First commuter bike. What do I need to get now...?
- Thread starter Moyster
- Start date
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Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
As suggested I should stick with your OE tyres for a while and see if you're happy with them. I was only suggesting a change if the puncture protection is poor or you're using them mainly on the road and finding them a bit sluggish, I know difficult to judge if you've nothing to compare them with.
Your Trek is really 'mountain bike lite', a hybrid with the big tyres. These will give plenty of comfort especially if run at below max pressures but won't be very nimble on tarmac.
Your Trek is really 'mountain bike lite', a hybrid with the big tyres. These will give plenty of comfort especially if run at below max pressures but won't be very nimble on tarmac.
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
Excellent stuff, and welcome to the Bike Commuting Federation.
People have covered everything here; the point about practising a puncture repair, especially on the rear wheel, is well-made; doing it in the dark is no fun if you haven't already.
Personally, and this is entirely subjective, I swear by Marathon plus tyres; my last puncture was decades ago. I've found that with practice, it's possible to put them on without tyre levers. However, I have lots of practice because I sometimes change about five tyres a day at work; we also have competitions to see who can get the most difficult tyres on without levers because we are very sad.
I also think that the only real valve is a Presta valve, and I'm convinced I can prove it, and all other valves are heresy, but you go with what works for you.
I think @cyclops is right: use what you have and decide what needs changing as things wear out, or you gain experience, and remember the ideal number of bikes is N+1, where 'N' is the amount of bikes you already have.
People have covered everything here; the point about practising a puncture repair, especially on the rear wheel, is well-made; doing it in the dark is no fun if you haven't already.
Personally, and this is entirely subjective, I swear by Marathon plus tyres; my last puncture was decades ago. I've found that with practice, it's possible to put them on without tyre levers. However, I have lots of practice because I sometimes change about five tyres a day at work; we also have competitions to see who can get the most difficult tyres on without levers because we are very sad.
I also think that the only real valve is a Presta valve, and I'm convinced I can prove it, and all other valves are heresy, but you go with what works for you.
I think @cyclops is right: use what you have and decide what needs changing as things wear out, or you gain experience, and remember the ideal number of bikes is N+1, where 'N' is the amount of bikes you already have.
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raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
I'd go for some gloves/mitts with padding, my own preference is for 'mesh back' gloves. Not only do they help with comfort but in the event of a spill you're not getting palms full of grit.
27.5 is not the same as 700c.
You can vary the width of the tyre a bit. 2" is about as fat as you need to go on rough roads
For valves it doesnt make much difference. Presta valves are thinner and are the only option for narrow rims. Just stick to the style you have, the same for back/front/spares.
Okay, finally got everything ordered just about after taking everyone's advice I was a little bit conscious about what I was buying. I ordered Inner Tubes - Continental MTB 27.5 " - 1.75-2.5 pretty sure these are the right ones for me. I ordered a decent multi tool, some puncture repair stuff, and decent hand pump & also a good quality tyre lever or 2 of them actually. Shall be giving a tyre change practice run this weekend!
I also managed to pick up a nearly new Bontrager pannier rack off ebay for £5.00! A few days backpacking and the sweaty back is a little bit annoying although i change at work anyway. I do like wearing a backpack though. I have been looking at some of the osprey backpacks. I think the talon 22 has some decent airflow to the back so if I can pick one up in a sale at some point i'll likely give that a go but other than that we'll see how it goes.
My partner actually hated the idea of me biking at first but now we're a few days in and I get home in half the time than driving she's warmed up to it and surprised me with a Litelok x3 & Core Flex (A little bit overkill) but I think she had had enough of me showing her videos of them being angle grinded and trying to justify paying for one by saying it will outlast the bike ha!
Thanks everyone for all your advice!
I also managed to pick up a nearly new Bontrager pannier rack off ebay for £5.00! A few days backpacking and the sweaty back is a little bit annoying although i change at work anyway. I do like wearing a backpack though. I have been looking at some of the osprey backpacks. I think the talon 22 has some decent airflow to the back so if I can pick one up in a sale at some point i'll likely give that a go but other than that we'll see how it goes.
My partner actually hated the idea of me biking at first but now we're a few days in and I get home in half the time than driving she's warmed up to it and surprised me with a Litelok x3 & Core Flex (A little bit overkill) but I think she had had enough of me showing her videos of them being angle grinded and trying to justify paying for one by saying it will outlast the bike ha!
Thanks everyone for all your advice!
I find two is never enough.
I get the first one, under the bead, and then the second, about three inches along, then the third, another three inches along.Then with my hands and forearms, apply leverage. When the middle one becomes loose, reposition a further three inches along. Then very soon, you can run a tyre lever between the tyre and the rim all round the rim and bingo the tyre is off.
I also use alloy tyre levers. I've had plastic ones snap.
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
We tend to use one unless in extreme cases, although that's probably due to laziness because we can't be bothered to find the second.
Also, my team have never managed to snap Maxxis tyre levers, and believe me, we've tried them out extensively.
Electric_Andy
Heavy Metal Fan
- Location
- Plymouth
Re: lights. I got an unbranded strip light for the front, about £6 ten years ago. It's usb chargeable. I dug it out the loft the other week and it still works. There are generally 2 types of lights: "be seen" lights to light yourself up, and "seeing" lights if you ride on unlit roads and actually want a decent view in front of you. The be-seen lights are ok at a push but a bigger/better/more expensive light would be needed if you don't have street lights to help you out.
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PedallingNowhereSlowly
Senior Member
Glad that you are winning your partner over.
Hope this is the beginning of very many happy miles.
Are you logging your rides btw? You might want to so you can see your progress as you get fitter. Don't worry, you don't need a bike computer. I used OsmAnd on my android phone to GPS log them initially and that seemed to work quite well. You could also use Strava.
It's useful also to track the bikes mileage as over time you will get an idea as to how often you need/want to check the bike over and do jobs like clean/re-lub the chain, chainrings and cassette.
