New commuter bike stoke

[coreshot-tourettes]

Bought a Marin Lombard - aluminum frame, drops, disc, $800 MSRP, got it for $700 (cash discount plus whining). Sold the hipster fixie as grinding up hills on way to work was painful and slow.

Not as fun as MTB but at 30 miles roundtrip every day it keeps the legs fresh.

http://www.marinbikes.com/2011/bicycle_thumbs/side/large_660x434/US-STREET-LOMBARD-C1.jpg

The geometry is good, it's not a completely cross geometry which is nice. Drivetrain is a little on the low side but when I blow something up I'll replace it with something better. Having discs in the rain is awesome. It has all the hardpoints for racks and fenders. Recommend it overall.

[Lone_Summit]

Discs FTW. Nice pick-up. Are you throwing on racks or fenders?

[coreshot-tourettes]

Probably putting on Planet Bike Hardcore fenders, a disc-specific rack, orange plastic box panniers, and a bumper sticker that says "KEEP HONKING, I'M RELOADING" to keep the roadragers at bay. Just kidding on the last. :)

[cooltsi]

Noice....what's it weigh? I've been looking for something like this.

[coreshot-tourettes]

At my LBS that I bought it from, it was 24 lb 14 oz without pedals on their scale.

The brakes are about 1lb by themselves, and the fork is pretty beefy like an MTB fork. The tires are heavy too, 700x32 and kevlar lined.

[Platinum Pete]

I've been thinking about an "ultimate commuter" lately. I'd love to do an internal 8 speed hub with belt drive and disc brakes, but the classic steal frames that I would want to ride every day don't have tabs for discs and would look funny with them. For commuting I really like a flat bar, but with a commute of your length I'd want something very similar to what you got. Nice package for the price.

[coreshot-tourettes]

Noice....what's it weigh? I've been looking for something like this.

Other drop bar disc road bikes in its price range:
Motobecane Fantom Cross Outlaw $895 (carbon fork!)
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/images/otl_2100.jpg


GT Peace Tour (steel!) $722
http://www.performancebike.com/images/performance/products/1500/30-3685-BLU-SIDE.jpg

I got the Lombard because the LBS had it to testride and it was cheaper. The other two I would have had to special order.

[Pegleg]

I picked up a Giant Seek 2 (http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/bikes/model/seek.2/7342/44058/) this season, and I'm pretty stoked on my commute right now. Flat bars, but otherwise falls into the same category as above.

[willmtbike4food]

I've been thinking about an "ultimate commuter" lately. I'd love to do an internal 8 speed hub with belt drive and disc brakes, but the classic steal frames that I would want to ride every day don't have tabs for discs and would look funny with them. For commuting I really like a flat bar, but with a commute of your length I'd want something very similar to what you got. Nice package for the price.

Civia Bryants are available as a frame-only if you wanted to build something up to fit this description exactly... or if you can live with the drop bar (steer tube should come un-cut, so you can set it up nice and upright), it meets the rest of your requirements.


The Marin looks great though - and for $700, plus a local shop to stand behind it/help you out if you run into any issues, is a great deal. Keep up the commute; 30 miles round trip is impressive!

[coreshot-tourettes]

I picked up a Giant Seek 2 (http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/bikes/model/seek.2/7342/44058/) this season, and I'm pretty stoked on my commute right now. Flat bars, but otherwise falls into the same category as above.

The reason I didn't get flat bars is that you pretty much have only one hand position whereas on the drop bars you have 5. I get numb hands easily so I wanted the drops.


The Marin looks great though - and for $700, plus a local shop to stand behind it/help you out if you run into any issues, is a great deal. Keep up the commute; 30 miles round trip is impressive!

It's easy now (get on my bike la la la wow, home already?), but when winter comes...

[coreshot-tourettes]

Bumping my old thread. Ice on roads is getting bad, so put on a set of Schwalbe Marathon Winter studded tires:

105770

3000 miles in 5 months and I'm still rolling. :)

[coreshot-tourettes]

Got crunched by a woman that ran a stop sign. Bike destroyed. Grr.

