Buying an everyday bike | Choose Cycling

Is it just me or are we entering a 2008 cycling boom? Everywhere I go I see more bikes than usual on the road and cycle paths and you can hardly squeeze your bike onto a train anymore. Most of the local retailers I have talked to recently have said that bikes are flying out of their shops. No connection with the rocketing price of fuel, I am sure!

I am getting quite a few queries from clients on what sort of bike to buy and it also happens that I have recently bought 6 bikes for our Cycling for Health project over the summer, so I thought I would do a Blog entry on the topic. I am going to focus on buying everyday bikes – comfortable, reasonably-priced, all-round models. These are the sort of bikes that you will happily use on a daily basis and will be flexible enough to take you wherever you want to go - to the shops, your workplace or a Sunday jaunt to a countryside pub.

However, before this, some environmentally-sound things to consider before buying… Firstly, do you have an old model in your garage you could have repaired or reconditioned? Secondly, would a recycled or reconditioned bike do? As far as I know, the closest to us are Cycle Magic (www.cyclemagic.org.uk) and Bikes4all (http://bikes4all.org.uk/) in Leicester. There are also “freecycle” sites where people often advertise bikes they want to give away for free! Try www.freecycle.org to find your closest network.

Ok, back to buying an everyday bike. After extensive research with clients, bike retailers, other health projects, and my own personal experience with riding a bike everyday for the last 15 years, I came up with a list of things to look for in your friendly, everyday steed:

Model – usually a Hybrid, with “semi-slick” tyres suitable for roads or good quality trails
Gears - adequate number of gears suitable for your regular journeys. I recommend at least 21 if you live in hilly part of Derbyshire, but for flatish journeys, 3 -8 speed is fine.
Frame - fully adjustable handlebars that will enable to reach an almost upright position, a 'quill' stem is best for this (this means you can adjust the bike to exactly the right riding position to suit you), suspension seat post or sprung saddle for extra comfort and low or step through frame (this makes a real difference if you have a dodgy back). Dutch-style bikes are best for an upright position – see later.
Equipment – ideally fully equipped with mudguards, chainguard, kickstand, rack. Why? Because they make everyday use so much easier! Mudguards mean you don’t have to worry about splashes in a spot of rain; a chainguard (and skirtguard) means you can wear what you want when cycling; and a kickstand is really useful for propping up the bike when popping into a shop or café or waiting at a train station. A rack essential for carrying things in panniers and so avoid the need for a rucsac, which could strain your back and give it an attractive sweaty appearance.
Extras - slime inner tubes and comfortable saddle. If you hate fixing a puncture, consider investing in slime inner tubes. I used to get one every 3 months, now I am 18 months puncture-free!
Weight – a lighter model is ideal as it is easier to move, but becomes crucial if you habitually lift your bike, for example, up and down steps.

The Choose Cycling Fleet so far...

Bikes 1, 2and 3 of our Health Fleet are Trek Navigators. I have had a Trek Navigator for years and have found you can’t beat it for comfort and versatility. Click here to see the 2008 range. Bikes 4 and 5 are from the Giant Expression DX series - more info on the Giant website. These bikes were all in the £200 – 350 range. Bike 6 is a folding Dahon Ciao P8, nicknamed "the friendliest bike in the world". The Ciao is very popular with our clients - it is lightweight, upright with an ultra-low step-through frame and folds with ease. Bike 7 is a Torpado, a wonderful, 6 -speed, upright, fully-equipped, but lightweight number - you can see it by clicking here.

A few additional thoughts…

Dutch-style bikes

One of the features in buying a comfortable, everyday bike was one with an upright posture and fully equipped – a typical Dutch bike in fact. I am a fan of the Gazelle, which is perfect for short-distance jaunts and shopping trips and looks fantastic. The wonderful Cycle Heaven bike shop in York is the largest stockist in the UK and usually a good selection in stock and described on its website – www.cycle-heaven.co.uk. You can also get a large range of Batavus Dutch bikes from a specialist Dutch Bike shop based in Littlehampton, but who deliver round the country- see www.dutchbikeshop.co.uk.

Folding bikes

If you habitually need to use the train, it is, most unfortunately, becoming more and more difficult to put your bike on the train, so I would recommend a folding bike. There are endless guides to folding bikes on the Internet – I have found www.atob.org.uk the most useful. I also think for jauntiness, and practicality, as long as you're not going to long distances, you can't beat a Brompton. They are easy to fold and fold up very small. Cycle Heaven also have a good section about Bromptons on their website - www.cycle-heaven.co.uk

Electric bikes

If you are traveling long distances and don't want to rely on the trains or buses, one consideration is to buy an electric bike. This is a fairly new area for me and you can get far more detail on the atob site. However, a couple of recent discoveries. When I was at the National Cycling Tryouts in Nottingham last month, I test rode a Gazelle Easy Rider which was fabulous. There, I also met a friendly local retailer called Hamant who runs a bike shop in Long Eaton specializing in powered bikes. You can find out more about him and his bikes at www.poweredbicycles.co.uk.

Finally, before you dip into your wallet, don’t forget to see if your employer has a tax-free bike purchase scheme, often called “Cycle to Work” scheme. If so, you can make big savings on bikes and you don’t have to pay anything up front as it works through a salary-sacrifice scheme. If your employer has not as yet signed up to this scheme, why not suggest that they do? You can see one of the schemes at www.cyclescheme.co.uk.

Phew! I think that is it so far, although I am sure I will be adding to this Blog on a regular basis! If you have any friendly, everyday bikes and tips to recommend to me, please do let me know.

And, finally, finally, do take care to test ride your bike before buying to make sure it fits and suits you. And that it feels right. You will know. If you buy the wrong bike, it will become an inconvenience cluttering up the house. If you buy the right bike, it could become your best friend for life.