Post: #26

I commuted for over 2 years on a bike. I tried road bikes, hybrids and a mountain bike. The road bike was horrible. The hybrid was pretty good. But the hard framed $500 mountain bike worked best for me.

I work in a very bad, inner city town. Potholes and broken glass every where. The mountain bike had 27.5x2.10 inch tires on it. I got those schrader valved thorn resistant inner tubes. It had a narrow seat and cable operated disc brakes. I could ride it faster than the narrow tired bikes, because it ran over everything. The bike is awesome:

2017 Giant ATX Lite

Post: #27

(05-27-2018 10:43 PM)Alpone Wrote:  I know a bit about this since I ride a bike to work everyday. I'm in the U.S. which doesn't have a big biking culture (outside of Portland and a handful of other cities), so this makes me a bit unique but I've also used it to my advantage in many ways.

I used to go exclusively for used, beat up mountain bikes for under $200. I saved money but the cycling experience sucked and I didn't look cool riding them. I just upgraded to a Scott Speedster - my first road bike. It's this baby: https://www.scott-sports.com/global/en/p...er-40-bike

The difference is night and day. Riding it is a joy. It's fast as hell, looks cool and motivates me to ride more. You can go to a high end bike shop and test drive bigger models. If Scott is available where you are, I definitely recommend them.

I also picked up a Scott bike (Sportster) a few years ago and have nothing but great things to say. Basically I knew nothing about bikes or brands despite doing a fair bit of it, just went on kijiji and found a decent looking full size hybrid for a few hundred $ and that was that.

(05-21-2018 10:32 AM)debeguiled Wrote:  You will avoid conversations with bike nerds who if you don't already hate, you will.

People who have made biking a lifestyle are the most reckless, dangerous people on the road, and they justify it because they think bikes are good for the planet.

Jesus, coming from a casual cycling background, with no special biking outfits or gear or stuff like that, I decided to join a FB group to help plan a multi day trip for this summer to avoid fast roads.

The threads in there alone were enough to wear me out without having actually met anyone. Someone was asking about sidewalk riding in dangerous city spots, and others adamantly arguing that they don't understand why everyone can't just cut across 3 lanes of traffic to make a left turn at a 5 corner intersection where several pedestrians have been killed, then cut several back to the right. Then called anyone on the sidewalk reckless and dangerous. Perhaps. Because the only way to ride is at 25mph on a carbon bike that weighs 17 lbs, never touching the brakes. They told me not to worry about trails on my long distance trip, there's an excellent network of slow highways (80 kph) linking the areas I want to go to. Nothing to it.

It's just a certain arrogant mindset that is immediately off-putting to anyone in the bottom 90% of cyclists + all pedestrians + all motorists. "...Because I'm a passionate cyclist who loves the planet, so fuck you." as if any more of an explanation would be redundant.

Then it's on and on and on about bike infrastructure. It's like talking with certain gay rights people or feminists. Zero middle ground or pragmatism. Tear up downtown and make it bikes only! Time to get serious. Then they go for a ride along while everyone else in the city is busy not caring.

Post: #28

Check out the small ads of cycling magazines, as bikes don't hold their value, and real bargains can be had. My favourite, from a few years back now, was "...........baby and general laziness forces sale."

Post: #29

(06-05-2018 10:39 PM)Seadog Wrote:  

(05-27-2018 10:43 PM)Alpone Wrote:  I know a bit about this since I ride a bike to work everyday. I'm in the U.S. which doesn't have a big biking culture (outside of Portland and a handful of other cities), so this makes me a bit unique but I've also used it to my advantage in many ways.

I used to go exclusively for used, beat up mountain bikes for under $200. I saved money but the cycling experience sucked and I didn't look cool riding them. I just upgraded to a Scott Speedster - my first road bike. It's this baby: https://www.scott-sports.com/global/en/p...er-40-bike

The difference is night and day. Riding it is a joy. It's fast as hell, looks cool and motivates me to ride more. You can go to a high end bike shop and test drive bigger models. If Scott is available where you are, I definitely recommend them.

I also picked up a Scott bike (Sportster) a few years ago and have nothing but great things to say. Basically I knew nothing about bikes or brands despite doing a fair bit of it, just went on kijiji and found a decent looking full size hybrid for a few hundred $ and that was that.

(05-21-2018 10:32 AM)debeguiled Wrote:  You will avoid conversations with bike nerds who if you don't already hate, you will.

People who have made biking a lifestyle are the most reckless, dangerous people on the road, and they justify it because they think bikes are good for the planet.

Jesus, coming from a casual cycling background, with no special biking outfits or gear or stuff like that, I decided to join a FB group to help plan a multi day trip for this summer to avoid fast roads.

The threads in there alone were enough to wear me out without having actually met anyone. Someone was asking about sidewalk riding in dangerous city spots, and others adamantly arguing that they don't understand why everyone can't just cut across 3 lanes of traffic to make a left turn at a 5 corner intersection where several pedestrians have been killed, then cut several back to the right. Then called anyone on the sidewalk reckless and dangerous. Perhaps. Because the only way to ride is at 25mph on a carbon bike that weighs 17 lbs, never touching the brakes. They told me not to worry about trails on my long distance trip, there's an excellent network of slow highways (80 kph) linking the areas I want to go to. Nothing to it.

It's just a certain arrogant mindset that is immediately off-putting to anyone in the bottom 90% of cyclists + all pedestrians + all motorists. "...Because I'm a passionate cyclist who loves the planet, so fuck you." as if any more of an explanation would be redundant.

Then it's on and on and on about bike infrastructure. It's like talking with certain gay rights people or feminists. Zero middle ground or pragmatism. Tear up downtown and make it bikes only! Time to get serious. Then they go for a ride along while everyone else in the city is busy not caring.

What?

Post: #30

Pulled the trigger on a Fuji Hybrid bike. Got a good deal from some small bike shop. Steel frame, drop bars and supposedly built to last.