Local commute suggestions

[LostCause]

Awesome. That bike looks familiar.

I ride a 1970's low-end Motobecane (Nomade Sprint) that my dad bought when he was my age. It's all steel, low-end components, 27" wheels, and complete with shoddy brakes, but I love riding the thing. A heavy steel bike may suck for commuting, but it's awesome for exercise.

There should be no worries about the 10 mile commute, though. I do fast-paced circuits in a hilly park near my house that totals ~12 miles and it takes me about 40-45 minutes to finish. Based on your athleticism, you could easily make the trip in under an hour at a leisurely (i.e. non-sweating) pace.

I have a similar length commute to school, but I don't have the nerves to try. The first 90% of the commute would be fine, but trying to maneuver through bad student drivers late to class seems to risky. The fact that I cringe as I see students biking past my line of traffic is testament enough.

Good luck, though.

- LostCause

[Lazarus]

How about a ride report? Have you had a chance to put any miles down yet?

[thebrad]

Originally Posted by LostCause

Awesome. That bike looks familiar.

I ride a 1970's low-end Motobecane (Nomade Sprint) that my dad bought when he was my age. It's all steel, low-end components, 27" wheels, and complete with shoddy brakes, but I love riding the thing. A heavy steel bike may suck for commuting, but it's awesome for exercise.

There should be no worries about the 10 mile commute, though. I do fast-paced circuits in a hilly park near my house that totals ~12 miles and it takes me about 40-45 minutes to finish. Based on your athleticism, you could easily make the trip in under an hour at a leisurely (i.e. non-sweating) pace.

I have a similar length commute to school, but I don't have the nerves to try. The first 90% of the commute would be fine, but trying to maneuver through bad student drivers late to class seems to risky. The fact that I cringe as I see students biking past my line of traffic is testament enough.

Good luck, though.

- LostCause

I don't know much about the bike other than the limited info provided by the seller, I am assuming it's aluminum it's really light at least lighter than my BMX which is like 28lbs. It's a very fast bike, I think that's just because of the larger tires.
I am having a hell of a time figuring out the gearing, but I'll get it eventually.

I haven't had a chance to test the bike out on the open road yet, I did two laps around the condo complex and it feels pretty good. I think I kept trying to shift too low or something because I got the chain to fall off the gear on the return lap.

I'll probably try biking to school tomorrow or Sunday, I was unable to do it today, had to help clean out the garage this morning and now I am stuck babysitting.

Need to get to the gym!

[Lazarus]

If you have not found it yet there is a sticky on the Alternate Transportation forum that has a bunch of cycling links. Sheldon Brown (RIP) is a great site full of info. The chain should not fall off you probably need to dial in the drive train.

[thebrad]

Rode the new bike to the gym today (1.3 miles) definitely an entirely different experience.
Travel is much faster, wind doesn't seem to be as much of an issue, and it works and entirely new region of muscles. So there may be a learning curve, yet.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by thebrad

Rode the new bike to the gym today (1.3 miles) definitely an entirely different experience.
Travel is much faster, wind doesn't seem to be as much of an issue, and it works and entirely new region of muscles. So there may be a learning curve, yet.

Need to name it and start a garage entry on it.

[thebrad]

How am I going to measure MPG?
Kilocalories consumed, kilocalories burned?

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by thebrad

How am I going to measure MPG?
Kilocalories consumed, kilocalories burned?

You could put the distance in and then under gallons just put the time it took you. That way you would have miles that you put on it and the hours. A cycling setup is on the growing list of things to add here.

Enjoy the new found freedom.

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by thebrad

How am I going to measure MPG?
Kilocalories consumed, kilocalories burned?

Tacos per mile...

Or, as you're in CA.... Animal Style Double-Doubles per mile (I miss In-n-Out ).



But what Laz said I just could resist

[hvatum]

If later on you want more speed and distance I highly recommend an EBike kit. The point is NOT to push you along without any effort, but to assist intelligently and make it so you don't have to sweat while biking around.

http://www.nusun.com/E-Bike-Kit-p/nn%201217f.htm

There are lots of kits like that that will work. The one I got is not on the market anymore, otherwise I would recommend it. All said and done you can get a cheap bike, add a kit on, and have a nice electrically assisted bike for under $500. With peddling I get a range of about 15-20 miles without breaking much of a sweat and averaging 25 MPH.

Beyond that the kit becomes dead weight, but even then the whole kit only adds 15lbs.