Cycling in Waterloo Region

[Canard]

Priority Continuum Onyx!!!

[clasher]

Question, I'm looking to get a new bike for getting to/from work, around town, maybe occasionally on trails that are gravel. Looking for recommendations. Under $1,500, tire and chain fenders/guards against rain/snow, integrated kickstand, integrated or accommodation for a good rear rack, ideally disc brakes, minimum 3 ideally more speeds (happy with internal hubs). Open to the possibility that I should get a particular bike for paved-only commuting, and something separate for any chance of winding up on gravel trails. I've been beating an old 21-speed to death, chipped/worn teeth on all gears, and having bought it as a used bike 10 years ago, I think it might be nice to invest in something that I can maintain myself and enjoy for a lot longer than this one's inherited deficiencies.

Head down to Black Arrow Cycles, they have a huge selection of commuting bikes. Some are more classically styled and some are more modern with disc brakes. I ride a bike with 38mm tires on gravel roads, trails and it does awesome on paved roads with the same tires, I use a higher end supple tire but most hybrids and city bikes come with tires that decent for mixed surface riding. They'll take the time to work with you on the fit and make sure you get what you want.

[danbrotherston]

Question, I'm looking to get a new bike for getting to/from work, around town, maybe occasionally on trails that are gravel. Looking for recommendations. Under $1,500, tire and chain fenders/guards against rain/snow, integrated kickstand, integrated or accommodation for a good rear rack, ideally disc brakes, minimum 3 ideally more speeds (happy with internal hubs). Open to the possibility that I should get a particular bike for paved-only commuting, and something separate for any chance of winding up on gravel trails. I've been beating an old 21-speed to death, chipped/worn teeth on all gears, and having bought it as a used bike 10 years ago, I think it might be nice to invest in something that I can maintain myself and enjoy for a lot longer than this one's inherited deficiencies.

Head down to Black Arrow Cycles, they have a huge selection of commuting bikes. Some are more classically styled and some are more modern with disc brakes. I ride a bike with 38mm tires on gravel roads, trails and it does awesome on paved roads with the same tires, I use a higher end supple tire but most hybrids and city bikes come with tires that decent for mixed surface riding. They'll take the time to work with you on the fit and make sure you get what you want.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

I will add, I'm not sure which trails you're looking at, but most gravel trails around town are crushed stone dust and will do just fine on any bike, even a road bike.  I run a hybrid with 28c slick tires and have never had an issue using our gravel trails or gravel roads.  Maybe I could go faster with a more gravel bike, but I go fast enough as it is.

[Viewfromthe42]

I'll go by Black Arrow in all likelihood. I like the look of the Priority, Canard. I haven't cycled in the rain or snow until by chance this year, and I'm looking to try year-round for the first time, so being able to do errands, avoiding tires or whatever drive mechanism spraying water or snow on me, and hopefully not getting the bike stolen, those are part of my priorities.

[robdrimmie]

It may be worth allocating $200 of that budget to upgraded tires. Last summer and the one previous I went through regular periods where I'd be patching or going through tubes two or three times a week. After upgrading last year I haven't touched either wheel since, except to check the air.

I agree with the Black Arrow recommendation, and Surly has a couple of models that fit your list (though probably not all of it for $1500) but will note as well that King St. Cycles carries Brodie Bikes, which are a Canadian company that makes good hybrid and road style commuters in your price range.

[danbrotherston]

It may be worth allocating $200 of that budget to upgraded tires. Last summer and the one previous I went through regular periods where I'd be patching or going through tubes two or three times a week. After upgrading last year I haven't touched either wheel since, except to check the air.

I agree with the Black Arrow recommendation, and Surly has a couple of models that fit your list (though probably not all of it for $1500) but will note as well that King St. Cycles carries Brodie Bikes, which are a Canadian company that makes good hybrid and road style commuters in your price range.

It is a good point about tires (although in my experience 200 bucks would be a lot for tires, even my winter tires only cost me 160 for the pair, and summers I've never spent more than 110 on a pair), but puncture protection is absolutely key.  I never knew how important it was until I put on a slick tire with no protection, and had flats probably once every 2 weeks for a year.  Eventually I replaced it with a puncture protected tire and haven't had a flat since--only after did I realize why it was such a problem.  Although I'd see what your bike comes with, I just went back to the original tire that came with my bike, and couldn't be happier.

