usadaca@uiucuxc.UUCP (08/24/84)
#N:uiucuxc:26700010:000:1524 uiucuxc!usadaca Aug 24 13:10:00 1984 does anyone have recommendations, experience or other seriously helful hints for a real novice who desires to get into biking...purely recreational. like, what are good bikes to buy? 10 speed? 12 speed? 15 speed? my wife and i are seriously considering biking to and from our respective work sites during the more clement months here in cemtral indiana. and yes, we are both out of shape and somewhat overweight. aa doctor friend who is a real cycling nut, but is on sabbatical somewhere in new guinea, has urged us to take up cycling as a way to increased healtiness...but, he is not available for advice for at least the next year...we plan on surprising him when he gets back by taking him for a scenic ride on the back roads of hoosier-land. since we are both admittedly overweight, and the normal biker appears to us to be about 19 and weigh in at about 120 lbs, and the bike looks like its made of rather unsubstantial stuff...what about weigt capacities? can these things really carry persons who tend more towards the 200 lb range? what about those skinny little tires? how prone are they to flats, bending, mosalignment and other conditions that would tend to strand one in the middle of the toollies? and seats...really, now, are they designed for comfort or for increasing the profits of the preparation H people? please, if you reply to this, be kind. as one other netter has put it... we all started with training wheels...to which i might add some of us just started later that others! thnx in advance!
reid@Cascade.ARPA (08/31/84)
"Bicyling" magazine is in large part devoted to helping people learn what bicycle to buy. I recommend strongly that you buy it at your local news-stand and read it, just to see the ads. The latest version reviews so-called "city bikes", which are probably too pricey for you. In the interim, here are some specific answers to your questions. >what are good bikes to buy? 10 speed? 12 speed? 15 speed? Unless you are going to race, climb mountains, or go on camping trips with 50 pounds of gear in panniers, then 10 speeds are plenty. Though it might sound like heresy, I think that 3 speeds are plenty for commuting to work in central Indiana. >since we are both admittedly overweight, and the normal biker appears >to us to be about 19 and weigh in at about 120 lbs, and the bike looks >like its made of rather unsubstantial stuff...what about weigt capacities? >can these things really carry persons who tend more towards the 200 lb >range?; I am 6'5" and I weigh 250 pounds. I own 9 bicycles. All of them are more than strong enough to hold me, though the frame flexes a little more as I crank up hills than it would if someone smaller were riding it. Weight of the rider is just not a problem. >what about those skinny little tires? how prone are they to flats, bending, >mosalignment and other conditions that would tend to strand one in the >middle of the toollies? Well, the really skinny little tires (tubulars) are amazingly prone to flats, but you are probably only talking about the ordinary skinny tires (1 inch wide) or the not-so-skinny skinny tires (1.25 inches wide). Most bikes in your probable price range are sold with pretty good tires. I so enjoy the ride of the ultraskinny tires that I am willing to suffer through the pain of changing flats a lot, but if I switched for a pair of, say, Specialized Touring-X 27 x 32 (my favorite indestructible tire) and put a thorn-proof tube inside it, it would last me several years. Any reputable bike shop will be happy to put the tires of your choice on a bike you buy from them; this is one of the reasons you should buy a bike at a bike shop and not at a department store. Although you said "tires", you are also asking about wheels. A bicycle wheel is an unbelievably strong mechanism when treated properly; a correctly-adjusted aluminum "racing" wheel can support about 900 pounds. If you weigh 200 pounds and ride your bike down a staircase, you will be subjecting the wheel to a lot more than 900 pounds of force, but if you stay on roads, don't hit too many potholes, and learn to steer around road hazards, your wheels will last a long time. A wheel has to be amazingly far out of round before you can't ride it any more; it is almost impossible to get a properly-made wheel to break or bend badly without pushing on it sideways or drivng a car over it. >and seats...really, now, are they designed for comfort or for increasing >the profits of the preparation H people? The narrow seats that you talk about are designed to minimize chafing between the seat and your thighs. There exist plenty of wider and differently-shaped seats for people who want more support. I recommend the "Selle Royale" and "Avocet Touring II" seats. Avocet also makes a women's model, with the support points spaced farther apart to match the different shape of the female pelvic bones. Now, about bikes: the competition in low-price bicycles (under $300, say) is so fierce that almost all of the brands are pretty much equivalent. Look for a bike with aluminum wheels (steel wheels will not stop in the rain). If you intend to put your bike into the trunk of a car, look for a quick-release front wheel. Above all, make sure you buy a bike in a size that fits you. If it doesn't fit you it won't feel good and you won't ride it and you won't get any exercise. Brian Reid Stanford
norm@randvax.UUCP (Norm Shapiro) (09/01/84)
Before addressing your questions, let me introduce myself by way of
qualifiying myself.
