Best bicycle to buy?
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If I wanted to start cycling what kind of bike should I get a "road bike" or a "racing bike"? also what are the most affordable yet durable brands?
First ... decide what you want to do with it.Like a 45 min ride every morning and under $1k would be ideal.
Anything else? Do you have events in mind? On road or on trails?
Or commuting? Are you thinking of commuting to and from work?
Or tours? Does that interest you?0 -
If I wanted to start cycling what kind of bike should I get a "road bike" or a "racing bike"? also what are the most affordable yet durable brands?
First ... decide what you want to do with it.Like a 45 min ride every morning and under $1k would be ideal.
Anything else? Do you have events in mind? On road or on trails?
Or commuting? Are you thinking of commuting to and from work?
Or tours? Does that interest you?
Honestly yea I live in the city so I think a commuting bike would be better since there aren't long stretches of road just streets.
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Honestly yea I live in the city so I think a commuting bike would be better since there aren't long stretches of road just streets.
i live in a city and started serious bike commuting during the hurricane katrina disaster, whenever that was. i started on a box-store bike because i wasn't going to invest until i was sure i'd be serious, and also because i didn't know what i wanted. now i'm on my third jamis coda, and have a louis garneau urbania bike on the shelf for winter. i think i'm going to stick with garneau from here in. some thoughts, from the commuter mindset:
- i like hybrid bikes for myself. a road bike would be pretentious (on me), and i start resenting the weight and squishiness of mountain bikes by comparison.
- if you tell a bike shop you want to commute with it, they'll offer you 'commuter' bikes. they have a few more comfort features than hybrids, which may or may not be what you want.
- look for a couple of trivia which can make quite a difference if you commute: mounts for a rack (if you decide you don't want to sherpa your load) and enough width in the forks that you can mount fatter tires if you want to. i use studded ice tires in winter so this is a Thing in my case. kickstand is another thing, now i think about it.
- i have iffy joints and live where there's hills, so gearing's a pretty big deal.
- if you live where theft is a thing, my advice is not to invest more money than you can stand to lose. and of cousre, leave budget room to get locks. i like the obus one that's made up of linked bars, personally. and about locks. . . i suggest combination, not key. it's a pain in the butt to be fiddling around with a key all the time.0 -
Someone already suggested this but walk into your local bike shop. Tell them your budget, tell them what you are at as your intended use of the bike (commuting) and they will fit you, set you up with all proper equipment (helmet, shorts, lights etc.) and you have maintenance of the bike usually included.
Or go another route, get a cheap used hybrid from kijiji and go form there. Very quickly you will realize if you want to stick with hybrid or go with road / mountain setups, and then refer to my first paragraph haha
Road bikes aren't really fit for a suburban area right?0 -
I have an 84 Schwinn World Sport I'm building. The plan is to cover it in tootsie pop wrappers and clear coat it somehow. It's been on the back burner for a while though. Wife says I have to many bikes.
Current. Have some parts I haven't put in yet though.
Too many bikes? I'm not sure I understand what that means........
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Suburbia with no roads? It's just a general description/category, like cars and trucks for automobiles, for riding on engineered surfaces (AC, concrete, brick, stone, gravel, etc). For maximum enjoyment, match your equipment to your riding preference.Road bikes aren't really fit for a suburban area right?0 -
Suburbia with no roads? It's just a general description/category, like cars and trucks for automobiles, for riding on engineered surfaces (AC, concrete, brick, stone, gravel, etc). For maximum enjoyment, match your equipment to your riding preference.Road bikes aren't really fit for a suburban area right?
Of course there are roads, but not long stretches of them. Plus there's always a bunch of traffic. From what I understand "road bikes" are more for long stretches of road like a highway for example. I think commuting bikes would be best fit for suburban neighborhoods.
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Suburbia with no roads? It's just a general description/category, like cars and trucks for automobiles, for riding on engineered surfaces (AC, concrete, brick, stone, gravel, etc). For maximum enjoyment, match your equipment to your riding preference.Road bikes aren't really fit for a suburban area right?
Of course there are roads, but not long stretches of them. Plus there's always a bunch of traffic. From what I understand "road bikes" are more for long stretches of road like a highway for example. I think commuting bikes would be best fit for suburban neighborhoods.
Whatever you're most comfortable riding is suitable.......I live in the 'burbs and commute on a road bike. It's lighter and more nimble than most commuter bikes and I feel more confident and comfortable on it (I also race on it and have owned road bikes since the '70s)
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Road bikes are bikes you ride on the road. There isn't really much you can use as a litmus test, like this is a road bike and this isn't.
Commuter bikes are generally a type of road bike (usually a hybrid which is like the love child of a road + mountain bike) that is set up to be able to carry stuff. When I used to commute by bike, I'd want to have things like a change of clothes for the office, sometimes lunch. When I go ride for fun and exercise, I don't need that because I'm coming home to my shower and fresh clothes.
A road bike is "for" long stretches of road in the sense that a fat bike would be really bad on a long ride, and a road bike would be better. That doesn't make it bad for short trips. I use my road bike for all kinds of errands, even things that are less than a mile away. It's faster than walking. I like the way the bike handles. I like the posture of sitting on it. Etc.
