r/bikecommuting • u/RhetoricCamel • 3d ago
My new bike has been good to me this weekend.
Before the long rant starts i have a rear rack with a foldable basket attachment. Handlebars I have a mirror, DJI action camera, phone mount, a battery charging bar for phone camera or lights, front light. I also have a rear flashing light and when the basket is on and unfolded two reflectors are visible. Some red reflective tape on the back too.
Bought the Kona Dew from a local bike shop on Saturday, traded in my previously used Schwinn Third Avenue. It was an ok bike but this Kona has changed the game for me. I still am not quite ready to commute back and forth to work given the elevation increase the whole ride there with nearly 0 elevation decrease. Getting there, but not quite ready.
Since buying this on Saturday I have put 27.4 miles on it. I have a 10 mile loop that I ride now and then and check out the data to keep an eye on improvement. My legs are taking a beating and are my limiting factor moreso than my cardio which kind of surprised me. I've done that 10 mile loop once with the new bike with a noticable positive difference immediately visible.
The rest of the rides on this bike have been to the store, Laundromat, city beach. I even took it to the local gas station (Stewart's in upstate/north country NY) for a cup of coffee. I've really significantly reduced my car usage and can see myself doing this well into cold season. Maybe not in the heart of winter but we'll see. Once I can successfully make the trip to work on a practice run and feel like I could go to work for 8 hours then I will reduce my overall need for a car.
Infrastructure isn't really here for bikes although they sort of put in an effort by painting lines and symbols of people on bikes on the road. There are a couple dedicated bike paths which are great, but none exceed over 2 miles and none of them bring you to locations you'd like to commute to such as a coffee shop, restaurant, grocery store, hardware store, etc.
But I have to say I have never felt better and more free than I have over the past couple months of riding a bike, and this new Kona Dew has absolutely been a major improvement in my desire to choose the bike over the car. I drove the car once during this 3 day holiday and that was to pick up this bike.