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Now that you have decided to buy a bike for enjoyment, and that even biking to work will be a great way to get some daily exercise, save wear and tear on your car, and hopefully even reduce your gas bill, which type of bicycle should you get?
If you are new to bicycling or remembering how much fun you had as a kid riding your Schwinn to school with your friends, the enjoyment of bike riding may have rekindled your interest in bicycling. There are now several types of bikes on the market today, and choosing the right one can make bike riding a fun experience, or a miserable chore.
Best Type of Bike for Commuting and Exercise
As an avid bicyclist, a multi-use bike, such as a hybrid is best for commuting and exercise, unless you plan to do long road rides or mountain biking. Most experts agree that hybrid bicycles, which are a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike, is your best choice for casual riding, exercise, trail riding and commuting.
What is a hybrid bicycle?
If you are not sure what a hybrid bike is, a hybrid is a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike. It is designed for short, medium or even long road rides and light trail riding. They are generally made with light weight aluminum frames, thin tires with small nubs for traction on pavement and dirt, and have 21 to 24 gears to handle any type of terrain from flat roads to the most challenging hills.
A hybrid bike has a larger soft saddle than either a mountain bike or a road bike seat, and has upright handle bars to eliminate stress and pain on your back and shoulders. This differentiates a hybrid bicycle from a road bike, which has curved handle bars and thin tires, or a mountain bike, which has straight handle bars and thick knobby tires, you are generally in a hunched position.
Advantages of a Hybrid Bike
Road bikes and mountain bikes, while are excellent for their intended purposes, they are not good multi-purpose bikes. This is where the hybrid comes in. With a hybrid bike, you can easily enjoy city riding, short to long road rides and trail rides, without missing a beat. With its light weight aluminum frame, 21 - 24 gears, soft saddle, upright handle bars and tires that can grip dirt or fly you down Main St., you are ready for pretty much every situation with one bicycle.
Not Too Expensive
A high quality, light weight road bike can cost anywhere from $500 to $900 or more, and experts agree a good mountain bike designed for all types of terrain and jumps will set you back $400 or more. A good quality, light weight hybrid bike with industry standard Shimano components will cost between $200 and $300. You will easily recoup this investment after commuting to work or school and saving one month's worth of trips and money at the gas pump.
Men's Health Cures http://www.menshealthcures.com, is a blog and website dedicated to natural and holistic solutions to men's health issues.
For more information on hybrid bikes for exercise or commuting, please visit: http://www.menshealthcures.com/category/mens-health/
Why Do Bike Fits Vary From Shop To Shop?
The hottest topic in bicycle retail is bike fit. Every shop recognizes the need to properly size a bicycle to the customer, or get the customer to adapt to the bike. It seems that almost every shop now has an expert "fitter" and they advertise perfection to all their clients.
Bicycle fitting is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the industry. Since most of it relies on the experience and style of the fitter, or a set of equations defined by a fitting system, the results can vary drastically from shop to shop and from bike brand to bike brand.
Another reason that bike fits are so varied across the country is, bicycle fitting is not easy! It takes a very good knowledge of anatomy, kinesiology, physics, geometry and the ability to relate in 3D a person trying their best to adapt to a bike that they want to a manufactured product with many dimensional limitations.
The "Holy Grail" of bicycle retail is to get a fitting system that will work for all customers with equal accuracy as well as be usable by all employees. The major systems out in the universe as far as volume include the Serotta Fit system, Specialized fit system, WobbleNaught, Fit Kit, KGS Bikes and others. Various devices are used to capture the data or the motion or to measure people so calculations can be made and the "perfect" bike is chosen. Dartfish, RETUL, a plumb line and measuring tape, cross hair lasers, video, setup bikes, etc. are all tools to help the fitter do the best job possible.
Besides the difficulty of a even an experienced and proficient fitter to do a great job on a bike fit, there are different schools of thought regarding the fitting of a bicycle. WobbleNaught, for instance, applies an equation on a specific bicycle and your physical measurements to allow one to adapt as well as possible to any bike. If the bike is the wrong size, no matter. The system will produce a set of dimensions that should be attainable on almost any bike to some degree. The equation is based on a young professional bike racer profile.