I am often grossly obese (I sometimes weigh over 270 pounds and am about 70
inches tall) and led a totally sedentary life until I discovered bicycles
about 15 years ago, when I was in my late thirties. Bicycling has now
become a very important and indespensible part of my life. Biking is
almost my sole means of transportation, a way to combat depression and
anxiety, and the best inhibiter of compulsive overeating I have known. I
have never used illegal drugs, but I find it hard to imagine a better way
of experiencing the "high" I get when I top off a 2000 foot climb. I ride
from 10,000 to 20,000 miles a year, mostly in the hills, valleys and
mountains of Southern California. I do not drive a car, except when I am
too ill to bike or am on an out-of-town business trip. (I have never gotten
much into taking a bike on air airlines, but I probably should). I get my
best ideas, and think most clearly on a bicycle. I am not a novice now,
but was once very much one.
Any advice, I or anyone else, can give you about bicycling is bound to
be contraversial -- this is a subject about which there is little
unanimity -- but here goes.
1. Get a 10 speed bike, with drop bars, steel rims, clincher tires,
caliper brakes, and a narrow, hard saddle. Pay about $250 to $300
dollars for it (if its new) expecting to maybe buy another and more
expensive bike in a year or two, when you have a better idea of what you
want. The drop bars and the saddle, will take some getting used to,
but, in the end [sorry about that], will be more comfortable. Don't
bother much about light weight and high performance for your first bike
-- you don't plan to enter any races or set any records. A lighter
weight bike won't get you any more exercise or pleasure it will just let
you cover somewhat more distance with the same amount of exercise.
(Saddles for women is a more complex subject. Your wife will probably
want to replace her saddle after a few months.)
It is extremly important that the bike fit you properly -- it
is very hard to enjoy an ill fitting bike. Here are some rules of
thumb: (Have a friend hold the bike standing in front of it while
making these tests.)
The saddle height should be such that your knees are almost
straight but not hyper-extended when the pedals are lowest.
This adjustment should be possible with 1/4 inch to 1 1/2 inches
of seat post showing.
It should be possible to stand astride the bicycle, just in
front of the saddle with your feet flat on the ground and the
bike perpendiular to the ground, with the genitial area between
your legs either clear of the top tube or, at worst, barely touching
the top tube. (Many people will claim that this will result in
your buying too small a frame, but this advice is predicated on
your being a "novice".)
The handle bar height and the gooseneck length should be such that if
your hands are on the forward part of the tops of the handle bars, you
are sitting on the saddle and your feet are on the pedals then your
elbows are very slightly bent and there is substantial weight on the the
three weight bearing points of your body: feet, seat and hands.
Ideally the weight should be about equally distributed between these
three, but you have no way of measuring this.
Do not expect to be comfortable at first. In fact you will feel
very strange, and simply sitting on the bicycle will initially
strain your hands, seat and neck. But in time, you will grow to
like and enjoy this posture.
