Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Here is my giant cross city 2.... used as a everyday commuter, still in the process of upgrading pedals etc.First week i had it it rained every day

One ride told me the Weinmann aero levers were barely functional, so Toni got flar bars and rides much better. The 23 big cog rear is not that commute friendly. Might actually take the 53 ring front off and get a back end like 13-27. 7-speed, of course. Got a set of blue Zaffiro Pro to go onto it soon.





Jim

Here's my new commuter and I had my maiden commute today!

(clickable thumbnail below)

kom123 wrote:Here's my new commuter and I had my maiden commute today!

(clickable thumbnail below)

nice work. may it give you many commutes.

jasonc wrote:
nice work. may it give you many commutes.

Thanks!! Day 2 over commuting over and enjoying it even better today because I was a bit more familiar with the route and traffic etc. Cut a few minutes off each way which was always good but it always seems like an eternity waiting for traffic lights to change

I checked the pic of your ride, nice setup! Looks as though we may even have similar hybrid pedals (A530s?) and frontlight (900 lumens?).

kom123 wrote:I checked the pic of your ride, nice setup! Looks as though we may even have similar hybrid pedals (A530s?) and frontlight (900 lumens?).

thx for the comments.
I recently upgraded to M540 pedals. The A530s went south to my brother to put on his Big W fixie. Still running the magicshine light - 2nd winter - still going well.
I'm also running a longer stem (130mm vs the standard 100mm) and now have a Garmin Edge 500 (replaced the Trek wired speedo I had)
changed the tyres - was running vittoria randonneur (28c) (front tyre had over 9000kms on it - still the original tube - went through 3 rear tyres on the same time). Now running schwalbe marathon plus (25c). definitely notice the extra weight.

jasonc wrote:thx for the comments.
I recently upgraded to M540 pedals. The A530s went south to my brother to put on his Big W fixie. Still running the magicshine light - 2nd winter - still going well.
I'm also running a longer stem (130mm vs the standard 100mm) and now have a Garmin Edge 500 (replaced the Trek wired speedo I had)
changed the tyres - was running vittoria randonneur (28c) (front tyre had over 9000kms on it - still the original tube - went through 3 rear tyres on the same time). Now running schwalbe marathon plus (25c). definitely notice the extra weight.

I'm happy with the A530s at the moment as sometimes I want to duck up to the shops and may already ahve my runners on! Having said that, if this becomes less and less I may well change to something similar to your M540s. I can definitely see the advantage about not have to flip the pedal over sometimes when wearing cleats. I also have the Edge 500, best bit of kit I have bought in a long time. I now use it on all my three bikes (not sure what will happen if I get a fourth bike!). I was dubious at the $$$s before buying but once I had it, really enjoy looking at the data after riding (I log my rides at Garmin and Strava). My tyres at the moment are 32c which I'm sure are heavy for some but as I know no better I will live in ignorant bliss for a while

This is a variation on the commuter bike concept.

For some time now SWMBO has been working part-time about 4km from my workplace
I usually drive her to work, for various reasons, and then complete my journey on bike.
This old racing bike has done a lot of work but is just perfect as a back seat car passenger.
Because it is light in weight and short in wheelbase it fits into the back compartment with a minimum of fuss.
Deliberately run non-clip-in pedals because it is hard to drive with my Bonts on !
Only issues are this bike has restricted carrying capacity and does not like wet weather.

Transformation complete from CX frame to commuter with rack and mudguards, ready to tackle the afternoon summer storms.
...Just got to move the rear light to the rack.

Niiiiiice.

New commuter almost finished.



Needs an FD, and I need to figure out how to mount the front fender. Maybe also a different rear brake cable hanger/stop thing, cause this one is too short. And maybe a lower mount front cable hanger too. Probably change the bars, cause I don't want to cut these nice Ritchey Force Lite bars. Which means flipping the stem, cause the EA30's are risers. And the B17 Narrow needs to go onto it.

Actually, it's not almost finished.

Jim

familyguy wrote:New commuter almost finished.
Actually, it's not almost finished.

Jim

some decent lights too. and a bell

jasonc wrote:

familyguy wrote:New commuter almost finished.
Actually, it's not almost finished.

