BUYING A GENERAL PURPOSE BIKE ============================= Increasingly friends ask me for advice on buying a bike, which is great because a) it shows that more people are getting interested and b) I love to talk about bikes. This pages summarizes the basics of my thoughts on buying a general purpose bike. By this, I mean a bike that is capable of, running errands around town, commuting every day, and going out for day ride on bike paths or dirt roads. For those who are more ambitious, a general purpose bike should be fast enough to go out for fitness riding on a regular basis and comfortable and stable enough to load up and take on an overnight tour to the Cape. If you are looking for advice on a dedicated off-road mountain bike, you're talking to the wrong person. I know nothing about mountain biking. If you are looking for advice on a bike to ride in competitive road events, triathalons or riding for fitness, then read this first and then lets talk. I do know a fair amount about racing bikes and you *may* want a modern racing bike and you may not. Just know this from the start, I think modern racing bikes are horrible. They're overly specialized and over hyped and I just hate to see friends riding them. In almost all cases you will be happier riding something other than a racing bike, even if you plan on training and riding in triathalons. Beyond these two extremes are bikes for the rest of us. There are two major decisions you need to make: Q1 - What style of handlebars do you want? Q2 - Do you want a new or used bike? Based on these two decisions, there will be a variety of bikes to consider. I'll try to give to you the short version first, with more details following. HANDLEBARS ----------- Road bars are the ones that you see on racing bikes or old "10-speed" bikes. They curve down like ram's horns. Flat bars are the ones you see on mountain bikes and hybrids. Here's the basic trade off. Road bars are more comfortable and more effecient for riding longer distances, which is why the vast majority of distance or fitness riders end up riding bikes with road bars. But, they require a higher level of bike handling skills. Flat bars offer the best forward visibility and the best control, which is why off road mountain bikes use them. This is why they are also on hybrids that are targetted to more casual riders who ride less often. While flat bars are the most confidence inspiring, they become less comfortable as you begin to ride for an hour or more at a time. If you are unsure which type of handlebar to get, go a bike shop and test ride several bikes. Just tell the shop you are unsure what kind of bike you are looking for and visit 3 or 4 shops. Most people know pretty quickly if they hate road bars are not. If you hate them right away, get a bike with flat bars. It will be more fun. One word of warning about flat bars... I have a few friends who've purchased flat bar road bikes and after a few years of riding off and on, they've started to fall in love with riding and they find themselves going on longer rides than they ever dreamed of before. As this happens, they've become less enchanted with their flat bars and have asked me about converting their bikes to use road bars. It turns out that its both expensive and generally not the best idea as the bike really isn't designed for such bars and the handling isn't perfect when you're done. My advice here is to enjoy the flat bared bike that led you to a love of riding and to just get a new bike with road bars. The flat bar bike did it's job and you can keep it and continue to use it as your errand bike. Had you purchased a bike with road bars, you might not have fallen in love with riding. I've seen this happen a lot too. NEW VS. RESTORED ---------------- The decision between new and used bikes is mostly driven by cost, but it also depends on how you feel about "things", what kind of bike you want and how you plan on using it. A good, well serviced used bike will be just as dependable as a new one. Very little on a bike other than the wheels wear out. But, if a used bike makes you nervous, a new bike is the way to go. On the other hand, if you plan on using the bike for commuting or utility riding, your new bike is going to get scratched up anyway, so you might as well get a used one. Also, there is a bit of a difference of the kinds of bikes that are available new versus those that are available used. If we determine you are looking for a certain kind of bike, that might force us to look new or used. Here is the basic break-out... ROAD BARS / NEW --------------- Your best bet here is to get a loaded touring bike. Expect to pay between $800 and $2000. These bikes are the most versatile road bikes on the market today. But, their frames are made to withstand the rigors of loaded touring, and they ride a bit stiff for fast fitness riding. Still, they are very fast and efficient and you do any sort of riding on them. Examples of touring bikes include: + Trek 520 + Jamis Aurora <- recommended + Surly Long-Haul Trucker + Fuji Touring + Novarra (REI) Randonnee If you feel the need for speed (like I do), then your best bet is what we used to call a sport touring or light touring bike. These bikes will use wider tires like a touring bike but are made to be light and fast like a racing bike. This style of bike is only now returning to new market and are very