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Ok, so my mind is still racing with trying to somehow make it make sense for me to do some bike commuting (for those who have responded to previous threads, much appreciated).
So the latest hair-brained scheme (as my wife might say) is to ride about 8 miles to the northern most subway stop, hop the train and then either take it straight to work or hop off uptown and ride another 5-6 miles. For a possible daily roundtrip total of about 30 miles. Even with a local gym membership to make sure I have a shower available to me, this approach would save me about $120 a month in commuting costs.
I have an older Kona mtn bike I was gifted and put a bit of cash into re-furbing last fall.
Here is what I see as bare minimum to make the Kona a commuter:
new tires (the knobbies just won't cut it)
new rims (the rims would need to be replaced anyway if I was to use the bike in any serious manner, they are in sad shape)
a rack and panniers
pedals (just gifted the pedals on it to my brother-in-law)
Nice to haves:
a rigid fork (which would likely require a new stem, as the current suspension fork is threaded)
bar ends
fenders
rain pants
basic cyclocomputer
dedicated commuter shoes
Anything I am overlooking? Anything you'd suggest moving from nice to have to essential or vise versa?
Can a mtn bike be a good commuter? I see most folks trending towards cross/touring bikes for longer length commutes.
So the latest hair-brained scheme (as my wife might say) is to ride about 8 miles to the northern most subway stop, hop the train and then either take it straight to work or hop off uptown and ride another 5-6 miles. For a possible daily roundtrip total of about 30 miles. Even with a local gym membership to make sure I have a shower available to me, this approach would save me about $120 a month in commuting costs.
I have an older Kona mtn bike I was gifted and put a bit of cash into re-furbing last fall.
Here is what I see as bare minimum to make the Kona a commuter:
new tires (the knobbies just won't cut it)
new rims (the rims would need to be replaced anyway if I was to use the bike in any serious manner, they are in sad shape)
a rack and panniers
pedals (just gifted the pedals on it to my brother-in-law)
Nice to haves:
a rigid fork (which would likely require a new stem, as the current suspension fork is threaded)
bar ends
fenders
rain pants
basic cyclocomputer
dedicated commuter shoes
Anything I am overlooking? Anything you'd suggest moving from nice to have to essential or vise versa?
Can a mtn bike be a good commuter? I see most folks trending towards cross/touring bikes for longer length commutes.