Sarah’s Commuter

Sarah was looking for a good (and fast) all-weather commuter to use year-round in Portland. This was replacing a cyclocross bike she’s been commuting on. Which was fast! But also, it meant carrying a laptop in a backpack.

We settled on a configuration of bike I call a PDX Commuter. It has all the things that I think one needs to commute here in Portland.

• Full-coverage fenders

• Plenty of gears

• Disc brakes

• Front platform rack

• Dynamo lighting

• Drop bars

• Built-in bell

Geometry

The bike has slightly modified city-bike geometry. The chainstays are a little longer than normal. The handlebar drop is very slight. The head tube angle is a slack 70 degrees. And the top tube slopes comfortably to leave plenty of room for standover.

And of course, it’s a bespoke geometry built around Sarah’s measurements.

Components

This bike has a really great built-out, including some of my favorite parts.

The disc brakes are GrowTac Equal, which are my favorite brakes by far. I spec them on as many builds as I can. (If you get a disc brake bike from me, odds are good I’ll push you towards these brakes.)

And the shift levers are GrowTac Equal as well! These are drop-bar friction shifters!
And the coolest thing about them is that they’re wired up together. The bike is a 1x, so there’s only one derailleur. The left shift lever moves that derailleur to a larger cog. The right shift lever moves it to a smaller one. Its super cool to see in action, and it’s really fun to use!

The fenders are Portland Design Works’ excellent full metal fenders. The bar tape and bell are from PDW as well.

The wheels are solid HiFi rim brake alloy mix tapes.

The tires are Ultradynamico Cava. They have great low rolling resistance, corner beautifully, even on loose ground, and they’re a breeze to set up.

The drivetrain is all Sram Apex 1×11 - solid components to handle everyday commuting use.

The headlight is from sinewave cycles; it has a built-in USB charger. And the tail light is the Busch & Müller micro.

Aesthetic

The bike has a killer pink paintjob, designed by me, and applied by Colorworks Palette.

The paint was all inspired by the Chris King black/punch colorway headset on the bike. The little flowers are matched to the punch color. And the rest is just a peachy shade of pink, called Sweet Apricot.

The rack, fork, stem, and fenders are painted to match of course.