Thanks once again... I have been looking at pretty expensive bikes and drooling, but I wasn't taking
in the reality that you mentioned with having a "too expensive" bike for the given environment.
Sorta put me back down to earth. Which reminded me to ask something else:
What do you recommend as far as security goes? What lock/chain systems work and which ones don't?
"Darin McGrew" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> NB <
[email protected]> wrote:
> > Jay - After doing research on taking up cycling as a way of permanent transportation I have a
> > few things I feel unanswered....
> >
> > Now that I want to make a serious investment into a bike and
equipment,
>
> My freshman year of college, I had a dormmate who was a serious cyclist
and
> owned a very expensive road bike. He wanted to ride it around campus as
his
> primary transportation. He tried camouflaging it with a plain paint job, but it looked like a very
> expensive road bike with a plain paint job. It still stuck out among the beaters the rest of us
> were riding.
>
> He ended up buying a beater for basic transportation around campus, and only took his expensive
> road bike out for serious rides.
>
> I recommend that you do likewise. Get a basic, solid, inexpensive bike.
For
> basic transportation, it's more important that it be reliable. Part of reliability is still being
> there--and still being intact--when you come
out
> of the store, or wherever it was you needed to go.
>
> And don't forget transportation-oriented accessories like fenders, lights, an emergency kit,
> racks, panniers, rain gear, etc.
>
> > How much of an advantage does one get by wearing cycling clothes? If
I
> > am going to travel medium distances (10-30 miles) should I wear them
then
> > change into the appropriate clothes of my destination? What do you other commuting cyclists do
> > as far as clothing?
>
> I wear normal streat clothes. For medium distances (i.e., my daily commute), I take the train and
> ride to/from the station at each end. It's easy when there are bike racks on every train.
> Otherwise, I'd need to invest in a folding bike that I could carry on board.
>
> > When riding on roads, what is the highest mph rated road that you
would
> > recommend riding on? Or is it just anything other than highways? [I plan
to
> > start by taking longer trips in my city at first, because I want to get
used
> > to road riding through neighborhood streets than jumping straight to
major
> > roads.]
>
> The speed limit isn't the only issue. There are expressways (speed limits of 45+ mph) with wide
> shoulders that are nicer to ride on than city
streets
> (speed limits of 25 mph) with no shoulder, narrow lanes, and parallel parking right next to the
> outermost lane.
>
> And sometimes you have no choice. Between the train station and my job are a major freeway and a
> waterway. There are only a couple (relatively large) roads that cross these obstacles.
> --
> Darin McGrew,
[email protected],
http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/ Web Design Group,
>
[email protected],
http://www.HTMLHelp.com/
>
> "I can take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at
once."