Behold my new method of transportation: I still need to buy the cycling shoes and pedals, I'm going to wait to october probably, I need to get back on my feet from buying the bike. But I am very happy with it.
Behold my new method of transportation: I still need to buy the cycling shoes and pedals, I'm going to wait to october probably, I need to get back on my feet from buying the bike. But I am very happy with it.
I'm interested in starting to bike for fun and to get in better shape. The main problem is that, as a fat guy, I've never biked a day in my life. Any tips on what I should get and how I can get started?
I'm interested in starting to bike for fun and to get in better shape. The main problem is that, as a fat guy, I've never biked a day in my life. Any tips on what I should get and how I can get started?
Here's the best way to learn to bike as an adult. Get a bike. Take the pedals off. Just sit on it and roll. Try to roll as far as you can without falling over. Once you can roll pretty far, then you can put the pedals back on and try pedaling. You will need a pedal wrench.
I'm interested in starting to bike for fun and to get in better shape. The main problem is that, as a fat guy, I've never biked a day in my life. Any tips on what I should get and how I can get started?
Any cheap mountain bike will do as long as it has an aluminium frame (meaning it doesn't weigh a ton), if you are fat fat you want to change the saddle for something that will not kill your ass. Also if you are fat fat, don't get suspension as it will break and be expensive to service (just get a nice cushy saddle).
I'm interested in starting to bike for fun and to get in better shape. The main problem is that, as a fat guy, I've never biked a day in my life. Any tips on what I should get and how I can get started?
Any cheap mountain bike will do as long as it has an aluminium frame (meaning it doesn't weigh a ton), if you are fat fat you want to change the saddle for something that will not kill your ass. Also if you are fat fat, don't get suspension as it will break and be expensive to service (just get a nice cushy saddle). While lighter is definitely better, I think a steel frame is just fine for most people's uses. I think I'll take my bike to be repaired this month, since I have some extra money and things are probably slow for them.
I'm interested in starting to bike for fun and to get in better shape. The main problem is that, as a fat guy, I've never biked a day in my life. Any tips on what I should get and how I can get started?
Any cheap mountain bike will do as long as it has an aluminium frame (meaning it doesn't weigh a ton), if you are fat fat you want to change the saddle for something that will not kill your ass. Also if you are fat fat, don't get suspension as it will break and be expensive to service (just get a nice cushy saddle).
While lighter is definitely better, I think a steel frame is just fine for most people's uses. I think I'll take my bike to be repaired this month, since I have some extra money and things are probably slow for them. If all you do is ride around your neighborhood or in your driveway. Carbon is ridiculously expensive, but aluminum frames these days are not. There are almost no reasons not to at least get an aluminium frame.
People in general keep saying things about bikes such as:
You don't need lighter than a steel frame. You don't need real gears. You don't need real brakes. etc.
Anyone who says any of those things, go buy a car without power steering. You don't need it.
/drops mic
Well I don't need power steering, but they don't make them that way in the US so it is forced upon me. Also don't you say that when you're first getting into something you should buy the shittiest, cheapest thing until you're proficient and then you'll know what you really need and don't need.
I ride a steel-frame hardtail. The weight doesn't bother me, because my bike is a fill-in vehicle for the gap between The Mighty Van and Walking - Say, if I'm going into the city, I may park just outside the city at a friend's place, and then bike in the last short distance. And as a bonus, in case of any bends or breaks, it's one that I can trivially repair with the tools I have to hand, unlike an aluminum frame.
And even if I need to carry it around for some unlikely reason, in a way that isn't "Throw it in the back of the van", it's not like lugging around five or six kilos of weight for a few klicks is going to bother me at all. That, and the cheapest road bike around here with an alloy - not even Aluminium, just alloy - that's even worth looking at is around the $1000 mark(not that you'll find a huge selection below that either way), so fuck that. I've got better things to spend money on than an intermediate mode of transport.
Anyone who says any of those things, go buy a car without power steering. You don't need it./drops mic
I do have a car without power steering. In fact, the majority of cars I've owned haven't had power steering. If you think you need power steering, then thank fuck you ride a bike, because you sure as fuck shouldn't be driving.
Driving without power steering is a pain in the ass. Sure, I -can- do it, but why would I want to? I just makes the experience less pleasant (for city/highway/regular driving).
Driving without power steering is a pain in the ass. Sure, I -can- do it, but why would I want to? I just makes the experience less pleasant (for city/highway/regular driving).
It's just annoying when you're parking. When the car is rolling it's not that hard to turn, I'd rather not have the complexity. I prefer the new electric power steering on my Mazda to older hydraulic one cause there's less shit to break on it.
I'm predictably in a similar mind as George on that one. I don't mind the complexity so much(though I acknowledge that it can cause problems at times, you think having no power steering is a pain, wait till you drive a car with power steering, but a broken steering pump) but really, not having it doesn't bother me in the slightest for about the same reason - it's not like it's hard to turn, unless you're going real slow(and even then, not terribly hard), which is a tiny fraction of the time that you're driving.
