Many people are trading four wheels for two, making their daily commutes to and from work a regular part of their weekly bike riding schedule. They may be doing this to shed a few extra pounds, get extra training for an upcoming race, or because they simply love riding their bicycle.
Whatever your reason for switching from a car commute to a bicycle commute, there are a few things that new bicycle commuters often get wrong. Be sure to pay attention; some mistakes are simply faux pas, while others could cost you your life.
Trying to fit a certain image
One of the biggest pitfalls that is easy to make when getting into bicycle commuting is feeling like you need to fit a certain image. This goes beyond commuting to work by bike; it also extends to nearly all areas of cycling. If you are getting into road riding, you might feel the need to wear lycra and use clipless pedals and shoes. For gravel riding and bikepacking, maybe you start wearing cutoff jeans and a handkerchief around your neck. If two-wheeled adventures take you the route of mountain biking, perhaps you start forcing yourself to like IPAs.
Regardless of the type of cycling, it is nice to feel like you fit in. While very few people actually commute by bike in the US, in 2022, over three-quarters of a million people reported that bicycles were their primary transportation to and from work. It is likely that quite a few of those commuters were worried about looking the part. Perhaps your commute is just a short one, and you wonder if others will think it is even a commute at all. Or maybe you have access to or want to use an e-bike, but you are worried it somehow doesn’t “count.” Maybe you thought you had all the right gear, but then you saw a commuter with frame bags and a trailer, and now you're second-guessing things.
Usually, the most significant issue new bicycle commuters encounter is what they will wear on their commute. Now, there are generally two camps that most commuters fall into. The first camp is comprised of commuters who wear their regular work clothes. Maybe they have a different shirt or shoes to change into once they get into the office, but, for the most part, these commuters ride in what they are wearing that day. Commuters in this camp usually leave their house with plenty of time, so they do not have to push it and show up to work covered in sweat. They are likely commuting to enjoy their ride and get a little extra fitness — perhaps saving a few bucks on parking.
The other commuter type is the rider who wants to push the limits and set PRs on their commute. Maybe they are training for an upcoming race or attempting to maintain a high level of fitness. Whatever the reason, they are likely in lycra and spandex, hoping to keep wind drag low and gain any edge of efficiency they can. These commuters either carry a spare set of clothes in a backpack or have a gym by the office where they can shower and change.
The reality is that there is no right or wrong way to begin commuting by bike; simply begin. Start by wearing comfortable clothes that you can spend a good amount of time pedaling in. Make sure they have an athletic fit and some stretch to them, with pockets that can easily carry and secure your phone, keys, and wallet. Once commuting is a regular rhythm of your life, you might find that you lean to one camp or the other — the commuter there to simply enjoy their ride or the one who wants to push the limits. If you fall into the latter category, maybe you then want to invest in some lycra. Or, perhaps you keep wearing the comfortable clothes you started in because, again, there are no rules.
Gear overload
When you first start bicycle commuting, it can be easy to think that what you currently have isn’t adequate. Maybe you see bike commuters heading to work while you’re driving in the morning and think you need to have your bike set up exactly like theirs. So, you go to the bike shop and get a frame bag, handlebar bags, and panniers. You then realize you need a pannier rack to install the pannier bags but can’t find a rack that fits your hardtail mountain bike. Now you’re shopping for a new bike because, let’s face it, the bike commuters you see in the morning aren’t riding mountain bikes.
Stop! You don’t need anything beyond your bike and a backpack to begin bicycle commuting. Start there, and make decisions as you progress. Maybe you can ditch the backpack for a frame back. Take your time to shop and find the right bag that fits the front triangle of your bike. Put in the miles and consider what works for you before potentially wasting money on accessories you don’t need.
Overlooking safety
Safety should always be the most important consideration when riding a bike. Unfortunately, even the simplest aspects and measures of safety can be overlooked, especially when it comes to bicycle commuting. Not wearing a helmet can be easy to justify if you spend most of your ride on a bike path. But it just isn’t worth the risk. Here are some of the top safety aspects of bicycle commuting that get overlooked.
