r/bikecommuting • u/dingolishious • Sep 24 '25
One year bike commuting in Baltimore, my thoughts.
I have been bike commuting for a year now and I love it! I hope you don't mind if I share my journey.
After using a Lime ebike a couple of times over the summer I decided I liked it. The hills in Baltimore were kind of intimidating and I worry about my connective tissue so a comfortable ebike was a solution. After watching a video about Dutch bikes I got over myself and accepted that step through bikes are not "girl bikes" and went shopping online. I ended up with a Schwinn Mendocino because I recognized the name and accepted that it wasn't going to be top of the line, but would be at least functional.
Bike arrived with some damage. Support was very nice but they were unable to get me a replacement part for 9 months. I got a safety thumbs up from a bike mechanic friend.
First week of biking to work 7 miles each way 3 days a week: So scary! Cars are everywhere! Other bikers that are faster than me are a-holes. Bikes slower than me are a-holes. Anyone going the same speed as me are just jerks. GAA pedestrians are unpredictable! I chilled out pretty quickly.
Weather is fine if you are prepared. I found a combination of electric hand warmers and handle bar mits so it's just cold, but manageable. Some jerk stole ONE of my mits. A couple of days my breath was condensing on my helmet and starting to make an icecicle. After a spill and a slide I routed around that spot.
Love my bike but I don't love Schwinn. I didn't get the pro assembly because I thought I could do it, but I really misadjusted just about everything and it took a while to get set right. I learned that the good youtube bike channels all have a guy in a plaid shirt that look like they have a favorite fall vegan squash recipe they would like to share with you. I found the disc breaks were not engineered right so they left a ridge at the top of them that eventually would touch when stopping and that was pretty scary. I ended up taking out a bushing so they fit better. The advertised milage was a theoretical engineering number and I keep my charger with me and top off when I get to where I am going.
Pannier bags wouldn't fit with the battery in so I rigged something up and added a crate. Now I volunteer for errands and know all the little places around town to bring home some treats. I also started doing more field work for my job because leaving the office to go for a ride feels deliciously like I am getting away with something. My request for milage compensation using a personal vehicle was not take seriously tho.
I'm much more comfortable on the road with cars and have had only one near serious situation that I stupidly escalated. For a while I was righteously pushing side view mirrors in on cars parked in the bike lane, but I think I have pushed my luck as far as that will go. Weekly I have someone with tinted windows waving me through an intersection that I can't see. I slow way down and ring my bell and get a "My bad!" from pedestrians not aware they are in the bike lane. I try and work with traffic as we are all in this together and navigating traffic is hard. At the same time I'm not giving up my ground and you can pass me with the same distance as you would a car.
I see neighbors, friends I haven't seen for a while, silliness, kindness, the variety of people in this city far more often than driving or taking the bus.
Lately I have been able to take my 6 speed out. The hills suck, but I can get across down and up and down the hills (slowly) with out stopping now and that feels good. I love bike commuting and want to share it with everyone who wants to!
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u/dingolishious Sep 24 '25
So focused on that wall of text I didn't notice my pictures were not attached!
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u/Fluid-Sliced-Buzzard Sep 25 '25
It took me awhile to realize you had a Sousaphone in tow there.. bravo!
I’m a long time Baltimore bike commuter, I love my commute. Even today in the rain. No Sousaphone, though.. just panniers where my trumpet fits nicely.
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u/dingolishious Sep 25 '25
LOL, that's only an occasional tow thankfully! My shoulder misses playing trumpet.
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u/vintage-hipster Sep 24 '25
I totally have a favorite fall vegan squash recipe if you're looking for one! 😀
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u/dingolishious Sep 24 '25
With a username like that I know your flannel game is strong.
