Bicycle Commuter

[Lee Legrand]

Hello All,

Hoping to become a multi-model commuter in the near future. Would like advice from anyone on what kind of items I should take into consideration.  It will hopefully be a 4.5 mile bicycle ride to a train station to commute into NYC. Is this too far to wear work clothes without sweating? How much should I pack for commuting like this? What kind of clothes should I wear?

Thanks,

Khalid

[Steve Weeks]

There are a lot of variables there. How fast will you need to ride? How hilly is your route? What about headwinds (more effort) or rain (non-breathable covering)? What kind of work clothes do you wear? Does your bike have electric assist?

At a minimum, I'd carry rain gear and tools/supplies to fix a flat.  You'll need a safe place to leave your bike, unless you take it on the train.

I've been doing multi-modal commuting for over 20 years in the Chicago area. I have a folding bike that goes with me on the train, so no theft issues. I carry rain gear at all times, and have the necessary tools to fix a flat, though my tires are virtually flat-proof, and I haven't had t fix one for years. My commute is about half of yours, so less risk of sweating, but I'm a dentist so I *really* don't want to get stinky.

Good luck!

[peter.l...@gmail.com]

My commute was about 8 miles each way, mostly on quiet residential streets and mixed-use paths. This was in the Bay Area, so the weather was mostly nice, but even so:

- Sometimes there are storms (wind, rain, *dark* in winter). They don't bother me much, but require waterproof gear, gloves, fenders, good lights.

- Panniers are great - I had a spare tube, tools, lock, space for layering of clothes, rain gear, laptop, etc; a backpack would have left me all sweaty

- Kickstands are an excellent investment

- It really helps if your work has a shower; even better if they provide breakfast.

- Does work provide a safe place for your bike? A place to put your bike clothes (if you change)

- It took me a while to find tires that didn't get flats and were comfortable. Definitely worth the price.

- Summer can be more uncomfortable than winter - heat, humidity (not here, but other places)

- Bicycling home can be tough, especially if it's been a tiring day. But that builds character ;) and it's still better than driving in traffic.

- For me, it took about the same time, door-to-door as driving at rush hour, so it was easy to motivate myself ... also, I didn't replace our 2nd car, so on days that I was feeling lazy, I had no choice (for me, this was a Good Thing).

- Learn your right pace. I take a long time to warm up, and if I was a bit late and started riding too fast, I regretted it.

- If you take a mixed-use path, learn how to deal with joggers-with-earbuds, dog walkers (and squirrels), etc. A bell is very useful, but not always sufficient (and some people get upset with bells)

BTW, there's nothing quite as satisfying as riding past gridlocked freeway traffic.

[Francis “Ted” Fay]

- plan on very slow, easygoing pace if you don’t want to shower. A 12mph spin would get you there, w/o sweat. 

- have some body wipes at the office, plus a change of clothes, just in case of sweat/rain/mud/fall

- lights, including a backup one for the rear. Use them day and night. 

- reflective strap for your legs. The up down movement catches drivers eyes, and it helps keep the cuffs away from the chains

- front and rear fenders - water

- panniers > backpack for less sweat and lower center of gravity. If you wind up liking doing it, there’s panniers that convert to backpacks. 

- if really committed, consider studded tires for the winter.  Slower. Noisy. Nice when you run over icy patches. 

- powerbar  with you and at the office. Don’t get hangry and don’t try to ride home already bonked. 

Ted

On Nov 10, 2022, at 12:26 PM, peter.l...@gmail.com wrote:

My commute was about 8 miles each way, mostly on quiet residential streets and mixed-use paths. This was in the Bay Area, so the weather was mostly nice, but even so:

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[Lee Legrand]

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your response to this post.  I do not have a bicycle as of yet since I am waiting for a job that will allow me multimodal commute. I can't stand driving being stuck in traffic or slowing down due to bad drivers or too many people on the road.  One of the reasons why this job only requires me to take the train and getting a bicycle means that instead of walking to my local train station, I can bicycle to another train station that is on the same line as the local one.  I plan on getting a folder since NJ Transit does not allow full bicycle in the morning rush hour and I did plan on having a saddlebag and pannier.  The question I come up with is room and can these be taken off and carried like a bag while I am being transported by train.  It has to be easy for me to take them off when I am on the train and shoulder traps to hang from the shoulders while I am on the train with the bicycle.  The folder I plan to get, allows for two (really 3) wheel sizes so during the spring and summer season, I can ride with thinner tires but when snow and ice comes, as Francis mentioned, another wheel set with fatter tires and studs can be placed on them.  So I need bags or panniers to hold rain gear, another set of clothing, wipes, tools, tire and inner tube, extra food, and lights for dark winters.  What kind of clothing is best?  I am leaning towards wool since it does not stink or hold sweat as much as cotton and can be worn multiple times before washing.  Possible bike googles and helmet.

