Doesn’t hurt to have more lights! Not sure if green was the right choice (Go!) but it was what matched the bike.

I’ll be getting back into bike commuting next year when one of my kids starts at a new preschool further from my house. My current bikes are vintage steel (1 road and 1 MTB) with 24” wheels (yes, kids bikes - I’m very short) that just aren’t suitable for a double trailer. I’m looking for a xxs steel framed bike with 650b wheels. I’m fine with either flat bar or drops with a slight preference for flat bar. My commute will include a big hill so may need some decent range in the gears.

Recommendations? Thank you!

Bit of a brag post, I've been a bicycle commuter for over 25 years. In all kinds of weather, year round, 30km total (20 mi) per day. I'm blessed with a scenic route and 95% separate bicycle paths.

What do I like and actually need on a bike:

• drop bars
• gear hub
• belt
• disc brakes
• luggage rack and packing opportunities, with a sturdy frame
• fixed lights with hub dynamo
• fixed mud guards

Although some bikes tick all above boxes, they are either prohibitively expensive (Santos), are B2C only (Booda) or do not distribute where I live (Shand). It's always something. So I had an existing bike modded: Contoura Al-6.

Changes made:

• drop bars
• Microshift Inter11 drop bar shifters to operate the Alfine11
• mechanical disc brakes, since the Inter11 is not available as hydro
• Marathon Plus tires
• freestyle pedals

Main advantages:

• daily work horse with absolutely no need for maintenance. When I come home at night, I just park the bike and take it out next morning without having to clean, lube, ... at least half an hour. Even after riding in rain or dirt.
• it's fast for a commuter, while still sturdy enough to handle my overweight ass and 12-15kg (25-30 lbs) of luggage in two panniers
• relaxed riding position despite the drop bars

Main regrets/gripes/concessions:

• maybe the frame could have been a tad smaller; had to install a shorter stem to fit me
• the original tires were G-Ones (quite wide), hadn't noticed that the rims are 27" instead of 28". Replacing the tires with Marathons left quite some clearance below the mud guards. Those were set off with extra spacers so it's okay-ish, but once you see it ... :-)
• too bad Shimano (or any other company, really) still doesn't make drop bar shifters for Alfine11 with hydro option. The brake cables do the job very well, but it's just not the fluid hydro feel :-)
• not having the bell near my hands when on the handles

Not shown in pictures: heavy U-lock, plug-in chain, panniers

It's my impression that, though this is a very niche product (combining IGH + drop bars), there are quite a few people looking for it. If you're one of them, my advice to you is to pick an Alfine11 bike that suits you and have it modded with the Microshift shifters. Alfine11 is more than enough for 95% of the commuters out there, the Rohloff is way overkill and the hoops you have to jump through to obtain decent drop bar shifting (aka Rohbox) just aren't worth it imho.

I know bar mitts are a thing but my wife doesn't like to use them when the road could be slippy. I thought hand guards might help but they don't seem popular - only for MtB protection rather than wind shields. Has anyone used them?

Berkeley CA

My cargo bike was stolen this week from my garage. While I make plans to get a new one and talk to my apartment owner about fixing our security, I'd also like a GPS tracker to possibly aid with recovery.

I actually had an Apple Airtag in the cargo bag, but unfortunately these alert folks, so the trail went cold across town about 20 minutes after the theft occurred.

I've found a lot of options at a lot of prices, and I'm having a hard time making sense of them, especially since it's hard to understand the update frequency or cell coverage from these descriptions. Here are some. Anyone have experience with these or others?

Classic GPS tracker for vehicles & objects | Invoxia $130 (for 3 yrs)

Cycloop Tracker - Monimoto US Out of stock: $99 + 49/yr

LandAirSea 54 Real-Time GPS Tracker $30 + $180/yr

https://bikefinder.com/en/buy/?v=0b3b97fa6688 $200 + $72/yr

AlterLock Official Store | Motion Detection Alarm & GPS Tracking Device $170 + 40/yr

My memory isn't what it used to be with age, so I can't recall the exact number of years I've been commuting by bike almost every day. But I do know it’s been a really long time, and I’ve managed to keep a completely crash-free streak going through all those daily rides.

​What’s your longest crash-free streak?

6 days a week.12 km + a few extra kilometers for leisure during lunch breaks and in the evenings and sometimes grocery shopping. I have three bikes: one for road, one for trail, and one for grocery shopping (expected to be stolen someday). Share your stories too

California. I’ve been commuting with my bike a lot more but have this final awful turn to get home. It’s similar to the photo above: to make my left turn I have a middle lane with no light. The next light is quite far, and l I’d have to make a U turn like a pedestrian (cross, then bike the opposite direction, now on the side of the street to make a right turn instead).

Currently I’m biking as far down as I can and signaling left to get across the lanes, but of course I get honked at because who wants to let a bike in even if I’m legally allowed there? It’s so stressful around post-work hours, and I’m wondering if anyone has any advice to better do this, or is this just how it is? Anyone have a similar turn? I’m going as fast as I can and doing my best to time a good gap!