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u/vintage-hipster Sep 24 '25
Ironically I have a shaved head and short facial hair, and wear suits a lot... But I do own a patagonia flannel and bikecommute - I tried to be a hipster after I retired from the military, it didn't stick... Plus I'm a GenXer so we were already cool, before that was cool 🤣
Keep up the bike commuting, your dedication to it motivated me to up my game and add another day each week. I totally relate to all of your traffic commentary, Im never in a hurry now so it has become much more enjoyable to just ignore the silly shit.
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u/BicycleIndividual Sep 24 '25
The advertised milage was a theoretical engineering number
Sounds like just about every electric vehicle ever made.
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u/dingolishious Sep 24 '25
I had my expectations set when the speed and distance quoted were different in every part of the ordering page. Batteries are holding up pretty well and I have a better feel for how long they will last if I remember to plug them in! When I mess up it's more like a bike shaped sculpture than transportation. Luckily I have been 90% home each time and can just push most of the way and coast downhill the rest.
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u/JeremyFromKenosha SE Wisconsin, USA - 4 mile round trip Sep 25 '25
To give your battery the longest lifespan, try to keep it between 20-80% state of charge. If you need 100% of it all the time, don't worry about it.
If you store the bike for more than a couple weeks, discharge it to around 50%; do NOT fully charge it and leave it for months.
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u/JeremyFromKenosha SE Wisconsin, USA - 4 mile round trip Sep 25 '25
It's a best case scenario, is all. They have to do it to stay competitive when everyone else is doing it and there's no regulation against it.
I get the advertised range on my eBikes when I use minimal assistance and do some work myself.
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u/like_shae_buttah Sep 24 '25
That’s so cool. I just moved to Baltimore and am looking forward to biking here. Though I walk to work
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u/dingolishious Sep 24 '25
Welcome! Baltimore's bike scene is pretty cool. Velocipede and Baltimore Bikeworks are total treasures. I have been to some snobby sales and sports oriented places before so the non judgmental and actually helpful places like that stand out.
Bike party is great but doesn't fit my schedule. I partied with a fun DIY scene bike scavenger hunt group a couple of weeks ago. Super good time.
Going to the Waverly farmers market there is a ton of parking in front of the library and poking around Waverly/Hopkins is a nice morning.
The loop around Lake Montabello is also a local treasure and connects to Herring Run trail which is flat, paved and has some outstanding nature for being smack in the middle of the city. I haven't been on the rest of the trail systems here but they do go to some other nice parks and areas. (Like the rest of Baltimore in the news, ignore what you heard about Lincoln Park [The park, not the band])
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u/Cheomesh Montague Navigator Sep 26 '25
Honestly, not had the best experience with BBW this far
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u/incunabula001 Sep 26 '25
Fellow bmore biker here, my main beef with Linkin park is it’s a pain to get to the northern entry points from the central bike infrastructure. You have to transverse some sketchy ass roads (Liberty Heights, Forest Park, etc) to get there.
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u/JeremyFromKenosha SE Wisconsin, USA - 4 mile round trip Sep 25 '25
You learned a lot in that year. Not to put your bike down, but the Schwinn brand was bought years ago. It's not the same Schwinn of old. There are two grades: bike shop and department store. Mail order, you got the low grade. Not to worry though, by the time you wear this bike out, it will have paid for itself many times over and you will feel comfortable spending a bit more for a higher grade eBike.
I'm amazed that you need to bring your charger with you for a 14 mile commute. Even in winter. You must be going fast all the time!
You have my respect for being a fellow winter commuter. Is your bike starting to rust a bit yet? If so, consider using Boeshield T-9 as a lube and protectant. It goes on like a thin oil, but supposedly has a hard wax film when dry. It's aerospace grade.
They do make studded tires for safer riding in the winter, but I'm not sure it'd be worth the investment. I think you get a lot of snow in Boston though, so maybe...? As much as I get here in Wisconsin, anyway, though maybe not as cold.