Change, or have the shop you buy from change, the chain wheels and/or
rear cluster (usually its easier and cheaper to change just the rear
cluster) so that the lowest gear ratio (The lowest gear ratio is
computed by multiplying the wheel diameter (usually 27 inches) by the
number of teeth in the small front chain wheel and dividing the result
by the number of teeth in the largest cog of the rear cluster) is 28
inches or less. This may also entail changing the rear shifter and
lengthening the chain. Ignore the advice that the bike shop clerks and
some cyclists give you when they say that 28 inches in unneccesarily
low. Don't worry if this means that your highest gear ratio is less
than 90 inches. The chances are that the replacement rear cluster
will have 5 cogs, varing from 14 to 34 teeth. If the bike shop
you go to says there is no such cluster made, your at the wrong bike shop.
2. Always ride in the lowest gear. (By lowest I mean so that you move the
minimum distance with each revolution) you are capable of riding in -
given your speed and the slope of any hill you are riding up or down.
The limit will be your cadence. That is, you will be unable to ride in
a lower gear because you will not have the coordination to ride with a
higher cadence. Always keep your cadence as high as you can, consistant
with relaxation and pleasure. (Don't worry much about what your cadence
actually is, but it will probably start out at about 35 to 40
revolutions per minute; within a few weeks, go to about 50 to 60
revolutions per minute; and after maybe 6 months to 18 months go to 90
to 110 revolutions per minute). Riding in a low gear might be counter-
intuitive but its the way to get the most out of yourself and your bike.
3. When you first start riding, ride every single day that weather permits.
The first day ride for 5 minutes or less. Thereafter, on each day
ride for about 5 minutes more. Ride only on flat terrain.
Ride just as slowly and leasurely as is comfortable and enjoyable.
When you are riding about 2 hours a day, you can start interesting
variations. Maybe once a week, take a 4 hour ride or a two hour ride
over more vigourous terrain, or a 2 hour fast ride. Gradually increase
the severity of the terrain you ride, the speed and the length of your
rides. Try to ride nearly every day that weather allows, if even just a
half hour spin. (Some people believe that you should take off one day a
week. There is some merit to their arguments, but I think that, on
balance, its best to ride every day.) Try to occasionally ride over the
most strenous terrain that is comfortable for you .
The habit forming aspect of bicycling seems to promoted by riding hills.
4. You will suffer all variety of aches and pains. I won't bother
reciting them all. A good rule of thumb is to ignore any pain
for the first 10 to 15 minutes of a ride, or after a rest stop, but
be wary of pains that persist or that develops when a ride is well
underway.. You will sometimes be stiff after a ride. If this stiffness
goes away after a quarter of an hour on your bike you can ignore it.
5. Get in contact with a local cycling club. A local bike shop is
a good place to start. Otherwise, write to the League of American
Wheelmen, (If you need it, I can look it up the address for you, but
I don't have the address handy right now.)
6. Obey all traffic laws. Ride on the right side of the street.
Three of the most frequent kinds of accidents that novices have are
caused by:
Improper use of the breaks. Too much force on either of
the breaks witout enough force on the other will get you
in trouble. I know no way of communicating proper breaking
technqiue. Get lots of experience breaking when you don't
need it so proper breaking is second nature when you do need it.
Opening car doors. Never ride to the left of a car without
enough clearance for a suddenly opening door, except when
you have observed that the car is empty.
Railroad tracks, gulleys, street drains, low curbs etc.
All of these things should be avoided or ridden perpindiular
to the surface irrregularity.
Note that none of the above involves interacting with a moving car.
Getting hit by a moving car is a danger, but its not one of the the 3
biggest dangers you face. One danger that novices are mostly afraid of
is simply not a danger to adults obeying the law. (so says the data).
That's getting hit by a passing car going in the same direction as the
bike. This hardly ever happens, and essentialy never happens when the
auto driver is sober. If you do get hit by a moving car the chances are it
will be at an intersection or when you and the car are not going in the
same direction throughout the incident.
