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Advice on biking to work?
Now that I'm recovered enough from my knee-related fun over the summer, I'm planning to start bicycling to work at least some of the time. One flaw in that plan is that I do not, at this time, own a bicycle. In fact, I know next to nothing about what to look for in a bicycle: the last time I was shopping for one, I had very different needs and expectations (and hey, maybe bicycle technology has changed in the past fifteen years). So I put it to you, blogosphere: what kind of bicycle should I buy (and does it matter where I buy it)?
A bit more information: I live about 2.5 miles from work. I have my choice of riding to campus on a moderately busy street (Arrow Highway) or on a convenient bike path that runs right behind my apartment complex (most of the way, anyway). The route seems basically flat, though that perception could change once I'm riding rather than driving. I'm in decent shape apart from the knee thing (and my physical therapist tells me that bike riding would be good for me). I expect that most of my riding will be done during the day or early evening (but during the winter, the sun might certainly have set before I head home). I don't foresee any major off-road biking in my future. If there are other significant details that I haven't thought of, let me know!
Once I've picked a bike, what else should I make a point of doing or having done or buying to be set to go? (I don't know what happened to my old helmet, so I know that I'll need to get a new one.) Any advice from others who have tried this sort of thing?
A bit more information: I live about 2.5 miles from work. I have my choice of riding to campus on a moderately busy street (Arrow Highway) or on a convenient bike path that runs right behind my apartment complex (most of the way, anyway). The route seems basically flat, though that perception could change once I'm riding rather than driving. I'm in decent shape apart from the knee thing (and my physical therapist tells me that bike riding would be good for me). I expect that most of my riding will be done during the day or early evening (but during the winter, the sun might certainly have set before I head home). I don't foresee any major off-road biking in my future. If there are other significant details that I haven't thought of, let me know!
Once I've picked a bike, what else should I make a point of doing or having done or buying to be set to go? (I don't know what happened to my old helmet, so I know that I'll need to get a new one.) Any advice from others who have tried this sort of thing?
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The bike industry is obsessed with making the lightest and fastest bike possible. Unfortunately, beyond a certain point, you end up trading a lot of comfort for just a little speed. If you want to commute the fastest, then you should get a touring bike (dropped handlebars, tiny seat, kinda pitched forward position - this is my touring bike) and put a rear rack on it for your stuff. But people just getting back into cycling are usually not obsessed with going fast, so you probably are willing to trade some speed for comfort (comfort generally means upright position, wide bars, bigger seats, and fenders). And because you don't want to have to twiddle with settings much, you probably are willing to trade a little speed for a decrease in maintenance requirements (which is where the in-hub shifting and power generation come in, as well as the flat-resistant tires that have an increased rolling resistance).
You should consider the local bike theft problem, and how/where your bike will generally be stored. Bike theft is a problem, but so is little stuff that can be easily taken off a bike, like lights that click into the handlebar, or odometers. And missing that stuff can really put a damper on your day. I recommend bike lockers if they are available.
There is very little safety difference between a 35 dollar helmet and a 150 dollar helmet. Get the most comfortable one that doesn't break your bank, but definitely get one. Bike helmets aren't very important in single-rider accidents or bike/ped or bike/bike accidents, but they save lots of lives in bike/car accidents.
There's four main categories of bike out there: mountain bikes, road bikes, touring bikes, and comfort/urban bikes. You should definitely select from among the last 2 categories. Choices within those categories are very dependent on whether you want a comfortable ride with an upright stance (comfort/urban), or a more "road-bike" stance with dropped handlebars and skinny tires and a small seat (touring). As to the specifics, there's a reason so many bike makes and models are out there. Most people just find that a particular brand and model clicks for them and are loyal to it. So try out a lot of bikes - good bike shops will let you test-ride bikes - one model will hopefully just feel right. The only counter-intuitive aspect is that the comfy gel-seats will often cause numbness on long rides, while the harder seats will be more comfortable on long rides (10+ miles). Gel seats spread out the sitting forces to parts of your butt that aren't designed to be sat on and end up cutting off circulation, while the harder seats are harder on your butt but they are mean only to the parts that are "intelligently designed" to handle the abuse. But other than that warning, I say go for comfort.
