I am new to bike commuting and I want to which bike I should use.?

Question

Its a 17 mile trip each way on a straight away bike trail, and I have two bikes a schwinn Seneca road bike and a Schwinn Skyliner comfort bike. I am not sure which one would be best for the job.

Answer 1

That is easy neither.  Let me get this right, you plan to work an 8 hour day after a 17-mile bike ride.  You must work at a gym.  17 miles is a bit to far by bike maybe you can bus half and bike half.  No need to show up at work tired from a bike ride.

PS 17 miles on a Schwinn will kill you.

Answer 2

Road might do it. Try them both.

Answer 3

Whichever one you will feel the most comfortable riding on for 17 miles...... you could try both and see which you prefer....but the only one who can really say for certain is yourself

Answer 4

for a longer commute? probably the road bike, especially if you don't have to pack a lot of office stuff with you. try each though, to see what suits you. nice that it's a bike trail the whole way!

Answer 5

I ride 20 miles one way to work, I ride three different bikes depending on how I feel that morning, weather conditions, which bike has bags to carry additional stuff. I would carry a couple of days of clothes to work so I would not have that grimy feel of wearing the same clothes all day, etc.

Ride both depending on how you are feeling, weather, time, etc.

You are the one riding so take the time and ride both see which one handles better for your road conditions, or if you live near a bike trail, etc both bikes will take different times to make the trip.

Ride on, and enjoy the ride.

Answer 6

Try a test ride on the weekend.

Get up any time you like, have coffee, read the paper, walk the dog ... take it easy. Whenever you like grab your bike, a helmet .... and go.

The next day or next weekend try it again ... with the other bike. Which do you like best?

Make a day of it, stop for coffee, enjoy the ride, check the route out (thing off roads, side streets, parallel streets. Don't drive your bike the route you'd drive). This way you work out questions like what's the best way to carry spare clothes and what you need to freshen up, where and how to carry your patch kit and supplies to fix a flat and where to stop for coffee. ;-)

Speaking of which flats happen, carry everything you need to fix one and learn how to do that. Also good to try it on a weekend. Better to learn how to change your tire in the back yard or home than do it for the first time when running late to work.

Answer 7

That's awesome you're going to start cycling to work.  

If you already have the two bikes, alternate them.  Trying riding each one.  The road bike will prob'ly be a little faster ride then the comfort bike, but you could narrow up and smooth out the tires on the comfort bike to make it a little more efficient.

Check to if you can add a rack and maybe bags to it.  That will help when it comes to running errands on it.

You might find that some days, like Mondays would be good for the comfort bike, and Friday's the road the bike, get you home faster!!

Now get out and ride!