Ideas for a fast, tall commuting bike?

Civilian_Target

So… I had a little accident and my bike was completely destroyed. That means, new bike time! I've been looking around, but I'm having real difficulty finding a fast but practical commuting bike that will fit me.

I'm 6"4' with 36" legs. My commute is 25 miles a day round-trip, all roads but sometimes unlit. Ice and some snow are pretty common in winter, so clearance for snow tires is a must.

I used to do it on heavily modified XL Kona honky-tonk with a hub Dynamo, and a long cage deraileur to get up the steep hills. I liked the drop handlebars and racing geometry, but the top tube was a little too short, so this time I'd like to get something that actually fits me!

I've been looking around, but the only off-the-shelf bike I found so far that looks like it would fit is a Surly Crosscheck, which comes in 64cm... But it's set up as a cross bike, with big tires.

I would prefer something that either comes pre-equipped with commuter stuff, like slick tires, and maybe even mud guards, a rack or a hub Dynamo... Otherwise I'll just wastes time and money replacing stock components that came with the bike – what a waste!

Any suggestions for off-the-shelf stuff? Otherwise I'm into the expensive land of custom frames and choose it yourself components

PCX

Civilian_Target wrote: »

So… I had a little accident and my bike was completely destroyed. That means, new bike time! I've been looking around, but I'm having real difficulty finding a fast but practical commuting bike that will fit me.

I'm 6"4' with 36" legs. My commute is 25 miles a day round-trip, all roads but sometimes unlit. Ice and some snow are pretty common in winter, so clearance for snow tires is a must.

I used to do it on heavily modified XL Kona honky-tonk with a hub Dynamo, and a long cage deraileur to get up the steep hills. I liked the drop handlebars and racing geometry, but the top tube was a little too short, so this time I'd like to get something that actually fits me!

I've been looking around, but the only off-the-shelf bike I found so far that looks like it would fit is a Surly Crosscheck, which comes in 64cm... But it's set up as a cross bike, with big tires.

I would prefer something that either comes pre-equipped with commuter stuff, like slick tires, and maybe even mud guards, a rack or a hub Dynamo... Otherwise I'll just wastes time and money replacing stock components that came with the bike – what a waste!

Any suggestions for off-the-shelf stuff? Otherwise I'm into the expensive land of custom frames and choose it yourself components

Were all of the components on your old bike damaged? Could you not salvage the dynamo hub, mud guards, rack or even tyres and tubes to transfer across to keep the cost of customising a new bike down?

lescol

Three suggestions:-

http://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/bikes/road-bikes/london-road

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXKAFFAPEX/planet-x-kaffenback-sram-apex-road-bike

http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/models.html

Lumen

I've been meaning to sell my tank bike if you can tolerate hub gears. It's a bit draggy over 25kph so not really "fast" but it does have drop bars.

Otherwise, what's your budget?

lennymc

I have a cross check, and while I love it, and love how it rides, it is not particularly fast. It feels at least 3-4 kph slower than my commuter bike, however, if you are not in a huge hurry they are a brilliant bike. You could also try the surly straggler - nearly a disk brake cross check, and I'm sure that whatever shop you bought it in would change the tyres to road tyres. Even if they didnt, you could get decent road tyres and sell the cross tyres. The long haul trucker could be another option for you. The pacer is a road bike, but only available in a 62.

Civilian_Target

Thanks for the tips!

Were all of the components on your old bike damaged? Could you not salvage the dynamo hub, mud guards, rack or even tyres and tubes to transfer across to keep the cost of customising a new bike down?

It was a hit-and-run with a construction truck, and the bike got dragged down the road between the rear wheels. Lucky I wasn't on it! From what the police showed me, maybe the lock and tires are salvageable. However, they're holding it for evidence and it could be years before I see it again.

Three suggestions:-

http://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/bikes/r...es/london-road

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXKAF...apex-road-bike

http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/models.html

Are you sure the planet X bikes are big enough? The XL top tubes look short, I tried a surly 62 and it was too small, the XL planet X are quoted at 61, and 60. Thorns a good tip, I'll look into it.

I've been meaning to sell my tank bike if you can tolerate hub gears. It's a bit draggy over 25kph so not really "fast" but it does have drop bars.

Otherwise, what's your budget?

that looks really like what I'm looking for, but again it looks a bit on the short side how tall are you?

