Need Some Bicycle Advice

[cabinetman]

"What are some of the newest innovations? Do they still have friction type brakes?"

There are actually lots of new innovations. You'll find shifting to be much more reliable. You can also get disc brakes. Discs are huge in our area because always work and don't require much service.

There are also a whole bunch of choices for those in the baby boomer age category. Lots of bikes with more upright posture, suspension, more humane saddles, etc.

You gotta find a shop and check out what they have!

Eddy

Humane saddle, I doubt it. I put a gel seat on my Peugeot and it was great for about 20 minutes. Disc brakes...cool. I'll probably get to a couple of stores this weekend if I'm lucky. I have to do some serious browsing.
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[Tom Slick]

big fat cushy seats are not actually more comfortable in the long run. some places actually have a fitting system that analyzes your "seat" now. a properly fit bike goes along way toward seat comfort.

This site has a lot of great info
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html

[andrew.r.w]

Excuse me, but could you actually tell us that don't know, WHAT is it? I never see recumbent bikes around here, and don't know brand a from zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Sorry .. it's a KMX Cobra. Look at WWW.KMXUS.COM for more info on it. Youtube has several viedos of the thing in action.

It is fast and stable. Downhill is a riot, and on level ground you can really get rolling. Going up hills is like a regular bike I find. No more sore neck, writsts, hands, or biscuits.

The big disadvantage is visibility, since it's only 24" high. Your head is at about 36 - 40" so pretty low for highway riding. Off road it's like a go kart.

You can use a BionX battery-powered rear wheel and it helps with the hills. It is a vey reasonable commuter kart for 10 - 20 km (roughly 6-12 miles).

[footprintsinconc]

well, i just got into biking aswell. after getting help in which direction i should go from people on this site, i ended up buying a used gary fisher bike. here is what my experience was and maybe of some help since i went through this recently.

currently, i was only going to be doing flat and some hilly terrain riding. some of it was going to be on the road and some off road. and getting sore from the seat was a big problem that i had with my current target bike. so i decided on getting a full suspension bike to help absorb as much of the bumps as possible.

the brands that i was told to look into were gray fisher & specialzed for the most part. i did look into the GT aswell. after some comparision, i noticed that you did need to spend about a $1000 to get into a bike that was light and had good componentary. anything less meant you got the lower end model, that was heavier and regular or just a hair better components (shifter, deraileurs, etc).

since this was going to be a big investment for me, and i needed to make sure i was going to be an avid rider before i invest a huge amount into the bike, i decided to buy a used but a brand name bike that was in decent condition.

i went to bikes stores around me and saw what was out there in terms of new bikes. saw what good components felt like, etc. then looked on line and then finally started looking at cragislist. that is where for $300 i got a used full suspension gary fisher with both road and off road tires (so that you can switch them out when ever you want) and with some necessary bike tools.

so i suggest you start by looking at the local bike stores, get familiar with what is out there. even rent a couple of bikes that you like to test them to see if that is what you want, then personally i suggest that you look at craigslist before you make a final purchase.

well that is my 2 cents.

happy hunting!

[Doug Jones]

For what its worth, I did buy mine online. A Douglas Fusion from Colorado Cyclist. I just didn't care for the brands and/ or prices that were being offered locally. I had the advantage of already knowing what size I needed so it was just a matter of ordering and waiting. I saved hundreds of dollars this way and I still get service from the LBS when needed.
If your handy with a wrench and understand basic tune-up skills, buying online is a good option.

[andrew.r.w]

... If you're handy with a wrench and understand basic tune-up skills, buying online is a good option.

I agree. Anyone who can set up a BT3k can assemble and service a bicycle. If you do the research, plan ahead, and know what you want, why not save a few hundred dollars and buy online?

With the money you save, buy yourself one of these:

http://www.bionx.ca/index.php?id=mai...ult&page_id=32

This kit weighs about 16 lb., but it pulls it's own weight plus yours. As you pedal it adds a proportional boost. Mostly you're riding but a long steep hill becomes level ground. Great for commuting as you arrive at work invigorated and fresh, but not sweating and needing a shower (provided you stick to the roads of course).

It costs about $0.03/charge plus groceries.