The Chainlink

I'd love to see the steeds that you are all riding.  I see a mixture of different bikes on my way to work, from the carbon roadie, to the purpose driven MTB, and the old steel classics.  What are you riding?  What's your favorite feature about it?

I'll start:

My normal ride is my Trek 3500, I wanted an entry level disc brake bike for just commuting purposes.  I installed the Planet Bike Cascadia fenders and roll with a PDW Radbot 1000 taillight and MagicShine 808E.  So far it has been a blast, the big tires soak up the bumps and jumps on the road and the suspension fork (although REALLY basic works well).  Aptly named Ronto.

The other ride is my fun ride and nice day commuter.  For a while it was my only bike until I realized that the winter would suck on a skinny tired road bike.  I don't have a picture but it is a Trek 1.5.  Both bought from VCC.

Lets see your ride and your ride's name!

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This is my well-loved and very spoiled Long Haul Trucker.  I ride it through rain, heat, dark of night, and some snow, but it comes into my office and my house.  I don't ride it through sleet or ice or a lot of snow.  I also never could get into the bike naming thing, so it is just my LHT.

I love the Surly, really like their fat bike, but I road on a group ride with a gent that had a LHT all deck out as a roadie, and had no problem keeping up with the group despite the bike's weight.  I'd love to build a tourer with a LHT frame one day.



Lisa Curcio 6.6mi said:

This is my well-loved and very spoiled Long Haul Trucker.  I ride it through rain, heat, dark of night, and some snow, but it comes into my office and my house.  I don't ride it through sleet or ice or a lot of snow.  I also never could get into the bike naming thing, so it is just my LHT.

As frames go they're cheap and they can take a lot.

Hmm... I have two. The everyday commuter is one of my trusty Schwinn Suburbans. She was born the same year and month that I was. Sometimes, I'll commute on my new Cross Check.
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For that particular instance about 200 miles.  Normally I just use the one bag for my work clothes and leave everything else at home.

The reasons why I enjoy the Suburbans have been covered to death in another thread, but it is a liowmaintenance bike, with some intrinsic lighting, and with Schwalbe Marathons on it, I could handle a five mile commute through 95% of last years winter.

@Tricolor--love the difference in the frame configuration between my midget bike and your big person bike!

Tri, is that the C&O canal stick on your pannier from the DC area?  My in-laws live out that way and I want to try to do the GAP and C&O in one long trip next year.

Tricolor said:

As frames go they're cheap and they can take a lot.

Yes, I did it last year and I think anyone that can ride a few days in a row would love it.  Chicago is particularly well situated; you can ride your bike to the station in the afternoon, put it into a big box and ride the Capitol Limited overnight to Pittsburgh (arrives at 5:30) where you can either start right away or spend a day in the city.  Take five or six days; five days is roughly 75 miles for the first two days and 60 for the last three since the canal is a little rougher than the railroads.  There are plenty of B&Bs, hotels and campgrounds to use depending on how you want to eat and sleep.  It passes through some rugged looking country but since you're riding on either a roadbed or the canal path there are no hills and it's not steep.  Heading toward Washington you don't realize you are in a city until the trail ends in Georgetown about a half mile from the Lincoln Memorial.

Just as the Capitol Limited leaves Chicago in the evening and arrives at Pittsburgh in the morning it leaves Washington around five in the afternoon and arrives in Chicago at 9:30, so you can pick up, re-assemble your bike and ride home.  If you can take a week or so off work it's one of the more reasonable vacations you can take.  I'm thinking of doing it again in late October if my other fall trip falls through.  My father's a big Western Maryland fan and I hiked or followed a lot of what became the GAP after it was abandoned but before the trail was built.  The last section connecting downtown Pittsburgh was only finished last June so now it's all trail from the Point to Georgetown.

wow that C & O looks pretty great. I've posted pics of the red bike before, but not since it got red cranks, so here is an updated pic my commuter:

The new crank has 46 teeth, which is a huge improvement over the 52(?) I had on there previously for use with the SRAM automatic 2 speed hub. The 2 speed has been great for commuting in mostly flat Chicago. I commute with one (red) Ortleib. 

I built it from the frame up using a late '80's Schwinn Le Tour frame. The frame is True Temper from the period when Schwinn was building these in Mississippi - there last grasp at maintaining domestic bike production. The True Temper is really nice cro-moly - but it is not as nice as the Reynolds (?) frame on my Voyageur from 1986 or so.

Here is my retro-grouchy Specialized Expedition ('85) that gets me to and from work everyday. Started commuting in Chicago this past January and intend to use it again all this winter. This is my one bike to rule them all.

   My dedicated city bike.  Soma Buena Vista; Nuvinci N360 CVP, 650B wheels, Velo Orange fenders and Porteur  rack.

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