Help! Newcomer needs bike...

[[email protected]]

Hi all. I have limited experience with bikes and I'm a relatively slim
36 year old male.. from what I've read online I want/need a hybrid... I
live in Florida (double vs triple gears??) and I don't foresee doing
anything over 20 miles at this point, and honestly just tooling around
for 3 or 4 miles will be a great start (I'm a slim couch potato)...

I just want a decent, comfortable, bike that's "fun", good for fitness,
easy to handle on roads for a beginner and looks good. The bike shop
that I went to in Boynton Beach, FL (website www.bikeam.com) only had a
couple of Trek 7x00s and the Specialized Sirrus... I tenatively ordered
the Sirrus (basic model) in my 20" frame size, but I'm not excited
about the looks (dull gray) and I really think the 7.3 FX might be a
better bike...

Thoughts?

Cliff.

P.S. Previously owned a Cannondale T700 touring bike when I lived in
New York City... only put about 100 miles on that in five years... nice
bike but carrying it up and down five flights of stairs just to go
around in circles in central park was less than thrilling...

[bill]

wrote:
> Hi all. I have limited experience with bikes and I'm a relatively slim
> 36 year old male.. from what I've read online I want/need a hybrid... I
> live in Florida (double vs triple gears??) and I don't foresee doing
> anything over 20 miles at this point, and honestly just tooling around
> for 3 or 4 miles will be a great start (I'm a slim couch potato)...

Triple gears if they are available, not because I expect you to hit big
hills but sometimes it is possible to get tired enough that even an
overpass can be a pain. The third gear doesn't hurt to be there even if
you don't use it, but if you are a couch potato, slim or not, you may
find you get sore legs faster than you want to admit to yourself.
>
> I just want a decent, comfortable, bike that's "fun", good for fitness,
> easy to handle on roads for a beginner and looks good. The bike shop
> that I went to in Boynton Beach, FL (website www.bikeam.com) only had a
> couple of Trek 7x00s and the Specialized Sirrus... I tenatively ordered
> the Sirrus (basic model) in my 20" frame size, but I'm not excited
> about the looks (dull gray) and I really think the 7.3 FX might be a
> better bike...
>
> Thoughts?

Not everybody has to have a Trek. While I think it's great that they got
all the publicity from Lance Armstrong and the TdF wins, there are other
bikes out there.
>
> Cliff.
>
> P.S. Previously owned a Cannondale T700 touring bike when I lived in
> New York City... only put about 100 miles on that in five years... nice
> bike but carrying it up and down five flights of stairs just to go
> around in circles in central park was less than thrilling...
>
Get something with either an alloy or Aluminum frame (carbon if you have
$$$ to spare) and you will save about 15-20 pounds over a steel frame. A
700 might not be the ideal tire size for you if the roads are less than
ideal. 27"x1 3/8" might be a good general purpose bike to start with not
too much invested. Remember it's not the looks that count, it's the
riding and the health benefits. Try to get a bit more than 100 miles in
five years, more like that much per week and you will notice a change in
your health and stamina rather rapidly, since you are so young.



--
Bill (Sleepless biker) Baka

[Ozark Bicycle]

bill wrote:

<snipped>

> Get something with either an alloy or Aluminum frame (carbon if you have
> $$$ to spare) and you will save about 15-20 pounds over a steel frame.

Do tell where that 15-20 pounds comes from.

[DougC]

wrote:
> Hi all. I have limited experience with bikes and I'm a relatively slim
> 36 year old male.. from what I've read online I want/need a hybrid...
......
> I just want a decent, comfortable, bike that's "fun", good for fitness,
> easy to handle on roads for a beginner and looks good. .....
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Cliff.
>
I have a Rans Fusion, extremely comfortable and easy to ride. Feels like
a lowrider, except that it has /decent components/.
See the "Sport Series" at http://www.ransbikes.com/

Costs roughly $900 however.... That bikeamerica shop has "Sirrus" bikes
ranging from $500 to $2400, so I dunno how much you expected to spend.

There are other cheaper "relaxed frame geometry" bikes, but most of them
don't work nearly as well as what RANS is selling.... -And most of them
still use a regular "upright bicycle saddle", which is half the reason
that upright bikes hurt to ride.
[end]

[bill]

Ozark Bicycle wrote:
> bill wrote:
>
> <snipped>
>
>> Get something with either an alloy or Aluminum frame (carbon if you have
>> $$$ to spare) and you will save about 15-20 pounds over a steel frame.
>
> Do tell where that 15-20 pounds comes from.
>
I changed frames from my Mongoose with a worn out bottom bracket to an
Aluminum Pacific and when I first grabbed the bike I nearly heaved it
into the ceiling because I wasn't expecting that much weight difference,
even on a mountain bike. Of course it is lesson road bikes but I have an
old Motobecane 27" that is pretty heavy and a 700c Schwinn Super Sport
that is not state of the art light but irrelevant on a level road.
Anyone who thinks they need to shave pounds for a flat road bike has
totally got their head up their ass.

