Bike recommendation for someone starting a car free lifestyle

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  • May 28, 2014 at 3:21 pm #915390
    jabberwocky
    Participant

    I’m starting this thread on behalf of a friend of mine.

    For a bit of background, she lives in Tacoma Park and has been living essentially car free for a while now. She currently has a car that she doesn’t use. Her current plan is to sell the car and use the money to purchase a nice bike (she has a beater singlespeed that has to weigh 30 pounds from her living-in-florida days that someone recently backed a car into and smooshed the fork; since then shes been borrowing a neighbors hybrid-ish bike for commuting and errand running). Shes actually entered in the Tour De Fat car/bike trade thing (her video is here if anyone is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TjTEIp6ulU&feature=youtu.be ).

    I’m trying to help her figure out what bike to get; despite riding a lot she isn’t that well versed in the various types of bikes out there or specs or all that. My first recommendations were Surlys (Crosscheck or Straggler). Both have decent enough complete bikes available, though the Crosscheck has bar ends (which she understandably isn’t enamored with) and the straggler is IMO a bit overpriced for what you get (seriously, Sora at almost 2 grand?). I’ve kinda steered her towards a complete bike for maintenance/support/getting a bike soon reasons, but she is also somewhat excited about the idea of building from a frame (I can do the build if she goes that route) so either option is a possibility.

    Durable, general purpose is the name of the game. Mounts for fenders and racks get definite bonus points. Whats out there? I also pointed her at the Salsa Vaya (nice build, but 26″ wheels at small sizes, bleh) and the Soma Double Cross Disc (Similar price point to the Salsa and Surly but SRAM kit which I find smaller folks prefer).

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  • May 28, 2014 at 3:30 pm #1002608
    jrenaut
    Participant

    First, check out the “Your Latest Bike Purchase” thread, which is discussing exactly this. Then tell her to look at the Bianchi Volpe.

    May 28, 2014 at 3:51 pm #1002613
    dasgeh
    Participant

    How much is she talking about riding? High mileage every day? Low mileage every day? Is she mixing in car share and/or public transit? How often will she carry stuff? Is she interested in ebikes?

    Public bikes is having what I think is a pretty awesome sale til the end of the month, I think. Includes some nice looking ebikes for $2k and some dutchy style bikes and some road types: http://publicbikes.com/

    May 28, 2014 at 4:13 pm #1002619
    Phatboing
    Participant

    If building from scratch is an option, an On-one frame (Pompino or Pompetamine, depending on canti/disc brake leanings) should maybe leave a decent amount of leftover budget, if singlespeed/internal hub is acceptable.

    My Pompino build with Soma Iggy wheels (5 speed internal hub) came to about 800-ish, maybe.

    May 28, 2014 at 4:28 pm #1002620
    jabberwocky
    Participant

    @jrenaut 86767 wrote:

    First, check out the “Your Latest Bike Purchase” thread, which is discussing exactly this. Then tell her to look at the Bianchi Volpe.

    I’ve been skimming it and will point her that direction. Bianchi Volpe looks like a good option.

    @dasgeh 86773 wrote:

    How much is she talking about riding? High mileage every day? Low mileage every day? Is she mixing in car share and/or public transit? How often will she carry stuff? Is she interested in ebikes?

    She has the option of metro when the weather is bad, though shes stubborn enough to try and stick with the bike whenever possible. I know she mostly metroed over the winter because she doesn’t have cold weather gear or good lights, though shes hoping to rectify that for the coming winter.

    I think her round trip is in the 15-20 mile range, so shes riding a decent amount. She does a bag/pack at the moment but does want the option of racks if possible.

    I’ll ask about e-bikes but I think she wants to pedal 100% herself.

    May 28, 2014 at 4:31 pm #1002622
    jabberwocky
    Participant

    @Phatboing 86781 wrote:

    If building from scratch is an option, an On-one frame (Pompino or Pompetamine, depending on canti/disc brake leanings) should maybe leave a decent amount of leftover budget, if singlespeed/internal hub is acceptable.

    My Pompino build with Soma Iggy wheels (5 speed internal hub) came to about 800-ish, maybe.

    She definitely doesn’t want a singlespeed (the genesis of this was her realizing how much hillier it is here compared to Florida and how much she wished she had gears for her commute :) ). IGH is a possibility, as long as the gear range is acceptably wide.

    May 28, 2014 at 4:32 pm #1002623
    dasgeh
    Participant

    Also among the basic questions: is she interested in an internal hub with or without a belt drive (i.e. will she pay and take on the added weight for less maintenance)? Drop bar v. flat? Disc brakes v. not (sounds like she’s should go disc, to be all weathery)? And what about non-work trips? Is she doing her grocery/other shopping on the bike? Is she a shop once a week gal? Costco?

