A bicycle or a lawn tractor?

   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor? #41  
Don't buy at a box store, they sell the lowest of the low. Good luck having the gearing ever be in sync and enjoy the brakes, and upgrade your tractor so you can be sure the FEL has the capacity to lift the bikes into your truck.
With all due respect, that is hogwash. For a beginner, nothing wrong with a cheap bike. Think of it as a trainer. Most people who start will quit within the 1st year. Buying 2 high quality bikes to start out is a horrible waste of money.
 
   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor? #42  
I'm curious about this - most similar bikes have pretty similar gearing.
Have you counted the teeth on the rear cogs or chain rings (specs on the bike usually tell you this too)?
Perhaps she just doesn't like going downhill as fast as you do!
(I've crashed too many times at speed on pavement and no longer push it going downhill personally, and pedaling downhill doesn't do a lot for the heart rate - especially compared to the adrenaline.)


I think her front gear set is the one that is different than mine
 
   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor? #43  
With all due respect, that is hogwash. For a beginner, nothing wrong with a cheap bike. Think of it as a trainer. Most people who start will quit within the 1st year. Buying 2 high quality bikes to start out is a horrible waste of money.
I'm definitely not suggesting they get top-end bikes, but something more middle of the road.
Box store bikes will be unsatisfactory for pretty much anyone from the get-go -- I've worked on a number of them for friends who didn't do much research before buying and lucky for them they were young and full of vim and vigor so it didn't get them down, but most expect a gear shift to actually do the thing (and then stay in the right gear) etc... this can quickly become a problem that sours them to bicycling before they get a chance to give it a good go.
 
   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor? #44  
Some of the posts are made by cyclist. Others posts are obviously made by non riders. If I'd like to buy a used excavator, guess who's advice I'd be looking at? :unsure:
 
   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor? #45  
This is a good thread, raising some good points. I've been thinking about buying a bike for some time now to try and dump some of this excess weight around my middle, and was unaware of the low stress it puts on joints. (I didn't work today because I overdid the last two and can't walk much, so that's becoming a consideration.)
 
   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor? #46  
When I ride I go pretty easy, I only have a couple of hills and my normal ride is only about 4 miles.
 
   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor? #47  
With 5 pages in a little over 24 hours this thread shows there is as wide a spectrum in opinions on bicycle riding as there is on bicycles themselves. I'll offer my $0.02 with some age-tested wisdom.

"Before you shop for a bicycle, shop for a bicycle shop." As a newby you'll probably be back at the shop for repairs, parts, and advice. Proximity and rapport with the staff are important. Even those of us who are experienced have a LBS (local bike shop). (Considering shipping costs, a LBS may even be cheaper.). The LBS should want your business and therefore have your interests at heart, sell you a bike that fits, and steer you away from junk.

"The bike to buy is the one you will ride." If you can't see yourself sitting on an axe head, bent over as if touching your toes to reach the handlebars, don't buy a full blown racer. OTOH, if you don't see yourself on a wide, cushy saddle, struggling to pedal upright into a headwind, don't buy a heavy "cruiser". There is some wisdom to the "entry level" approach. You probably won't figure out what you really want until you have ridden a while, and if you don't like what you bought, at least you haven't spent a lot.

As far as riding skills go, find a club and ride with them; they will teach you. Most cyclists love riding and welcome more converts even to the point of riding slowly with them. Good guidance comes from John Forester who said, "Bicyclists fare best when they behave like other users of the roadway."
 
   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor? #48  
I'm a road bike rider and regularly ride 15 to 25 miles and occasionally ride a 100 mile or "metric" (62 mile) ride. You can get some use from a box store bike, but they are frustrating because the performance is so low. My bikes are old now, but I have an aluminum frame Trek that would probably be around $1000 today and a mostly carbon fiber bike I put together myself that would be equivalent to a $3000 bike. I wouldn't want cheaper bikes.

I use to say why worry about weight, just lose 10 lbs, but it doesn't work that way. Losing rider weight will help, but on a typical ride that I average about 15 mph on the aluminum bike, I will average over 16 mph on the carbon bike and the light bike just feels better. The aluminum frame bike is about 21 lbs and the carbon bike is around 16 lbs. It wouldn't make the same difference for me to lose 5 lbs. In contrast, a box store bike will often be 30 to 35 lbs.

You might try used bikes to see if like biking if you do a little research and figure out how to check the fit. If you enjoy it, you can invest a little more in new bikes. They are a long term investment. My heavy and light bikes are about 20 and 15 years old respectively and are in great shape.
 
   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor?
  • Thread Starter
#49  
This is true, a friend once estimated that to lose a pound of weight on high end bikes expect to pay $1k per pound:eek:
Holy Buckets! I guess this is definitely not the best weight-loss approach :p
 
   / A bicycle or a lawn tractor?
  • Thread Starter
#50  
I'm definitely not suggesting they get top-end bikes, but something more middle of the road.
Box store bikes will be unsatisfactory for pretty much anyone from the get-go -- I've worked on a number of them for friends who didn't do much research before buying and lucky for them they were young and full of vim and vigor so it didn't get them down, but most expect a gear shift to actually do the thing (and then stay in the right gear) etc... this can quickly become a problem that sours them to bicycling before they get a chance to give it a good go.
Ning, just to clarify, since I'm the OP (and I really could/should have included this initially), we already have some old box store mountain bikes in our basement. And you're right, it's the small things like switching gears, making adjustments to seats, handle bars, etc. that we'd like to move past. There's nothing worse than switching gears and then bearing down on the peddle only to have it skip back and forth between gears - uggghhhhh... So, yeah, you're spot on in that we're aiming for something middle of the road. As another poster pointed out, a lot of people probably THINK they are going to be in it for the long haul, but try it and find it's really not for them. I think that's an excellent point and want to be cognizant of that as well. Again, I appreciate all of the info from all of you experienced guys.

As another poster pointed out as well, it's very clear that there are endless points of view on all the various aspects of this subject.

So where am I at this point? I feel like I've learned a TON from all the input that's been thrown out here. I've browsed the site you provided (bikesdirect.com) and I still have not ruled that out even though I did visit a Trek store yesterday. I don't feel beholden to them even though the guy I talked to there was very patient with me and shared a lot of knowledge. I think I've settled on going with something like a Hybrid though a friend did recommend maybe starting with what he called a gravel bike. I did a little research on the differences and there doesn't really seem to be a lot of difference. Gravel seems to be built more for going off road a bit more than hybrid, so a little lighter, more expensive, etc. I did not find a tab on the site for gravel, but there were some instances of gravel under the hybrid tab. I noticed that they do have suggestions AND help for sizing. They show you how to measure inseam and so forth. You can provide that info to them via Email and they provide support that way.

At this point, I'm taking my time, listening to what others have to say, reading some and being patient. Again though, I've learned a lot in the last two days and do appreciate ALL the advice given here.
 
 
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