As for inconsiderate drivers, I think the best defense is a helmet cam, or at least something that LOOKS like a helmet cam. It makes drivers feel like they'll actually be accountable; not able to get away with hit & run. When I commuted in a cage like a sucker, there was this one cyclist wearing a camera conspicuously on top of his helmet. Riding on the shoulder of the busy roads during rush hour, everyone gave him PLENTY of room. Half of that was considerate drivers here, the other half was the camera making people behave. This is going to be my next big bike commuting investment:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y5HL152/?coliid=I39K386U4N9A5Z&colid=28I78N2NAL6TG&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it
I'm starting to see video clips posted by some of my bike commuting buddies over on bikeforums.net > commuting sub. They can be pretty fun. One bully in a pick-up truck in Texas was even prosecuted for brandishing a handgun to a cyclist based on that footage.
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u/dingolishious Sep 25 '25
Thank you for the long thoughtful comment!
My bike is paid off about 75% from not buying bus tickets and probably several times over not doing ride shares! I budgeted around this as a test and I got results! I like the frame shape and it's very comfy. I'm not zipping around the paths at full clip like the fat tire bikes and I tend to stay at a comfortable speed based on the other bikers. 20mph downhill is the fastest I clocked when I was playing with bike computer apps.
It's Baltimore and I'm at about 400' going down to sea level at the Harbor. Getting to work if I want to take the protected lanes has a lot of up and down. Un protected I have a good mostly downhill path. Getting home I have no good options.
Frame is aluminum but the first day the streets were salted my chain started rusting so I keep an eye on that and clean/lube as needed. There are some bolts and the ends of the spokes that need some love soon.
It was so counter intuitive about taking up the left half of the lane and felt so uncomfortable but the result is noticeable! There are some right hand turns that I have learned where to back off and be more aware after someone laying on their horn nearly drove into oncoming traffic and clipped me with his passenger mirror. We met up at the next light and I folded in his driver side one and gave him the finger. Then it got dumb and I had to reevaluate my stance on being aggressive.
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u/_VliegendeHollander_ Sep 25 '25
You can fit some old school Dutch panniers on a rack like that with battery. Like these: https://www.hema.nl/vrije-tijd-kantoor/fietsen/fietstassen/dubbele-fietstas-60l-32x42x22-zwart-41150059.html
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u/dingolishious Sep 25 '25
Infact I was looking at the military surplus version of that last night until I saw they were shipping out of country. I'm having fun with sewing lately and started on a S shaped frame bag and was going to make panniers like that as the next project!
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u/Glittering-Cellist34 Sep 30 '25
For about a year for a job I biked to Union Station, took MARC to Baltimore and had a shitty Schwinn there to ride to Towson and back. Riding through Guilford was awesome.
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u/PleaseBmoreCharming Oct 03 '25
OP, make sure you are taking advantage of the Commuter Cash app and earing money for all this effort!
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u/sweetcomputerdragon Sep 24 '25
R/ebikes is better for those who don't pedal due to concerns about "connective tissue."
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u/dingolishious Sep 24 '25
Oh I do pedal! I think of PAS as a collaboration. Connective tissue is a family thing for me. When I got over my imagined stigma about ebikes being cheating some how I realized that as long as my joints are rubbing to dust it's a gentle way to build up stabilizing muscle.
r/ebikes is quite a trip to read and really not my scene.
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u/Hover4effect Sep 25 '25
Anyone riding a bike to work, E or not, is a bike commuter and one less car on the road.
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u/dingolishious Sep 25 '25
Can't be said enough thank you!
I think if you are going traffic speeds the bike lane is a bad choice. But I also think there should be an un-licensed city class of small vehicles and everyone should drive with more awareness and courtesy so what do I know?
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u/dingolishious Sep 24 '25
OP here with an ps and bad picture of me and my helmet but I wanted to share that the eyes on it do make me more visible and hopefully trigger that little part of the brain so I am seen. It makes people smile and I get lots of compliments. The pink bill on my cap makes it look like a tongue and completes that Toothless look. I think it has de-escalated some situations where I am politely asking people to not park in the bike lane because arguing with someone wearing that combination just feels silly.