commuter

Although suggesting anything related to bicycle drive train wear is hard to prove, there was inspiration, from David Gordon Wilson:

"...I don't know of any studies, but my dad had a full
Raleigh chain case on his bike, which he used to go to
work every weekday for years (at least 20) in British
weather, and he never did anything for his chain. In
New England's much drier weather traveling similar
miles without any chain protection I have to put a new
chain and sprockets on at least once a year..."

But making that chaincase work took forever. Are there any bike makers that offer a commuting bike, geometrically more aggresive than a Dutch bike, angles like the Rivendell Atlantis, with a chaincase, 26" wheels, and extending handlebars in mind? Cases from Utopia, Hebie, Nöell, Axa, and Hesling aren't silver bullets everytime either, but they be kewl stuff sometimes.

The Lotus is ~30lbs now. Not quite like the World Bicycle Fund's 55lb commuter, or the bikes of the 30's which lasted way longer.

At this point I wanna be very good at fixing a flat, to make the average fix take only 5 minutes longer than my more normal American bike flat tire situations. I wanna get a spare valve if a hole is by the valve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz33ozlTvdo