New Bike Request

How 'bout building up a "sleeper"?

Find a decentish old mtb hardtail…It will have strong wheels for hopping curbs and the setup will feel like home - you won't change your neuro-muscular adaptations.

Toss some slicks on, yer favourite gear ratio or shifting setup, and wheelie your way to work. If you get a wider slick for the back it will have enough rubber for literally thousands of sweet skidz.

???

Bike shops would be stoked to help with this, plus any bike shop will have a pile of outdated but high quality parts that would be perfect for this kind of thing.

That is a good example of the power of product photography. The Indies pictured on the Norco site look awesome. That bike pictured on CL looks terrible, like a kid's bike. Though the photo likely came from Norco…

When we lived in East Van I had a similar commute. Although I didn't use a ton of gears (basically two or three) what I needed downhill on the way to work was pretty different from what I needed uphill on the way home. I would go for gears, but I feel that is totally a personal choice. I know people that have done North Van commutes on single speed.

There are a ton of different Indie models. The Norco store (old John Henry) has most of them in, might be worth taking a look. I also really like some of the Devinci bikes (like the Copenhagen) as a commuter.

Surly

Tough steel frame for the larger man, feels nicer than alu when riding, reasonable price, looks good but not too good (I stealthed mine by removing all the decals save for the DCC one the shop put on), a little heavy but it's a nice simple spec for the price.

Look at the Disc Trucker for a touring/CX style bike, or the Orge for a 29er mtb style commuter.

Craw…what size frame you looking for?

Wow, wow, wow, wow

how about this Brodie Dos

Umm no thanks….

"Once you reach 17 km/h, it'll automatically shift into the higher gear for you!"

Might well just get an Autobike

Have a look at the Giant Seek. Go back a few years and see if you can find a Seek 1 at the warehouse. Flat black colour, 3x9 gearing, discs, flat bars, fender mounts

i was just going to say that..beat me to it…

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/bikes/model/seek.1/17615/73471/

escape is also decent….

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/bikes/model/escape.rx/17614/73410/

How 'bout building up a "sleeper"?

back in the courier days we would find an old road bike being sold fairly cheap..swap out to a flat bar..insta-commuter killer…

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/bnc/bik/4132227251.html

Go to Mighty Riders they love this kind of thing

Oh hells yes we do!

Our builds are all tailored to the individual rider; we let the purpose, then the fit define our product recommendations. Feel free to give us a call or come by anytime!

:)

back in the courier days we would find an old road bike being sold fairly cheap..swap out to a flat bar..insta-commuter killer…

1991 called and said getting locked into a single hand position all day long at work is no way to live.

http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes-road-cyclocross-furley
$850, Single speed CX bike, 4130.

http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes-road-cyclocross-tripper

3 speed internal hub, discs, 4130, $900

http://fairdalebikes.com/catalog/weekender-og/

$850

Look at the Disc Trucker for a touring/CX style bike, or the Orge for a 29er mtb style commuter.

The Trucker is without a doubt the finest production touring bike on the planet, but the extended wheelbase and 46cm chainstay render it an absolute pig in a stop-and-go urban environment.

1991 called and said getting locked into a single hand position all day long at work is no way to live.

i guess it was about 1996 that i delivered my last package downtown…the rd bike flat bar was going pretty good. actually as i recall my last downtown bike was an apollo w 700c wheels. i put on some better whls and rubber . it had shifters on the down tubes so swapping on a flat bar worked pretty good. it may have been a bit of a riser bar at that stage. i actually dont totally remember.

i know a lot of the guys were going to bikes like that . after many yrs of 26" fat tires , people were finally waking up and going to the 700c whls, myself included.(although i had run fat boy slicks downtown on my various 26" bikes for yrs)…

good times for sure..

i dont even know what guys are doing now-a -days…

I'm 6'5" and just went through this trying to spec a new commuter that felt comfortable. The real question is whether you want Drop bars or Flat bars. For your size I'm pretty sure most drop bar bikes in the largest sizes will afford you enough cockpit length which really gives you a lot more options. If you want a flat bar commuter I found almost all dedicated commuters are way way too short (IMHO). For a flat bar commuter I wanted at least a 25"- 26" theoretical top tube length. For taller people I have found that Kona does some of the biggest XL/22" bike around.

I think the Kona Splice/Splice DL fits the commuter bill really nicely. Throw a Project 2 rigid fork on it and it is possibly the longest flat bar commuter going. I did a bit of a project bike and built up a 22" 2012 Kona Fire mountain, rigid fork, shoe horned 700c wheels with 28c tires and a 100mm stem and it fits great. If I had it to do again I would probably choose one of the Splice models and upgrade as needed.

I think this bike or some of the other kona models will fit you better based on my research but I don't know if it meets any of your other criteria.