    May 28, 2014 at 4:38 pm #1002625
    Phatboing
    Participant

    @jabberwocky 86784 wrote:

    She definitely doesn’t want a singlespeed (the genesis of this was her realizing how much hillier it is here compared to Florida and how much she wished she had gears for her commute :) ). IGH is a possibility, as long as the gear range is acceptably wide.

    The 5-speed Sturmey Archer hub I have does have a pretty wide range. I run it with a 34t crank and 20t cog, and with that, 4th gear is standard for 90% of my riding, and 3rd works for many of the climbs on the Arlington loop. The one downside maybe is that the gaps between the gears are significant enough that you’d have to treat it more as a 5-mode singlespeed.

    Edit:
    I’m a doofus. Here’s a fun frameset for sale right here: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?6795-1990-Trek-420-frameset-seeks-new-home

    May 28, 2014 at 4:47 pm #1002626
    drevil
    Participant

    You wont’ get as many options of setup and it won’t go as fast as a regular bike, but a folding bike will allow her to jump on the Metro whenever she wants.

    May 28, 2014 at 4:50 pm #1002627
    jabberwocky
    Participant

    @dasgeh 86785 wrote:

    Also among the basic questions: is she interested in an internal hub with or without a belt drive (i.e. will she pay and take on the added weight for less maintenance)? Drop bar v. flat? Disc brakes v. not (sounds like she’s should go disc, to be all weathery)? And what about non-work trips? Is she doing her grocery/other shopping on the bike? Is she a shop once a week gal? Costco?

    All good questions I don’t know the answer to. :) I pointed her at this thread and shes going to create an account and start answering things directly later. I’ve been steering her towards cyclocross-ish bikes just because they can be had in utilitarian guise while still being nice and road-ish, but its possible that she would be better off looking at something more touring or cargo-ish.

    One thing to note is that if she does the car-to-bike trade thing, she has to spend the money at an LBS. So some of the online options would be non-starters (I think she would prefer an LBS anyway). She could certainly use an LBS recommendation if anyone has one.

    May 28, 2014 at 5:20 pm #1002630
    vvill
    Participant

    My LBS/bike pick would be: have her go to Bikenetic and begin by looking at Jamis and Kona models. Both those brands carry a wide range of bikes, are reasonably priced/decent value, and the shop has a good relationship with them. They offer lifetime free adjustments too on any bike bought in store.

    Also, FWIW I considered the Kona Jake line, Kona Rove, Soma Double Cross disc, Redline Metro Classic and a few Jamis models when I picked out my “do-it-all” bike. I ended up with the Kona Jake as it seemed the lightest of the group (aluminum vs steel) but still had fender mounts (and the Jamis disc brakes models at the time had 130mm rear spacing). I did customize quite a few components from stock – Bikenetic reconfigured the bike to my spec, and re-priced the build based on the relative value of the components.

    May 28, 2014 at 5:37 pm #1002634
    dkel
    Participant

    If I were going to build from scratch (or have someone do it for me :) ), I’d be thinking about this that I saw today. Complete build is only available in the UK, I believe. I don’t know much about it…I’d be interested what others think!

    May 28, 2014 at 5:39 pm #1002635
    vvill
    Participant

    @dkel 86796 wrote:

    If I were going to build from scratch (or have someone do it for me :) ), I’d be thinking about this that I saw today. Complete build is only available in the UK, I believe. I don’t know much about it…I’d be interested what others think!

    What I think (as a regular bikeradar.com visitor): I wish the US had more builders like they have in the UK! Partly I think it’s because there’s a lot of bad weather over there so disc brake and wider tire clearance dropbar bikes are bigger there. Maybe there’s more cobbles too, I don’t know.

    May 28, 2014 at 5:46 pm #1002638
    Greenbelt
    Participant

    If she isn’t already, I’d recommend connecting with WABA’s Women and Bicycles group — lots of good advice, tips, experiences with everyday biking.
    WABA: http://www.waba.org/get_involved/womenandbicycles.php
    FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WomenandBicycles/507797479269670/?notif_t=group_activity

    May 28, 2014 at 6:02 pm #1002640
    dasgeh
    Participant

    If she’s in Takoma Park, my first thought would be Proteus. I’ve heard great things about them :-)

    May 28, 2014 at 6:09 pm #1002641
    vvill
    Participant

    Ah yeah I should’ve read that first, Falls Church would be a jaunt from Takoma Park. I’ve also heard good things about Proteus (also Bicycle Space and the Bike Rack, fwiw). Proteus also carry Bianchi, Kona and Jamis, amongst their brands (same as Bikenetic!)

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