As suggested in other thread -
http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=14086&replies=8#post-174993
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff
Designing the Ultimate Commuter
(170 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
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Mudguards, obviously.
I tend to conflate 'commuter' with 'doer of everything, including shopping and sightseeing and exercising as part of the commute' so I'd want something like a fast-deploying lock which retracted away inside the frame tubes whilst riding.
Child-carriage mounting directly on the frame, to avoid routing stresses through the relative weakness of a rack.
One of those panel things between rear wheel and things attached near the rear wheel, to stop the things becoming as enfilthed as the rear wheel.Posted 9 years ago # -
Ah, well. Be impolite not to kick off, what?
So, I'm thinking that in principle I want something comfortable and low maintenance but not a total slug. Preferably not a thief magnet neither.
So, it will have;
An uprightish alloy frame with a drop-out for...
...a Kevlar drive belt, and...
chainstay clearance for any tyre up to 40mm wide
Hub gears, Alfine 11 speed or maybe Rohloff.
700C Mavic rims
Avid BB5 mechanical disc brakes
Full muguards and rack, natch
Suspended seatpost
Short travel suspension fork
Hub dynamo lights
SPD/flat pedals
Subdued powder coated finishPosted 9 years ago # -
Probably damn close to a workcycles Fr8.
http://www.workcycles.com/home-products/child-transport-bicycles/workcycles-fr8-as-family-bike
(Although probably only if your commute is a sensible distance...)
Posted 9 years ago # -
80mm ding-dong bell?
Posted 9 years ago # -
@jdanielp
Oh, most definitely. Powder coated to match the frame.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Darkerside
Ooooh, no. That's a bit family friendly. More...
http://www.focus-bikes.com/en/bikes/2014/trekking/planeturban.html
but with the top of the headset tube two, maybe three inches higher.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@ IWRATS ,
Cable brakes? Hydraulic is a far better option for only a small change.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Porteur rack on front?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Porteur rack which folds down to become a normal low front rack.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Frame lock to make low-risk parking quicker (although possibly on my dream hand-built Rohloff commuter I'd take a slightly tougher lock...)
Posted 9 years ago # -
"Here's one I made earlier" (not mine, though!)
This was built by Ben at Kinetics many years ago. Rohloff on the back, Schlumpf Mountain Drive on the front, SKS (actually, ESGE back then) mudguards, Tubus racks, Hope Mini hydraulic brakes, Air Zound, B&M lighting and hub dynamo, and those funky bar ends that were also drop handlebar ends. I may be mistaken, but knowing Ben that'll be a Woodman headset in there too.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Arellcat according to my computer you managed to do your post -1 years ago. This site is getting very prescient...
Posted 9 years ago # -
For me, the ideal commuter bike would include a free mechanic to clean and maintain it.
Posted 9 years ago # -
internal gears or chain guard, internal brakes or hydraulic disks, mudguards, small electric motor driving the gear wheel, rack at the back. A frame that is not too harsh may be steel or carbon. Built in lights, phone charger, handle bars that can be adjusted for height so can use for faster or relaxing journey. A parking stand, and made for the UK market, so does not rust.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I tried to build my ideal commuter a few years ago, and since then I've lost count of the number of broken hub gear wheels I've had to rebuild (I think six, off the top of my head) making it ironically the most maintenance intensive bike I've owned.
It's currently set up as fixed but I hate the fact that I can't get above 20mph without taking my feet off the pedals (literally) and wish the frame had vertical dropouts and a mech hanger so I could convert it to proper gears...
Posted 9 years ago # -
Dave, why not give Ben a call? Dropout replacement isn't so difficult an exercise for a good framebuilder.
http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk/framebuilding/frame-repairs-modifications/
Posted 9 years ago # -
Sounds like you need a nice beige caffenback.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Arellcat, I've thought of that but factoring in the transport to and from Kinetics it would be cheaper to buy a new frame (they make the same one with different dropouts, although I fancy the London Road instead).
Chucking it annoys me because it seems crass and wasteful.
Maybe I should tart it up and sell it on as a going concern.
Posted 9 years ago # -
has anyone ever managed to replicate (or even explain) dave's amazing ability to kill hub gears just by looking at them?
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Dave, which hub gears have you killed. Have you managed to kill a Shimano Alfine 11?
Posted 9 years ago # -
14Westfield
It's not the price that bothers me - it's more simplicity and rugedness. You can fix cable-operated kit anywhere - even carry a spare cable, but a hydraulic leak is another matter.
I can't see any advantage to hydraulic stoppers for anything other than downhill racing, and I'm way too old and too chicken to ever engage in that sort of madness.
Posted 9 years ago # -
If I could get fatter tyres on my everydaybike, it would be as near to perfect (for me) as I think I could get it, although I would very likely put a good hub gear on it in the distant future. But currently I can either have 25c plus mudguards or 28c and no guards, and the advantage of the latter is totally outweighed by the lack of weatherproofing.
The winterbike has a slightly clunkier frame but can take wider tyres (30c plus mudguards or 32c and no guards), meaning I can get the narrowest studded tyres under it; although the mudguards have had to have cutouts around the fork crown/rear brake bridge to allow clearance. Alas I shortsightedly built the winterbike with a front drum brake with no dynamo, so I have to put the battery lights on it. It also has no rack mounts so required P-clips.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Baldcyclist, I've killed just about everything except the Alfine and Rohloff. One of my friends went through three Alfine 8's on a ~5 mile Edinburgh commute inside a year, but I don't know anyone with an 11 I'm afraid.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Kickstand.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@IwratS - the hydraulic brakes have two primary advantages to me. Self adjusting for wear, and no cable stretch.
I'll grant you the "isolated mountainside repair scenario", but my bikes usually experience benign (ha!) neglect rather than remote situations, so not having to adjust them is a winner...
Perhaps the best of both is cable operated drums then, but to be honest I like the power exhibited by discs!
Robert
Posted 9 years ago # -
The drum brake I have up front is sticky, so I've put a spring onto the cable to encourage it open after each use. Works fine but makes it a headache to remove the wheel...
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Dave I've had that too myself, where the brake binds and refuses to open up. Prey tell what sort of spring did you use as I may try this ruse.
Posted 9 years ago # -
You need to check the actuating cam that opens the brake shoes, grease if necessary. You also need to check the smaller of the two Starlok washers that retains the actuating cam and shields the cam bearing surfaces of the brake shoes.
The chances are that the large U-shaped return spring is in perfect order because it's very strong. You could close it up somewhat if it doesn't pull the shoes together tightly enough.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Roibeard - I agree with those advantages, however there I also see the advantage of only having to carry a spare cable. @IWRATS I don't agree with Avid BB5 though - BB7s at least have adjustment on both pads, but the TRP spyre are dual pistoned and excellent in my opinion - I've had them on my tourer for a while, but I notice lots of the 2014 genesis models now sport them...
Posted 9 years ago #
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