And if there is a bike path, always choose the bike path. Biking with cars can be analogized to walking in a herd of cows. They aren't trying to get you, but they are big and dumb and a small accident in the herd could result in an accidental trampling.
So, my recommendations are that you ride on the bike path, that you err on the side of comfort when selecting a bike, and that you always wear a helmet. The bike I linked to is low maintenance, designed for comfort and commuting, and has integrated lights so you don't have to remember your lights all the time.
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Yay bike commuting! I miss it so.
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On bikes:
* Pick a price range. (I tend to view the low end as a few hundred dollars; mid-range as $500-$1000, and high end as arbitrarily expensive. As you are looking at a short and simple commute and haven't done a lot of biking lately, I would go for a low-end bike; if you get into it you can always upgrade, but you're unlikely to justify the features of a nice bike at your present level of skill. But hey, your money. :)
* Pick a feature set. (Since you haven't been biking much lately, you may not have features you particularly care about. In that case, a competent salesperson at a decent bike shop will give you some things to think about. If you absolutely have no idea what features are out there: try road, mountain, and hybrid bikes; you almost certainly don't want a mountain bike since you're commuting, but maybe you like suspensions. Shifters and brakes come in a variety of configurations/grips; try them all and see what works for you, since people have strong and idiosyncratic opinions. Think about block vs. clip pedals; clipless pedals aren't worth it unless you plan to be doing much more ambitious riding; clip pedals have a week or two learning curve but significantly improve energy efficiency and speed. Have the salesperson help you with sizing, which matters for comfort.)
* Test ride everything in your price range with your feature set.
* Buy the cheapest one that is fun. (You will be totally unable to predict which ones are fun without riding them.)
Other items:
Obviously, a helmet.
Front and rear lights. Reflectors aren't good enough as they are only visible under direct lighting. You can get very decent LED lights these days for $20-$30. They won't suffice to illuminate your path much (you'll want to be on moderately well-lit roads), but they'll make you visible. Even if you don't expect to do a lot of night riding, you don't want to get caught without them.
If you expect to be riding in rain (not that there is much of that where you are), get fenders. They will keep streaks of wet dirt from adhering to your butt. Also think about rain gear.
If you expect to be carrying significant amounts of stuff on your bike, think about how you want to carry it. If all you need is a change of clothes, a backpack or messenger bag might be fine. (You can keep clothes dry even in serious rain by putting them inside a garbage bag inside your backpack.) But if you expect to be doing shopping or much else with cargo, consider panniers.
Consider getting a little pouch that attaches to your seat tube to carry small emergency items (eg batteries for your lights, tire iron, allen keys, emergency $20). May not be worth it for short commutes in a densely populated area, particularly if you don't know much bike repair. But, under some circumstances, totally indispensable (especially the spare batteries).
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Definitely keep your doctor/physical therapist apprised. Knee injuries are relatively common among hardcore bikers. You are not proposing anything hardcore, so I'm not very worried, but your knee does have a history.
I take Advil before long (50+ mile) rides for its anti-inflammatory properties, which fends off knee pain for me. (The first time I did 90 miles, which was before I knew the Advil trick, my knee hurt afterward. I like to avoid that.) Um, you don't care for a 2.5 mile ride ;). But just be vigilant.
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Buy The Art of Urban Cycling. Read it (short, good, illuminating). Google "vehicular cycling" and read all about it. (Its chief advocates can be a little militant, but they are basically correct.) Google for bike crash statistics and find out what the stupid crash-causing cyclist behaviors are so that you can avoid them. Read the laws in your state and be confident in your rights.
But above all find a local cycling club and go on some group rides with them. (
As you have gathered from the above, I am very much a road cyclist. I disagree strongly with the above advice to always choose the bike path. Yes, drivers must be assumed to be homicidal kindergarten-IQ blind morons who hate you (this way you may be pleasantly surprised when they yield, yet ever-vigilant :). But bike paths have many drawbacks as well. They are often populated by people (and dogs) who don't understand the rules (ie keep right, stay aware) and who will pose a serious crash hazard to you. (The fact that this accident may injure them more than it injures you is hardly consoling when you, eg, hit the toddler.) They are often designed with poor sight-lines, making turns dangerous. And sidepaths -- the kind which run directly alongside the road -- actually *increase* your risk of many accidents, because they decrease your visibility at intersections (which is where most accidents happen) and funnel you across many more intersections (ie driveways). And bike paths tend to be slower than roads, which can be a serious concern for a commuter (though not, probably, for a 2.5 mile commute).
