New commuter bike dilemma

[streetsmarts]

So im new at this bike commuting thing. I like it.
and im riding my 10 yr old mountain bike that I bought new in Florida (really!! And Ive never been mountain biking).
I’d like to get a new or newer bike. Mostly because they’re so much lighter and so I can go on longer rides in and out of town. I dont want to go fast, just faster.
Anyway…with this old bike I’m happy to stop at the grocery store or for dinner on the way home and just lock it up outside. (Have only done this in Old Town so far). I worry that if I buy a snazzy new commuter bike, I’ll be so worried about it being stolen that I won’t feel free to just ride anywhere, or go to dinner or happy hour on it after work, ride into DC on weekends etc. Oh I should say I work in DC , where our bldg has a great locked cage for bikes. Id feel ok with a nicer bike there, but not out and about.
I can’t be the only one with this dilemma… help?

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[streetsmarts]

Haha

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[consularrider]

I’m trying to remember, is “The Enabler” one of Jan Feuchtner’s alternate user names?

[dbb]

Shouldnt you be changing your profile now that you are a frankfurter?

[Enabler]

@consularrider 144500 wrote:

I’m trying to remember, is “The Enabler” one of Jan Feuchtner’s alternate user names?

I enable for the greater good of mankind, not for petty materialism.

[consularrider]

@Enabler 144515 wrote:

I enable for the greater good of mankind, not for petty materialism.

And here all this time I thought Bikenetic was the greater good … Make that not just good, but good enough!

[Subby]

You don’t need a geared bike around here. Just get a single speed or fixed gear bike and DOMINATE YER COMMUTE. It’s easy!

[streetsmarts]

Uh huh. So i guess thats what you like to ride. Maybe ill try one . But i would like to go do some hills…and want the bike to do some work for me!!

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[huskerdont]

Fixies are great fun and great for the rain since there’s only one cog to clean, but where I live and at my age, I wouldn’t want that to be my only bike. Caveat: I recently took my ratio down from 2.89 to 2.7 to make it a little easier on the old knees; your mileage may vary.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Ignore Subby. He’s a robot.

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[KayakCyndi]

@streetsmarts 144561 wrote:

Uh huh. So i guess thats what you like to ride. Maybe ill try one . But i would like to go do some hills…and want the bike to do some work for me!!

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I’m pretty sure I’ve seen subby attack a hill or two on his singlespeed (and dcv on his fixie). But yes, they are robots.

[mello yello]

@huskerdont 144565 wrote:

Fixies are great fun and great for the rain since there’s only one cog to clean, but where I live and at my age, I wouldn’t want that to be my only bike. Caveat: I recently took my ratio down from 2.89 to 2.7 to make it a little easier on the old knees; your mileage may vary.

They’ve still got regular tires on them… so watch your speed on the turns, in the rain…

One of these days I’ll finish building my geared bike, but it’s not all that pressing as fixed has gotten me around just fine for years now.

[Kitty]

You know Streetsmarts, your whole scenario sounds very familiar to me.

I arrived in town with the same ToysRUs mountain bike I had since middle school (for perspective, I came to the DC area for grad school). Long story short, it only lasted a few months of commuting with hills before broke beyond repair one day. I went on to get my first “Adult Bike”– a seven speed Fuji hybrid. I chose it because I was still learning gears and didn’t want anything complicated, and simply couldn’t afford much on a student budget. I paid about $300 for the bike, rack, and all of the necessary accessories.

It wasn’t fancy, but I loved it! I rode the heck out of it for 5 years. I work downtown and locked it to an on-street bike rack with other bikes for all to see, however thanks to a heavy-duty Big Ten University grade u-lock it was never stolen. At night, it was locked in the parking provided by the apartment. I only got rid of it last year about I had gotten into group and distance riding, and while I could do 50 mile rides on it, by that point I’d grown out of it. (N+1 isn’t an option in my living situation )

From there I got a cyclocross bike (kind of a super hybrid) and it is an uber commuter! I ride everywhere, and with my heavy duty lock, I’ve never had to worry about theft. That said, anything not bolted down (helmet, lights etc.) have been…

I think regardless of the bike, its often a matter of not making an easy target. The lock needs to attach the bike frame and wheel(s) to the rack. I also registered it with Arlington County–that sticker acts as a good deterrent I think.

Anyway… long story short, you’re in good company! I think you’ll find that biking everywhere is doable on whatever bike you love!

[streetsmarts]

after only some ado (not much) i made a choice. Got a 2016 Kona Rove AL. Ive ridden it a few days, got a new saddle, and it seems to be working out.

thanks for all the input.

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[bentbike33]

One thing you will need to keep an eye on is the rear brake cable, especially if you ride in the rain. The end by the brakes faces upward, so water could flow down into the cable housing and cause the cable and/or housing to rust and seize or break the cable. While positioning the rear disk brake between the seatstay and chainstay is probably a good idea from a strength-of-mount-point perspective, I suspect framebuilders had hydraulic rather than cable-actuated disk brakes in mind when they thought it up. You might try slowly dripping some oil into the cable housing (keep it away from the brake pads and disk!) so there is a pool of oil inside the cable housing at the low point.

[Steve O]

@streetsmarts 145117 wrote:

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I like the black fenders with the orange.

[Author]

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