No helmet
Most states have laws requiring children to wear helmets when they ride their bikes. Unfortunately, helmet-wearing falls off significantly when people enter adulthood, with over 50% of adults failing to wear helmets when they ride their bikes. This percentage is most significant for young adults, with 62% of 20-somethings riding without a helmet. These percentages clearly correspond with fatal bike accidents, where 70-80% involve head injuries. Ditching your helmet is one of the most serious mistakes you can make.
Any helmet is better than no helmet. However, a quality helmet is something you may want to consider. Helmets have come a long way in the past decade or so, with new technologies protecting against linear, angular, and rotational forces. All this adds up to fewer concussions should your head impact the ground. The bottom line is a helmet isn’t a safety item you want to skimp on.
Lack of visibility
It is crucial to ensure you are visible, especially if you are sharing your commute with cars. Darker-colored clothing and cycling on roads usually don’t mix. This reality is exacerbated if you are riding close to sun up or sun down, or in bad weather, such as rain or fog.
An easy fix is to wear bright clothing. If brighter clothing isn’t your style, or you don’t want to replace a good portion of your wardrobe, consider getting a high-visibility riding vest or jacket. You can also get reflective tape to put on riding clothing and gear, and you should also have reflectors on your bike. This is a no-brainer for early morning and evening rides.
No lights
Riding in the dark without a front and rear light is not only dangerous, but it may be illegal, depending on the state you live in. Lights not only help you see where you are going, but also allow drivers and other commuters to see where you are.
Bike lights mimic those of cars — a white light shining forward and a red light in the rear. These lights often have a blinking setting to draw more attention to yourself while you ride in the dark.
While most recent commuter bikes, and especially e-bikes, come with either built-in lights or can be equipped with specifically designed light accessories from the manufacturer, any bike can be retrofitted with front and rear lights. Most bike lights on the market are quite universal and can be mounted on practically any handlebar or seat post for rear-facing lights.
So, what is the optimal light setup? The optimal setup includes three lights: a wide-beam forward-facing light on the handlebars to provide a wide-angle view of the terrain ahead, a narrow-beam light mounted on the helmet to illuminate where you’re looking, and a red rear-facing light to alert approaching vehicles of your presence.
Improper footwear
Make sure you have a good-quality pair of shoes to commute in. Sandals and flip-flops can be dangerous, especially with rocks flying up and hitting your feet or inadvertently clipping your toe on a curb while coming to a stop. For those of you who want to commute in what you wear to work, dress shoes are another poor option. Dress shoes likely have a smooth and relatively slick sole, making good contact with a pedal nearly impossible. Slipping a pedal can result in banged-up shins or, worse, a crash.
Look for a quality tennis, running, or hiking shoe with a grippy, supportive sole. Casual shoes are also fine as long as they provide enough traction to grip your pedals well. For those thinking about the best footwear option for commuting in, you might consider cycling-specific shoes.
Buying the wrong bike
If you are serious about commuting, there is a chance that you may need to get a new bike. With this being the case, it is essential to think long and hard about the purpose of the bike and what you will use it for.
A good example of this very issue is different hybrid-type bikes. This may be a person who gets a hardtail mountain bike, but equips it with skinnier tires for commuting. Often, the thought is that they’ll have a bike for commuting, but one they can also take mountain biking with a simple tire switch. While these hybrid-style bikes may seem like a good idea, they can often be uncomfortable and less efficient for commuting. Plus, you’ll likely find that switching tires is more time-consuming than you anticipated, and the chances of riding it as a mountain bike slowly dwindle.
Fat tire bikes or bikes with suspension can be appealing, as they give off a more durable vibe. Yet, neither one of these styles of bikes is suitable for commuting. Fat, knobby tires are much less efficient than skinnier tires, and while you may think the suspension will provide a smooth ride, it’s largely unnecessary and makes the bike less efficient on pavement. Unless your morning commute involves several miles of technical singletrack, a fully rigid bike is what you should be looking for.
Different bikes can be tempting in different ways. Seeing a sleek, aerodynamic road bike can appeal to the part of you that wants to ride fast. Seeing a bike with wide, aggressive tires and lots of suspension will speak to your sense of exploration and getting off-road. And, you may say to yourself that a bike is a bike. Any bike will be able to get you to work and back, and you’ll actually be able to use the bike for different things other than just commuting. In the end, however, you’ll wish you bought a commuter. The mountain bike with all the suspension and wide tires will be sluggish and a chore to pedal up hills. The road bike won’t be ideal for any bags or racks you’ve planned to carry things while you commute. Bikes built for commuting are designed for commuting. They provide a more upright and comfortable pedaling position than other bikes and often come with racks and bike bag options from the bike shop. If you must buy a new bike, buy the one that fits your needs.
