Should I switch from a 3-speed to a 10 or 12 speed bike?

I have a great old Schwinn English style 3 speed bike. I commute 11 miles to work on the bike, 6 in city traffic (signs, lights, etc.) and 5 miles on a mostly flat paved bike path where a person can really cruise. I am in very good physical shape. It takes me 47-50 minutes to make the trip. If I switch to an average 10-12 speed racing bike, how much time would I save in my commute? Just a guesstimate, 10 minutes per trip? More? Less?

First off, 10-12 speed is obsolete, today’s road bikes are 16-22 speeds with double chainrings up front. For commuting, you want a nice lively bike, but you also need something practical. I used to use a touring bike for commuting, it had mudguards to protect me on rainy days, and it had a rack used to carry the things I needed at work every day. When I had a shorter commute, I used a 3 speed Raleigh. My touring bike was quite a bit faster than my 3 speed say, 3-4 mph. I notice you have quite a distance in city traffic. With stops and starts, the advantage of the faster bike is greatly reduced. You would really have to fly on the bike path section to save 10 minutes. A road racing bike might save a bit more than the touring bike, but not much. The thing that a better bike allows you to do is expand your horizons, try different, longer routes if you want to explore. My daily commute was about 30 km each way which took about 1 hour, but I was able to ride almost non-stop, so it can’t be compared to yours.

Bike Ride 4 into the city of Utrecht (Netherlands)

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