Choosing a Bike
Chances are if you've been in a dedicated bike store you've felt intimidated. A great many bike stores cater to competitive riders and the riders who want to look like they compete. The skinny tired speed machines and the hydraulic equipped mountain bikes are indeed great rides true enough, but they are also specialized, purpose built machines lacking in the general utility that a commuter needs. Don't despair, however. Bike manufacturers have not neglected the commuter and are designing ever better bikes aimed at every day riders. The selection of these bikes is still narrow, but widening every year. Most bike stores will sell you one of these as a happily as they'll sell you a racing machine.
Bike stores also provide a great many services for the bike buyer. Use them in preference to department stores or catalogs. At the bike store, the salesman, quite often an amateur or semi pro racer, will work with you to help find a bike that fits your body and find the right equipment to go with your purchase. Fit is extremely important to a good riding experience. A bike that doesn't fit right won't feel right and you won't want to ride it very far.
Beyond fit, you need to take a look at your riding needs. Knowing your ride ahead of time will help you get the best bike for your needs. Questions to ask:
- How long will your ride be?
- What kind of terrain will you encounter? Hills? Valleys?
- What are the road conditions? Pot holes? Dirt roads?
- What's the prevailing weather in your region?
Aside from these considerations, make sure any bike you consider can mount a rack. I also strongly recommend brightly colored bikes as they increase your visibility and improve your safety.
Types of Bikes
- Mountain: Rugged bikes designed to conquer mountains.
- Touring: Strong, easy riding bikes that'll take you coast to coast.
- Cyclocross: Strong, fast, versatile, go anywhere, do anything bikes.
- Urban: A spectrum of bikes designed to work in built up places.
Cost Considerations
How much does a good bike cost? The answer is "it depends". It all depends on the length of your ride, the conditions and your own certainty. Most people just getting into something don't want to risk a whole lot since they never know how it's going to turn out. Cycling is no exception. In this sport, there is no upper limit; someone's always willing to sell you a bike for as much as you want to spend. Luckily, costs for bikes are way down and quality has never been higher. High quality bikes can be had for as little as $500. Bikes for amateur level racing go for $1000 and up. I would not recommend going below the $500 mark. Below this arbitrary limit, manufacturers make too many compromises. Most of the available bikes in this range will be mountain bikes since this is the most popular category. Between $600 and $800, the choices begin to open up. Several urban bikes fall into this price range and the lower level touring bikes do as well. The greatest variety of choices comes at $1000 and above. Naturally. At this price point, entry level cyclocross bikes and quality touring bikes become available.
For those without a lot of money to spend, department store bikes look tempting. However, they should be avoided. Most department store bikes come in at $100 to $200. They suffer from serious quality defects and plain old bad design. The welds on most are shoddy and many frames are simply stamped together. The brakes probably won't stop you either. If your budget prohibits spending $500 or more, then consider a used bike. The best general purpose bikes ever made were the entry level mountain bikes made from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. After about 1995, mountain bikes became very specialized off road machines with little general utility. Many people bought the old style mountain bikes when they were new, but have ridden them little. Consequently, their bikes just gather dust in the garage or basement. Sooner or later they turn up at garage sales or on Craigslist. Spend no more than $200 for one of these since they're more than ten years old at point in time.
Brands
What bikes do I like? Here's a list of manufacturers whose bikes I have tried or have owned:
- Cannondale: If you've got the money, you can't do better.
- Novara: REI's house brand. Their bikes are well designed and well made.
- Specialized: Good, solid bikes at all ranges. See their city bikes.
- Trek: The General Electric of bikes. Good quality and selection.
- Jamis: They offer a range of city bikes and a good touring model.
- Surly: They sell a rugged cyclocross and touring bike.