For those of you who ride in to work, what do you ride? I’ve ridden in a few times now, but I don’t really want to ride my tri bike for commuting. Are there any great bikes out there (road, mtn, etc) that are good for both commuting and training? How much do the specs/parts kit really matter for a use like this? Any suggestions for a ride in the $500-$1000 range? Thanks!
1970 Peugot fixed gear with no brakes. Got the frame off ebay, cheap cheap cheap. Built the rest up for less than $300.
When I was commuting by bike I used a cyclocross frame built with 105.
My 1987 Specialized with city slicker tires,fenders,turn signials,headlights and enough blinking lights to be seen in space,also air horn thats LOUD! If you were careful you could build up a bike from online stores and have a great commuter,i have seen a nice mtb frame for $109.00 lots of good deals out there.
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I ride my Bianchi Giro but I’m thinking of getting a cross bike. Some times they close some of the roads in the rear area for training and I wind up on gravel roads and the road bike is just not fun in the gravel.
I have a short ride, only 4 miles with lots of stops so I ride my MTN bike to work.
Dave from VA
I ride a unicycle with an air horn and a baseball bat for irate drivers!!!
I ride an old road bike (Clark Kent - ti) and have a mixture of used parts that I have stripped off the endless supply of unwanted crap and wheels stored in my garage. Get yourself some good tires and bullet proof wheels. Get a good lock and don’t have the nicest bike at the bike rack! Dont’ spend more than $500 for a commuter bike. An old mountain bike with slicks works well also. I think I have an old Felt B2 650 wheel bike in the garage that you can have real cheap! You would be really fast commuting on that bike in the aero position! After reading the previous threads I’m not sure what is a faster, commuting bike with 650 wheels or 700 wheels.
I ride a Schwinn lugged steel frame (original paint and built in the great U.S.A). Hung with a full retrofitted Ultegra group and a back rack for panniers. I guess some collectors would like to have it (I got the frameset for free) and the guys out there on their decked out roadbikes always challenge me to race them. Thats enough of a compliment, I guess…
What you should get as a commuter depends on the length of your commute, road conditions and the weather you plan to ride in.
I would go and look at some of the moderatly priced Cyclocross-bikes. Make sure they have eyelets for fenders, panniers etc. and that you can set it up in a similar position as your road bike. You should get a reliable group from a brand manufacturer. The cheap no-name components really do not hold up to the rigors of daily abuse… (105 I think would be good, wouldn’t go lower).
Last time I looked Surely made some nice cross bikes in the price range you were looking at (Crossroads?).
Welcome to the club!
I ride an old steel Benotto (lugged w/ a flat crown fork) that I built up as a fixed gear. Front & rear brakes, although the rear is just for show (so I can race it) - it’s adjusted so loose that the pads barely even touch the rim @ full lever closure. Mish-mash of parts including Cinelli crit bars, a Campy franken-headset, “Super Mighty” cranks, Shimano RX100 brake calipers, and Keywin no-float pedals. Topped off with a Flite Trans-Am covered by a QR Mr Flitie seat pad (mostly to fill up the damn cutout in the Trans Am).
Spray paint & clear courtesy of Home Depot.
I usually ride my old rigid MTB with slicks because it handles the gravels sections better than my touring bike.
I commute about 8 miles to and from work every day, rain or shine or frost. If I’m too sick to consider riding to work, I’m obviously to sick to be at work so don’t take my car.
I used to ride on my only bike (QR SE) but because I live by and cross the harbour by ferry, it got exposed to quite a bit of salt laden air (sometimes very humid air as I occassionally got splashed by sea spray on waterfront rides!) Eventually the steel rusted out after 5 years and it went to bicycle heaven 
(woe is me)
Now I ride a P2K and only use it for racing and long training rides before tris because it’s so comfy to ride.
I’ve got a KHS Flite 800 (steel again) for commuting to work. I paid about US$600 for a new frame with used components. I’ve replaced the STI levers and tires and that’s about it. I use a Topeak quick release rear carrier to carry my duffle bag of work and training clothes to work. I use this bike for most of my weekend training as well. Of course I have lights on my bike and helmet, front and rear, for commuting in winter. Oh yeah, a really good rain jacket is necessary for commuting here in Auckand NZ.
As the song says… “get on your bikes and ride!” (they left out the “every day” part coz it didn’t rhyme 
I’m looking at getting another raod bike, maybe a Cervelo Super Prodigy for training and road racing/fun rides, and also getting a MTB, for purely fin riding. My wife has other ideas and says a BMW goes in the driveway before I get any more bikes. Damn.
If you are going to buy a bike, I would suggest a cyclocross bike. They have strong wheels, wide tires and a strong frame that still should feel responsive and be fun to ride. I rode Trek’s 'cross bike, it has a pretty crappy component group (Sora) but that frame & fork are great. It was a very fun bike to ride.
In my case, I took my retired race bike (an old Klien Quantum 7 speed), converted it to a triple for more gears and added one of those seatpost mounted bags since it has no eyelets. This has worked out fairly well, since my commute has quite a few hills and I want something that will still zip along. Another thing to consider is not having to worry about an aluminum frame rusting, if you are somewhere moisture is an issue. CST