Comments on: Commuter profile: Suit in the City

By: her

her — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:55:54 +0000

I agree with the aggressive guy here-tt. Riding in a nice suit means crumpling and sweating too much. My husband biked everyday to work in Florida on a back road striped to his wife beater and he had a more casual suit. All was fine. Now we are in the East bay and he has to wear a formal suit. It is muggy and damp. In the rain he will always take public transit. But currently we are trying to figure out how to keep biking. There is no shower for him so changing clothing seems like the only option. I am curious what other things people do and what style of bike works best for a 3 to 5 mile commute in heavy traffic.

By: her

her — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:52:57 +0000

I agree with the aggressive guy here-tt. Riding in a nice suit means crumpling and sweating too much. My husband biked everyday to work in Florida on a back road striped to his wife beater and he had a more casual suit. All was fine. Now we are in the East bay and he has to wear a formal suit. It is muggy and damp. In the rain he will always take public transit. But currently we are trying to figure out how to keep biking. There is no shower for him so changing clothing seems like the only option. I am curious what other Things people do and what kind of bike works for a 3 to 5 mile trek in the city.

By: rich

rich — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:23:27 +0000

Matt S: sorry to hear about you getting oil on your pants but thats exactly the reason I wear my gaiter.

By: tt

tt — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:02:49 +0000

That article is asinine, I have known a plethora of such altruistic urban architects, he forgets to mention, that he wears cheap suits and smells bad, that architecture is the only profession where you can look disheveled wearing a suit, and that like 95% of my mediocre professional colleagues, he has no taste in ties(not to mention suits), and thinks it is ok to wear square toed shoes with a suit. Furthermore, a fine suit would be ruined by the movement involved in cycling and carrying a messenger bag, it would simply loose its shape, but then that machine sewn polyester job he is sporting will wear like leathers I am sure. I ride to work, I am an architect, I walk or drive when I have a meeting. My other thought is, why does he not join an athletic club near his office, ride to work in “street clothes”, shower and dress at the club, as any self-respecting individual would do. This is simply idealistic foolishness, riding a pista in a cheap suit, wow! we should all aspire…

By: Matt S.

Matt S. — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:16:27 +0000

Rich:
I just roll up my pant leg. I sometimes still get oil stains when dismounting, but they are on the inside of the pant leg.

By: rich

rich — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:12:12 +0000

Even though it is casual dress where I work, I still had a problem with getting an oil stain on my right leg from the chain… I tried putting the end of the pants into my sock and using a tie to tie the pant leg down…. but to no avail.

I finally fixed the problem by having an old pair of sweat pants that had lost the string so they became useless… or were they? I basically cut a portion of the leg (it had a gather at the end toward the foot) off of the pants and now I put it on my right leg and use the tie at the top part to hold it on and, voila! no more oil problem…

By: Siouxgeonz

Siouxgeonz — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:12:05 +0000

Arright! You rock! And the more you do it, the better you’ll be feeling…

Now, don’t let this be like that date where you really were going to call that person back… set your next excursion Then get pedal-ing!

By: AC

AC — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:07:14 +0000

Yay! I did it. I rode to work today for the first time. It was a 12 mile commute with probably 60% bike lanes and not much traffic. But, I guess I shouldn’t see much traffic at 4:30am.

I have a couple things to iron out, but all in all it was a nice ride.

For some reason I decided to run platform pedals and that was kind of a bust. I never felt like I had a rhythm when peddling. I use platforms for cruising the neighborhood and running my dog, but for a 12 mile ride I’d prefer to run clipless.

I also got an ear ache because of the cold air. I should have worn something over my ears to keep wind out.

Thanks for all the great info.
AC

By: gT2008

gT2008 — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:47:30 +0000

I agree with clunkerider…we need to get away from the special riding gear. the three most important things i did this year that made my work commuting easier are:
1. wear simpler clothes, shirts, and pack minimally. most of my jobs are casual wear so that makes it easier for me. i’m not wearing cycling gloves or special shorts, i dont pack a water bottle or tools, i try to keep it real simple, and 99.9 percent of the time it works out fine.
2. i started to ride at a leisure pace. this keeps you from getting hot, and by not thinking of that 3-5 mile ride as a cardio session, you just relax and start riding the way you did when you were young. plus it makes it easier to stop and run errands or talk to people. if i want to have a cardio ride, i’ll do that on the way home and take a longer route.
3. changed from a backpack to carrying things in a rack mounted pack.

-i set up a mountain bike with beach cruiser tires so it encourages a slower and comfortable ride. have a simple removable pack over the back wheel that attaches to a rack.

-i too cannot seem to find a chain guard to fit over a front derailer.

By: siouxgeonz

siouxgeonz — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:00:07 +0000

Agree about those chain guards!!!

I have always groaned when cruising the bike company pages where they plug their “commuting” bikes. Excuse me. If your chain is nekkid, you’re misisng something.

And turn signals! Give me turn signals! It gets dark at night!