Basically, a bike path is a reasonable choice for someone who doesn't mind moving very slowly, is not confident in his or her road skills, and is not going to get hypertensive at continually having to avoid unleashed dogs/leashed dogs who have made their leashes a tripwire across the entire path/poorly supervised children/teenagers walking eight abreast/people in the wrong lane/people who don't look where they're going. I fail all three of these criteria now that I have had some experience, which means that I almost universally pick roads over bike paths, unless I expect the path to be very uncrowded. I feel like the road is my natural habitat, I've developed the skills of confidence and awareness I need to navigate it safely, and I like the freedom (roads go everywhere; bike paths don't). But it did take me a while to build these skills (see above about riding with others to get the hang of it!). And there are definitely more- and less-advanced roads to ride on; I learned low-traffic roads, then higher-traffic ones, then left turns and merges, much later rotaries, etc. ...there are local roads I'd ride that I wouldn't advocate for someone less experienced, local roads I will not ride, and local roads I'll ride and afterward feel like I am a total bike ninja. Know your tolerances.
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One thing about traffic: many people feel that, the higher-traffic a road is, the more intimidating or unsafe it is. This isn't actually true. The difficulty level of the road is based on
(a) the road surface (in good repair? potholey? lots of broken glass? weather? etc.)
(b) how many interactions with car traffic you are likely to have. (Note that I say "with car traffic" because bikes are traffic too! That's the point of vehicular cycling, and that's how the law is likely to treat you, even if it isn't enforced.) If a road has a lot of traffic but is very wide (lots of room to share) and doesn't have a lot of right-turning cars (and you don't need to make a lot of left turns), this is a nigh-ideal road. If it's lower-traffic but quite narrow, it'll be a lot more nerve-wracking. If it's a road where cars frequently make right turns, ditto.
You should, overall, do what you feel most comfortable with. But you should become aware of the theory and practice of good road cycling, because (evangelical bias here!) it's just better. Safer, funner, freer. And, if you spend a lot of time on your bike, even if it's almost always on the path, you will occasionally find yourself on the road, in which case you owe it to yourself to have decent road skills.
Oh, oh, and the most important thing! Bike commuting rocks. It is fun! You get to be outside, feeling and seeing and hearing your world 360 degrees, instead of in a car. You get to interact with the world. You get exercise. You get to be alert and focused. You get to not pollute the environment. And I mentioned the fun! I am so jealous whenever I see bikers these days, because they are out there and I am not. Yay for bikes!
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Also, asking your local bike nut which shops are good is a good idea. REI can be good, but there is significant quality variation between store locations. The difference between a good bike store and a bad one is the mindset and friendliness of the workers, and not really selection. Thanks to the information age, almost any store can sell you almost any bike.
I stand by my bike path recommendation, but the experimental approach is probably best for a given route. I've certainly been on bike paths that were a worse riding experience than the street, but they've been the minority - it sounds like they may be the majority in Boston. The bike paths in Eugene are quite pleasant, and I can maintain a nice crisp 20+ MPH on them without any trouble and without needing to worry (much) about pedestrians and dogs. Your mileage may vary :)
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And yeah, I do think bike path and road quality vary tremendously by geography. Oddly the roads here suck too (I mean, we have winter. it does awful things to the road surface. Also, we have Boston drivers), but there's an enormous culture of road cycling -- way more than I saw in southern California despite its obviously superior infrastructure and climate. And we have a few excellent paths, but the stupidity density on them is so high that I can't take it. n-1 of my collisions have been on paths or on path/road transitions. (The remaining 1 was on a road, with no cars, due to a road surface condition that I totally should have been paying more attention to.) So I tend to think of paths as high-collision-likelihood areas (and badly-designed paths really do increase collision likelihoods, per googling on crash statistics).
But if I could get a well-maintained, low-traffic, few-crossings path? Yeah, that'd be sweet.