Don't assume that bike lanes are safe. They are usually more
dangerous that regular streets.
7. But this above all: A BIKE IS TO ENJOY. Never push, never strain.
Within in a year you will probaly be able to easily cover a hundred
miles in a day, or climb 5000 feet in day.
Hope this is of some help to you.
Good luck.
Norman Shapiro
norm@rand-unix
...!decvax!randvax!norm
213 393 0411
The Rand Corporation
1700 Main Street
Santa Monica CA 90406fred@varian.UUCP (09/04/84)
I have to take exception that tubular tires (or sew-ups) are exceptionally prone to flats. This is a common myth heard most frequently from those who don't use tubulars. I use them and have used nothing else in 12 years of cycling-- that averages out to something over 5,000 miles per year, incidentally. I usually change my tubulars because they're bald, not flat. I don't use tire-savers (those awful little wire things that ride on the surface of the tire and sound like locusts). I do get glass and gravel bits out with my gloves as soon as I roll over them and I do inspect the tires regularly for imbeded nasties. My favorite tire is the Clement Futura-- under 300 grams and has a Kevlar strip under the tread. My favorite expensive tire is the Clement Criterium Seta. I have equal luck with these tires so I'm not sure the Kevlar does that much. Logically, it does not make sense that a 300 gram tubular is more prone to flats than a 300 gram "lightweight" clincher/tube combination. In fact the tube of the tubular is lighter than the clincher tube and therefore the tire part must be heavier, right? Finally, professional racers (I mean real ones like Lemond and Hinault, not Lon Haldeman), use tubulars exclusively. Sure, the team car is there to change a wheel in short order, but chasing back onto a pack of pros doing 30+ mph is not something you'd want to do just for the sake of saving a few grams in tire weight. Fred Klink Varian Instruments Walnut Creek, Cal
marcum@rhino.UUCP (Alan M. Marcum) (09/05/84)
Regarding locking a bicycle, indeed, if you're going to leave it
out, lock it or it'll rapidly sprout an extra pair of legs
(attached to one each thief atop saddle!). However, my solution
is to always take the bike with me. When I go into a shop, I'll
wheel the bike beside me.
Granted, this is NOT a universal solution -- many shops are a bit
crowded for this. Most places I've been, though, there's a spot
inside to lean it. Numerous times, I've been asked to leave my
bicycle outside; I call the lack of a bicycle rack to their
attention (even in "cyclist's heaven" Palo Alto, there are few
bicycle rack around), and they let me leave it inside. (By the
way, if they DON'T let me take it inside, I'll usually shop
elsewhere.)
What about a restaurant, or some-such? What about places that DO
have bicycle racks? Many of the latter understand about people
and their bicycles, and don't mind one inside. But, if I'm
staying a while (eg. at a restaurant), I'll take enough locking
stuff with me to secure the bike. I once went to a pizza place
for dinner with a friend and her two kids; she and I rode my
tandem, the kids rode their singles. We had three locks and
cables among us, and locked all three together to a lamppost or
tree or something!
--
Alan M. Marcum Fortune Systems, Redwood City, California
...!{ihnp4, ucbvax!amd, hpda, sri-unix, harpo}!fortune!rhino!marcumdsn@umcp-cs.UUCP (09/10/84)
> From hawk@oliven.UUCP Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969 > > Also, please buy a heavy lock and chain. Yeah, it's extra weight and costs > $20-$30, but it's worth it. There's a theory that all bicycles weigh the same amount, because the lighter the weight of the bike, the heavier the lock you have to buy to lock it up with! :-) -- Dana S. Nau CSNet: dsn@umcp-cs ARPA: dsn@maryland UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!dsn
rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (09/11/84)
Norm's advice sounded pretty good for novices--but let me add one thing,
for novices and anyone else who will listen:
1. Get a helmet!
2. USE IT!
--
Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086
...Keep your day job 'til your night job pays.