I was going by my trip time. 18km, usually 35-40m
9km for me takes 35-40. But then I take back streets, stick to paths where possible, and have to get from one side of the city to the other, so am waiting for tram stops and playing “guess which pedestrian is going to step in front of you while looking at their phone” 
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Thankfully there’s not a single light on my journey. In fact, it requires a grand total of two right and one left turns, and one short, mild incline.
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Interesting people’s preferences. Personally I hate panniers and much prefer to commute with a backpack. I do have a shower at the end though so don’t need to worry about sweat. I have a deuter backpack and it’s awesome.
I would say try the backpack first before investing in panniers. As long as the bike has the fittings you can always add it later. In fact you can have my old pannier rack it’s sitting in the shed collecting dust
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Ditto.
I find them very helpful but I do the grocery shopping on one of my bikes.
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The Reid Granite 2.0 might be of interest. It has the pannier lugs front and rear and runs 35mm tyres and disc brakes. It’s the kind of thing I like to get around on however I prefer a steel frame. That Oppy looks pretty sweet for the price.
It’s got Shimano Claris shifters which are very ordinary. Tiagra is a class above.
Yeah they had to be cutting corners somewhere, I’m not up to date on which are the good gearsets.
Shimano really have some good kit; Dura Ace is spectacular, with a price to match. Ultegra and 105 are both first class; Then you have Tiagra which is at a level 105 was 3 or 4 years back - that’s really quite satisfactory. It falls away after that with Sora (9 speed) and the Claris (8 speed) - so Claris is actually two levels lower spec than Tiagra.
Well @dingus has kicked this thread back into life! Perhaps proof that when you run out of space for your own bikes or can’t justify buying any more the next best thing is live vicariously and tell someone else what to buy.
Re backpacks v panniers, as person who kicked this off, the main point I was trying to make to someone who may not know, was that all this stuff has been reinvented by mtb/backpackers over last 5 years. They didn’t have racks because of their shocks so came up with lots of other ways to carry stuff on bikes. So there are a lot more options than rear rack+pannier v backpack to consider.
Granite 2 was a good suggestion by Hambo, although with same gearing and (slighter) weight negatives as Oppy. Still a frame with discs, lugs and able to take much wider tyres would look the better option to me, for that money.
Depends whether Dingus, if he gets the bug, is more likely to:
- go on a road bike grand fondo,
- or start riding rail trails
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I’ve got a gravel bike, it runs more mountain bike style gear. It’s got sram x9 which seems to work OK for how I use it. Not sure if that really compares to any of the road bike kit.
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You guys have got me looking at bikes again. My old shopping cart is at least ten years old and could do with an upgrade. I like my Kona, seriously considering this:
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I’ve been looking at pretty much that bike lately. Looks pretty nice. Thinking of IGH though.
So, last Saturday I dropped in on the way back from dingus Jr’s football and picked up the Falco Sport.
I like it.
Three commutes down, round trip of about 22 Ks. Will definitely be changing the tyres in the near future, as I feel every slight bump and piece of gravel through the 23mm jobbies.
Taking it pretty easy as I haven’t ridden for several years, and I’m currentl a MASSIVE, UNFIT, FAT ■■■■. Averaging about 22Km/h and aiming to gradually build that up.
The quality on the bike and the setup they did in the shop seem to be spot on.
Any tips for the saddle soreness? I feel like Guelfi after being kidnapped by Donnington…
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Definitely get some sort of bike knicks. If you’re uncomfortable with lycra, get some cycling baggy shorts with padding. And never wear undies - the chafing!
All your weight on a bike goes through 2 small bone sections of your pelvis. No matter what you do, expect some inflammation around these for a few weeks due to new activity / weight bearing - it will feel like deep bruising. But this will mostly stop after a few weeks.
I’ve never had any chafing issues but as Barry suggests people recommend no jocks and pre-lubing with various butt creams.
And yeah life is more pleasant with padded daks or underdaks - now you know why everyone wears them despite what they look like. See this site for example of range of options available. I picked this option for you …
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Oh and thanks by they way … amazing how many websites are offering me cheap Reid Falco Sport bikes.
go and get a bike fit… …thats the most important thing you can do…
just rode from sydney to surfers on my TCR for charity 953km in 7 days…
butt cream 2 jars used in 7 days lol
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