Commute bike recommendation

Ah, that’s good to hear about the BB. I just automatically assumed it was a bad thing. And yes, it only comes from seeing flex while standing, it’s kind of hard to observe that yourself when actually moving! But still, I was surprised how rough the steel bike felt, much worse than my also cheap aluminium frame, despite using the exactly same 35mm tyres.

I’ve found on Reddit this fantastic tool for some quick comparison (with my current short-list):

Sorry to up my own topic, but I’ve went to some bike shops to take a solid look at some of the bikes from my short list and discuss a bit with sellers and I will actually go with something in the 1000-2000 euros range - I will spend on it 1h30 daily, so I better pay for some quality (relative of course).

Does anybody have a Canyon Grail CF SL 8.0 ? It’s even more expensive (2699 euros) but I trust my negotiation skills (with my partner, not with Canyon :joy: ) and I’m giving it a serious thought now although the unusual handlebar is really pretty strange (and being Canyon, no way to test it)

You’re going down quite the rabbit hole :laughing:

I’d be less concerned about the handlebars and more about the lack of mudguard mounts. If you are going to spend 1 hr 30 a day on it, comfort over a quality spec.

My commute is 2hr 15 a day, I value larger but still quick tyres (28c), full mudguards, panniers and good lights. I do enjoy a 1x groupset, the components get trashed on London roads but still work and the chains are cheap.

Have you looked at Decathlon? The Triban RC 520 looks a great value commuter. Put the 1900 EUR saved on a weekend bike!

https://www.decathlon.fr/p/velo-de-route-triban-rc-520/_/R-p-301734?mc=8502389&c=BLEU

That seems like the wrong tool for the job to me: it’s a gravel bike, and is optimized for very different scenarios. IMHO the gearing is all wrong and for an inner city commute, flat handle bars are way better than drop handlebars. Moreover, I think it is way too expensive, too, a commuter should be relatively cheap for the reasons I gave above. Given the length of your commute, a double duty bike, one that combines business and pleasure, is also less of a concern.

Go with something relatively simple and robust (I’d vote for a MTB-derived aluminum frame, not a road bike-derived frame, but no suspension if possible), 1x or hub gears and middle-of-the-road components (Deore SLX/105/Rival-level) — you want all the functionality of top-end groupsets at a cheap price point. The Grail isn’t that.

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I used to commute 17 km one way on a steel VSF 100. panniers from Ortlieb, good lights and mud guards. I tried it on my road bike and my gravel bike and didn’t like it. I always wanted to push myself to go a bit faster and that wasn’t really that useful on the short commute. I wasn’t much slower on the commuter bike but much more relaxed.

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Couldn’t agree more, love my single speed for all the reasons you list. Maybe also worth pointing out that single speed has a freewheel, unlike fixed. Seems to be a common misconception, even some of my cycling friends see the bike, assume it’s a fixie and think I’m some kind of crazy wannabe bike messenger type. I know you know this, the OP might not have appreciated the difference…

(mine has a flip flop hub and I did spend a bit of time with it fixed just to see what it was like. Decided pretty quickly that it wasn’t for me, I’ll leave fixies for younger and hipper riders!)

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Why is it ? I’m a complete newbie in term of bike specs.

By ‘inner city’ I guess you mean frequent stops - but on my road, I’m actually on a dedicated bike line for quite a long stretch, so not really many stops.

I commute with a Canyon Grail Al 7.0 (1x, normal handlebars/stem) and I love it. My commute is 1h30 a day - 27 miles / 43 km - on 90% bike path with some city roads on either end. It’s a great bike, handles well, fun to ride, quick, and flexible in terms of different tire set ups (i’ll go between 28s and 40s depending on the season).

Not sure what OreoCookie meant by the gearing being wrong, but I have no issues, and I deal with a mix of relative flats and a couple short, steep hills.

I’m not sure about the CF but the AL has mounts for panniers and mudguards. To be honest, though, I don’t use them at all and I can’t see myself using them. I use a backpack because it’s lighter and logistically easier for me (especially once you’re back gets used to the weight), and I don’t do mounted mudguards (I have a rear mudguard that I mount to my seat-post when it rains). I’ll need to take a shower after my commute regardless, so I don’t mind a bit of splash that comes with not having mounted mudguards. Also, as context, I have a locker room at my work, and guarded underground garage.

Finally, the grail has become the bike on which I do 90% of my riding. I raced a full season of cross on it (with some CX tires), gravel rides, commuting, road riding, and some light single track mtbing. I still have several other bikes, but I’m close to being at a point where I’ll probably start consolidating into fewer bikes.