Keep them coming and thanks

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[Ken Freeman]

Peter, I haven't done this level of pedal-commuting for at least 41 years, but writers I have known talk about reducing their speed on "dress-clothes" legs of, to avoid the need for washing and laundering on your journey.  I don't know how practical that is, but it was discussed in previous emails on a similar theme.  Basic theme: just slow down.

Ken Freeman, Ann Arbor, MI

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Ken Freeman
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[Steve Palincsar]

Slowing down can entirely eliminate the need for a shower at work.

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Steve Palincsar
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[peter.l...@gmail.com]

FWIW, here's my commute-by-folding-bike experience, in Tokyo (which has ridiculously hot&humid&wet summers and fairly cold winters, but usually above freezing). I had a couple of different commutes, due to the office moving, and Tokyo is quite different from NY/NJ - lots of small backstreets; so with a of  planning, I could easily avoid the big streets. My commutes were quite short - 10-20 minutes, but I often rode farther ... in general, for  distances up to 30-40 minutes, bike was my fastest way of getting around (and I lived a couple of blocks from 4 subway lines with frequent service).

I have a Brompton, which I had to fold up whenever I went into the office building. Bromptons fold very quickly and compactly - my wife had a cheaper Danon folder, which was a much less pleasant experience (we sometimes went on train trips with both our bikes, and I was the designated person for folding & carrying; my wife treated her bike like a small regular bike and never folded it). In Japan, bikes need to go into a bag when on a train, and the Brompton was really good for that (it also had a front bag that clipped on/off quickly and was easy to carry because it has a nice shoulder strap). On the other hand, even though a Brompton isn't heavy (24lbs, I think), it's no fun to carry up a staircase (some train stations didn't have escalators or elevators), despite its nice design (the seat doubles as a handle, and there are small wheels, which make it pretty easy to tow the bike when it's folded). A coworker had a Bike Friday, and he was happy with it. I could fit my Brompton next to my desk, but he kept his bike in the public bike parking area (I don't know if the Bike Friday would have fitted at the desk). Keeping my bike at my desk turned out to be a bit of a problem when the 2011 earthquake hit and I had to carry my bike down 25 floors of stairs (fortunately, I had a storage place in the basement of my apartment, so I didn't need to carry the bike *up* 25 floors). [I've also found the Brompton to be nicer than a regular bike on Caltrain - I can put the bike by my seat rather than put in the designated bike area]

In the hot&humid summer (which is much worse than anything I've encountered in NY), people in the office were surprised by my using a bike - but I found that bicycling at a moderate speed was actually cooler than walking, especially due  to  the self-generated  breeze (and there was one moderate hill: https://goo.gl/maps/NRXazEcZvshjXT289 (it's steeper than it looks in StreetView). By comparison, one of my coworkers changed to a fresh shirt after only walking a block from the subway station. The Brompton is much lower than my road bike, and I find that to be nice for riding in urban area because it puts me at the same height as pedestrians, which makes it easier to thread through pedestrians either on narrow roads or on sidewalks (technically, it's illegal to ride a bike on a Tokyo sidewalk but in reality everyone does that, even the police).

I've sometimes used my Brompton for 8+ mile trips in the Bay Area - it's fine for that distance, and not much slower than my road bike.

BTW, during pollen season in Japan, I wore a mask when bicycling - good practice for when COVID occurred. ;)

[Lee Legrand]

Hey Peter,

Can you tell me what kind of set up you had in terms of bags when you commuted and did you bring extra clothes, food, and laptop on your commutes since it was 8 miles? I wont go with a Brompton since the bicycle I choose, although will fold, will be used for other than commuting like cycling or making errands to places. 

Anyone can respond to this.

Thanks everyone

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[peter.l...@gmail.com]

On Friday, November 11, 2022 at 6:36:47 AM UTC-8 Lee Legrand wrote:

Hey Peter,

Can you tell me what kind of set up you had in terms of bags when you commuted and did you bring extra clothes, food, and laptop on your commutes since it was 8 miles? I wont go with a Brompton since the bicycle I choose, although will fold, will be used for other than commuting like cycling or making errands to places. 

I had two different commutes, on two different bikes.

In Tokyo, I equipped my Brompton with their largest bag - it had room for my lock, laptop, and a waterproof jacket - and slung it over my shoulder when I took the bike indoors. I didn't bring a change of clothes because the distance was relatively short and I rode fairly slowly (in the hot/humid summer, the breeze from riding meant that I sweated less on the bike than if I walked).

In the Bay Area, I used my road bike (its geometry is similar to a touring bike - drop handlebars level with the seat), with a Jandt rack and Ortlieb panniers. I'd put a change of clothes in Eagle packing cubes with my laptop (in its case) in one pannier, leaving my lock, tools, pump, spare tube, etc. in the other pannier. I usually left the panniers on my bike because they could get quite dirty (even though they clipped on/off very easily. I didn't need any food b/c there was breakfast at work, also showers (earlier, at other companies, I just ate breakfast before heading out, even though it probably wasn't the best thing for my digestion). Some of my coworkers kept a change of clothes or two at the office (there was a bike storage room and lockers).

