Saturday, July 31, 2010

A Riordon Cycles Commuter Bike

Perhaps its not good to play favorites, but somehow the Commuter bike is the bike I turn to over all others. I initially built this bike as a long distance commuter, after all most cyclists aren't lucky enough to ride a short distance to work (this is America, right?). Over time though, I've come to realize that this bike is much more versatile.

The Commuter bike is inspired by light touring bikes made in Europe by famous custom framebuilders, like Rene Herse, over the last century. These bikes were built for touring the countryside...not fully burdened touring, like we see these days with everything but the kitchen sink packed in panniers on the side. These bikes just carried a light pack on the front..with a jacket, some food and other day-trip type gear.

Clearly this bike is not an all-out racing machine, but its fast enough for quick local club rides. This is certainly not a mountain bike, but with plenty of tire clearance for big tires this machine can go pretty much anywhere you would take a 'cross bike. This isn't a beefy touring bike, but its quick steering and lightweight frame makes it far more fun to ride in a long century. In other words, this bike is built for most of the people, for the most common types of riding in all types of weather conditions...pretty unusual huh?

Feel free to drop me note or reply to this post if you would like to learn more about the commuter bike. I've included some pictures on my Flickr site as well (still working on my photography skills...cut me some slack here!).

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome work man. I love it. How many have you built so far?

Riordon Cycles said...

Hi Alex, thanks! I've built seven so far. My plan is to stick to about ten per year, but who knows.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ben, This is Colin. Your bikes are beautiful. I especially love the tattoo job Lisa did for the other bike. This commuter looks like you bought it from a European antique collector so the look you were aiming for is right on the money. What components did you end up putting on it?

Riordon Cycles said...

Thanks Colin...The tattoo bike should be back from paint soon. I'll post photos of the bike as-built.

The commuter bike was built with T/A pro vis 5 cranks, Paul "Racer" brakes, a Brooks saddle, Honjo fenders, SRAM Force switchgear and moustache bars. It's kind of an eclectic mix, but it works for long commutes (pretty flat).