I'm late the conversation but I do this math all the time for my own endless cycle of optimization. What I've come to appreciate lately is that if I have less bikes, then a) each bike gets used proportionally more and I've wrung more 'worth' out of it in the event it were ever stolen and b) the money saved by having less bikes is basically a piggy bank towards a new bike if ever it were to happen. Similar to you, by the time I've spec'd even a "beater" to my tastes, it's a bit of an investment as I can't live without dynamo and a good set of fenders and racks.
I also honestly think the Surly is a bigger thief magnet than a Rivendell, because Surly is a more well-known name as being fairly valuable bikes. Rivs just look like classic bikes to the untrained eye, generally. Better than having a purpose built bike for locking up is to have a well-protected bike when you do lock up IMO. Finding a spot that lacks privacy for a would-be thief is #1 for me, such as in front of a coffee shop or restaurant that'll be open the whole time it's there. Then two locks, plus using theft-resistant products like Hexlox to secure the wheels, saddle, and stem. On Thursday 7 December 2023 at 06:49:30 UTC-8 Josh C wrote: > Hello all. I find myself trying to make a decision regarding which bike to > use as my commuter. > > Background: I live in Indianapolis and ride my bike for a good chunk of my > daily needs. I have a short commute to work which is done on bike 90% of > the time. I usually work from 5:20-ish am to about 6:30 pm 3-4 days a week. > The only days I don't ride in are if it's pouring rain when I get up, or > the snow is too deep to get through. I could ride in the rain, and don't > mind it on the way home, but already get up at 4:30 am and simply don't > have time to change or mess with it on work days. I'm commuting on a > Rohloff-equipped Surly Ogre currently and have put less than 1K miles on my > car this year. We live near downtown and are a short ride to many things > that we like to do. We often ride to ball games, art exhibits, concerts, > dinners, drinks...you name it. > > Dilemma: Now I warned you that this is a 1st world problem, but here goes. > I have several Riv's and they are my favorite bikes to ride but I find > myself on the Ogre more often than any other bike. I may accumulate more > miles on my Rivs, as I ride a Toyo Atlantis as my all-road bike, but I do > way more trips on the Surly. For some reason, I simply feel more > comfortable locking up the Surly for 13 hours or outside of a music venue > downtown than I do a Rivendell. In my mind, the Riv seems like more of a > target for would-be thieves than the Surly and thus it gets most of the > day-to-day duty. The thing is that I enjoy riding a Rivendell much more > than the Surly and, after giving this some thought, had decided to buy a > Clem when this latest batch of completes was released, and start using it > for my daily driver. > > However, after doing some math in my head, and realizing that I'd likely > change a lot of the Clem complete build, I am thinking that I'd might as > well ride one of the Rivs that I currently own. By the time I get the Clem > to my door, I've spent $2500 with shipping and tax. I'd change the bars, > add a saddle, add fenders, have the front wheel rebuilt with a dyno hub, > and so on. I'd easily be into it for $3K or more. My Surly has a $1400 rear > hub and is easily over the $3K mark. > > I am lucky enough to have two Rivendell Atlantis and a Hunq. I've owned > several others in the past as well. One of the Atlantis bikes that I have > would fit the bill. It's the more recent style with the longer wheelbase & > double top tube. These are super sturdy bikes that wouldn't mind being > loaded up and taken to work. I've already got a wheelset with a dyno hub > and a light lying around here somewhere. I purchased this bike for $3K this > summer from a local guy. I didn't need the bike but just couldn't pass it > up as it was so cool! > > I thought to myself: I've locked up more expensive bikes at work for 13 > hours or at music venues until the wee hours of the night without issue, so > why not just do the bulk of my riding on a bike that I truly enjoy riding? > What am I saving it for? > > Questions: Is my logic sound? Do you think that riding a nice Riv to work, > to lock it up outside all, day in a city, is a dumb idea? Do you commute on > a Riv that is left outside all day? > > *I'd also like to use this as an opportunity to see some of your > commuters. Feel free to post a pic of your daily driver and also, let us > know if you lock it up outside or not. * > > The potential commuter. (I'd change the fenders and bars) > [image: IMG_0630 Medium.jpeg] > > My current all road bike > [image: IMG_0514 Medium.jpeg] > > Not a commuter. I ride this guy around quite a bit though. > [image: IMG_0570 Medium.jpeg] > > The Surly, although it now has had Jones bars on it for quite some time. > [image: IMG_0230 Medium.jpeg] > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c208f462-4703-46bb-8361-9b729edfbf70n%40googlegroups.com.