Also, my city is roughly seven times the size of New York, and five times the size of Los Angeles. So, yeah, no matter how super awesome the bike is, I'm still driving and it will remain an occasional use intermediate mode of transport, because I like to arrive at places I go regularly without a travel times of multiple hours. Unless I decide to take public transport with my bike...In which case, it would be cheaper to drive.
That's something I was used to on a mountain bike, but I didn't expect it to be so common a problem on a road bike. My rate of spoke loss seems already higher now than it ever was mountain biking.
I believe the difference is the lack of suspension, higher speeds, and harder, thinner tires.
Also noteworthy: truing after replacing a spoke matters a million times more with a large diameter road bike wheel than it does with a big fat steel mountain bike wheel.
Bike repair is one of those things where all of the individual actions are simple, quick, and easy, ASSUMING you have:
1. Expertise 2. Equipment 3. Space
So, while it would take me 15 minutes to replace a spoke were I living somewhere with a garage and a bike lift/wheel true, it would take me a good hour with what I have currently available to me. If I didn't know how to replace a spoke and true a rym, it would probably take two or more hours.
So yeah, I take my bike to shops to get almost all work, even minor work, done.
I looked back through this thread to find a picture of my current bike when it was new. But my bike is older than this thread.
Anyway, the other day someone mentioned my "new bike" and I had to explain it was four years old. They couldn't believe it, as it still looks as good as new. Of course it does, I thought, because I look after it and keep it well serviced. I know most people don't. Then again, if you buy bikes cheap enough and just replace them when it finally breaks, it would cost about as much as my bike was new plus the 40-50€ per year I spend on upkeep. Or maybe cheaper.
Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano_Pedaling_Dynamics
I still need to buy the cycling shoes and pedals, I'm going to wait to october probably, I need to get back on my feet from buying the bike. But I am very happy with it.
In other news, I have learned today that Citibikes are fucking champs in the snow.
While lighter is definitely better, I think a steel frame is just fine for most people's uses. I think I'll take my bike to be repaired this month, since I have some extra money and things are probably slow for them.
I'm not saying seek out steel, but I'd just buy a used bike and not sweat what it's made of. If it's aluminum, great. If it's steel, no big deal.
You don't need lighter than a steel frame.
You don't need real gears.
You don't need real brakes.
etc.
Anyone who says any of those things, go buy a car without power steering. You don't need it.
/drops mic
And even if I need to carry it around for some unlikely reason, in a way that isn't "Throw it in the back of the van", it's not like lugging around five or six kilos of weight for a few klicks is going to bother me at all. That, and the cheapest road bike around here with an alloy - not even Aluminium, just alloy - that's even worth looking at is around the $1000 mark(not that you'll find a huge selection below that either way), so fuck that. I've got better things to spend money on than an intermediate mode of transport. I do have a car without power steering. In fact, the majority of cars I've owned haven't had power steering. If you think you need power steering, then thank fuck you ride a bike, because you sure as fuck shouldn't be driving.
Me: Get this better bike
Person: No, I'll use this much shittier bike that's fine: I don't bike much.
-person doesn't bike much, because biking sucks-
Me: OK, get this better bike I'm not even kidding.
Peron: FINE....
-person starts biking all the time because now biking is super awesome-
Also, my city is roughly seven times the size of New York, and five times the size of Los Angeles. So, yeah, no matter how super awesome the bike is, I'm still driving and it will remain an occasional use intermediate mode of transport, because I like to arrive at places I go regularly without a travel times of multiple hours. Unless I decide to take public transport with my bike...In which case, it would be cheaper to drive.
That's something I was used to on a mountain bike, but I didn't expect it to be so common a problem on a road bike. My rate of spoke loss seems already higher now than it ever was mountain biking.
I believe the difference is the lack of suspension, higher speeds, and harder, thinner tires.
Also noteworthy: truing after replacing a spoke matters a million times more with a large diameter road bike wheel than it does with a big fat steel mountain bike wheel.
1. Expertise
2. Equipment
3. Space
So, while it would take me 15 minutes to replace a spoke were I living somewhere with a garage and a bike lift/wheel true, it would take me a good hour with what I have currently available to me. If I didn't know how to replace a spoke and true a rym, it would probably take two or more hours.
So yeah, I take my bike to shops to get almost all work, even minor work, done.
Anyway, the other day someone mentioned my "new bike" and I had to explain it was four years old. They couldn't believe it, as it still looks as good as new. Of course it does, I thought, because I look after it and keep it well serviced. I know most people don't. Then again, if you buy bikes cheap enough and just replace them when it finally breaks, it would cost about as much as my bike was new plus the 40-50€ per year I spend on upkeep. Or maybe cheaper.