Advice on biking to work?

[steuard]

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?

Comments

[pmb.livejournal.com]

Before I rant too much, let me cut to the chase: you probably want This bike. It's a little pricey, but REI is good about servicing their bikes, and it has all the lights and bells.

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.