I have a cross check, and while I love it, and love how it rides, it is not particularly fast. It feels at least 3-4 kph slower than my commuter bike, however, if you are not in a huge hurry they are a brilliant bike. You could also try the surly straggler - nearly a disk brake cross check, and I'm sure that whatever shop you bought it in would change the tyres to road tyres. Even if they didnt, you could get decent road tyres and sell the cross tyres. The long haul trucker could be another option for you. The pacer is a road bike, but only available in a 62.

ooh, that looks interesting. What's your commuter bike? I also get the impression that the cross check is a bit slow, very stable, and perhaps a bit unexciting to ride. I tried the long haul trucker last time I was looking, very stable but it's way slow. Really feels like driving a tank!

barrymanilow

You might be interested in this ;


its not mine by the way in case the mods dont like me posting a link to an adverts.ie page

http://www.adverts.ie/road-bikes/raleigh-road-bike-64cm-frame/7705438

smacl

I currently have a Rose Pro Cross on order which might fit the bill. The thinking was to get a bike that was still reasonably light, but could take snow tyres in the winter and handle both road and off-road reasonably well. Depending on budget, something like the Genesis CdF Stainless is a very attractive bike which would also take snow tyres.

If you specifically want a flat bar and have deep pockets (~€4.5k), the Van Nicholas Amazon Rohloff is a bit special.

cdaly_

Civilian_Target wrote: »

I'm 6"4' with 36" legs. My commute is 25 miles a day round-trip, all roads but sometimes unlit. Ice and some snow are pretty common in winter, so clearance for snow tires is a must.

I would prefer something that either comes pre-equipped with commuter stuff, like slick tires, and maybe even mud guards, a rack or a hub Dynamo... Otherwise I'll just wastes time and money replacing stock components that came with the bike – what a waste!

My Thorn Club Tour ticks all of your boxes though it's a bit overkill just for commuting (despite which I commute 140km/week on it). Thorn Cycles will build it to your spec with a host of options to choose from. They'll happily build flat or drop bar bikes, derailleur or hub gears, disc* or rim brakes. They have a whole 2 pages of their brochure on which tyre to choose. Loads of tyre clearance on the Mercury, Club Tour or Sherpa. Less on the Audax (max 28mm tyres).

Their option prices are a bit high so I got the stock front wheel and sourced my own hub dynamo elsewhere. I bought my own pedals, lamps and rack (Tubus cosmo from Rosebikes.de). I have since swapped the supplied Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tyres (nice fast-rolling tyres) for Vittoria Voyager Hyper (even nicer, faster-rolling tyres).

They take around 4-6 weeks from order and you'd have to account for delivery to Dublin.

Lovely bike, I'm very impressed...




*Rear disc only, they don't approve of front discs...

lennymc

My commuter bike is a carbon road bike. I have commuted on steel and aluminium, but, performance wise I keep going back to the carbon. Just in case you didnt know, you can buy any of the surlys as framesets and build them up whatever way you want. I got a dynamo hub wheel for about 100 quid on ebay. Something like a tiagra compact groupset will give you plenty of gears to get over hills, mavic open pro on the rear, brooks saddle, rack & Mudguards and away you go! The pacer only has one set of mounts on the rear tho, so I dont know if you would get a rack and a mudguard on it.

edit - very nice cdaly_

Lumen

Civilian_Target wrote: »

that looks really like what I'm looking for, but again it looks a bit on the short side how tall are you?

183cm with 32" leg. It would look like this.

endacl

Lumen wrote: »

183cm with 32" leg. It would look like this.

Two saddles? Interesting...

OldBean

Civilian_Target wrote: »

Are you sure the planet X bikes are big enough? The XL top tubes look short, I tried a surly 62 and it was too small, the XL planet X are quoted at 61, and 60. Thorns a good tip, I'll look into it.

I'm 6'4, as is a mate of mine with an XL Kaffenback, and find it's a nice, comfortable fit. My legs are 2" shorter than yours, but I'm sure saddle/stem config would balance it out.

You may be better off building one up from a frameset though, the stock Kaffenback/Planet-X parts aren't great IMO. I had looked at getting one last year, and realised I'd be spending another few bob on parts, and trying to sell other bits to get it to where I'd like.

The biggest downside is, unless you know someone with one, you can't really test ride it for size.

If I were in your shoes, I'd be looking at Genesis.

Lumen

lennymc wrote: »

My commuter bike is a carbon road bike. I have commuted on steel and aluminium, but, performance wise I keep going back to the carbon.

I would broadly agree with the strategy of "get the fastest bike that has adequate practicality" rather than "get the most practical bike that has adequate speed", but I think carbon is really unnecessary (and immaterial!).

The things which make a bike feel fast (with the same rider) are geometry and lightness. 200g extra for aluminium over carbon isn't really going to make any difference, but get the geometry right (reach, drop and chainstay length) and it'll be fast and fun. Weight isn't critical but <9kg feels fast and >12kg feels slow.

