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Choice of bicycles
Hi everyone--
I've been a recreational bicyclist for most of my 48 years. When I was 18, I bought a Peugeot UO-8, which I used for commuting 4-10 miles/day and for vacations (cycling around europe one summer, cycling down the east coast). After many thousands of miles of riding, I ended up only being able to ride occasionally for the last 12 years due to work. However, now I'm able to pick it up again. Since the frame of the Peugeot was bent, and all the components needed to be replaced, my SO decided to give me a new bicycle. I thought, based on discussions with friends etc, that I'd like a hybrid, so after discussions with our locatl bike store and after reading posts in this group, we got a Trek Navigator 300, which is comfortable to ride, but I felt that it was pretty clunky, even compared to the Peugeot. Anyway, my SO didn't have a bicycle, so he started riding the Trek, and I borrowed a bicycle from my neighbor (a Bianchi bicycle that has skinny tires and fancy components). The seat was painful, so I switched seats, and the current seat is more comfortable. However, neither the Bianchi nor the Trek feels comfortable like my Peugeot did. The Trek feels too heavy and I don't like to be that upright, and the Bianchi feels too fragile and unstable and it feels like too much lean. Anyway, I don't know if my problem is that I'm just getting too old or if I'm being too picky, but it seems like riding should be more comfortable. I don't have the Peugeot to do a comparison, so I'm not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions? Should a racing type bike feel like a touring bike except lighter? Any comments would be appreciated. |
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Choice of bicycles
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Choice of bicycles
EBL wrote:
: Anyway, I don't know if my problem is that I'm just getting too old or : if I'm being too picky, but it seems like riding should be more : comfortable. It doesn't sound like you're too old, you just have a refined taste. Some people complain of aches and stuff and go to recumbents when they get old, but your thing sounds more like a quest for the right thing among upright bicycles. : I don't have the Peugeot to do a comparison, so I'm not : sure how to proceed. Any suggestions? Should a racing type bike feel : like a touring bike except lighter? Any comments would be : appreciated. Maybe you can walk to the local bike shop, possibly talk your ideas through with them and definitely take a few bikes to a test ride? -- Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html varis at no spam please iki fi |
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Choice of bicycles
Anyway, I don't know if my problem is that I'm just getting too old or
if I'm being too picky, but it seems like riding should be more comfortable. The frame geometry of those old French 'sport touring' bikes is hard to beat for a good all around lightweight bike. You aren't just being picky, they still ride well. I would have to agree with the above. Most "racing bikes" sold for the US market are made for criteriums. You want fast turning and a really stiff bike for fast acceleration but you pay for it by paying in comfort. Now, you can get bikes whose geometry is more towards comfort - slightly longer wheel base and slightly more relaxed angles, but you have to poke around some. I believe the "Lemond" bikes tend to be this way, but I am not sure. You would get this with a touring bike, but that is going just a bit far and those bikes are made for handling well with fully loaded panniers and that is not really what you want. Thing was is your old bike was probably set up with that old european racing geometry which maximized comfort with very little compromise in performance. So it is a tough comparison. Most riders now seem to want comfort, comfort, comfort and hang performance. Or they want performance and could care about comfort. |
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Choice of bicycles
"EBL" wrote in message
om... Hi everyone-- I've been a recreational bicyclist for most of my 48 years. When I was 18, I bought a Peugeot UO-8, which I used for commuting 4-10 miles/day and for vacations (cycling around europe one summer, cycling snip You want to look at a bicycle with a more relaxed geometry. Unfortunately most bicycle manufacturers are tending toward "compact" geometry, since it is less costly to manufacture. This has put the more traditional bikes into the exotic category and upped the entry level price point considerably. The trend toward threadless headsets also makes bikes less comfortable, though the Trek Navigator 300 still uses a threaded headset. Something like the Rivendell Romulus would be good. http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/htm...lusframes.html The Kettler Traveller is also a good bike if you want a hybrid style: http://www.kettler.net/index.cfm?uui...BEDC98&po stm an=a&o_lang_id=2 You can also find used bikes that will fit the bill. |
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