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Buying a Bike for the Holidays?

  • Ron 

With the holidays approaching rapidly, many people are looking at buying a bike as a gift for themselves or a loved one. Purchasing a new bike involves the consideration of a lot of factors – where you’ll ride, how often, fitness goals and more. While bicycles can be found as low as $200, you can easily spend up to five figures for a high end bike, making it an important investment. If you’re willing to invest that kind of money on a bicycle, you should make sure you get the best one for your needs.

The ‘best bike’ isn’t just about how much you pay for it. Whether you use it to go shopping or to do downhill mountain biking (or anything in between), you should choose a bike that will give you the best experience as well as keep you safe.

In terms of security, in order to keep yourself and your bicycle safe, you need to get it insured no matter what. An insurance policy can recover the money you invested into buying the bicycle if it somehow gets tampered with or if it gets stolen. If you don’t have it insured, you won’t get a replacement. There are plenty of options for insurance, making it easy to ensure that you are covered in almost any situation  that may arise.

As I’m sure you’ve seen, bicycles come in a wide range of purposes and capabilities. At the extreme edges of the bike market, there are featherweight road race bikes and extremely robust bikes built for downhill mountain biking. While there are always willing buyers for those types of bikes, it’s not what you’d ride to the park with the kids. Even a BMX/freestyle bicycle’s function will be different from that of a community bicycle. In order to understand the reason for making an informed decision about buying a bicycle at length, you can learn more here. 

Take the time to visit your local independent bicycle dealer and make sure to be properly fitted your bike. A bike that is too big or too small for the rider is one of the key reasons that bikes end up not being used. But for starters, here is a list of things you need to note before purchasing a bicycle for a particular reason:

Decide what you want based on where you’ll take it – Take a deep look at your cycling interests and how you’d like to use that first (or next) bike so that you make an informed decision about it. If you’ve not ridden in years, take a realistic view of how much riding you can do or plan to do. I see a lot of bikes on the used market where people didn’t realize the flexibility demands of a road-racing bike or didn’t have a sense of the demands of mountain biking. 

Know the different types of bikes – Knowing the categories and subcategories of bicycles will help you understand what kind will be suitable for your interests, which will let you cycle fast and which will increase the average speed. Here are the list of bicycles which are usually available in the market:

