Josh makes a very good point. What's the point of using a less satisfactory bike for most of your riding?
Still, the dangers of locking up do argue for a second, more disposable, if not completely throw-away bike. Others describe buying Clems for this purpose, and I've been toying with the idea of doing that myself; the price for a full Clem is pretty darn reasonable. Long ago my latest custom Riv Road was hanging on the wall gathering dust while most of my riding was a long commute to and from work on various beaters (*). After a couple of years of this I had a local builder turn it into a fixed gear and enjoyed it immensely and much more often over 14 more years of errand and commuting riding until I replaced it in 2020. (*) Tho' I have to say that 2 of those beaters were bikes I wish I'd kept: ~ top-end 1990 Diamond Back Axis/Access/Axes Team with ENO fixed hub and 60 mm Big Apples and a 64" fixed gear, and a late '80s (I think; at any rate, an early model) Raleigh Technium flexy flyer alum-tubes-glued-into-plumbing-pipe-steel-lugs + steel fork sports tourer, also set up as a fixed gear. The DB exhibited perfectly neutral handling -- IMO the high point of NORBA geometry, the Noodle was high enough thanks to a 10 cm Dirt Drop stem with rise to spare, and the high bb let me pedal merrily around corners. The Raleigh with then (circa 2002-2005) fat Vittoria 32s and the long stays and flexy frame made it ride like an old Cadillac; not fast but certainly plush. So sometimes there are good beater options. Still, the matter is one of inherent tension: between riding a much-loved bike as much as possible and putting it at risk of theft. On Wed, Sep 25, 2024 at 6:40 AM Josh C <getjoshchamb...@gmail.com> wrote: > I posted a similar thread about a year ago, asking about commuting on a > Riv, as I also had reservations. The thing for me is that my commuter ends > up being the bike I ride the most often. I may ride more miles on my > road-ish bikes but the daily gets the most use. I'll take it to run > errands, go to work, go out for dinner/drinks, etc. To me, the purest form > of cycling is the commuter/townie rides, where the bike is replacing other > forms of transportation. I've since started taking my Rivs everywhere. I'll > lock up my Atlantis outside of a restaurant, Hunq outside of a bar, and so > on. I own several bikes but to justify buying a Clem recently, I've decided > that it'll be my daily driver and just ordered new wheels for it. I'll > fender, dynamo, front/rear light the thing and lock it everywhere. That > bike will be locked up in public parking garages, in downtown Indianapolis > for 13 hours at a time, several days per week. I lock them well with > U-locks and a cable through the front wheel. I don't want to lose any of > them, but I'm trying not to let the fear of getting one stolen keep me from > using them. What's a garage full of cool bikes if you only take a junk bike > every time you leave? That's my mindset. Folks in other areas may have > different crime rates related to bikes but I'd guess most people think your > homer is some type of old-fashioned retro bike anyway. Go steal an e-bike > and leave me alone! > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgtaO8pTkZpYTM5o_eSnh0ufnX%2B7RQc4qyRwhP4dOUHOBQ%40mail.gmail.com.
