Ultimate longer-distance commuter bike?

[jrenaut]

That is a ridiculous and beautiful bike.

[Greenbelt]

Best picture award, I think. By far!

[jrenaut]

Seriously, with the fenders and the color of your wheels, it looked to me at first like the same wheels as a Capital Bikeshare bike.

[brendan]

@Dirt 4997 wrote:

Did I forget to mention the lovely color?

Pretty. I bet you didn’t even need lights at night!

Brendan

[Dirt]

Thanks y’all. I wish it wasn’t dead. The new one is great, but it is definitely not the same beast. I’ll build something fun and hammerable toward the end of the summer. This bike completely validated for me the combination of road geometry with a fixie drivetrain. The Steamroller is AWESOME for 90 minute rides, but it gets to be a handfull beyond that. You can pretty much forget using it with aero bars. It handles a spastic squirrel hopped up on caffeine and meth when you try to put serious power into the pedals while in the aero bars. I mean that in the nicest way.

This may be the answer, though I don’t think there’s enough room for fenders. In theory I could run 23mm tires and a set of Honjo fenders on it.

Soma VanNess: http://www.somafab.com/vanness.html

Put a nice set of aero tubular wheels and gear it through the roof and you might have the perfect bike for the Seagull Century.

[ronwalf]

@Dirt 4997 wrote:

Did I forget to mention the lovely color?

Fixie with aero bars, fenders, disc brakes and three water bottles? Forget the paint job – it’s still a bike-of-many-colors.

[Dirt]

@ronwalf 5007 wrote:

Fixie with aero bars, fenders, disc brakes and three water bottles? Forget the paint job – it’s still a bike-of-many-colors.

You can’t tell from this photo, but the wheels are very realistic looking, but fake wood. It also has tires for riding dirt roads.

[DaveK]

@Dirt 5006 wrote:

Thanks y’all. I wish it wasn’t dead. The new one is great, but it is definitely not the same beast. I’ll build something fun and hammerable toward the end of the summer. This bike completely validated for me the combination of road geometry with a fixie drivetrain. The Steamroller is AWESOME for 90 minute rides, but it gets to be a handfull beyond that. You can pretty much forget using it with aero bars. It handles a spastic squirrel hopped up on caffeine and meth when you try to put serious power into the pedals while in the aero bars. I mean that in the nicest way.

http://www.somafab.com/vanness485.jpg
This may be the answer, though I don’t think there’s enough room for fenders. In theory I could run 23mm tires and a set of Honjo fenders on it.

Soma VanNess: http://www.somafab.com/vanness.html

Put a nice set of aero tubular wheels and gear it through the roof and you might have the perfect bike for the Seagull Century.

Fenders with rear-facing horizontal dropouts… is that why you rode home 8 miles with a flat?

[Dirt]

@DaveK 5014 wrote:

Fenders with rear-facing horizontal dropouts… is that why you rode home 8 miles with a flat?

Actually on that bike, the wheel can pull out the back without any problems. Additionally, those are Paul hubs and removing the hub bolts lets the hub drop straight down instead of having to pull back out the dropouts. Either way I had it covered.

[WillStewart]

@scorch 4993 wrote:

for long distances nothing beats a good road bike.

I would offer that there is a diversity of opinion here. The recumbent equivalent of a road bike takes less energy to move through the air and is much more comfortable, especially over the distances you mention. I’m currently commuting with a recumbent almost exactly identical to the one above, and am currently at a 20 mile round trip (which some wouldn’t even consider long distance).

[IMG]http://www.bikepedia.com/Images/image2.aspx?w=500&h=500&filename=2003-Rans-V-Rex-Standard.jpg&f=Photos[/IMG]

And then there are the, um, male problems associated with bike saddles that are not even a factor with recumbents;

“There’s as much penis inside the body as outside,” Dr. Schrader told me. “When you sit on a regular bike saddle, you’re sitting on your penis.”

More precisely, according to Dr. Schrader’s measurements, you are putting 25 to 40 percent of your body’s weight on the nerves and blood vessels near the surface of the perineum. “That part of the body was never meant to bear pressure,” Dr. Schrader said. “Within a few minutes the blood oxygen levels go down by 80 percent.”

Dr. Schrader has documented the results with the help of a couple of pieces of equipment, the biothesiometer and the Rigiscan.

In one early study with the Rigiscan, Dr. Schrader found that police officers patrolling on bikes with conventional saddles tended to have shorter erections than did noncyclists. Then, in a 2008 study titled “Cutting Off the Nose to Save the Penis,” he reported the results of having Mr. Brown and the other officers switch to new designs.

Before the study, nearly three-quarters of the officers complained of numbness while riding. After six months, fewer than one-fifth complained. They did better on the biothesiometer test of sensitivity and also reported improved erectile function.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/science/28tier.html

[paytonc]

Personally, I like the idea of using a belt drive and internal gears for my next commuter bike. No greasy pants mess, no jumping chains, easy to shift at stoplights. Frames that accommodate belts are getting more common, too, and the price is declining as production ramps up.

Funny you should mention that your Van Dessel died; a friend of mine who owned one reported the same thing. Guess there really was something amiss with them, pretty as they were.

[vvill]

My choice would be pretty similar to the Salsa Ti mentioned

http://www.lynskeyperformance.com/store/cooper-cx-complete.html
Although I’d rather have Shimano shifting – not a fan of doubletap.

…but I wouldn’t want to lock it up anywhere.

I really like the idea of belt drive and IGH but I think it’ll be awhile before that’s really practical, and I also do use all the gears on my various commuting options. North Arlington is full of hills.

[Greenbelt]

We saw this guy out at Interbike. Very nice design, I thought, although I didn’t get a chance to ride it. Only thing I’d maybe change would be to put on slightly wider tires.
http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/road/nova/12_novarace.html

[DSalovesh]

I’d really like to know more about this bike & company:

http://brodiebikes.com/2011/bikes/ocho.php

A Canadian maker, they list two east coast USA dealers but neither seems active anymore.

[Greenbelt]

Restarting an old thread for the new bikey update.

I rode this beast all over Washington (state) last month. My new vote for the ultimate commuter bike. Handled great on the road, all around fun for everything bike. http://www.konaworld.com/big_rove.cfm

[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10518695_699531860113534_7265691071271781072_n.jpg?oh=8094c386b098f67e062f2494436e518b&oe=5484A61D&__gda__=1418649025_e277cddf7743aea7561dacdb941b664b[/IMG]
[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10292496_699531760113544_9018595955334488290_n.jpg?oh=ca3a250261fd1be2a85c04fc8819bcac&oe=54830F3D&__gda__=1419166604_29a9d5868f75d32a33f4f78cb6bba9e3[/IMG]
[IMG]https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10568910_699922300074490_717589367994316606_n.jpg?oh=8ee18ae1f4e92212ed7f3a6f2a36bd40&oe=54907E95[/IMG]
[IMG]https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10525959_699922443407809_9215980493825605905_n.jpg?oh=00568d2c5282dbe18e1dca2e482b3194&oe=54D019F8[/IMG]

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