"Electra Townie" style bikes for commuting?

G'day, John here from Australia, with regards to your townie question, i have 5 recumbent trikes and 2 recumbent bikes, a racing bike, a mountain bike and a townie among others, i drive a bus for a living and commute 20kl ea way every day with lots of hills and have used my recumbents, racer and mtn bike to do this commute but my townie is the one i like to use the most, the upright riding position gives me a much better view of whats going on around me, my back n bum doesnt hurt like they do on the road bike, its faster than the mtn bike and im in more control than on a recumbent, im still fresh after the ride and i just love it, i bought my wife a recumbent among other bikes over the years but she hates riding and they collect dust, i recently bought her her own townie and guess what... she now likes riding too, hope this helps, cheers John.

rigel said:

'just wondering if any of you bike commuters are using an "Electra Townie" style bike for your commute?

I just got the 2007 Cannondale catalog in the mail and saw the Daytripper Premium, which has some of the features I'd like for my commuter, namely the Nexus 8 Premium and a chain guard. I would've wanted the Headshok of the Daytripper Dual, but prefer the simpler Nexus over Dual Drive. What's nice about the Electra Townie 8 are the fenders which the Daytripper doesn't have (but could be added later on).

My question is, would this type of bike be a good choice for my 10-km (6+mi one way) commute to work? The seating position is somewhere between a regular upright cruiser and a recumbent. The "flat foot technology" would be great for stop-and-go traffic, but I'm thinking the lack of a back support compared to a recumbent (I'm just guessing here as I've never ridden a recumbent) would make it uncomfortable for rides longer than the corner store.

Do you have back problems? that's the only way it will be an issue. I commuted ten miles on a coaster brake cruiser for a few summers and was fine. That's almost as upright as a townie.