Michael sent us this story about rural bike commuting from Glendive, Montana.

The Yuba Mundo V2 Deluxe was a build-up by Joe Bike of Portland. The only original parts are the frame and rack. The V2 comes with a bolt on rack while the current V3 is welded to the frame. The components were selected by Joe Bike and the only things I’ve added are pedals (Welgo B-18s) and a rear cushion I made from fabric purchased locally. My wife, Sheilia, rode over once to a friend’s house which prompted me to make the cushion. This is a very versatile bike besides just being fun to ride. I’ve bungie corded plastic bins to the rack and hauled old rusted bike frames to the recycler. Brought home a filing cabinet from a garage sale and realized I need to get a two legged kickstand. I found the Fat Franks at 30-psi makes it a excellent beach crusier, but even at their maxium 60-psi they still provide a comfortable ride.

Mundo Deluxe component list:

• frame and rack: Yuba Mundo
• headset: Cane Creek
• fork: Surly Big Dummy
• front brake: Avid BB7 Mt with 203mm rotor
• rear brake: Avid Single Digit 5
• front derailleur: SR
• rear derailleur: SRAM X3
• shifters: SRAM X5 8-spd twist shift
• seatpost: Thompson Elite
• saddle: Brooks Champion Flyer
• crankset: Shimano M442 square-tapered 175mm
• rings: 44-32-22
• pedals: Welgo B-18
• hubs: Shimano Deore
• rims: Sun Rims Rhyno Lite
• tires: Schwalbe Fat Franks 26 X 2.25
• fenders: Planet Bike Cascadia

—Sheilia & Terry

This is a 1970′s Ladies Raleigh Sports. Bicycle was made in Nottingham, England. My wife has been wanting a Raleigh for quite some time. I was able to acquire the bicycle from the original owner and present it to my wife for our recent wedding anniversary. I added the Velo Orange Tourist Bars and cork grips. A rear rack, Barley Bag, front light, and Rivendell bell are on the way. Nothing fancy, just a little piece of bicycle history that we are proud to restore and enjoy. —Jeff

Kudos on the site, I am a fan. I thought I’d share a pic of my trusty Xtra-Monkey for consideration for the bike gallery. Shown here carrying a 60cm Hillborne frame, freshly delivered and on it’s way home for the build-up. The Karate Monkey Xtracycle is my grocery getter, instrument hauler, wife carrier on occasion, and all around super-duty bike. I love it. It’s setup as a 1×9 (42t chainring with 11-34 cassette), this gearing is perfect for 99% of the commuting I do in Austin, TX. The Schwalbe Big Apple tire makes the front cushy and smooth. Disc in the front, V-brake in the rear. Albatross bars and Brooks saddle. Lots of fun to ride and super stable.

Cheers,
Trent

I was all set to load the car for a tennis tournament in Mill Valley, California, just north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge. I came across the Marin County Bicycle Coalition bike map and convinced myself I didn’t need a car.

Everything for my trip fit in a Red Oxx Air Boss bag, while the yellow Lightning bike panniers only have a jacket and bike repair items. I preferred to have everything in one bag, and it fit fine on top of the panniers with velcro straps. The bike was easy to take on the train from the central San Joaquin Valley to Emeryville, and on the bus from there to the San Francisco Wharf. The bus to Emeryville had a front bike rack, while the return trip required putting the bike in the bottom storage. The Amtrak employees on the train and bus were always very helpful.

I talked my sister into going up with me to ride the Golden Gate. We arrived in San Francisco at 11:30 and she rented a bike from Blazing Saddles near Pier 41. We had a pleasant ride on the bike path past the dog walkers at Crissy Field, the many pedestrians and bikes on the East side of the bridge, and a fun downhill ride to Sausalito. After a stroll and late lunch, we took an afternoon Blue and Gold ferry back Pier 41 to return the bike I bid my sister farewell and she caught the bus and train back home, while I took the ferry back to Sausalito. I rode the bike path to my motel, and for the next three days was able to ride to the tennis club, go shopping, play golf, do laundry, and general sightseeing without any worry about parking or heavy traffic.

Travel writer Rick Steves writes about the advantages of bike riding on vacations in Europe (“Biking in Europe: A cultural bridge,” June 16, 2010, CNN.), but the San Francisco and Marin County area is well suited to vacation biking.

My Lighting Voyager was highlighted in the Ecovelo gallery before, but without the completed paint job. I don’t take apart the frame often, but on longer trips it is a lifesaver. The Thunderbird theme was painted by Spectrum Powderworks in Colorado, with red and white nose stripes, Thunderbird logo and lettering on the down tube, and Air Force logo with stars and stripes on the chain and seat stays. I shortened the cranks, added new wheels and stem, and a new seat cover.