hard to find new. There are loads of them on the used market and if this type of bike sounds right, we may have to go used. Expect to pay between $1000 and $3000 for this kind of bike if buying new. New examples of sport touring, or light touring bikes include: + Raleigh Clubman + Salsa Cassaroll + Rivendell Sam Hillborne <- recommended + Rivendell A. Homer Hilson Another style of road bike to consider are called Cyclocross bikes, or more commonly, just cross bikes. Cyclocross is a form of racing that is done half on the road and half off road. In general, I don't recommend cross bikes because their racing orientation makes them less useful as all 'rounders. But, some are better than others and occasionally you get good deals on them. Expect to pay between $800 and $2000 new. A few cross bikes that I feel comfortable recommending: + Bianchi Volpe <- recommended, sold as a touring bike + Surly Cross Check + Specialized Tri-Cross FLAT BARS / NEW --------------- I've given up trying to track the names that companies use to describe the bikes they sell with flat bars. "Mountain bike" can either mean a hyper expensive off-road racing machine or a basic utility bike. The terms "hybrid" and "comfort" can mean really just about anything, one year to the next. Of all the terms, "commuter" is the most stable, as it generally means the bike is sold with fenders and a rear rack, but then again, there are all sorts of bikes that fit that description. In my opinion, only thing that really matters here is how high the handlebars are. Racing MTBs will put the bars at or below your saddle height. Don't buy these. Most hybrids, normal MTBs and commuter bikes will put your bars at or just above saddle height. And most comfort bikes will put your bars 3" or more above saddle height. Test ride, test ride, test ride. The higher your bars are, the easier it is to see in front of you and to steer but the less efficient your body will. Rental bikes are almost always high barred comfort bikes since they need to work for anybody. But, they won't let you ride fast or efficiently. I would not worry about wheel size. You will see both 26" wheels (also called mountain bike wheels) and 700C wheels (sometimes called 28" wheels at Walmart or Target). Generally speaking, 26" are more rugged and 700C is faster and smoother. But buy a flat barred bike based on fit and features, not wheel size. Expect to pay $400 - $1000 for a new flat bar bike. Names and models change all the time. Here are few to look for, just to get an idea of the wide range of bikes that are out there. I have no specific recommendations to make. Look them over and start asking me questions based on what you see and we can talk more. Examples of flat-bar bikes: + Trek FX + Fuji Absolute + Breezer (pretty much any model) + Bianch Milano (stylin'!) + Rivendell Atlantis ROAD BAR / USED --------------- The best choice for a used road bike is to look for an 1980s vintage sport touring bike. These bikes have long wheelbases and will accept wider tires and ride wonderfully. They were also very common back in the day, so there are a good number of them on the used market. Used bikes typically need some new parts and need to to be fixed up. Assuming that the frame is not damaged, a used sport touring bike will ride and perform as good or better than some new bikes that cost over $1000. There are 2 things that can drive the price of the used bike up. First, if the wheels need to be replaced, then expect to pay around $100 for new wheels. Second, if the bike doesn't have indexed (clicks into gear) shifting and you really want that, expect to pay $100 to $150 for an upgrade. For planning purposes, I advise expecting to spend about $300 to get a decent road bike on the road this way. That could mean paying $300 for a good used bike (top dollar) or it could mean paying $100 for a diamond in the rough and spending $200 fixing it up. Again, add a bit more to this if you insist on indexed (click- click) gearing. Depending on how much do to the bike, you could easily spend up to $1000 on upgrades and could easily end up with a bike that would cost $2000 new. Occasionally you can find dedicated touring bikes on the used market. These are often newer and can easily fetch well over $500 used, depending on the condition. Cross bikes show up used only rarely. If we stumble across that, that's fine. But I wouldn't advise hunting for one specifically. Please note that buying a used bike take time and committment (aka hassle). If you want simple and fast, you should look for a new bike from a shop. To a large extent, that's what you are paying for - convenience and service. FLAT BAR / USED --------------- The best choice for a used bike with flat bars is a steel "rigid" mountain bike from the late 80s or 90s. These bikes are very durable and there were lots of them sold, so there are plenty on the market. Most of these bikes will already have indexed shifting and most will only need a tire change and a tune up to be servicable. By "rigid", I mean mountain bikes that have no shock absorbers either in the front or the rear. I can not advise buying a used bike with shock absorbers of any kind due to maintenance complications. Finding a 700C wheeled hybrid on the used market is hard to plan for. These bikes are newer and were sold in fewer numbers compared to sport touring bikes and rigid mountain