commuting bicycle setup

A recumbent? Or a light weight but comfortable road-style bike with drop bars. You want to be fairly quick, minimize wind resistance. Depends too on what you have to bring with you - at that distance you want to be able to keep stuff off your back (though perhaps you don't need to bring any)

I'm assuming that this is 60 km round trip, or 30 km each way. Even still, I would be looking at a multi-modal alternative. Outside of peak hours, bikes can be taken onto the subway and GO trains. At all times (including peak hours) TTC and GO buses take bikes on their bike racks.

It could be that you are unfortunate enough to have to commute during peak hours along a route where there is no bus (or the two-bike rack has an annoying habit of being full when the bus comes to you). In that case, I recommend electric assist - that really helps on Toronto's hills. This, by the way, describes myself. So I'll tell you what I did.

I'm currently using a Nine Continents motor kit which I've installed on my Pashley Roadster Sovereign. It works very well for me and I highly recommend it. I bought my Pashley at Curbside Cycle, and they have given excellent service - I strongly recommend Curbside.

A description of my bike may be found at:

http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/roadster-sovereign.html

Mine is the double top tube model shown in the lower left.

The electric assist may be found at:

http://www.ebikes.ca/store/store_nc.php

Since this does not come in the large 28" wheel size, Curbside relaced the kit into the Pashley wheel.

I'm really happy with my setup. It rides just like any other bike - until I need a bit of help. After my surgery, that need was strong. Today, I can go up hills like I was still in my 20's. I feel young again. It was such a liberating feeling being able to go on my bike like I did 30 years and two major surgeries ago.

You'll end up with a heavy dead battery to haul up hills. Even on the site you reference their high capacity packs go 40-50km on a charge, not 60.

I'm going to assume you're thinking 30km each way for a total of 60km per day.

You can do this on any bike really, but go for a light framed road bike or mountain bike style commuter. Upgrade the saddle and the bar grips. Make sure to do a number of test rides to ensure you've got all the adjustments down for a good fit.

I know 30km isn't really that much, but going the extra distance on finding a bike with decent specs and taking the time to fit it properly will really help you have a comfortable, stress free ride. It will also cut down on the actual commute time. Make sure to eat before the commute or you'll run out of steam after the first 5-10km.

Trek 7.3 is a good option, and the price isn't out of reach.

Yes, 40-50 km is about right. It depends upon how much you use it. So 30 km is a great distance. Then I take the battery into work, charge up, and it's ready to go home at the end of the day. If one really wants to go far, it is possible to buy a spare battery and stick it on the rear rack.

I need comfort if riding several hours, so it would be an upright bike or a recumbent.
Riding hunched over means too much weight is on my hands and wrists and my head is unnaturally looking up. Not much fun!
I'd take my time going in so I don't sweat, going home I'd go faster.

You're going to want to be aerodynamic, so drop-bars are a nice option especially when you have a head-wind. I'd also consider a bicycle with larger tires that don't have to be 100psi rocks. You're going to also need gears for further comfort.

Tanya, I second panniers and raise you a set of fenders! 60km of oily road-spray can be pretty demoralizing. Not sure how many "road-bikes" will accept a rack/fender though.. so one will probably end up with a touring type bicycle.

60km of urban cycling? How many lights and stop signs are we talking here? Having to stop and start 120-160 times over 60km will make it a lot more difficult.

I calculated the number is 33. next week to try to get the number of all way stops

60km is 2 hours of medium effort pedalling.

By your own argument it isn't.

For most people, medium effort on a well-tuned bike would have you in the low to mid 20s cruising speed. This won't count stops, hills, or headwinds as you've pointed out. The average speed would probably be under 20 in urban conditions. It would be over 3 hours.

"several" hours indeed requires a different choice, but we're just talking about a 30km ride each way here. Once he's gotten used to the route and the flow of traffic, it shouldn't be a problem to keep the time spent to about an hour. Thus, why pretty much any bike is an ok solution.

A commuter bike is a tradeoff between speed, comfort, durability, cost....

A 60 km round-trip commute is a serious undertaking, especially if "at least 3 days a week" is regardless of weather. For example, Brown's Line and Lake Shore to Eglinton and Warden is 29.4 km each way. Riding that out and back at least three days a week: yikes!

This absolutely needs a quick, light, good-performing bicycle. From commuting a whole lot shorter distances (34-38 km round trip) I'd suggest:

1) Disc brakes, or rim brakes that work as well wet as dry (my old Steve Bauer commuter loses 70% of its braking in the wet)
2) Fenders--they won't keep you dry when it pours, but they'll keep you and the bike marginally cleaner in bad conditions
3) Good lights front and back
4) Performance-oriented riding position with decent aerodynamics: riding relatively upright on a touring or hybrid bicycle into a stiff headwind for a few hours really sucks, and that's how long it'll take to cover 30 km into a good stiff headwind on an upright bike
5) Tool kit and the skills to repair tires on the road, 'cause you'll get flats ya betcha
6) I don't know how well internal hub gearing would work in this application, but I'd be tempted to try this if I have to get a new commuter

Rack and panniers are nice to carry loads, but they inevitably add a fair amount of weight to your bike, and make it awkward to handle up stairs or into the streetcar if you have to bail on your commute. I used a slim-line MEC backpack, and travelled relatively light. I know, the panniers have many benefits, but unless the proposed commuter is Eddy Mercx (or Eddy's gransmother), keep things as light as possible to make it actually physically feasible.

I'd estimate that, at a good pace on a light performance-oriented bike, it'll take 1.5 hours to cover this distance. My relatively flat and easy commute from Long Branch to Queen and Spadina typically took 41 minutes via Queen St. (16.8 km), 44 minutes via lakeshore (19.2 km). Of course some days were a bit quicker because of tail winds or favourable traffic signals, but other days the wind was in my face and every light was red, slowing me down by a few minutes.

Remember, a 30 km training ride with a pack of your club buddies on a country road at 6AM Sunday is nothing like a 30 km commute through the city of Toronto, especially if you commute regardless of weather. You'd have to be young, fit, and determined to do this commute three days a week. Riding burn-out is a risk, too.

As Ben pointed out below, your times will probably be significantly slower than the 2 hours @ 30km/h I ball-parked. Though i'm sure your fitness will improve allowing you to shave some time off :)

Some lights which are crossing major intersections can even stop you for minutes at a time, annoying since you have to sit there and breath the fumes of the nearby idling cars.

Personally i'd say that a 60km commuter is a fair-weather commuter only... not something i'd want todo for kicks 3x a week in cold rainy november or frozen snow-storm februrary... the latter could easily take 2.5x longer than a sunny day's ride. A real slog!!

Maybe i'm off here, but i think car-commuting might be skewing people's sense of distance. I recently had another friend ask me about commuting from oakville to north of etobicoke.