Comments on: The Perfect Commuter Bike : Quick Update

By: John B.

John B. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:23:21 +0000

dukkie – good point. I did say it was the conventional wisdom and the LHT IS designed for a rear-biased load. BSG was solicating thoughts, so I thought I’d be a smarty pants and point that out. But I’m sure there are plenty of LHT owners happily using front baskets. Effects on handling are very personal anyway – some are more sensative than others. And even if handling suffers, I could see that the convenience of a front basket might override that. I still prefer the weight in the back.

By: BluesCat

BluesCat — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:46:09 +0000

Pretty soon, I’m going to start touching up the paint on my 1986 Batavus Course. Yeah, and a fellow bike nut of mine suggested Nitto Mustache handlebars and a Brooks saddle.

Going to try to find some cream colored 700c tires, too. (Don’t have any snow OR rain problems in Phoenix to contend with as far as messing them up.)

The goal is have a Batavus Pashley Guv’nor.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:16:46 +0000

+1 for a sprung saddle like a Brooks or VO. Also needs some leather grips – Portland Design Works ones are pretty nice

I like the fenders, though I prefer the hammered ones from VO.

By: dukiebiddle

dukiebiddle — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:43:06 +0000

John B., I don’t feel the LHT is so traily to prohibit considering front weight if that’s what the rider prefers. I personally cannot stand the effect rear weight has on balance, as well as the delayed response to countering rear balance issues, which I presume would be made worse by the frame’s touring geometry. I like to stand up in the saddle a lot while navigating through city traffic, and for that I vastly prefer front weight, and my bike has what’s considered too much front trail too.

By: John B.

John B. — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:43:30 +0000

Yes. The conventional wisdom is that the Trucker’s high trail means carrying weight in the rear is the way to go. Sounds about right to me. A Kogswell or a VO Polyvalent would be a better choice for a front-loader. I generally prefer an unloaded front end for negotiating curbs and potholes anyway.

By: Bike Shop Girl

Bike Shop Girl — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:03:41 +0000

John B -

We are still going through our “build out” process. There are about 3 or 4 more handlebars I would like to test out and review. Once I nail down a handlebar, then we will move on to “how to carry things” topic. Most likely front basket or rear rack.

Any thoughts?

By: John B.

John B. — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:44:55 +0000

The LHT came out great. It is a very nice mix of form and function – reminds me of my HD Sportster in that way. And MY LHT for that matter. The thing I love about commuters is that everybody’s “ideal” commuter bike is different because everybody’s riding style and situation is different. Sure you can make some generalizations – like fenders are almost always useful. But tire size, handlebars, MTB vs. road bike – all those sorts of things are highly variable. So this bike is going to work great of Bike Shop Girl in North Carolina, but it might be sub-optimal for lots of icy-snowy riding or going a long way effeciently, or whatever. I mean, anyone could nit-pick it to death. I think it looks great. One question, though. What is your storage solution. Looks like backpack/messenger bag for now. Any plans for racks or baskets?

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:53:34 +0000

Tinker,
Geez the VO Tourist bar looks exactly like the bar that’s on my Cargo-T. Why would you upgrade? I need about 2″ more height on mine, so I would likely upgrade to a Wald 870 or similar.

I think this LHT looks great! If the saddle height is correct, the frame appears to be either a little small and/or the handle bars are too low. The ride wouldn’t be very upright. Maybe it’s the perspective of the photo.

By: dukiebiddle

dukiebiddle — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:44:45 +0000

jdc, I totally agree with your second comment. With personalized commuters, nothing is essential, necessary or an absolute must, be it tire width, weight, fenders or handlebar type. All that matters is what works best for the rider.

I will come to the defense of chromed steel fenders. Chrome doesn’t rust. I just replaced the 40 year old chromed steel fenders on 3-speed I recently bought. They were beat up all to heck, but not a speck of rust on them. Also, I don’t think they’re prohibitively heavy on any bike that isn’t intended for racing.

As for the LHT commuter above, the only change that I think would be necessary for me would be saddle. I’m not going to go on about exclusive overrated expensive brands or whatever on that, but with the more upright seating position of those handlebars, the butt is more comfortable on a 170mm wide saddle. The narrower saddle (145-150mm?) above seems more appropriate for an aggressive bent over riding position.

By: jdc

jdc — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:51:42 +0000

Tinker….I understand fat tire usage. Three of my bikes use really big ones. 26 x 2.65 Kenda Kinetics…26 x 2.5 Maxxis Hookworms and 26 x 2.4 WTB Velociraptors. I’ve had 29x 2.10s on my cyclocross bike “just to see if they’d fit”. Those fenders? I didn’t read any text and from the picture they looked like chromed steel. My bad. Anyhow, we can’t all have the same ideals in bicycles. That’s what I love about seeing and working on the bicycles that people commute on. Each one holds a bit of the rider’s personality within it. The eccentric ones are those that we remember and talk about.