If you can swing it with your budget, it’s a great bike!

On commutes your natural speeds, even on long, uninterrupted bike lanes, will be much lower than what you would traditionally do on a road bike. This is for a multitude of reasons: you are not alone on a bike path, and other cyclists will usually be much slower than us. Moreover, unless you take a shower at work, you don’t want to arrive all sweaty.

Your speed on a bike is determined by the following three factors only: rear wheel size, gear ratio and cadence. While my cadence during a commute tends to be lower than when I am doing sports,

As an upper gear something like a 40:11 = 3.6 on a 700c wheel is more than enough for a commute. That easily gets you up to 35 km/h. But many could go lower than that, too.

The low end is dictated by circumstances and geography: when I commute, I almost always have a bike trailer attached to my bike (I bring my daughter to day care and pick her up after work). So I need a lower lower gear than if I were to commute just by myself. Moreover, I don’t need to ride up steep hills (although we do have those, too). So 42:36 on my 26" mountain bike is plenty. Although if I choose to go up the steep hills, I am sometimes in my lowest gear, too.

No, that’s not what I mean. Some people commute from one town to another on what Brits would call A-roads: it is not a highway, but speeds of cars are typically in the 80-100 km/h range. If you spend a lot of time on those roads, a drop bar bike may be better suited, for example, as you can exploit the more aero position compared to a flat bar bike.

On bike lanes that see some traffic, you are essentially limited to the speed of the other cyclists. So aerodynamics does not play much of a role and IMHO a flat bar bike is preferable. Moreover, lower gearing is more appropriate here.

I have had both types of commutes in the past. Right now I spend a lot of time on the sidewalk/bike path.

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My n=1 is I went from a single speed to a bike with cross gearing and it’s pretty well geared for riding around in a city. Main criteria is to have an easy enough gear to goof around on if I’m tired or behind people and a big enough gears if I’m running late.

My slowness comes mostly from how heavy my bike is. :slight_smile: Other bikes and electric scooters are passing me. “Sorry guys, I’m doing a recovery day.” The most common obstruction is the dog walker with a leash stretched across the path (and my legally required bell is currently muted by pogies.)

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That’s an excellent point: if the OP only had space for one bike, your suggestion is very sensible, and I would probably give this as one of two option, the other being a hardtail mountain bike. The decision between the two then would depend on the type of riding @PawelKozela does (it seems as if he is a roadie).

I was under the (correct? mistaken?) impression, though, that @PawelKozela wants a dedicated commuter bike in addition to his regular bike.

It’s not exactly clear in my head, as you may notice :slight_smile:

I have a road bike indeed (Canyon Endurace). I want a commuter bike but I also intend to use it for leisure rides with kids, small trips. Hence the gravel orientation.

I wasn’t meaning to imply that that it wasn’t a dedicated commuting bike (although I did race my first cross race on it, annoyingly still my best finish). Just that cross bikes have a pretty versatile geometry. Also as @OreoCookie mentioned, if I could only have one bike it’d probably be a cross bike… also I’d be sad.

If I was getting another commuting bike it’d probably be a mid level cross bike with fender / pannier mounts and disc brakes (the latter bit being the only change over what I have now). If the leisure ride with kids includes towing them then I’d probably want mountain bike gearing though.

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A friend of mine bought a Cube Editor last week, and he’s been very happy so far. He chose the Editor because of the ease maintenance, as he has enough to tinker with his mtbs.

Interesting - in one bike shop they specifically discouraged me from buying CUBE bikes. I’ve checked the Nuroad Race and I quite liked it (not at as much as Giant or Cannondale ones though).

Good lord, these bikes. I commute on a 20 year old Kona Jake the Snake, with panniers, and fenders as needed. I can run 38c tires, its got great geometry, and I can jump on trails any time I want. I’ve got about 300.00 in the whole bike.
It’s built with Campy Centaur if that gets me more “Commute Cred” somehow. :slight_smile:

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Why? What did they say?

They make good, perhaps a tad boring bikes, that are very well-specced for the price. But boring in the sense that a VW Golf is boring: they do their job perfectly, but Cube plays it safe. They won’t have progressive geometry or out innovate the competition.

Also, I am sure other manufacturers make something similar to the Cube Hyde. I just knew that Cube made that type of bike and linked to it to give you an idea of what I am talking about. For a commuter bike, something like the Cube Hyde is a good choice, so if you can find alternatives that are similar, I am sure they are great, too.

Poor quality, difficult maintenance. No idea if it’s true of course.