Now, I have to practice my serve. —Larry

I just finished adding a Co-Motion classic kit to my 2003 Americano Touring and Commuter Bike. It included their new for 2010 headbadge, Brooks leather bar tape with wood and cork end plugs, and a honey B17 standard saddle. I swapped in the high end B17 with Ti rails and used the other for another bike.

What’s standard on this bike is the Chris King HS, Race Face touring cranks, XT 11-34 9spd cassette, and XTR rear derailleur. I went to a Deda 250 anatomic bar that fits me well along with real aluminum levered 10 spd Campy Chorus Ergo Brifters. Have a little trick that makes the 10spd shifter index the 9spd Shimano cassette perfectly. Wheelset is one I built with White Industries 36h tandem hubs and Ti finish Velocity Deep-V rims. Tires are Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700 x 32. Waiting for a Tubus Cargo rear rack to replace the one that was on the bike. No fenders ’til the rains come back.

[Rick is the proprietor of Gold Country Cyclery. —ed.]

Thanks for sharing a very resourceful site for us enthusiasts. Wonderful images, great insight, and well comprised and useful bicycle information. I too have often pondered the thought of owning “Just one bike”. My fascination with vintage style bicycles only dates back a few short years, thus making me a kid in a candy store. I do own a few enjoyable bikes that I’m not ready to part with just yet. Here is my first purchase that I would like to share:

• 1970′s Men’s Schwinn Suburban (Chicago Built)
• Wald front basket
• Vintage military panniers

I have a Brooks Flyer and cork grips that I have been holding off on installing…originality is getting the best of me.

Every bike has a story. Mine is simple – Collect and recycle cans,bottles,etc. Cash it all in and purchase a bike to restore. Repeat process three more times. Now our family of four all have a bike to enjoy for under $250 bucks.

Enjoy your saddle time!
—Jeff

I am a Regional Vice President of an Employee Benefits Company, so I have to fly out somewhere about 3 times a month but the rest of the time, I work out of my house or see clients here in South Florida. About 3 months ago I decided not to renew the lease on my car. I began commuting by using my road bike as my main mode of transportation. Well it worked and I don’t miss the car, so I decided with all the money I saved ($1500 in the first three months alone) to get a more commuter friendly bike, the Globe Live 2. It is much more comfy and now I want to be biking all day long. And actually I can now, that I attached a waterproof iPhone kit to my bike to go along with the fenders, full chain guard and the Shimano Nexus 8 speed internal hub. And oh yes that front rack will hold 50 lbs. Next I will attach a rear rack for my canvas grocery bag panniers and I will be set. One more thing, when I ride I always have an old film camera around my neck to record the fact that I actually can now see the world around me. ciao.

—Akiva

This is a picture of my recently acquired Electra Townie 9D. I use it to ride around Eureka and surrounding areas (Arcata, Mckinleyville). I thought it looked really cool against this uniquely painted building in our Old Town area. —Brad

When we moved earlier this year, I really felt the desire to eliminate driving whenever possible, but since my road bike wasn’t really up to the task of grocery shopping, I needed to get an appropriate “vehicle”. I’ve long admired the many LHT’s I’ve seen, and knew it could be equipped for my needs (thanks to great educational resources like EcoVelo!!) … so I ordered a 2010 46CM “Blue Velvet” complete, and made a few upgrades:

• Nitto B825 Touring Bars, wrapped with natural cork tape and finished with amber shellac and jute twine
• Velo-Orange Headset, stem, spacer-mounted brass bell, bottle cages, and braided stainless cables
• Brooks B-17 Aged saddle and Nitto S-84 lugged steel seatpost (great setback for the Brooks!)
• Paul Components Moto-Lite Brakes and Love Levers 2.5, with Kool-Stop Mountain pads
• Paul Thumbies for the shifters (set to friction mode, of course)
• Surly Nice Racks front and rear with a medium Wald basket on the front
• Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 26″x2″ tires
• Rivendell Sackville Shopsack and Large Trunksack (which perfectly holds a Domke F-5XB with my DSLR kit)
• Ortleib Front Roller Plus and Back Roller Plus panniers for grocery shopping and other carrying tasks
• Pitlock locking skewers and Kryptonite Evolution 4 U-lock

The upgrades may be a bit extravagant, since the stock build is actually just fine, but the changes I made make the bike perfect for me … and still the whole package is a fraction of a car purchase (or even annual maintenance). I’m very grateful and fortunate that my reduced housing and utility costs, combined with a mysterious upturn in work this year, allowed me to afford it all. The Paul Components brakes and levers are amazing, and stop better with less force than cantis (in my opinion). The Nitto touring bars are really comfortable and give me at least three different places to grip, and the (odd/unique) placement of the shifters somehow just works right without being in the way. I replaced the headset because, when my bike arrived, the lower cup had somehow gotten bent (even though there was no damage to the shipping box), and the bearing wouldn’t fit. Rather than try to fix it, I just added a shiny silver one to my Velo-Orange order … and I’m very glad I did. It’s beautiful and very smooth. No need to comment on Brooks … ’nuff already said … but the Nitto S-84 seatpost is a work of art that actually serves the great function of allowing adequate setback on a small frame with a steep seat tube angle. Yes, it’s expensive, but there’s nothing else like it … steel … lugged … strong … beautiful!

