Thirdway

Although I mainly do off road work I have had standard side pull/centre pull rim and mechanical disc brakes. Tried several V brakes but never owned them. I think I would struggle to return to rim mounted brakes because the hydraulic disc brakes are so good. I use Formula brakes which are very light and extremely powerful. When you weigh them in your hands the disc setup is only marginally heavier, so weight is not really so relevant unless you are shaving grammes. One big advantage is the lack of maintenance and totally smooth function. Maybe consider a hydraulic disc on the front and standard V brakes on the rear ????

Thanks for those replies. In many senses it is great to know that pedalling to work with my present situation is not considered instantly desirable. There are times when I wondered if I was building up a pile of excuses to the idea of pedalling to work, so the fact that you also think that it's a tough choice helps quite a bit. I used to pedal the distance years ago when I was an apprentice training in a centre that is less than 100yds from our office (funny how things come around full circle!). Even back then it wasn't an easy commute and I was young, fit and had no money for bus fare, getting sweaty was never an issue with a boiler suit and workboots. Probably the best bet is to wait until summer and give it a go when I know there is no likelyhood of meetings.

Obviously there will be many options and opinions so here goes. I am thinking of getting rid of one of our cars but this involves some really hard decisions and some effort in getting around problems. My daily commute is between two towns on really busy dual carriageway without any cycling lanes ecept for bits of rough, glass strewn pathways. Total distance is around 7 miles. I have to travel from my office to various meetings and I wear a suit and tie. The distances that I travel away from the office can be over a hundred miles, so it would not be possible to use the bike for that part of my work. This would mean public transport to these meetings which, in the North East, is sparse and less than reliable. There are no showers/changing facilities or bike parks at work. I'm reasonably fit and mountainbike at weekends and the idea of getting an electric bike would be to keep reasonably fit (I hate the gym and indoor turbo trainers) and save a pile of money. My car is very fuel efficient and averages 54mpg and is worth in the region of £7.5K. The second car is also fuel efficient but is a bit less reliable (my wife uses it for her commute of 30 miles). My wifes car is fitted with Thule roof bars so we can transport the MTBs on a weekend. It is worth around £2.5K. So, the idea would be to get a bike (which unfortunately means starting in winter) and travel safely to work without getting sweaty. Sell one of the cars (although my wifes car is less reliable it is fitted with roof bars which could not be swapped) while still retaining the ability to take our mtbs around the country as well as having reliable transport for journeys and holidays. I would also need to travel to meetings with my job. I should stress that public transport costs /convenience and reliability are less than ideal in the North. Getting across to the Lake District requires the sort of strategic planning that trips up Everest need (I'm not kidding as the bus is the only way and it is necessary to get a coincidence of several buses lined up over the course of a whole week and the cost would be over £80.00 for one person!!). As another example, one of my employees travels 5 miles to work on major roads. To get to work for 9.00am she needs to get the bus at 6:45am and get in for 8.00pm. The next bus gets her to work around 10:30am! So, is it actually practical to attempt any of this and if it is, how would you go about it and what bike would you buy. This really needs some thought over what should be worn to fend off the weather, how to get to appointments, keep our options for reliable travel and taking our MTBs into the country etc intact.