Not being prepared for the weather
Nothing may be worse than being three miles into a six-mile commute when you feel raindrops falling. Surely, you get soaked on the remaining three miles and spend the first several hours of your workday drying out, hoping and praying that your meetings get canceled. This sort of thing can easily be avoided by being properly prepared for the weather.
There are a few things that are an absolute must if you are a year-round bicycle commuter. First are quality rain pants and jacket. These will be a waterproof, breathable layer that you can easily put on over your clothes. Getting a cycling-specific rain jacket will also be a huge bonus, as it will likely have a larger hood designed to fit over your helmet and an extended back to cover your lower back while in the riding position. Along with a jacket and pants, getting a pair of waterproof shoes will also help make the day less soggy.
Waterproof and warm gloves will also be a game-changer. Fingers can be particularly vulnerable on a chilly morning commute, and ensuring they stay warm and dry should be a priority. Frozen fingers could lead to poor reaction time for doing something like grabbing your brakes and could lead to a serious crash. In severe freezing temperatures, frostbite can begin to occur in as little as 15 minutes.
But none of this will matter if the rain starts falling and you don’t have your rain gear with you. Keep your designated rain gear in a frame bag on your bike to ensure that you are always prepared. Ride with it during the hot summer days, regardless of whether you need it in the foreseeable future. Make a habit of always riding with your rain gear so when you do need it, you won’t be without it.
To be double-prepared, it helps to keep a spare set of clothing at the office, for those days when the gear you brought wasn’t optimal or failed to perform, such as particularly wet or slushy days.
Riding without a repair toolkit
Almost as bad as riding without being prepared for bad weather is riding without being prepared for a mechanical issue. If you get caught in a rainstorm without a jacket, at least you still make it to work — wet but on time. Having a flat tire or a chain brake on your ride will have you walking into work, perhaps hours late.
Right beside your rain gear in your frame bag should be a repair toolkit. In this kit, you should have a bicycle multitool — this will have a wrench for every size bolt on your bike, along with some other tools like a chain breaker. You should also carry a spare chain link, a tire patch kit, an extra innertube, and some way to inflate a tire — either a small pump or a CO2 cartridge. It helps to practice using these tools at home when you’re working on your bike in a relaxed environment. It will give you an opportunity to learn how to use them, and you might discover that your toolset isn’t complete – such discoveries are much easier to deal with from the comfort of a home rather than on the side of a road.
Not optimizing the route
If you are making the transition from commuting by car to commuting by bike, it can be tempting to take the same route on your bike that you drove in your car almost every day. Just because you are going to the same destination doesn’t mean you have to take the same route you took in your car. It is important to remember that a bike can go to many more places than a car can — alleys, sidestreets, bike paths, trails, city squares, etc. On a bike, there are more ways to get from A to B, some of which may be much more efficient than others. Don’t limit yourself to the route that your car had to take.
Give yourself a bit of extra time in the morning to explore new routes or try new routes on your way home when time isn’t pressing. Days off are another great option for finding different ways to make it to work. By actually exploring other options, there is a good chance that you may find shortcuts and ways that aren’t listed on maps. Consider that while some routes may be shorter, they could also have steeper climbs that might slow you down and, ultimately, have you showing up to work a bit sweatier than usual.
Ignoring traffic rules
As you’re trying to find the most efficient route home, remember that you must still obey all traffic laws. This means making sure that you stop at all red lights and stop signs. Failing to stop when you’re supposed to is not only against the law but could result in a serious collision with another vehicle.
Another temptation when commuting by bike is to ride on the sidewalk. Especially when you are riding in the street with other cars, the sidewalk can seem the more safe way to go. However, not only is it illegal in most places, but you are more likely to get into a collision with a pedestrian, which could seriously injure both of you. Plus, riding across the street from one sidewalk to another is especially dangerous, as cars that may be turning aren’t expecting a much faster cyclist to come off the sidewalk. Stay safe and stick to the bike lanes.
