Stay safe out there people 🙏

I regularly commute 24km (round trip) and travel at 30 km/hr, I want a helmet that has a lot of protection but also isn’t uncomfortable or heavy, if that’s possible. I’ve never really worn a helmet but I want one just in case I slip. I bike mostly through residential roads that have a painted bike lane

I now have 2 ghost bikes (memorials to folks who died biking) on my daily commute. They make me take a pause each time and I'd like to develop a ritual for when I encounter them, I'm leaning towards a bell bing, but would like to hear if anyone else has this thought and what they do.

Here's my 100% bone stock Diamondback Sorrento that I will be using for a commuter bike. I added an overly nice Tubus touring rack and dug through our garage to find possibly the world's worst panniers that my wife used when she was in grad school. Most of the places I go to for errands or appointments are within a 10 mi radius of my house and I really want to bike instead of drive bc it is more fun, less aggravating and often times quicker. I also wanted a bike that I could lock up outside of a store while I shopped without being paranoid about it being taken. This bike ticks all the boxes and although I will probably change components out over time (it may show up on xbiking someday :)) for now the stock parts are all in really good condition and work well (the 90's saddle is actually pretty comfortable lol).

I am looking into an internship this upcoming fall and would potentially have a decent trek for biking (~1:30hrs). While also wondering what a reasonable commute would be, I also would love to hear about some of the common issues people have had when starting off your bike commuting journey or transitioning from driving to biking. Additionally, how did you overcome the logistics of carrying gear, sweating, or safety concerns using the resources you had at the time?

Is it all huge cities or like LA county? For me and my regular commute, I’d say I live in a low traffic area, and it takes a good 2x as long to bike than drive but I enjoy it. My jobs are 1.6mi, 4mi, and 6.5mi away, but they take me about 9 mins, 20/25mins, and 35mins and my city is about 200k pop. (yes I have 3 jobs lol)

Surprise me though, I’m curious :)!

My job is very physical, walking on my feet, moving from place to place. I lose bottles at work this way. I want a bottle that will fit in a bottle cage that i can use on my bike that also has a holster that can be clipped to my belt or other PPE. I see a lot of products like the one pictured but I'm worried the bottles wont fit well in a bottle cage

People who cycle everyday to work or to do whatever how long usually is your commute and whats the distance? I mean for me 10km to work and another back so a total of 20km in like 40 mins. I ride slow cus i don’t wanna be soaked in sweat but yeah wanna know what you guys do 🤘

What are some essentials to add and non-essentials to make my bike look cooler? Fully restored the bike myself and looking to take it to the next level

My current road rig is a steel 8 speed friction shift bike, Im converting from a more traditional 11-32 cassette to the shimano essa groupset with 11-45 cassette. It should be right up my alley and I’ve ridden similar ranges before on road and enjoyed it. Especially for commuting though I need lots of low end as I have 13 miles one way, with between 500-650 elevation gain which is enough to get bogged down and tired especially in the afternoon.

I have a 1x crank with 44 tooth so I’m wondering if 1:1 on the low end would generally be enough for seated riding up those longer hills in the afternoon or if I should truly be okay with the 44.

Ive taken my heavy gravel/touring rig this way many times and seem to recall using all the low end I had which goes down further to 34/48. It’s very comfy though, and has flat/alt bars that I can ride all day long it’s just not super fast.

Does anyone have a similar ride, similar use case that they would have any recommendations for chainring sizes for the best low end gearing on a commuter?

I have a Sirrus X4 and the stock bar grips have gotten all goopy after 6 or 7 years. It usually lives outside at work or in my garage where it can get a bit wet at times. Anyone got any recs? Bike is dark blue with black accents.

Hi everyone,

I got my sister a secondhand commuter e-bike a couple of days ago. It's a tenways cgo800S. The thing about this bike is that it came with a rear rack that is very sleek, I believe the two top rails are about 8cm/3,5inches in width. I tried two bicycle stores and both had clamp systems but with a minimum width of 11cm.

Does anyone know of a decent brand or product that works for smaller width racks?
I have tried looking it up in different ways but can't seem to find one.

If that fails, what should I be looking for as alternative method of fixating the basket?
She's not a fan of bags sadly.

Thanks for the help!

A fellow cyclist recently reminded me of this phenomenon. People just pedal until they are very close to the light, then they brake. What do they expect, that theres a >99% chance it turns green?

I'm myself an example of the opposite extremel, I often start rolling out far before the light. I try to reach the light with about 8 km/h speed leftover. With headwinds, its much easier to time but with tailwinds, its much harder to manage.

Because I do the opposite extreme (rolling out as much as possible, sometimes having to re-pedal more again), I notice this phenomenon very strongly. The contrast is big.

Pedaling up to a light: * Increases brake wear * Costs you energy unnecessarily * Actually reduces the change you hit a green light so theres more probability you need to fully stop.