Jim

some decent lights too. and a bell

But then my current commuter wouldn't have those when I needed them. All in good time my friend .

Jim

familyguy wrote:But then my current commuter wouldn't have those when I needed them. All in good time my friend .

just assisting you with "the list"

Converted my old MTB into a drop bars. Just need to put some guards on and it will be finished.
This thing is hell fun to ride, can hop curbs, hit potholes at speed, and zero toe overlap.

Retroshift shifters allow me to dump the entire cassette and are pretty bombproof.

Here's my rebuilt warranty frame replacement commuter. It has a generous load of parts from forum members to boot.

I blinged up my fixie with some reflective stickers and some mudguards for rainy days.

Here is my new commuter to replace my flat bar. Originally I was going to convert the flat bar to drop bar but would have been way too big to achieve the same positioning as my road bike. Had a spare 105 groupset I was going to sell but decided to get a cheap alu frame that takes fenders. Built attempt 1 failed as the frame came with a dent in the top of the head tube. Funny how you forgot all the little bits and accessories that you need to put the bike together. Here is my new Ridley Tempo commuter:



10kg as pictured. About 2.5/3 kg lighter than the flatbar but probably not much different as I sometimes carry around 12kg with the pannier bag.

When you have a 'funsized' frame thing gets a bit cramped. Didn't have enough room for the fender hanger that attaches to the rear brake stays but got enough length on the fend stays to provide enough clearance under the brakes and above the tyres. The front fend I could probably get it closer to the wheel but I'm use to potential toe overlap situations. Needed longer round stays for the rack. Managed to just achieve my saddle setback position with the 25mm setback seatpost so I won't need to get a 32mm setback one. Side entry bottle cages are a god send as well (seatpost one wasn't fitted at the time).

Also trying out the new Michelin Pro 4 Grip tyres instead of using my trusty Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons. I wanted something quicker but still good for the wet and good puncture protection. I was a bit confused as I also have a set of the Pro 4 Endurance tyres which are suppose to provide butter puncture protection. The Pro 4 Grips are suppose to provide 15% more grip in the wet than the service course tyre and 20% better puncture protection. So fingers crossed.

Handlebar gets a bit cramped with camera, light, bike computer and bell so I do love the headset bell which I have under the stem:



Looking forward to my maiden trip to work on Thursday and a riverloop as well

Merida Speeder T2 set for test commute run. Just the headset and seatpost are standard. I need a front crown cable hanger so I can flip the stem though.



Jim

ray wrote:Here is my new commuter to replace my flat bar. Originally I was going to convert the flat bar to drop bar but would have been way too big to achieve the same positioning as my road bike. Had a spare 105 groupset I was going to sell but decided to get a cheap alu frame that takes fenders. Built attempt 1 failed as the frame came with a dent in the top of the head tube. Funny how you forgot all the little bits and accessories that you need to put the bike together. Here is my new Ridley Tempo commuter:

Looks like some serious toe overlap there!

Weighs about 9.9 kg without the lights, so probably 10.4 or thereabouts as pictured. 35mm chromoplastics to come.
Cheap, as I had the running gear already and rides quite well. My first steel frame since the old Apollo II as a teenager in the '80s
The frame can take a rear rack, but given i don't carry much weight, the back pack will do.

AP81 wrote:

ray wrote:Here is my new commuter to replace my flat bar. Originally I was going to convert the flat bar to drop bar but would have been way too big to achieve the same positioning as my road bike. Had a spare 105 groupset I was going to sell but decided to get a cheap alu frame that takes fenders. Built attempt 1 failed as the frame came with a dent in the top of the head tube. Funny how you forgot all the little bits and accessories that you need to put the bike together. Here is my new Ridley Tempo commuter:

Looks like some serious toe overlap there!

I will probably cut the fender stays 1cm further to get it closer to the wheel. That said I've only hit the fender once on a really tight turn. I actually prefer hitting the fender instead of a moving wheel so I can quickly adjust my steering. The joys of small frames but enjoying it much more than the flat-bar as I have the same setup/positioning across all bikes.

My ride:

Awaiting some crudracer mudguards for it that should turn up this week!

isabella24 wrote:My ride:...

Wow. That's probably the smallest 700C frame I've even seen. What size it it?