There seem to be lots that would fit your bill, especially from Genesis and Kinesis.

Cugel

[Cyril Haearn]

One sees some queer machines with butterfly bars, drops, praying bars all at once

I sing or recite when riding to combat boredom and keep the brain going

[PH]

You've probably just got bored with them, commuting gets me like that. A change of bike will alleviate it, but it won't last, by the time you've equipped it for commuting there won't be much difference to what you already have.
If you have, or can find, the sort of route that allows it, then some structured training along it can add interest, intervals of varying lengths, based on power or HR. Or cadence training, or HR management, or anything else you can think of, ideally to work on any weaknesses. I've recently finished a job with a 2am ride home, great fun on roads that would have been boring at any other time including the ride in.
If my commute ever becomes so boring that it's a chore, I'll go electric and save my energy for things that are more fun.

[Spinners]

A tad over £1K but I like this a lot...

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cube-Nuroad-Pr ... 200176.htm

The 2019 version comes out in November and I like the built-in lighting.

[mercalia]

you need to get an ebike - just get there faster with less effort as a commute isnt a ride in the countryside?

[TrevA]

you need to get an ebike - just get there faster with less effort as a commute isnt a ride in the countryside?

Depends where you live, my commute is 80% rural and 20% urban. It's 8.5 miles and I only encounter heavy traffic for the last mile. Much of it is virtually traffic free.

[whoof]

Get a different job and your commute will be different.I've had the same commuting bike for 24 years but 7 different jobs in that time.

[StephenW]

Get a unicycle!

[Tangled Metal]

Or a better car and stuff the same old bike journey?

[Cyril Haearn]

Or a better car and stuff the same old bike journey?

Nein!
"move to the country so you have a longer drive to work to enjoy" (audi of course) - 99

[Tangled Metal]

I'm thinking vauxhall Adam. There's some good deals on them new at the moment. Someone mentioned ebikes I've just added two wheels and a bigger electric motor that's all. Plus my own steel exoskeleton.

[phlouise]

Come and commute in Birmingham - plenty of excitement each day