Bored with commuter bike - considering alternatives.

[Tangled Metal]

Eurgh! Not into big city life. Even Lancaster is too big a city for my liking. Too many people on Saturdays and the nightlife is about too much drunks and fights for my tastes. Country bumpkin living in a semi rural small town. Good amenities but you're never more than 5 minutes walk from real countryside and good air/space.

[Si]

I tend to just change my route in every now and then to keep things interesting. My commuter bike gets such a rough life that I probably wouldn't want to expose any of my other bikes to that treatment!

[gaz]

Occasionally I get to feeling a little bored with my commuter, often when something nicer looking gets parked up at the same set of Sheffield stands and then I start searching ebay for something else. There's usually a hub-geared, hub-braked, flat-barred, 26" wheeled Pashley or two to catch my eye.

Then I remember that my commuter is relatively unattractive to thieves, I have a shed load of hand-me-down derailleur/rim-brake based spares, my dynohub wheel and studded tyres are all 700C and that I like riding drops.

[iandriver]

Bolt some Tri bars onto the London road. Should liven things up a bit.

[Tangled Metal]

What are tri bars like? Funnily enough I've been thinking about them for some time.

I did see cinelli ones that were really small and a bent tube loop. Not legal if road bikes off racing according to uci rules I heard.

What tribars would you suggest?

One think I've done is lift the saddle a bit more. I lowered the saddle to get out into the car so when I got it out I put it what looked ridiculously high. When I tried it out I thought it wasn't really that high. Turns out by always riding on the hoods with the lower seat I was actually riding in this position but now I'm on the hoods. Might allow me to drop down to the drops in an autumn / winter head wind to make it slightly easier. Tribars would help even more perhaps.

BTW there's a few ppl riding non-tri and non-aero bikes with tribars. One guy I saw had a flat bar with them. Must be a good reason they put them on.

BTW saw a trek 920 at wheelbase. What a strange bike! A tourer with off road wheels and tyres. A kind of normal rear rack with those second, lower horizontal bars to lower the panniers and make it easy to strap stuff on top too. Then front rack bolts onto the front fork to the front/top edge running in front of the forks. It has horizontal bars at regular intervals down it I guess to put panniers lower or higher as needed. Plus a top rack to it not just a front lowrider.

Looks like the Fugio. 650x50 tyres but will take 700x40s or 42s. Bikepacking style of bike but why the two racks in that case? Bikepacking with drops does not tend to have racks I thought. Strange beast.

[Paulatic]

Use the car it’s wonderful around Lancaster. This morning from Queue off M6 J34 to the Marsh area was a swift 40 minutes. 3 or 4 miles.. beat that on yer bike!

[Tangled Metal]

It used to be half an hour into work or home by car, bike or train. That's door to door as well including walking to the train station and walking home from it at the other end.

Now the excellent train timetable improvements means I take about an hour and half by train.

Car takes a most enjoyable hour on a good day. Plus the pleasure of seeing inconsiderate drivers going right past queuing cars on the left lane only to cut in just before Skerton Bridge is not as if you haven't had plenty of warning signs telling you to get onto the left lane earlier.

Then bike takes 27 minutes or 45 minutes by recumbent if my upright has that annoying BB7 brake issue. Plus the joys of the north end of the bridge diversion. I mean where is a bike to go when you've reached the end of the lane from millennium bridge? The contractors haven't worked out the cyclist's diversion. There is no obvious or safe route through.

At least I'm safe in the car and train.

[iandriver]

What are tri bars like? Funnily enough I've been thinking about them for some time.


What tribars would you suggest?

I've got a set of these on a couple of bikes: https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HBSELKP58 ... ar---alloy
I would not use them in traffic of while group riding. If you do get quieter sections where you can set a steady pace, I love them. I do live in the flat lands where the wind bangs through, where they come into their own. I also appreciated them with 110 miles of headwind in Flanders to get to my ferry a while back. They are the ultimate in a change of hand position.

I'm pretty flexible, if you like to sit upright, you may hate them. They are like using the drops, then a bit more.

[Paulatic]

It used to be half an hour into work or home by car, bike or train. That's door to door as well including walking to the train station and walking home from it at the other end.

Now the excellent train timetable improvements means I take about an hour and half by train.

Car takes a most enjoyable hour on a good day. Plus the pleasure of seeing inconsiderate drivers going right past queuing cars on the left lane only to cut in just before Skerton Bridge is not as if you haven't had plenty of warning signs telling you to get onto the left lane earlier.

Then bike takes 27 minutes or 45 minutes by recumbent if my upright has that annoying BB7 brake issue. Plus the joys of the north end of the bridge diversion. I mean where is a bike to go when you've reached the end of the lane from millennium bridge? The contractors haven't worked out the cyclist's diversion. There is no obvious or safe route through.

At least I'm safe in the car and train.

Tonight 50 mins from St George’s Quay to Mway
Greyhound bridge not opening this Sunday. Id have gladly swApped for even a unicycle

[Tangled Metal]

Took me an hour to get to past BLS or was it longer I didn't really pay attention. It was bad coming off the quay.

Bike tomorrow anyway but it'll have to be recumbent. Faster upright is back to being crocked.

[zenitb]

Go for the "H bar" option of course...ideal to spice up your ride !!!

https://cdnmos-bikeradar.global.ssl.fas ... 30-354.jpg

https://cdn.road.cc/sites/default/files ... k=11Z131aE

https://road.cc/content/tech-news/20477 ... pped-pilot

..just remember to order some beard oil !!