Or should I look for a whole different route of only right turns to get on that side of the street? Trying to not be a nuisance to drivers but also not double my ride home (or become a street smear) if possible. :/ thanks!

Hey fellow cyclists!

I'm looking to buy a bike pannier that can be converted into a backpack. The Ortlieb Vario Lite and Otinga Flip V3 are both a bit too expensive for me at over €150 each, but the Deuter Xberg 25 is currently available for just under €100.

From what I can tell, it seems to work in a similar way to the Otinga, although I've heard that its conversion mechanism is a bit more fiddly. The Otinga's somewhat better mechanism doesn't seem worth an extra €80 to me.

So, has anyone here used the Deuter Xberg 25 for a longer period of time? I'd love to hear your experiences and whether you think it's worth buying, or if it has too many first-generation issues, particularly when it comes to durability.

I'm also happy to hear about any alternative recommendations! :)

Thanks in advance!

Changed job a month ago and is now back at my alma mater as a postdoctoral researcher. For some reason I got my own office, so I’m having a good time with music on the speaker and try to utilise all the space I have! That include a dedicated parking spot when I ride my, slightly overkill, commuter bike.

I used to have 20 km to work, but now it’s only a 4.5 km commute. That’s why I mostly ride my less posh bike as I do grocery shopping on the way home and this one is an attention-grapper - although few people recognise the components 😅.

I need to plan my grocery shopping better, so I can ride it more often :)

Not the best photos, but I finally have something sorta cool to post on this awesome community.

I leave every morning around 6:15, and as we get further into fall, it gets darker every day. This morning, it started to feel like the darker it got, the faster the cars were going! Does anyone else feel this way, or is it just me?

I have started commuting to school, but I have a 25 lb 33 L backpack that absolutely sucks to carry. I was looking at just rigging it to the rack because I'm on a budget, but from other posts on here, it doesn't sound like a great idea because of straps, weather, dirt, etc. Are there any budget panniers that would fit a backpack that big? Or should I just rig it to the rack and deal with it? Not a fan of a basket bc of the weight being so high up and the looks. Thanks

Looking for any suggestions from people who have been able to find and mount a good front rack on a Turbo Vado SL2 5.0.

Key here would be if it could do panniers and also offer a flat surface for a basket or a webbing to hold stuff down.

Does anything like that exist?

For reference, I am based in the US, so US-market offerings would be the most helpful.

Thanks!!

I’m curious because I feel like there’s usually a difference between the reason someone first tries bike commuting and the reason they end up loving it.

Was it saving money, fitness, avoiding traffic/public transport, mental health, environmental reasons, or just because cycling is fun?

It's the time of the year again that cities care for 4-wheelers - 4 wheels slipping must obviously be worse than 2.

So my previous post about the Birds of Prey pannier hooks that I had on a Osprey 26+6 Daylite. Then I only lost the sternum strap (due to my actions, not the Birds of Prey V1). So I continued to have purchase paralysis for new, true panniers so I continued to use them. Lately I've been using a spare Nite Ize S-biner to tie the two straps around the front.

This did put more strain on the hooks and today it finally happened. One of them snapped in the middle of my commute (see pic). The backpack was half hanging off. I didn't really notice it (I'm assuming it broke at an intersection - loud enough I wouldn't hear) until I kept hearing some squeaking, look back and I see my bag hanging very close to the spokes.

I pulled over and flung the backpack on my back (AMAZING! It also works as a backpack!?! Whodathunk?) and got home.

This is not saying the product is bad, in fact it's held up remarkably well all this time with my likely, well over spec weighted backpack. But just a heads up, heed the warnings from makers and manufacturers. This could have been much worse.

Yesterday I was cycling on my cities back path. Certain sections of it curve across a road so cars can drive in/out to park. I always look both ways and slow down when passing through these sections as they are especially dangerous.

Yesterday I was going round the curve in full daylight when suddenly a fellow cyclist tries to undertake me. They were way too close and knocked into me. I tried to steer away/stay upright but combined with the angle (the path edge was an inch away and and my slower speed I dropped/was pushed off the edge. They/I was lucky I fell back onto the path and not the actual road.

The guy had some decency/awareness, apologised, admitted he was at fault and asked me if I was ok. I replied I'm not massively injured but I did hurt my elbow. I later noticed my new rainproofs also had a rip in the knee. He said OK sorry and then just left. I was too stunned to shout after him. I could tell he felt bad because I could see him glancing back a few times as he retreated into the distance.

I'm not happy. Thankfully I'm ok and so is my bike.

What would you have done?

Anyone know what brand of pannier this is? Logo is the R or P on the side as far as I can tell and the bag uses the Outback system for the top and bottom mounts. Top rail has PAT.056659 and the clips BT53R, with TIFCO stamped elsewhere which I believe is a sub brand of NIFCO. Unfortunately I snapped the clips from my other bag and am trying to source a replacement. Thanks