However, her insurance paid for this beauty - Jamis Aurora Elite.

http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/images/bikes_page/10_auroraelite_sl.jpg

In other news, it's 65 tomorrow and I'm going biking. WHERE IS THE DAMN SNOW?!?

[nickwm21]

Bumping my old thread. Ice on roads is getting bad, so put on a set of Schwalbe Marathon Winter studded tires:

105770

3000 miles in 5 months and I'm still rolling. :)

Nice. Glad I don't need those.


My 12 mile ride up the PCH in San Diego is pretty mellow. Flat, quiet, and I get to watch the dawn patrol get theirs.

Running a masi speciale commuter ss with Flat bars. Loving it

sent from the future using my mind powers

[JET123]

Picked up an old school Specialized RockCombo (barn find literally) and finishing it up now!

[InspectorGadget]

Got crunched by a woman that ran a stop sign. Bike destroyed. Grr.

Damn, are you OK?

The Jamis looks like a nice replacement bike, but were you otherwise happy with the Marin?

[coreshot-tourettes]

Damn, are you OK?

The Jamis looks like a nice replacement bike, but were you otherwise happy with the Marin?

I am at least ambulatory. :)

The Marin was a nice bike. This year, they've upgraded it with nearly full Sora 9spd and a carbon fork, which for a grand flat MSRP is really nice. (http://www.marinbikes.com/2012/bike_specs.php?serialnum=2212&Lombard)The Lyra disc brakes are kind of hard to adjust but do stop really well once you get them dialed in. The primary thing that annoyed me was that the skewers had to be REALLY tight otherwise the brakes would start modulating inconsistently. With the replacement bike, I wanted the best available disc brakes out there for road (Avid BB7) so I didn't have to fiddle with them as much.

(ed: I like my brakes to be at peak power all the time so that means you have to adjust for pad wear every couple hundred miles. There is no hydraulic road brake / shifter lever out there yet, which would solve this because they self-adjust for wear. I think the road to hydraulic road brakes is going to be a separate master cylinder that you hook a cable to, which will be heavy.)

Marin redid the frame this year and I think they solved the braking issue.

I would have totally bought the Marin again but I found a really good deal on the Jamis as a NOS bike that had just hung on the wall of the shop for 2 years.

The other disc brake drop bar commuters I looked at for anyone else:
Motobecane Outlaw (Tiagra/carbon fork/BB5 but somewhat narrow gear range) $900
Gravity CXD $499 (carbon fork and interrupteur levers)
Gravity Zilla $499 (very nice Monstercross geometry)
Gravity Zilla XX $799 (BB5, 2x10, geared a bit low)
Motobecane Turino $599 (touring geometry and steel)
Salsa Vaya $1500 (offroad touring)
Salsa Fargo $1400 (offroad touring)
Raleigh Roper (full 105 drivetrain excepting crank, steel, very nice) $1400

[jm2e]

Glad you walked away.
Impressed that you're getting right back on the horse.
Be careful out there.

[DAFTC]

I am at least ambulatory. :)

The other disc brake drop bar commuters I looked at for anyone else:
Motobecane Outlaw (Tiagra/carbon fork/BB5 but somewhat narrow gear range) $900
Gravity CXD $499 (carbon fork and interrupteur levers)
Gravity Zilla $499 (very nice Monstercross geometry)
Gravity Zilla XX $799 (BB5, 2x10, geared a bit low)
Motobecane Turino $599 (touring geometry and steel)
Salsa Vaya $1500 (offroad touring)
Salsa Fargo $1400 (offroad touring)
Raleigh Roper (full 105 drivetrain excepting crank, steel, very nice) $1400

Glad you're okay and kudos for the milage. Looks like a nice replacement/upgrade.

Pretty happy with my BB7 roads. Some good threads out there about getting them dialed, IME seems like good housing and stretched cables (and maybe an extra return spring if you like that feel) get things done. Another option w/lots of hand positions and other brake options (i.e. hydraulics) is an H-bar...

Might add to the list of reasonably priced disc "road" options this year's Long Haul Trucker (surly) and the Doublecross disc (soma), both steel.

Safe commuting!

[efsandstrom]

The Surly Cross Check has always been my favorite commuter. I like to put a skinny pair of 29er tires on it as well, makes for an awesome snow bike!