And while you are playing it safe in the bike lanes, make sure you are riding in the correct direction. Riding against traffic confuses drivers and pedestrians alike, creating an unsafe situation as they likely will not be able to anticipate your next move
Focusing on speed
Focus on riding efficiently, not necessarily riding fast. When you start commuting by bike, it can be tempting to ride to work as fast as possible. If you can’t keep up at that pace, you will end up riding faster for the first 15-20% of your ride, while riding slower than usual for the final 80-85%. Choosing to focus on an efficient yet manageable speed and a cadence will get you to and from work faster than if you try to pedal your fastest.
Navigating a city on a bike is much more efficient than driving a car. You are far less likely to get caught in traffic on a bike, especially if some or all of your commute involves a bike path, where you will only need to worry about other commuters. You can take shortcuts through neighborhoods and other lesser-trafficked areas, park your bike practically anywhere, and not worry about rush hour. The time you might lose by riding at a pace you can manage will be made up by not having to deal with the burden of driving a car.
Foregoing maintenance
Driving less means saving on gas as well as saving on car maintenance. But don’t forget that your bike needs regular maintenance too, especially with the added miles it is seeing from your daily commute.
Start with the little things. Ensure you regularly check things like your tire pressure, brake wear, and drivetrain. Regularly clean your bike, paying special attention to the drivetrain and lubing the chain once you’ve dried it. If you’re hearing weird noises from your bike or something feels off, don’t delay and troubleshoot the issue as soon as possible to avoid consequential damage, e.g. worn brake pads destroy brake rotors. Regular maintenance takes very little time, has a minimal cost, and can greatly extend the lifetime of most bike components.
If the repairs are above your pay grade, don’t hesitate to take it to your local bike shop to have a professional mechanic diagnose and fix the problem. You should also consider a regular tune-up at least once a year, if not more frequently. Yes, you will be spending some money on bicycle maintenance, but it will certainly be far less than the maintenance you would be doing on your car.
Failing to consider the logistics
Getting comfortable with riding in traffic, navigating the most efficient route, or dealing with skinny bike lines isn’t the most difficult aspect of commuting to work. Oftentimes, the most difficult aspect is considering all the logistics of the commute after you arrive at your destination.
According to FBI crime data, a bike is stolen every three minutes in the United States. These crimes don’t always take place in back alleys, most take place in highly trafficked areas such as business centers and shopping mall parking lots. Finding a place to park your bike for the day while you are at work is something you should consider before your first day of commuting. Take advantage of a corner of your office or check with your building to see if they have a place inside to secure your bike. If you must park it outside, try to find a location where you can see it out a window or near a security camera.
Are you going to change your clothes once you get to work? If so, where? Does your office have a shower you can use? You should consider these types of things before you begin commuting so you aren’t standing in your lobby, sweaty and stinky from your commute, planning your next move.
Perpetuating the stereotype
Don’t be “that guy.” We’ve all seen him, talking to the front office about how he’s pedaled 50 miles this week and plans to add two additional miles each day, starting next week. Make sure you know your audience — if they aren’t cyclists, they likely don’t care about your commute to and from work. Plus, it may not be that impressive in the grand scheme of things and could turn your coworkers off to cycling.
If you are going to talk about your morning and afternoon cycling commutes, do it in a way that doesn’t come off as bragging. Advocate for cycling and encourage others to try it rather than talking about how great you are. Share your love for cycling, responding to inquiries humbly and genuinely, letting people know that anyone can ride a bike, and that you would love to help them get started.
Consider insurance
Switching from car to bicycle commuting offers health, financial, and environmental benefits but also introduces unique risks like theft, accidental damage, and liability if an accident occurs. A bicycle insurance policy tailored for commuters, such as Velosurance, provides comprehensive protection, covering theft (including damage from theft attempts) and offering essential options like medical gap, liability, and uninsured motorist coverage. Since bicycles, especially e-bikes, are prime targets for theft, dedicated bicycle insurance ensures financial protection against theft, liability claims, and costly legal fees. With Velosurance, commuters gain peace of mind and security on the road, knowing they’re safeguarded from these risks.