My other bike is a Look 555, which I love, but it sorely lacks in the practicality department. The LHT truly is my SUV. It goes grocery shopping, errand running, photo outings … almost anything I used to do in my car! And … although the intent was for a utilitarian application, I’ve discovered that it’s just plain fun to ride. The big Schwalbe tires are “Supremely” comfortable (pun intended), and can go where my road bike can’t … gravel, light trails, horrible roads. The racks and bags let me carry stuff I never thought possible on a bike, and it’s always a new experience to explore new routes for daily errands. I’ve filled my gas tank only once this whole year because of this bike … and it’s looking like that one tank may last quite a while longer! With what I’ve saved in gas this year already, maybe all of those upgrades aren’t so extravagant after all …

Thanks for the great information you always offer at EcoVelo … it’s a lot of work, I know … but there are many, many, many of us who appreciate it!!

—Scott, Velo Zen

[And yet another cool LHT build! —ed.]

The Surly Long Haul Trucker (aka, the “LHT”) is an extremely popular touring bike. It also seems to be gaining in popularity among commuters and city-dwellers who either build it up from a frameset or modify the factory build to better suit urban riding. I think this popularity owes itself to the fact that the LHT hits a price/quality sweet spot while providing great versatility.

Our friends Tammy and Logan of Rowdy Kittens own a pair of LHTs they built from scratch as car replacements (that’s Logan’s LHT shown above). And if you’re a regular reader of EcoVelo, you’ve undoubtedly seen the LHT I modified from a stock build for use as my everyday utility bike. There are also a number of LHTs in our Bike Gallery, each uniquely set-up to meet the needs of the owner. So while it may not have the panache of some of the new urban offerings with their internal gear hubs, belt drives, wood fenders and so on, this Plain Jane does a nice job of meeting the needs of a wide variety of riders.

Here are a few photos of my bike. I use it as a commuter, errand-runner, bar-hopper, roller racer, and general around-town bike. I built this bike out of odds and ends I had lying around in my shop, so it has a kind of a thrown together/recycled feel to it. It’s a mid-80′s Panasonic track frame with a Schwinn straight-blade aluminum fork, 70′s Campy head set, Ultegra bottom bracket and crankset, 53T chainring and 18T cog. I built the wheels with Mavic hoops laced an old XT MB hub in the front and a Shimano 3-speed coaster brake rear hub salvaged from a thrift store 60′s mixte. The shifter is a 60′s 3-speed grip shift and the bars are VO Porteurs from Velo Orange. I stripped the frame, painted the lugs and bottom bracket shell shiny black, and then covered all the tubing in wood-grained shelf liner paper. It’s a real head-turner and most other cyclists don’t know what to make of it until they get up close and give it a good once-over. Is it a fixie? A one speed with a coaster brake? The lack of brake calipers, brake lines, and hand levers gives it a clean look, but the cable running from the shifter throws folks off. People are constantly asking me if I made it myself and pinging their fingers against the tubing to see if it’s really wood!

—Chris Harvey

[You had me there for a minute with the shelf paper. —ed.]

These pictures are of my recently rebuilt 1980′s Holdsworth Avanti. It was more of a racing bike when I used it to commute in Chicago. I really love this bike, so I decided to have it built up rather than buy a new bike. It’s been changed to a slower and more upright kind of ride. The frame has been powder coated.

I replaced the drop bars with VO porteur bars. I had the headset replaced with a nice Grand Cru also from VO. I added a brooks b17 saddle, interrupter brake levers, and a replica of the original head badge decal from H LLoyd in the UK. I went from 10 speeds to 1 downtube shifter over the years, but now it’s a single speed. Next for this bike is a Sturmey Archer internal 2 speed kick shift hub when they come out this summer. Don’t hate on the crankset! I’d like to have it replaced in time as well but for now it works fine. The Holdsworth is currently a short trip summer get-around bike.

—Anthony

This is Daniel’s brand new Rivendell Sam Hillborne. He took delivery on Thursday night and proceeded to take it on a 150 mile, dawn-to-dusk ride from Berkeley to Monterey on Saturday. Specs are as follows:

Thanks for sharing, Daniel!

