It's already 5.30 pm and the meeting is still dragging on. The colleague is already playing restlessly with the car keys, and finally the boss throws out a "Have a nice end to the day, everyone!". If you can simply get out on your bike and pedal home, you'll arrive at your family home with your muscles toned and your head clear. The British socio-economist Adam Martin from East Anglia University in Norwich recently proved in a long-term study that cyclists are also more relaxed workers: Driving a car makes people unhappy and significantly raises general stress levels. Cyclists, on the other hand, are demonstrably happier people.
But cyclists need suitable bikes (and routes) for this. For the daily commute, especially for distances of ten or more kilometres, stricter criteria apply:
A commuter bike must be efficient, reliable and safe to use.
And it doesn't hurt if it is also easy to maintain, cheap to service and easy to clean.
The character and length of the daily route also play an important role: if there are a lot of ups and downs, the bike needs correspondingly more and well-graded gears: a high-quality derailleur system, a Pinion gearbox or a Rohloff hub are suitable sparring partners here.
Shimano's Alfine 11 also offers sufficient range on flat terrain. Regular oil changes should not be forgotten with these encapsulated drivetrains: The Alfine is particularly sensitive in this respect and occasionally acknowledges used lubrication with shifting problems.
If you combine one of these shifting systems with belts instead of the high-maintenance bicycle chain, the maintenance effort and wear are significantly reduced once again. The decision for a bike type and therefore the riding position, i.e. straight handlebars or randonneur, upright-relaxed or sportily stretched, can only be made by each cyclist. In general, racing handlebars and a more aerodynamic riding position reduce air resistance; however, modern, highly developed tyres also save power via low rolling resistance.
As the work cyclist can't really choose when to ride, it should also be easy to carry a bag with rain gear, tools and a spare inner tube, as well as a laptop and documents. These were the selection criteria for our ten test bikes. All of them are explicitly recommended as commuter bikes by their respective manufacturers. The randonneurs in the test field traditionally have narrow tyres: with tyres from 30 to 35 millimetres, they are designed to be rather firm to hard. These tyres need at least 4.5 bar. On rough roads, bumps hit your elbows, knees and bum. Good road surfaces are therefore a minimum requirement for fast and enjoyable journeys. The only exception: Velotraum's off-road randonneur swallows up any surface. After all, it is specially designed for roads beyond the tarmac. However, it rolls correspondingly tougher on tarmac roads. The fully equipped Bergamont and the inexpensive Fuji with (wobbly) plug-in lighting rely on derailleur gears and are recommended for mixed routes in and outside of cities, as long as you mainly ride on paved paths.
Tout Terrain takes a different approach: the brand new Cinq shifters with the bulky name "Shift:R" are the best shifters for tubeless hubs. And finally and definitively solve the compatibility problem between racing handlebars and Rohloff. As with the all-rounder-like Breezer, Marin, Maxx and even the sophisticated Canyon, a belt drive is also used here. Whether Gates or Conti doesn't matter in practice. The price - in part - does: bikes with a Conti drive tend to be slightly cheaper. With its unique design and special components, the Canyon adds a free exclamation mark: Look, I ride a bike!
High-quality lighting increases safety
Fortunately, when it's dark, it's usually bright and cheerful: apart from on the Fuji and Breezer, high-quality LED headlights shine throughout, always with parking lights and often with daytime running lights. This makes you noticeably more visible to all other road users and therefore safer even in the brightest sunlight. The lightweight Breezer and Marin are lively, easy to accelerate and extremely manoeuvrable. They can easily be used as all-rounders for any purpose, except that a load of more than around 10 kilos will cause both bikes to flutter. The situation is different with the Maxx and Utopia: They are fully-fledged touring and even touring bikes; luggage doesn't cause them any problems. However, the robust tourers with thick comfort tyres are noticeably lacking in liveliness. You might not necessarily want that on your commute to work, where time is usually tight.
What speaks in favour of solid construction, however, is the longevity and low maintenance of the bike technology: the 12-speed gearbox from Pinion (Maxx) and the 14 gears of the Rohloff (Utopia) ensure many carefree kilometres even for those who don't like cleaning. Both bikes are also ergonomically rather cosy: They are the recommendation for relaxed riders who often ride bad roads or are more comfort-orientated.
Idworx' Allrohler in the new lightweight version was a surprise for us: sporty character, top quality and carefree technology come together perfectly here. However, the uncompromising expertise of this luxury bike also comes at a hefty price. And now, everyone, have a nice end to the day!
Conclusion: There is no such thing as the "best commuter bike". There are no standouts in the test field: every bike has qualities. If you value a universal bike with broad potential, go for the Maxx. Connoisseurs ride the Utopia, road athletes the randonneurs from Tout Terrain or Bergamont; the price-conscious are right with the Fuji, the style-conscious with the Canyon. Lightweight all-rounders from Breezer and Marin work well in the suburbs. Idworx offers sporty luxury. And if you want to get completely off the road, ride a Velotraum.
The complete article was published in Trekkingbike issue 5/2017.