On occasion, I'd take Caltrain to San Francisco with my Brompton - ride to the train station (about 4 miles), fold my bike (and sling the bag over my shoulder), and take the bike to my seat. On occasion, I'd use the bike area of the train, but that didn't work as well because it was difficult to prevent it from moving around. I never left my bike in the station bike lockers because I used the bike at my destination (also, I've heard stories of break-ins at the bike lockers, although I don't know how common this is).

On the subject of commuting and exercise ... a few years ago I took a cardiac stress test and didn't do terribly well. The cardiologist asked me what I did for exercise and I told him I commuted by bike an hour each day, with about 200 feet total elevation rise. His response: "More hills!". (I followed his advice and my fitness level definitely improved)

[Peter J Leiss]

Just my two cents on this. I started commuting to work and back in  1970 and did so until I retired in 2017. My commute was generally longer in the range of 60 kilometres round trip. I used various road bikes and carried my daily clothes and other needs on the bike. Rack top bags or panniers depending on the bike. Hub generator powering my headlight and a battery powered tail light. This of coursed morphed from an under bottom bracket generator and pitiful incandescent light as technology evolved. I always used cycling clothes and changed at work. Fortunately I had access to facilities to clean up and secure storage for my bike. Generally I would ease up as I neared work to let the sweat dry up. Still riding today at 69 years old and feeling fit. Don’t over think this get on with it. I always found that by the time I was at work I was ready for the day and by the time I got home the issues of the day were over and done with. 

Peter

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[Lee Legrand]

Hi Peter,

I will take what you said to heart.  Yes, you will not know until you start but I like to plan when starting something and not overdo it with naivete by purchasing stuff I do not need but I get your point of, "Don't overthink this, get on with it".  I thought about lights and was considering a front hub generator but considering that lights with rechargeable USB hubs and will mostly need them during the winter months vs summer when the days are shorter, I tend to go with this versus a front hub that wears out and need replacement which I think would be more expensive than a lights.

Thank you for your insight

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[peter.l...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 10:32:18 AM UTC-8 Lee Legrand wrote:

Hi Peter,

I will take what you said to heart.  Yes, you will not know until you start but I like to plan when starting something and not overdo it with naivete by purchasing stuff I do not need but I get your point of, "Don't overthink this, get on with it".  I thought about lights and was considering a front hub generator but considering that lights with rechargeable USB hubs and will mostly need them during the winter months vs summer when the days are shorter, I tend to go with this versus a front hub that wears out and need replacement which I think would be more expensive than a lights.

My SON hub (on my road bike) has lasted over 10 years, no problems. And it's nice to have a permanently mounted light that's also on all the time during the day (front and rear).

When I had a rechargeable light, I used to often forget to charge it. You might be better than me. ;)

[Kurt Nordback]

A SON hub and good wired lights (the Edelux II front light is awesome) are expensive up front, but I think you won't regret them. I never think about lighting. I just ride, and lights come on when it's dark and go off when it's light (though daytime running lights can be great too, as mentioned). It's wonderfully freeing.

[Peter Ludemann]

Also, the incremental cost of a SON hub over a regular hub of similar quality isn't much.

I wish that the rear lights had a flashing mode - apparently that's illegal in Germany - but American drivers seem to respond better to flashing lights.

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[Lparker_0254]

I read, years ago, that flashing rear lights can confuse, even attract "impaired" drivers.

I don't know if that is true but, I have some vision issues that are really aggravated when I try to do group rides and there are flashing, blinking, pulsing lights in front of me.  I have to lead or drop off the back.   Daytime is okay but at nighttime, yikes!

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S® 6, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone#

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[Lee Legrand]

Hi Peter,

Yes, you will always have a generator for lights.  I think the issue with me with light is unless I am a randonneur or someone who needs lights on the bicycle because that is my primary mode of transportation and I need to be seen at night, yes primary.  SON hubs do last a long time as far as I know and have a great build quality.  The other thing to consider with lights is there are more ways to be seen now.  There are spoke lights and now pedal lights to allow yourself to be seen and you can't use a pedal generator to keep them going. There is the issue of memory and making sure components light this have a long use value before recharge and that it is simple as, plugging them into a dock or spare charging pack just in case you forget.  I think I am going to take your earlier advise and see.

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[Lee Legrand]

Hi Lpparker,

It seems you are correct about the flashing lights.  May cause problems for drivers.  Sheldon Brown website talks about it on the bottom of this page.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/LED-headlights.html

There is a list of websites following it that go into why cyclists should not have blinking lights.