Serotta’s fit system uses Knee Over Pedal Spindle to establish fore-aft positioning. KGS Bikes uses a balance point to achieve the optimum position, but due to differences in philosophy and end result, those positions will be totally different for the most part. RETUL is a motion capture device (not a fit system) that allows one to accurately determine angles such as knee angle, hip angle, etc. The capture device is incredibly accurate but is dependent on the external bony landmarks that sometimes do and sometimes do not correspond with the actual joint fulcrum point. This can cause variability.
Other reasons for variability are the bike shop's inventory combined with a customer's desire to get a bike when an emotional connection is made in the bike shop. People want "their" bike to fit because they want that bike. Sometimes they don’t really care how well it fits as long as the coolness factor is good enough. Also, the bike shop wants to help the customer adapt to a bike so they can make a sale and provide instant gratification for the customer.
There are also untold numbers of bikes that are entry level and less sophisticated fitting techniques are used, like standing over the bike to see if the top tube clears your crotch. My personal favorite system is what I tell people with a wry grin, "The perfect bike fit for most bike shops in the world is the one where the credit card clears!"
Because of the variability of expertise and philosophies in bike fitting, I offer one thought. If you "take ownership" of your bike position and make the bike fit you rather than the other way around, you then get to really enjoy the sport of bicycling. Don’t be afraid to listen to your body, either. You shouldn't have saddle problems, sore back, neck, shoulders or numb hands. You should be able to take your hands off the handlebars on a road bike and not feel like you are diving forward.
This is easier said than done. I believe that most people who say they are ok with their bike position have never experienced a truly comfortable bike position. The analogy would be similar to a first grader who couldn't see the board because she needed glasses, but didn't know the rest of her classmates could see, so didn’t think there was a problem!
Remember this when you think about the relationship between you, your bike, and your bike shop. Once you spend your money, you have to ride the bike. You can educate yourself for free and be an informed consumer and you may be amazed at how much better your cycling experience can be.
About the Author
KGS Bikes has earned the reputation of the world's premiere bicycle fitting studio and boutique. For over 25 years, Kevin Saunders, President, has sold high end bicycles and has studied bicycle fitting. KGS Bikes sells bicycles from Co-Motion Parlee, Serotta, Zinn, and Guru, in addition to fitting services. For more information visit the KGS Bikes blog, http://blog.kgsbikes.com and the KGS Bikes website, http://kgsbikes.com.
Switching from a road bike to a triathlon bike, should I expect to be in more or less discomfort?
I am Selling my Pinarello Galileo road bike and buying a Quintana Roo Seduza triathlon bike, I have never rode a triathlon bike and dont know if a couple hours or a hundred miles will make me not want to saddle up the next day to do it again...which is what I want to avoid. My Pinarello is aluminum, with alum forks, I ride that with mild discomfort, mostly in my hands and lower back (I know it is not set up correctly). The Seduza is carbon with carbon forks, but instead of regular handles there are aero bars.....anyway if anyone has spent much time on a road and a tri bike and know the difference please let me know.
Generally Tri Bikes are setup to cheat the wind with a better Aero dynamic position than a regular road bike- not neccassarily more comfortable.
Could be many things causing your discomfort - fatigue or improper fit are most likely.
As many miles as you are riding - you probably want carbon or titanium or steel frame ....to cut down on fatique (caused by stiffness of aluminum).
At this mileage a professional fitting - will make a big difference. Get this done before you buy a new bike...they will save your measurments.....and can adjust your current bike and a new one to fit.
A TRI bike will have a lower overall postions too and a greater angle bend of your back - in order to achive more aero positions. This could potentially cause even more lower back stress and some discomfort in your nether regions too.
You can buy aero bars for your pinarello - get some clip ons to test that thoery. More hand positions with less weight on hands may equal less pain/stress. You do loose some control with aero bars - so riding in a pack can be a challenge at first - so be careful.
You could also try a carbon seatpost and a better seat like the brooks someone else reccommended.
But ultimately pay for a real pro bike fit & you'll be faster and more comfortable.
Are you riding Tri's or in groups?
That should tell you the kind of bike you need.
First Edition Cycling News, Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Stage 16 was planned as a commemoration of the Tour de France's first excursion into the Pyrenees 100 years ago, crossing the Peyresourde, Aspin, Tourmalet and Aubisque passes just as the 1910 race had.
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