bikes. Generally, when you do see them it is in the context of "moving, must sell immediately" type of adds. FINDING A USED BIKE OR THE HASSLE OF THE HUNT --------------------------------------------- If you're reading this article, there's a good chance I've offered to help you find a bike. I love to find used bikes but I'm nuts. You should know that hunting for a decent used bike amid all the junk that is out there requires some patience and energy, which can either be a fun hunt or a hassle. Here's the rough sketch of how it will play out. The first thing we'll need to settle on is what kind of bike we're looking for (above) and what size frame we're looking for (more on that in a minute). Once we know what we're looking for, we'll both start watchin the local craigslist listings and want adds. We'll both do some emailing and phone calls with potential buyers and when we find a potential bike, we'll pretty much need to strike quickly. Bikes tend to go in a week. What this means is that you need to have a stack of cash in hand and we'll need to drive somewhere (usually afterwork) to look at the bike. In nearly all cases, the bike will look a lot worse in person. I quickly be able to tell if its something we can work with or not. I would expect that it will take 3 visits before finding a suitable bike and we should only drive to see one if you are willing to not buy it that night. In terms of fit, I've been selling, riding and working on bikes for over 30 years. This is the best article I've seen on choosing a bike size and I agree with everything in it. You will not hear this from most bikes stores, so I strongly suggest reading this, even if you want to buy new. http://www.rivbike.com/article/bike_fit/choosing_a_frame_size Once you've read this, you should be able to tell me your PBH and the size of the frame we're looking for. SOME IMPORTANT DON'TS OF BIKE BUYING ------------------------------------- + DON'T BUY A BIKE FROM A DISCOUNT STORE LIKE WALMART OR TARGET - They are junk and put together by untrained workers - Expect to spend at least $75 on a good tune up + DON'T BUY ANY BIKE WITH SHOCK ABSORBERS - Avoid rear shocks absolutely and with no exceptions - Beginner riders may like the smooth ride of front shocks but they suck away energy as you get better. I advise against them. + DON'T BUY A ROAD BIKE WITH SIDE PULL BRAKES - These will limit you to skinny racing tires which are harsh and slow (not fast) - There are rare exceptions. If you think you want a bike like this, let's talk more. + DON'T BUY A RACING BIKE OF ANY KIND - They are horrible, super-specialized tools for racing and racing only. - A well set up touring or sport touring bike will get you from point A to point B faster than a racing bike. If this shocks you, we can talk more. + DON'T BUY A BIKE WITH KNOBBIE TIRES - They give horrible traction on pavement - They suck away energy - They are unneeded for traction on dirt roads and bike paths - Expect a $50 upgrade to replace tires + DON'T BUY A BIKE WITH DISK BRAKES - Disk brakes don't solve any real problems, despite the hype the sales guy is saying + DON'T BUY A BIKE WITH A CARBON FORK - They break and when they do, they break catastrophically - They don't offer any noticeable weight or comfort advantages over comparable quality steel forks [An aside on the important issue of the emotional aspect of bike buying... Skinny tires on race bikes, knobby tires and disk brakes all sell like hotcakes and they sell for a reason - they appeal to our emotions. Knobbie tires say "I'm tough and can take on anything" in the same way that a Hummer does. Skinny race tires say "I'm fit and value performance" in the same way that running shoes do. Disk brakes say "I value technical advances" in the same way that lots of consumer gadgets do. In terms of general bike riding, skinny tires, knobbie tires and disk brakes create problems instead of solving them.] A WORD ON TIRES --------------- The tires I recommend for nearly all bikes and all applications is the Panaracer (Panasonic) Pasela. If your bike has 700C wheels, get the 700x32mm for most riding or the 700x35mm for more comfort on rough roads. If you have 26" wheels, get the 26x1.75 size (the 26x1.5 size will do if you can't find the 26x1.75s). These tires are widely available at many bike stores or online. Expect to pay around $25 per tire at a local bike shop, or around $20 plus shipping online. If your bike comes with knobbie tires, I strongly recommend upgrading to Paselas immediately. Do not inflate them to highest pressure. For 700c tires, a good safe target is around 70 psi for people under 190lbs. Over 190lbs should use an inflation of 80psi. Under 160lbs, should use 60psi. Subtract 10 pounds or so for 26" wheels. If you get flats and hit curbs and pot holes with regularity, then ignore this and pump up your tires to a harsh 90psi until you learn to avoid pot holes. A WORD ON ACCESSORIES --------------------- Expect to pay around $100 on some accessories. The most important is a good floor pump. Leave it in the place that you store your bike so you can easily pump up the tires. Tires loose air slowly and need to be topped of every 2 weeks. Lights are very important as are helmets. If you plan on carrying things, you can get by with a backpack, which is fine in the city. But, many folks end up with a rack or basket of some sort.