IMO the perfect chainstay length for a commuter is about 410mm. Long enough to allow full mudguards with 23mm (and maybe 25mm) tyres but not so long as to slow the handling.

Of course once you stick a rack on it anything feels a bit tank like....

petethedrummer

I'm commuting on a Genesis Equilibrium. I like it. It's very similar to the Honky Tonk. Don't know if it's any longer in the top tube region though.

lennymc

Lumen wrote: »

I would broadly agree with the strategy of "get the fastest bike that has adequate practicality" rather than "get the most practical bike that has adequate speed", but I think carbon is really unnecessary (and immaterial!).

The things which make a bike feel fast (with the same rider) are geometry and lightness. 200g extra for aluminium over carbon isn't really going to make any difference, but get the geometry right (reach, drop and chainstay length) and it'll be fast and fun. Weight isn't critical but <9kg feels fast and >12kg feels slow.

IMO the perfect chainstay length for a commuter is about 410mm. Long enough to allow full mudguards with 23mm (and maybe 25mm) tyres but not so long as to slow the handling.

Of course once you stick a rack on it anything feels a bit tank like....

I would agree that the material is immaterial, however, the steel and aluminium bikes I commuted on (I tried to get as similar geometry to the race bike as possible) were too slow when compared to the (admittedly lighter) carbon bike. I have found it hard to find a bike to match my current one for commuting, even after my megathread a couple of years ago. A dynamo hub and some racing mudguards with a back pack on the carbon bike and away I go.

smacl

Lumen wrote: »

IMO the perfect chainstay length for a commuter is about 410mm. Long enough to allow full mudguards with 23mm (and maybe 25mm) tyres but not so long as to slow the handling.

How would the above work with the requirement below, didn't think studded tyres came in much below 35mm?

CivillianTarget wrote:

Ice and some snow are pretty common in winter, so clearance for snow tires is a must.

Lumen

smacl wrote: »

How would the above work with the requirement below, didn't think studded tyres came in much below 35mm?

Oh, it doesn't. It is impossible to find a bike with clearance for snow tyres which doesn't handle like crap compared to a decent road bike.

I've tried three different approaches:

- Planet X Uncle John CX bike.
- On One Pompetamine Versa.
- Drop bar single speed 26" mountain bike conversion.

...and none of them were satisfactory.

I honestly don't think it snows enough (in Dublin anyway) to warrant a snow-compatible bike for general use. I've done the last two winters on a regular road bike and haven't once crashed or had to take alternative transport. The one time I bailed on a commute was due to gale-force winds.

lennymc

think the OP is in Boston

Lumen

lennymc wrote: »

think the OP is in Boston

"We're going to need a fatter bike".

REBELSAFC

youcancallmeal

Civilian_Target wrote: »

So… I had a little accident and my bike was completely destroyed. That means, new bike time! I've been looking around, but I'm having real difficulty finding a fast but practical commuting bike that will fit me.

I'm 6"4' with 36" legs. My commute is 25 miles a day round-trip, all roads but sometimes unlit. Ice and some snow are pretty common in winter, so clearance for snow tires is a must.

I used to do it on heavily modified XL Kona honky-tonk with a hub Dynamo, and a long cage deraileur to get up the steep hills. I liked the drop handlebars and racing geometry, but the top tube was a little too short, so this time I'd like to get something that actually fits me!

I've been looking around, but the only off-the-shelf bike I found so far that looks like it would fit is a Surly Crosscheck, which comes in 64cm... But it's set up as a cross bike, with big tires.

I would prefer something that either comes pre-equipped with commuter stuff, like slick tires, and maybe even mud guards, a rack or a hub Dynamo... Otherwise I'll just wastes time and money replacing stock components that came with the bike – what a waste!

Any suggestions for off-the-shelf stuff? Otherwise I'm into the expensive land of custom frames and choose it yourself components

This reads almost exactly like the reasons I had for getting a new bike. After a a few weeks of research and thinking about it I went with the Surly Straggler. Basically a CrossCheck but with disc bakes and slightly different frame geometry. Best bike I've ever had, have already done a few hundred km since I got it last week including a spin up the mountains, it is unbelievably comfortable to ride. As others have mentioned though it's not built for speed what with it being steel. Having said though I asked bike shop to swap out the nobbly surly tires that it comes with in favour of Schwalbe Marathon plus and I find it very fast. I have never ridden a proper full carbon racing bike though so can't compare with that.