Here is mine in its “finally I’m happy with” setup:

• 56cm Surly Cross Check
• Cannondale slice carbon fork (mine went out for warranty, brake boss snapped, will be reinstalled when it gets back, the carbon fork sucks)
• 700c Araya rims, laced to 600 hubs
• Shimano 600 6spd freewheel
• 600 FD, 105 RD
• Suntour Cyclone cranks, 50/44
• Whites Industries BB
• Modded and laced Cardif Cornwall saddle (about 2k miles)
• DA barcon rear shifter
• DA DT front shifter
• Michelin Dynamo 28c tires
• Soma rear rack, wood deck made by me
• Sunline front rack
• CC canties
• Suntour XC pedals

See’s the brunt of my semi car free lifestyle, as well as all in town errands.

Thanks. Love the site, keep it up. —Joe

We had the pleasure of meeting Beth at the recent Tweed Ride in Sacramento. It was her first outing on her new bike and it was a real treat to get it together with the other Betty Foys on the ride. Beth’s was the first 48cm Betty to hit the streets and it has the #1 serial number to prove it. Pretty cool! All photos are copyright Beth. You can also view her photos on Flickr at her photostream.

After several years of being away from a bike and growing weight I decided it was time to get back in the saddle just before my 40th birthday, to get more fresh air when visiting customers during a work day, to find a better way for private mobility, shopping and transportation … or simply to have the chance to decelerate life as software developer just a little bit.

After weight over 300lbs. was an issue and I didn’t want to win a race, but to feel comfortable, I found the beautiful, dutch styled, Utopia Kranich (2007) a german custom bike company using frames build by “van Raam” (in the Netherlands).

The main photo was a really “nice” trip … 60km with 2° C and snowy rain in Denmark at the Randers Fjord, but in the end the sun comes out to say thanks for not giving up.

I really like the manually lined frame (by a 80yr old man!) with a lot of sockets / fittings (sorry, translation get in troubles here – no dictionary of bike technology – sorry!)

During my first months I used heavily the Speedlifter stem… it was really stable even for me and really practical when switching between head wind tour mode and comfortable commuting in the city.

While the name of the bike means “crane” it turned out, that it really was a water buffalo ;-) each bottle filled with 1l … and the used Racktime Addit did a great job.

—Thorsten

This is my 650b Rivendell Saluki. It’s my bike for touring, camping and club rides. This is how it’s built:

• Wheels are Velocity rims, Scwalbe Marathon 40. Phil Wood cassette hub with Sheldon’s Century Special in the rear. Schmidt 28 in front. IQ Cyo headlight. Berthoud fenders.
• Drive is Dura-Ace Derailers, Shifters and chain (9sp). Phil Wood BB, TA Cyclotouriste 170, rings are TA 46-32. Shimano 520 Touring SPDs.
• To stop Tektro aero levers yank a Dura-Ace cable to Paul Retro Cantis up front, Paul Touring Canti’s in rear. Koolstop pads.
• I’m sitting on a Honey B-17 Special copper rails atop a Nitto Crystal Fellow post.
• Bars are Nitto Randonneur, Tape is Brooks (perf) Honey, stem is Nitto Lugged Steel. Crane Brass hammer bell, Garmin GPS mount.
• Tubus Nova lowrider, Nitto M12 front rack, (I’ve got a VO constructeur rack for the rear-not pictured)
• Berthoud Small Panniers and Berthoud 28 Randonneur bag with VO Decaleur. Carradice longflap Camper. (VO Campagne Handlebar bag in some pics)
• IQ Cyo headlight. Two Soma Bullet taillights. Berthoud fenders. Pletscher single kickstand. Nitto retro cages, Klean Kanteen.
• Oh yeah, Campy “Umbrella” holds one end of a Topeak frame pump.

—Jack

In February of 2010 I took delivery of my new Globe Live 3 to replace the home built commuter I had been riding. We are just leaving the grips of winter here in Wisconsin but the 100 miles or so I have put on the bike confirm that it is a good choice for my purposes and well optioned as built.

The bicycle is factory equipped with an Alfine 8-Speed Internal Hub, Carbon Belt Drive, Full Fenders, a large Front Rack and a Belt Guard as well as Tektro Hydraulic Disk Brakes. To ensure a comfy ride I replaced the narrow factory seat with a Brooks B67 Saddle and also included the Brooks Leather Grips. For small personal items I have added a large Acorn Seat Bag. For safety I have mounted a Cannondale Tail Lamp and Blaze 2-Watt Front Lamp in addition to the AXA Defender Frame Lock.

—Chuck Hayes

Globe Live 3 →