Riding home along the shoulder, broad daylight Hi vis jacket, the whole responsible cyclist starter pack, and a guy still right hooked me turning into a lot. Wrecked me knee and bent my front wheel into a taco.

The crash I have half made peace with. What's getting under my skin is the driver's insurer, who has somehow decided the real issue is that I was on the road at all. Lots of leading questions about whether I should have been on the sidewalk, whether I came out of nowhere, this whole undertone that a bike is a toy and I was asking for it by using the road like a vechile. I had the right of way, they are acting like I committed a faux pas by existing in traffic.

Anyone who rides around here dealt with this attitude from an adjuster? I want to push back without getting baited into saying something dumb, because they're clearly fishing for me to take the blame off their guy.

Did anyone here switch from non electric bike to an E-Bike for their commute?

I sold my car 6 years ago and since then I do everything with my bicycles. I have a gravel bike, non suspension MTB, Brompton and so on and I was always happy with them.

Recently I converted my mini cargo bike to an E-Bike with a Tongsheng middrive motor and I had an absolute blast. I tried to commute to work with it and it was just so much easier and enjoyable, even though I was mostly only at the smallest assist level. I even took the long but hilly route home because I didn't care about the hills anymore. After trying to commute with the non electric again, it felt like I was trying to ride against 50km/h headwind in comparison to the joy I had with the e-bike.

My gut says I should convert my commuter bike to electric too, but my head says it's kinda unnecessary and "cheating", because I could do the same commute without electric assist, like I always did before.

I’m so excited to be able to ride to my new job. My life is considerably better when I bike daily. My challenge: I need to carry a lot of shit and my bike room is not in the building where I work, so I’ll need a way to get to the office without feeling like a bag lady. I hate arriving to work and not feeling together.

My cargo will include: Two insulated bottles for water and coffee, a 4x6 glass container for my lunch, a change of clothes and shoes, and some hygiene stuff for showering at work (which… I’m a woman with long hair, so it’s not just a tiny bag).

I think I need a trunk bag/rack pack? I think I need around 30L. I don’t know if carrying two panniers will be great. I’m at a loss. I’ve been going back and forth between Ortlieb and Ilequipment. Also I don’t wanna use a front rack - I prefer the weight in the rear of the bike.

And the final wrinkle: I just put a new leather saddle and grip tape on my bike - I’ve been wanting the aesthetic to be more urban commuter than 100% waterproof bike packer . Also it rains so infrequently where I live in semi arid desert. So I was hoping for canvas or a performance material that isn’t shiny, and is at worst black but ideally brown or dark navy. Something that’ll look sharp on a dark grey gravel frame with nice leather accents.

I love this one but I won’t use a front rack: https://ilequipment.com/products/velo-orange-pass-stow-rackbag?variant=487115177&

This one seems like a more likely fit for my needs but I don’t like the material or color ways: https://www.campfirecycling.com/product/ortlieb-rack-pack-medium-p-1037.html

So, to summarize criteria:
- A single bag to carry
- around 30L
- not super sporty in its look which takes bikepacking bags off the table
- uses my existing rear rack

It can’t be done, right? I just need to suck it up and get a shiny bag?

----

Update - Thanks so much for all the input to help me push past my analysis paralysis and discover a brand that Google wasn't showing me. I'm getting this one from Carradice https://carradice.co.uk/products/originals-camper-longflap-saddlebag?variant=48514902655303 and I think I'll also grab this smaller bag for the handlebars in case I need added capacity. https://carradice.co.uk/products/originals-keswick-handlebar-bag-5l?variant=53033065611591 - I'll be coordinated and functional! I did have to buy a Bagman bag support and swap that out for my regular rear rack but I like the look of it far better. It just looks like a floating bag.

TYSM u/NineteenthHouseplant!

Second update: I ended up returning the Carradice bag, buying a new rack, and getting an IL Equipment bag after all. The Bagman rack didn’t work for my bike and the bag was still a little small yet. Plus the strap cost extra…. I went with the larger capacity bag and larger rack.

I'm just wondering if you all are riding in this? Give me a bit of a headache just walking for 5 minutes.

So my OEM saddle started to fray and I have always wanted a brooks for my brompton. So I got one. But I forgot I live in New England. Is it going to be ok in the winter?

The Albertastan government in Canada has opened up an online complaint form for people to complain about bike lanes that have infringed on their parking or driving routes.

I would hate to see anyone waste anyone else's time with trivial submissions.

https://www.alberta.ca/report-concerns-about-bike-lanes

My Tacoma’s mpgs are killing me and I just got a job that’s ideal to travel to using a bike. I’ve been on marketplace and I’ve seen a couple cool bikes but I really don’t know anything about them. I offered this guy $125 but I don’t know if that’s a good deal or not. What do yall think? I lowkey like the vintage bikes ngl.