Sunday, March 01, 2015

My Singlespeed Commuter

After hitting 2,000 miles commuting goal last year, my goal this year is the quantity of commutes to take me to the 2,000 mile mark or even exceed it.  To get there, I am going to have to ride to work 100 times.  Last year, I rode to work 76 times and averaged 26 miles per commute on three different bikes.  This year, I am only going to ride one bike.


My Bianchi San Jose has been fun but for a while I wasn't sure I wanted to keep it.  I put it up on Craiglist but got no takers so I it's new purpose in life will be for commuting.  


I mounted my Serface Vida commuting tires on my rims and found that a 700x38c fits nicely on the Bianchi San Jose.  I used the Water Bottle Trick for chain tensioning but realized that will be the last time I can do that once the rear fender is mounted.  Speaking of fenders, the Planet Bike fenders that I had on the Cross Check went on rather smoothly and makes the bike look cool.


The last addition to the bike will be a vintage Cannondale Handlebar bag that I got from eBay the other day.  It's yellow and will match the bar tape. The only problem is that the bracket that it mounts to is made to fit only with old fashioned quill stems and 25.4 mm bars.


Someone suggested bending it to accommodate a wider stem but then I will loose the span from the bar to the bag and I will need to figure out some other way to mount my Garmin.  My best bet is to find some similar diameter bar and bend it myself to make it work.  This won't prohibit me commuting but it will be a nice to have for carrying stuff that I want to have within arm's reach while riding.

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