[Bob_McBob]

"Dad, it wasn't my fault. The guy just came in."

https://twitter.com/s_weldon/status/1021467231337598976

[Canard]

I’m always amazed when I hear people have so many flats, in 8,000 km of riding over the last two years I’ve never had a flat.

I run Bontrager Hard Case Ultimates on both my bikes.

[Viewfromthe42]

I have a used bike from 10 years back, think it has pretty much nothing special to it, and I've had one flat in that time.

[clasher]

I get a couple flats a year and I run supple, fast, light race tires on all my bikes except the city bike. I can’t stand the harsh ride puncture resistant tires give. I think tubeless is a better solution that hard tires. I can change a flat really quickly so even if I get one the time and energy nice tires save is worth it to me.

[jamincan]

I run Conti GP4000S2s on my road bike (and tubeless with various tires on my CX bike), and the only puncture I've had in the last two years is one on my CX bike that was large enough the sealant wouldn't fix it.

Edit: I forgot, I also got one pinch flat on my CX bike too (the same ride as the puncture, actually!) due to a *very* poorly executed bunny hop over a pot hole (my rear wheel ended up landing squarely *in* the pot hole).

[danbrotherston]

Lol, you guys have good luck, or I have bad luck:

       

This was just one of the over a dozen pieces of glass and debris I found in my tire at work after riding up Columbia St. bike lane.

Multiple times I ended up being forced to ride over glass from smashed bottles and car windows.  I think the city should do more sweeping.  But at the end of the day you can't fight city hall (or it's a lot of work at least) and puncture resistant tires seemed to solve the problem, although, as you say, they don't roll as nicely.

And yes, the damn thing gouged my rim.

Also, I have a rear hub, so no quick release, fixing flats is a real art to it with the back wheel in, but no matter how fast it is, it's not much fun to do on the side of the road, if I was in the city, I would just catch a bus.

[Canard]

Hmm, I didn’t know that the puncture resistant tires were rougher. I guess that’s because they’re stiffer? That should feel the same as running higher pressure though, and most road bikes have ultra skinny tires that run at super high pressure, which I would have thought would be comparable (I’ve never ridden one of those bikes). I’m used to running my cars with as high a pressure as possible, because it’s much, much more efficient (significantly lower rolling resistance) at the cost of a bit of a rougher ride, and slightly reduced tire life. So for my bike I’m ok with that over always having anxiety about getting flats.

As dan points out, the bike lanes are atrocious for road debris as the sweepers seem to like to displace the road crap into the bike lanes (or miss them altogether allowing construction debris to accumulate - I’m looking at you, evolv1).

[jamincan]

There's a common misconception that skinny tires at high pressure are more efficient. This is only true on a smooth surface like a track. Anything rougher than that, the new consensus is that you are better off running at lower pressures with wider tires. Most World Tour teams now run on 25mm tires universally, and even wider (up to 30mm) in certain races like Paris-Roubaix where they are dealing with even rougher surfaces.

The benefits seem to be two-fold. First of all, with lower tire pressures, the bike is able to travel more smoothly over the surface due to flex in the tire. This means less energy is wasted in vertical motion of the bike and more of it is directed to horizontal motion. The second benefit is that the increased comfort for the rider means less energy wasted gripping the bars, engaging the core, etc. over the rough terrain and more can be directed toward pedaling. From direct experience, I can say that the second factor is considerable, but difficult to quantify.

[danbrotherston]

There's a common misconception that skinny tires at high pressure are more efficient. This is only true on a smooth surface like a track. Anything rougher than that, the new consensus is that you are better off running at lower pressures with wider tires. Most World Tour teams now run on 25mm tires universally, and even wider (up to 30mm) in certain races like Paris-Roubaix where they are dealing with even rougher surfaces.

The benefits seem to be two-fold. First of all, with lower tire pressures, the bike is able to travel more smoothly over the surface due to flex in the tire. This means less energy is wasted in vertical motion of the bike and more of it is directed to horizontal motion. The second benefit is that the increased comfort for the rider means less energy wasted gripping the bars, engaging the core, etc. over the rough terrain and more can be directed toward pedaling. From direct experience, I can say that the second factor is considerable, but difficult to quantify.

Lol, I think some may have different definitions of "skinny" vs. "wide" tires.  For me, 28c tires are skinny, 38c tires are wide (those are the two sizes of tires I ride frequently).

That being said, it depends on where you ride.  Even our smooth MUTs have so many curbs and such which make them unpleasant to ride on.  On the other hand, if you go bombing down Ira Needles you can do like 5 km without a bump. I used to do the latter a great deal more.