  1. Road Bikes – 
  • Racing Bikes – Race bikes are purpose built to go fast, but that speed comes at a cost. Skinny tires are fast, but do little to absorb road shock. Similarly, the rider’s position on the bike is focused mainly on speed and aerodynamic efficiency. 
  • Endurance Bikes – With slightly wider tires and a more relaxed riding position than a race bike, endurance bikes still allow you to go plenty fast with a little more comfort. You’ll even see the pros on endurance style bikes on long days in the Tour de France. 
  • Touring Bikes – Touring bikes allow even wider tires and the geometry of the bike frame is engineered with a focus on stability, strength and carrying heavier loads. 
  • Gravel or Adventure Bikes – A new and quickly growing segment in cycling, these versatile bikes have wider knobbier tires and lower bottom brackets that give them traction and stability on unpaved roads. They also can serve double duty as a touring bike or for commuting to work.
  1. Mountain bikes – 
  • Cross-country Bikes – Generally suited for singletrack or doubletrack dirt trails with moderate climbs and descents, XC bikes generally have a front suspension fork, but sometimes will be full suspension to give an enhanced experience  with an increased efficiency in climbing and descending. 
  • Trail/All-Mountain Bikes – Almost always equipped with longer travel full suspension, these bikes balance climbing efficiency with an increased ability to take on rougher or steeper terrain than is typically found on a cross country course.
  • Fat-tire Bikes – With tires that are 3 to 4 inches wide, fat bikes are great for cycling in sand or snow and definitely smooth out most rough terrain, but on smoother courses, the tires become less efficient. 
  • Downhill Bikes – Like the name says, these bikes are made for going downhill.  With slack geometry and suspension travel of up to 7 inches, they are poorly suited to climbing or flat trails but shine when pointed downhill on rough terrain.
  1. Fitness/Hybrid bicycles – 
  • Hybrid bicycles are what you would most commonly find at big box stores like Wal-Mart and Target. They are said to be part road bike and part mountain bike, but they are not really suited for either. Still, for getting around town in comfort or for moderate distances, hybrids are a great choice. They typically are equipped with moderately wide tires and a versatile gear range and are available at a wide range of prices.
  1. Kids bikes – 
  • Balance Bikes – With no pedals, balance bikes do just what they sound like – teach kids how to balance. They can scoot along using their legs to propel themselves and get a feel for how to balance and steer
  • BMX-style Bikes – One of the more popular styles for kids that you’ll find at the big box stores, these offer wide tires that will resist the impacts of curbs and other obstacles and get your kids to school or the park. If they are actually interested in racing or doing trick riding, be prepared to spend a little more for better quality and durability. 
  • Kid’s Mountain Bikes – Basically a scaled down version of an adult’s cross-country mountain bike. Avoid models with full suspension as they are more about ‘show’ than ‘go’.
  1. Specialty bikes – There is a reason why people settle for specialty bikes. It is a blend of all different bicycles. Examples: 
  • Folding Bikes – Great for commuters or those will little room to store a full-sized bike. 
  • Cargo Bikes – If you want to bring home as many groceries as you’d normally carry in the trunk of your car, you’re going to want a cargo bike. Some look decidedly unconventional, but they are designed to carry a big load without too much strain on the rider.  
  • Recumbent Bikes – Recumbent bikes are ‘sat in’ rather than ‘sat on’. They are great for those with back issues or balance problems and can be used around town, on paved trails or roads.
  • Tandem bikes – ‘A Bicycle Built for Two’. If you and your partner want to really ride together, a tandem is a great choice. 

After learning which type of bike you need to do which function, you need to consider the other factors which affect a purchase: 

  • Frame Material – Bicycle frames can generally be found in steel, aluminum and carbon fiber. Steel is generally though to be cheaper and heavier and aluminum lighter, but there are expensive, lightweight steel frames and cheap & heavy aluminum frames. 
  • Component Quality – The quality of the drivetrain components can drive up the price of a bicycle. Better quality components do cost more, but will generally pay benefits in lightness, shift quality and durability. 
  • Suspension – For our customers just starting out riding and looking for the best value in a bike, we generally advise looking for a bike without suspension (a front suspension fork or a rear shock). In lower end bicycles, suspension components are typically a compromise and do little to enhance ride quality (and are often like a pogo stick). In mountain bikes, front suspension is typically standard equipment, but as with components, quality, lightness and durability will increase if you spend a little more money. Full suspension is typically reserved for those that have put in the work and training to learn how to ride technical trails and are seeking comfort and efficiency.
  • Wheel Size – For adult bikes, the most common wheel sizes are. Now 27.5 inch (sometimes referred to as 650B) and 29 inch (or 700c). Wheel sizes for kids bikes go anywhere from 12 inches up to 27.5. Larger wheels are generally seen as more efficient and better at rolling over obstacles, they do increase the standover height of a bike at similar sizes.  
  • Brake Type – Your bicycle can either have rim brakes or the increasingly popular disc brakes. Properly adjusted rim brake work just find for most situations and are more cost efficient. Disc brakes, whether mechanical or hydraulic generally require very little maintenance once properly adjusted and continue to work well in all conditions, even with a bent rim. 

There are multiple other factors to consider the type of bike you are willing to buy. But keeping a note of the above stated points is definitely a good start. 

Tags: aerodynamic, aluminum, Bicycle frame, bicycles, carbon fiber, commuter, commuting, Components, cross country, Downhill mountain biking, efficiency, Hybrid bicycle, maintenance, mountain bikes, Ride quality, road bikes, Security, wheels, XC
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