--
Bill (Sleepless biker) Baka

[Mike Causer]

On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:15:57 +0000, bill wrote:

> Get something with either an alloy or Aluminum frame (carbon if you have
> $$$ to spare) and you will save about 15-20 pounds over a steel frame.

Steel is an alloy of iron, so every steel bike is alloy framed.

Of my five bicycles the "aluminium" is the heaviest. It's also the
cheapest & nastiest, which might have something to do with the problem.
(I was given it -- everything I've bought with own money has been steel
:-)

Funny thing is that the steel-framed bikes mostly come with aluminium
components (the 1960's stuff excepted), but the aluminium-framed bike
comes with steel components and looses out overall.


Mike

[bill]

Mike Causer wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:15:57 +0000, bill wrote:
>
>> Get something with either an alloy or Aluminum frame (carbon if you have
>> $$$ to spare) and you will save about 15-20 pounds over a steel frame.
>
> Steel is an alloy of iron, so every steel bike is alloy framed.
>
> Of my five bicycles the "aluminium" is the heaviest. It's also the
> cheapest & nastiest, which might have something to do with the problem.
> (I was given it -- everything I've bought with own money has been steel
> :-)
>
> Funny thing is that the steel-framed bikes mostly come with aluminium
> components (the 1960's stuff excepted), but the aluminium-framed bike
> comes with steel components and looses out overall.
>
>
> Mike

Give them all the magnet test. I have some that I salvaged from dead
speakers, which turn out to be pretty strong, and some from old
microwave magnetrons, which are even stronger. If anything sticks, even
a little, there is iron in there somewhere. My Pacific MTB has some iron
screws and such but very little that a magnet will stick to, and even
with the large diameter tubes weighs a whole lot less than the 2 steel
framed MTB's I have.

--
Bill (Sleepless biker) Baka

[Capri]

wrote:
> Hi all. I have limited experience with bikes and I'm a relatively slim
> 36 year old male.. from what I've read online I want/need a hybrid... I
> live in Florida (double vs triple gears??) and I don't foresee doing
> anything over 20 miles at this point, and honestly just tooling around
> for 3 or 4 miles will be a great start (I'm a slim couch potato)...
>
> I just want a decent, comfortable, bike that's "fun", good for fitness,
> easy to handle on roads for a beginner and looks good. The bike shop
> that I went to in Boynton Beach, FL (website www.bikeam.com) only had a
> couple of Trek 7x00s and the Specialized Sirrus... I tenatively ordered
> the Sirrus (basic model) in my 20" frame size, but I'm not excited
> about the looks (dull gray) and I really think the 7.3 FX might be a
> better bike...
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Cliff.
>
> P.S. Previously owned a Cannondale T700 touring bike when I lived in
> New York City... only put about 100 miles on that in five years... nice
> bike but carrying it up and down five flights of stairs just to go
> around in circles in central park was less than thrilling...



Geez, You live here in Florida. You don't need no fancy MTB or 27spd
road bike to ride a few miles. Just get a beach cruiser with wide
tires, coaster brakes, a comfy saddle and a wire basket on the
handlebars, you're set.

[Smokey]

DougC wrote:
> wrote:
> > Hi all. I have limited experience with bikes and I'm a relatively slim
> > 36 year old male.. from what I've read online I want/need a hybrid...
> .....
> > I just want a decent, comfortable, bike that's "fun", good for fitness,
> > easy to handle on roads for a beginner and looks good. .....
> >
> > Thoughts?
> >
> > Cliff.
> >
> I have a Rans Fusion, extremely comfortable and easy to ride. Feels like
> a lowrider, except that it has /decent components/.
> See the "Sport Series" at http://www.ransbikes.com/
>
> Costs roughly $900 however.... That bikeamerica shop has "Sirrus" bikes
> ranging from $500 to $2400, so I dunno how much you expected to spend.
>
> There are other cheaper "relaxed frame geometry" bikes, but most of them
> don't work nearly as well as what RANS is selling.... -And most of them
> still use a regular "upright bicycle saddle", which is half the reason
> that upright bikes hurt to ride.
> [end]

I've got an upright bike that doesn't "hurt to ride". It was
professionally fitted and has a Brooks B-17 saddle. There are lots of
other riders that seem to do just fine on their diamond frame bikes.

Smokey