Chapter one of Bike Easy is all about buying a bike. There are a number of different types of bike, each made for a specific purpose. To the uninitiated they all look pretty similar, but there are significant differences between them.
Mountain bikes are easy to recognise. They have frames made from fat tubes and chunky tyres. They have lots of gears, powerful brakes and, quite often, suspension. Mountain bikes are extremely tough and are at their best on rough terrain. On tarmac roads they can feel sluggish compared with lighter bikes.
Racing bikes or road bikes, are the greyhounds of the cycling world. They are made from slender tubing and their wheels are narrow. They have handlebars that enable the rider to adopt a dropped down, aerodynamic position. The ride can be on the harsh side and you can feel rather squashed up. They’re also rather delicate creatures that can be damaged if you ride through potholes or ride off a kerb.
Hybrids are an attempt to combine the toughness and comfort of a mountain bike with the agility and lightness of a road bike. They make ideal general purpose bikes, good around town, but equally at home on dirt trails and cycle tracks. Some come kitted out with mudguards and luggage racks and other practical equipment.
City bikes are another mix of mountain bike and road bike. This time, however, the emphasis is on sedate urban cycling over relatively short distances. The bikes have an upright riding position, a soft saddle, and often come with hub gears which are very reliable if a little limited in their range of highs and lows.
Touring bikes are great workhorses. The classic British tourer looks at first glance like a racing bike – it has similar dropped handlebars – but it’s many times stronger and much more comfortable to ride. Loaded up with bags and water bottles and camping equipment, it’ll take you round the world. They’re rather unfashionable now, instead the manufacturers market beefed up and super-well-equipped hybrids as trekking or expedition bikes.
There are also cruiser bikes, roadsters, folders, recumbent cycles – where you sit low down and laid back, rather than perched high on a saddle – tandems, tricycles and a host of other bikes made by specialist manufacturers. All these different categories tend to be somewhat fluid and the manufacturers delight in blurring the boundaries by marketing machines as “urban mountain bikes”, or “fast tourers”, and they have a habit of claiming every new bike they launch to be revolutionary and radically different. So it can all be a bit confusing.
The key to making the right choice is to think carefully about the sort of cycling you intend to do and to evaluate as many different bikes as you can manage. Read reviews and road tests in bike magazines and on website, and take advice from cyclists of similar age, build and disposition to yourself. Once you’ve got some firm ideas it’s time to visit bike shops and discuss your requirements with sales staff.
Then you should take a deep breath… and go for it! Compared with life’s other purchases such as houses, cars, furniture, holidays and domestic appliances, bicycles offer superb value. A bike will entertain and amuse you, it will keep you slim and healthy and, if you use it for day-to-day transport, you can recover the purchase price in less than a year. More>>>
