I have found this place while searching for information to aid in the purchase of a new commuter bike. So I hope noone minds if I poll the collective experience that seems to abound around here.
I am looking to replace my current mountain bike that I have been using to do a little commuting. I am building up to riding to work 5 days a week with riding to work one day and back the next, availing myself of Canberra's big orange limo (bus) service when not riding. Round trip home to work is around 40kms. I was hoping that some of the more experienced riders here would be able to advise me on the purchase of a new bike for such riding. Basically it will end up being used for 100-200km per week of travel.
My main reasons for the new purchase are the slowness of the mountain bike on the bike paths and little bit of road that I ride on as well as the problem of my spokes breaking all the time. I bought a new wheen not long ago to try and rectify the problem, but to no avail. The main reason I started riding was to get fit and lose weight. I am down to 125kg from 140kg and plan to lose a lot more if possible. Unfortunately at the moment I am busting back spokes frequently. My local bike store proprieter, helpful man to be sure, tells me that with a 7 gear back wheel, I am going to find it very hard to find a new back wheel that will be good enough quality that will fit, given that the better wheels are all made to suit more gears and therefore wont fit without extensive changes to the bike. With all the changes I may as well buy a new bike as the current one is nearly 10 years old.
So I was thinking about a flat bar road bike. It will need to be big as I am heavy as I said and I am also reasonably tall at 192cm (6'4"). I would also like to attach the panniers that I have been using as well, so will need the parcel carrier to attach them to, which, I can take off my current bike. I think that is about it.
I don't have a great deal of knowledge of brands. I basically want something that will be reliable without spending a fortune and am not adverse to second hand bikes if the right one comes along. So any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
*edit* Forgot to mention, it might need to tow the kiddie trailor to swimming lessons if I cannot get the kgs down quick enough to keep doing that on the old bike