Keep in mind we're painting with very broad strokes here. When you generalize like this, you're going to always get some of it wrong. You're much better off trying a bunch of different bikes out.0 -
Commuter bikes also typically have a larger range of gears on the back end, the cassette, to assist with the heavier loads of carrying packages. But I know that's picking fly crap out of pepper.
Cincinnati, Ohio, my hometown is one of the faster growing Cities for bike commuting. Source 1, Source 2. And every LBS is jumping on the bandwagon to help move people onto bikes.
They also have slightly wider tires to assist with that payload and give you a little bit more of a cushioned ride. The biggest thing about Commuters is they also have lugs to attach racks, baskets and such to carry your packages, where as some/most flat our race bikes to do not have lugs to attach racks.0 -
I'd get a comfortable endurance type cross bike if I were you. Would be great for a commuter and could be used on longer road rides.0
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I'd get a comfortable endurance type cross bike if I were you. Would be great for a commuter and could be used on longer road rides.
This is the exact reason my First Road bike was an endurance frame. I ride it to and from work a couple days a week. And I can go crank out 65-75 miles on it and still be able to walk around the rest of the day....0 -
Suburbia with no roads? It's just a general description/category, like cars and trucks for automobiles, for riding on engineered surfaces (AC, concrete, brick, stone, gravel, etc). For maximum enjoyment, match your equipment to your riding preference.Road bikes aren't really fit for a suburban area right?
Of course there are roads, but not long stretches of them. Plus there's always a bunch of traffic. From what I understand "road bikes" are more for long stretches of road like a highway for example. I think commuting bikes would be best fit for suburban neighborhoods.
It's just configuration: the line between different bikes for different purposes is getting more blurry all the time. I've got a Kona Rove, which is in their "free range" line and is a crossbike / roadbike, or a hybrid with road bars, or a roadbike with wider wheels. In any case it enables me to do touring, city riding, fast laps through the park...0 -
I remember when hybrid bikes was introduced as a consumer package back in the late 80's & early 90's. The geometry seem to have held but it have gone on a diet. Before that you just took a touring bike and change out the handlebar and brake lever. Leave the bars and put on nobs you have a cyclocross bike. If you got the cash, it's a custom frame. Love the choice but does get pretty confusing at time (not a problem if one goes back to the basics and take a closer look at the geometry; there's more than one way to skin the cat but not sure if it's cheaper than going with the generic packaging).0
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After much thought, I'm Kinda leaning towards a folding bike. Anyone have experience with them and wanna suggest some of the better ones?0
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I bought a folding bicycle when I moved to a country with excellent public transport and unfeasibly high priced cars. I can't remember the brand but the one I had was a German design made in China. Full aluminium frame with double locking on the frame fold and quick release clips to drop the seat and handlebars so that I could take it on trains and busses. 15" wheels, Twist grip gears (rear cassette only) and very light it cost more than a reasonable entry to mid level giant tourer.
I used it for commuting and day trips for a few months before giving it away. I found the geometry and instability (small wheels are harder to balance) too tiring for rides of more than 10km (I regularly cycled more than 50km a day at weekends on my heavier road bike at that time).
As a note, the person I passed it on to is also a keen cyclist but uses it to meet the kids from school and for short shopping trips. She never goes more than 5km using this bike but she loves it for that.
It really depends on what you plan to do on your bike but if you do buy a 'foldie' please don't go for the cheapest as I suspect that will put you off cycling for life.0 -
the best bike is simple, the one that fits your needs and your body. You can spend a few hundred to thousands. I personally love tri specific bikes but they are not for everyone. They are NOT good pack riding bikes but to me very comfortable. I have had neck surgery and DDD in my lower back but with this kind of bike I can stay the the saddle for hours with no issues. SO it really depends on what you are using it for and how much you can spend. One last thing, get a professional fit it will make all the difference in the world.
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After much thought, I'm Kinda leaning towards a folding bike. Anyone have experience with them and wanna suggest some of the better ones?
You had mentioned doing a 45 min ride every day. Folding bikes are handy for short rides in urban area (especially for apartment dwellers with limited space - saw tons of them when I lived in Germany) but you may not find one suitable for a longer ride as you don't have the same mechanical efficiency you would with a bike with larger wheels. I would definitely want to take a good long test ride before committing to one of those.0 -
After much thought, I'm Kinda leaning towards a folding bike. Anyone have experience with them and wanna suggest some of the better ones?
My husband and I have a pair of Bike Fridays.
They're great for interstate travel ... pop them into a suitcase and fly with them as regular luggage or take the train or whatever.
And we've done rides up to 100 miles (in one go) on them.
But can you tell us why you think you want a folding bike? There are many different types, weights, qualities, and degrees of foldability out there so you need to determine what it is you want to do with it first.
In our case, we wanted to travel with ours, and so we got a type that fold but which are suited to riding longer distances, possibly over a variety of terrain, and which can take racks and panniers etc. But if you wanted to be able to hop onto a commuter train with a folding bicycle, the type we have wouldn't be suited to that. You would want something lighter that can fold faster.0
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