/n2/ - Transportation » Thread #270772

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Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 12:59:00 No.270772 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By:

/n/, I have a confession.

I never learned how to ride a bike as a kid.

My family was really poor growing up. A bike was more of a liability. Luckily, my schools from elementary up through high school were all within walking distance.

Anyway, now that I'm better off, and have a job, I want to buy a bike and ride it to work and other such places. I have a few questions, though.

A. What bike is best for city riding? I live in an apartment downtown, so I need something small and light.

B. How should I go about learning to ride this bike? I live in southern Texas, so hills are a no-go.

I'm looking for something in a $100-$300 price range, but I can go over if the bike is especially exceptional.

Thanks in advance.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 13:41:00 No.270783 Report

Quoted By: >>270785 >>270786

Learning to ride a bike as an adult is relatively easy, the best way to learn is to lower the saddle so that you can sit on it with your feet firmly planted on the ground and just practice rolling forward. Once you can balance you start practicing how to steer with the handlebars, how to steer by leaning slightly, then you add in some pedaling with the seat low, and finally you raise the seat so you can pedal properly - at that point you won't be able to put your foot down on the ground while in the saddle. When you get to that stage you'll want to practice on a grassy area, because you'll probably make a few mistakes and fall over a couple times - wear a helmet. A couple weeks of practice later and you'll have developed the necessary muscles to be able to travel efficiently and without soreness. The principle to remember is that 'an object in motion stays in motion'.

As far as best bike for city riding goes... since you're a beginning rider, go with an older mountain bike (equipped with slick tires) or a "hybrid," these will be easiest to learn on and are effective for transportation - /n/ mostly talks about road bikes, which are more efficient and let you go faster, but you won't have the strength or technique to really take advantage of that sort of machine until you practice riding for a while.

continued...

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 13:46:00 No.270785 Report

Quoted By:

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 13:48:00 No.270786 Report

Quoted By: >>270801

>>270783
cont...

For the price you mentioned, I think you'd be looking primarily at used bikes... the catch there is that you need to have some mechanical knowledge to be able to evaluate a used bike and fix what needs fixing. Check and see if your city has a bike co-op, they're exactly what you need, failing that find a friend who knows something about bikes and get them to help you (and if they're close to your size, borrow their bike and learn to ride on it)

As an aside, the kind of bikes in your picture are ideal for city riding, but they're a rare breed in the USA. You can buy that kind of bike here, but they cost an arm-and-a-leg because they're marketed as fashion accessories.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 15:33:00 No.270801 Report

Quoted By:

>>270786
Or just buy an adjustable wrench and load up Sheldon Brown's site. You don't need anything fancy by way of tools or knowledge to fix a bike. I was fixing cars before bikes; there's much more to know for cars, and once you've got past the stage of being nervous, new jobs even on cars are nothing big.

besides chain tools, spoke wrenches, crank pullers, and lock ring spanners, I can't think of many specialized tools you absolutely cannot get away without for routine maintenance on a bike. Actually you don't need any of those for routine maintenance, but if you catch the upgrade bug they'll be helpful to have around.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Apr 2011 17:26:00 No.270813 Report

Quoted By:

You might also want to try folding bicycle with 20" wheels if your apartment doesn't have much space.

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