May 5th, 2006 - Simply bikes
My brother asked me to give him some tips on bike-buying. I decided to post them here instead of emailing him. (Then he went and called me anyway so I told him all of this over the phone this morning.) Two summers ago, Eric and I bought bikes. We went looking for him and then I found a cute 1 speed with foot brakes. I fell in love. (It actually has snowflakes on it! And we bought a bell, too. It could only be better if it were green.) And this morning, I rode to work for the first time since last Sept (when I injured my knee riding home).
My tips and ideas
* Shop at thrift stores. For starters, you might buy the wrong bike the first time. 10 years ago, I bought a $350 mountain bike with great ideas of biking to campus and around town. I rode it less 100 miles in the 8 years I owned it. I never rode it here in WI although I moved it twice. The problem? The bike was too big for me and I don’t like hand brakes. I sure wish I’d learned this with a $15 thrift store bike instead. Although I love my current bike, I easily could have found an old 1-speed much cheaper at the thrift store. But I didn’t even think of it when we were at the bike store. If you find you love the bike style and it’s falling apart, you can always spend $350 later on (and maybe find it on sale instead). Better to have learned (good or bad) on a $15 bike than wasting $350.
* Fenders are a good buy. I’d add them to a thrift store bike, too. If you ever plan to bike to/from work, they are great in the rain. Even if you plan to never ride in the rain, you never know what might happen! (Nylon pants would be good, too, for those times. I haven’t bought any however.) My fenders were a pain to install. I wish we’d paid the pros at the shop to do it.
* Kickstands are great. Eric and I both have them. They are mostly used in the garage, but are also handy the couple times we’ve gone to the grocery store, which doesn’t have bike racks. My new dentist doesn’t have them either so they’ll be handy once or twice a year there, too. :) [We intentially chose a dentist who is close to work/home this time. The round trip from home will probably be a 10-minute ride, but it’s also close enough to walk. Our prior dentist was a long bike ride, and not a walk at all.]
* A good lock goes without saying. I have a Kryptonite U-Lok that has worked well since I had the first mountain bike. However, due to the bike’s design, I can’t have both it and a water bottle holder. I don’t need the water to/from work, so I got an over-the-shoulder water carrier which has worked nicely on longer trips. [Not many. I’m not a good biker. And it’s only a 1-speed afterall. I’ve never been out more than an hour. If even that.]
I’m sure I said more to Michael on the phone but that’s all I remember for now!