I'm a bicycle advocate here in the suburbs outside Washington DC. I field questions about bike commuting all of the time. I'm always pointing folks toward more stable bikes with fatter tires. Most of the local bike shops are on board with this idea as well and stock bikes that are more useful. At most LBSs I still get looks like I'm an alien for my 40c tires, fenders, generator lights and luggage.
I know personally I've hit patches of ice on my Dutch bike that would have made me crash on more sporting bikes. I once heard an REI employee tell a customer, "Oh, you want to ride 6 miles to work? You need a road bike like this one... " while pointing at something at home in a pace line. Not good advice. In my opinion there are two things newer commuters need from a commuting bike: 1) *Eliminating excuses* - Fenders, lights, racks or baskets, lockability. Excuses eliminated: Oh, it rained last night and I don't want to get my clothes dirty. I have to take brownies to work, I can't carry them on a bike! It's getting dark earlier and my lights aren't working/charged. Oh, my bike will be locked up at the Metro station, someone will steal it. 2) *Easy maintenance* - Basic shifting (1x8, 1x9., IGH or single speed), fatter tires to prevent flats and can be pumped up 1x week, decent brakes that won't squeal or shudder after a week -- 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 post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
