I’m thinking of putting a really tall spacer on my threadless bikes, just to make things look a bit better.

I heartily agree with the Noodle assessment. I don’t have one on any of my bikes right now, but I used to have a Specialized MTB with a pair of Noodles and road levers, and they were amazingly comfortable.

Don’t forget, everyone — Mike is the man to talk to if you’re ever short of headset spacers!

I guess it’s true that all my bikes are similar–even more so now that the Bridgestone is sporting a Brooks! The Nitto Noodle(model 177) handlebar is the greatest thing Rivendell has ever done for cycling, IMHO. People talk about them sparking interest in lugged steel and Brooks saddles, but the Noodle has allowed me to keep cycling despite my gimpiness. If anyone here thinks they don’t like a drop bar, try a Noodle. And try it in a wide size. Mine are 46cm wide. Outstanding bar. The flat ramp and slight rearward bend make all the difference. I will have a Noodle on every road bike I ever own. Seriously.

Moe—comfort is king, when you’re gimpy. I would love to have a sexy racer look to my bikes, but then I couldn’t ride them.

Iron Man—even when I wasn’t riding for an extended period my commute wasn’t all that difficult. I just went slower. And it’s not like I hammer on the way in now, either. If I take the 18 mile route, I can get to work in just over an hour. I have a few climbs that slow me but then there are downhills that allow me to fly(well, 35mph anyway).

I can’t say enough good things about my XO-2. Yes, my Gunnar is, on paper, a nicer bike. Lighter tubing, nicer paint, yadda yadda yadda. But the lugged steel and 26 inch wheels on the Bridgestone make for a very comfortable and capable ride. Shame it’s a dinosaur, and nobody is making one like it. Instead, they’re pushing 650B. Nothing against 650B but it’s really unnecessary.

BikeCommuters guys… another great article! Keep it up.

A body builder dental technician. Ow my wide-open aching mouth!

I tell all my new riders that anyone can do five miles. I don’t qualify ‘anyone’. I don’t care if you’re an 80-year-old, three-pack-a-day smoker with a titanium hip, you can ride five miles on a bicycle.

Anyone who can walk all the way across a Wal-Mart parking lot can do ten flat miles. (Flat miles are all we have in South Florida, I-95 overpasses excepted.)

And that, right there, is the key to bike commuting… most people are within ten miles of where they need to be, whether that be the grocery store, Starbucks or their place of employment.

Ten miles is an hour and change for a beginner, half an hour for someone who is really cranking.

The car free conversion is a two-step process:

1. Prove it can be done.
2. Make it painless.

One is easy. With a little encouragement and a few free hours, I can show anyone how to ride five to ten miles safely around town. The feeling of accomplishment is a real motivator.

Two is where training, practice, gear and logistics come into play. Two is hard.

Two is getting up for work an hour earlier and getting home an hour later. Two is upgrading from your $89 K-Mart special to a $500 bike with the right accessories. Two is getting wet in the rain. Two is talking the boss into letting you park your bike in the supply closet. Two is smelling like busted ass all day because you were running late, cranked like crazy to get to work on time and forgot that you hadn’t restocked your office wet wipe supply.

As for the amazing human body, I like to put our mileage abilities up against the noble horse. Mike’s daily commute is excess of the distance your average horse can travel in a day. (A horse is generally good for 20-25 miles a day… http://macallisterstone.blogspot.com/2008/01/big-horse-posts-collected.html)

Whether you believe in creation or evolution doesn’t matter, both lead to the conclusion that the human body is an amazing machine. My commute used to be almost as far as yours and people were dumbfounded that I could do it. They thought I’d be exhausted all the time. I tried to tell them that the body adapts, gets stronger, and handles the work just fine. Most brushed me off thinking I was some elite athlete and out of touch with the average person.

Too often people ride once, it hurts their butt or it wears them out, and they give up then and there. They say it’s not for me. No matter how much I tell them that the body adapts and it gets better—especially the butt—they don’t believe me. Our ancestors of just a three or four generations back would look like elite athletes compared to most of us today.

Well this is a particularly high horse I find myself on now. Sorry for the deluge. Great post Mike.

Of course, my own collection is a bit more eclectic…nothing looks even vaguely similar, although the riding positions are fairly well duplicated among the fleet.