I'm 6'4 as well but more like 34" leg. I got measured up in bike shop and went for a size 60" frame with a bit of trepidation. I thought I was at least going to need a 62" frame but 60" is actually perfect. Maybe it's just Surly in general or the longer than normal top tube on the straggler but I think you would be fine with a 62" frame.

Civilian_Target

OK, lots of useful info up there, thanks for the help!

Unfortunately, there's lots of disappointment here
For example, Thorn bikes look lovely, but they don't do a size that's big enough.
smcal: The Rose Pro looks really cool, the biggest one is tall enough but seems too short
Lumen: Your tank also looks like the kind of spec I'd want, but again, way too small.

I started looking into frame geometry and realized that, since I'm probably not going to actually get to try the right size of bike before I buy it, I need to get professionally measured to make sure I get the right size. I got the stack and reach of my old Honky Tonk 61 and I guess I will need a reach of ~415mm and a stack of ~650mm, but I'd like to know for sure, so I'll do that as soon as I can.

I've definitely considered having a faster, 3-season road bike and a winter beater that takes snow tires and a lot of road salt. I had, more or less decided I wouldn't do that, for fear of being 'that guy' with a basement full of bikes :eek:... but if clearance for snow tires means having a bike that's no fun to ride, which many of you seem to suggest, then I'd get two! Plus I may get some salvage parts to get me started when my evidence bike is released...

The two things that might work are the Surly Straggler and the Kaffenback. The Kaffenback geometry isn't obvious to me, I'll have to take the time to understand it.
Al: Your Straggler looks great, and the colour should go well with the boards jersey I'll try out the large crosscheck again at the shop... but now that I understand the frame geometry better, I realize that their large size is long enough but maybe not tall enough

One other thing that could work is the Soma ES. Fortunately, I'm going to SF tomorrow for work, so I may be able to try this out!

Thanks again everyone, I feel a lot less lost now

smacl

Civilian_Target wrote: »

I've definitely considered having a faster, 3-season road bike and a winter beater that takes snow tires and a lot of road salt.

A see Rose have a number of bikes up to 66cm, e.g. the Xeon RS-2000. Given the size limitations, you could well be better going for two bikes. In terms of fun, more bikes = more fun.

lennymc

the straggler is a really nice bike - i am considering one next year. The surlys come with very long fork steerers when un cut, so there should be good bar height in them.

OldBean

Ah, I didn't realise you were in Boston. Genesis or Kaffenback could end up being far too costly over there.

It'd be worth looking at the Velo Orange Campeur if you're going to put it together yourself - http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/frames/campeur/vo-campeur-frame.html

Comfy and surprisingly lively, room for snow tyres, front and rear racks, low trail and looks lovely too.

I've their Passhunter which I love, but reckon the clearance might be a little bit too tight for what you're after. I'm riding a 60cm frame at 6'4 and its a perfect fit.

They're really nice guys and could be worth giving a mail about your ideas for a build.

Civilian_Target

Soo... I tried out the Cross-check.. something about the ride didn't sit well with me. They're pretty chunky and the geometry's a bit too upright for me.
Similarly, I also tried the Disc Trucker, which is a little less chunky and a bit more stable and smooth, with a less-upright geometry... but a bit boring. The guy in the shop said they also had the Trek 520 in my size, and that it might be a bit more lively, so they're building it for me to try next week. Otherwise, I'll see if I see anything nice while I'm in Europe the week after

I took a closer look at the Kaffenback geometry - a really nice bike but the XL is still too short. Otherwise, they had this one, it looks insane

Thanks for all your help!

RainyDay

I'm tall, though a little shorter than you. I've found it to be a bit of a nightmare finding a commuter bike to fit, in the bike-to-work price range. Shops don't carry stock in the largest sizes, and even my best effort to get them to specially ship in an XL size Scott bike for me seems to have floundered, where the order was 'lost'.

Scott bikes seem to come well equipped for commuting, with mudguards, lights, dynamo and rack built in - though I've been looking at the flat-bar ones, not the dropped bar.

Civilian_Target

OK, so I got a bike!

I had the backup option of a Trek 520... it's a nice bike but it's a bit slow and boring for commuting around town. But I really wanted something a bit quicker and more lively, and was having real trouble finding it. So I went to get a Retul fitting, thinking I'd buy it online, or maybe get something custom built. And when I described what I wanted to that bike shop, they said Hang on, I think we have something that you'd like...

They pulled out a Volagi Viaje in more-or-less my size, that had originally been made for someone else not much smaller than me. It ticked all the boxes - nice geometry, clearence for snow tires, 1-1 gearing... the ride is so smooth, and they offered me a great deal. A longer stem, some mudguards and a rack, and it was mine.

Here it is

Thanks for all your help!