Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

longbikes thread>>>>

^ hahahaa

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRUrJDIjhui/

Zeb's new bike is the stuff of dreams.

centurion

Fantastic. Gave me a push to go buy this tomorrow. Says triathlon on it but seller claims it's for 700c with close clearances. Should make an excellent 650b conversion.

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"functional"

I'm in the process of getting out of the recreational cycling game, at least for the foreseeable future and am going to be a one bike guy with 44 miles/day of commmuting. I'm selling up and looking to build this one bike for year round commuting, but have run straight into the impossible problem of wanting one bike to fill the role of the 4 or 5 that it's replacing. But however I look at it, this seems to be the thread I need.

I have lockers/showers at work so can take enough clothes for a fortnight in a backpack or just drive. So all I need to carry daily is puncture/tool kit and a tupperware container of bait. Currently this goes in a Camelbak. Now I'm riding a Look 464 9 months of the year with a mix of Cree/Lezyne USB lights (leave the house at 5am, get back at 5pm) and a Haro Mary with Hope R4/District lights, front rack and pannier and full GB steel fenders/long flaps the other 3 months.

I want something that's light, fast, fun, comfortable and not encumbered with wires, cables, velcro'd batteries etc. I love when I get off the MTB onto the Look at it's so solid, quiet and simple.

Can I do better than an All City Nature Boy Disc with a set of summer (fixed) and winter (free - already have a new Hope Trials wheelset) wheels? I don't think having a single bike, I could give up fixed, though a 1x11 Macho Man being faster giving quicker commutes is tempting. My concern is that if I take a heavy Nature Boy, add mudguards, lights, wires and cables, maybe a basket etc, I'll end up with something that's just a drop bar version of current MTB and that's grim.

I'm wondering how sensible it'd be to send a Nature Boy to someone for modifications to allow internally wired dynamo lights and brake cables (TRP HY/RD). I think I could live with decent plastic mudguards fitted at winter and maybe clip-ons for summer when I get up and it's lashing down.

Bait?

I've really been enjoying what sim works have put out over the last year, just can't not share this:

If you're set on having only one bike ( which is possible, if not preferable ), could it be worth getting something custom? Something like a Talbot 4 seasons with adjustable dropouts, which would allow you to switch between fixed/SS/geared.

Yeah, me vittles.

I did think that, but figured it would be expensive. I have no real idea of what a custom frame costs these days, but I figure it would be at least as much as the amout I'd be use to build an entire Nature Boy. Nicer steel and integrated brakes/lights would be good though, which is why I thought a compromise may be a Nature Boy with custom work to handle the brakes/lights and live with the cheap steel.

44 miles of commuting on single speed? Not want gears?

I'm currently doing the 1 bike thing after selling my road bike, Surly Straggler is the bike I'm doing it with. I commute, ride cross, tour and ride road on it.

If I could chose again I'd go for the Steel Niner RLT.

I think I could live with decent plastic mudguards fitted at winter and maybe clip-ons for summer when I get up and it's lashing down.

So plastic guards for 10 months of the year, clip ons for a month and a half and a fortnight with no guards then? Just get some decent (metal) guards and leave them on all year.

Isn't fixed in summer, frewheel in winter a bit backwards? Thought the idea was fixed in winter to keep your knees moving and warm? That said, I don't use my fixed during winter but that's because it's got no guards and it's my 'good' bike.

Custom steel from the usual polish sources isnt as expensive as you think it is. This is mine from Orlowski and could be the kind of thing youre after:

Options to set it up fixed, SS or gears. If I were doing one bike only I'd have got a matching steel fork with all the mounts. Internal dynamo wouldnt be an issue I'm sure. You could just have a fixed wheelset for winter and geared wheelset for summer, dropouts would mean mudguards wouldnt even have to be removed for wheel swaps

Been doing the commute fixed for years now. More than happy doing it fixed.

I see that fixed for winter is the standard way of thinking, but I guess for me and my bikes, fixed means the super aggressive Look 464 track bike and freewheel means my winter tank MTB so it's stuck. Fixed I tend to ride hard and fast, which is more of my mood when it's warm and dry. Taking it easier in the snow and ice, ready to unclip and catch myself fits better with freewheel.

For a long while I'd been thinking of replacing the commuter bikes with just one, even when still road riding, and went back and forth between Nature Boy/Straggler/Wolverine. I decided that the Straggler's geometry was just a little odd for me. I lusted after the RLT when it came out, but pricey (good deal here though - http://www.topfun.com/en/rlt-9-steel/73-niner-rlt-9-steel-frameset-dirty-white-ringer-red.html).

I hadn't considered Orlowski, that's an excellent shout. Maybe I can have my cake and eat it. Off to do some research now.

Pinnacle Arkose Singlespeed, job done.

Why do photographers insist on using such dark backgrounds? You can barely see anything this way. Bike looks dope though.

After the Haro, I don't think I'd ever run an eccentric BB again. Other than that, and my irrational dislike of Al (despite the Look, my favourite bike ever, being Al), it seems pretty ideal, though not paticularly sexy.

I doubt it's the background.. The same photographer did this