A website to show what I do on my Mountain Bikes

So you have been thinking about saving money, getting in shape or just looking for another excuse to spend money.  All of which are good things by the way.  This page is devoted to information about commuting via a two wheeled machine.  The good things.  The bad things, and everything in between.  I will be adding more content to this page as time allows, so check back as you get time.

 

Things that you will absolutely, positively need to do this, item number one Bike, item number two Helment, item number three a lighting system.  One and two are self explanitory all though I will go into different types of bike, the pro's and cons of them all.  Item number three depending on what you wear when you ride and the time of the day that you ride a lighting system may be seen as an option, all though take it from someone who rides all year no matter what, the more ways that you can be seen the better.

 

Ok Bikes, there are a few different styles of bicycles that are available for your consideration.  The following is a break down of the styles, the pros and cons of all of them.

 

     1. Mountain Bikes.  We have all seen them, they are big and bulky and actually quite comfortable to commute on.  You can have them decked out with no suspension, front suspension and full suspension.  I have personally tried all of them out and they all have thier good points and bad points.  Good point of a non suspended bike, is the fact that all the energy that you put into the pedals go directly to the back wheel for power.  There is no wasted effort on this style of mountain bike.  You have nice wide tires that allow for a lot of grip on the road, which can also create some drag on the bike, since there is that resistance.  They are generally inexpensive, ranging from $39.00 on sale at wal-mart, to several hundred dollars at your local bike store.  Or you can go online to sites like www.performancebike.com and have one shipped to you.

 

     Next in the catagory of Mountain Bikes is the Front suspension or Hard Tail Mountain bike.  These bikes just like the non-suspended or "Brute" styles mountain bikes have a nice wide range of gears for your consideration, and depending on where you live a nice wide range is a good thing.  especially when you first start out, me personally living and commuting in the lovely Pacific North West, I need a range of gears, because some of the surface streets that I commute on are actually at the Federal Department of Transportation max grade, which is the steepest grade that you can build a road.  The really nice part of the Hard Tail is the fact that you have a front shock, which comes in really nice when your peddling along and hit that accidental pot hole.  The downside to Hard Tails is that they are generally a little heavier than brute bikes, since it does have the suspension fork it does add about 5 pounds to the bike.  Which doesn't sound like alot until again your climbing up hill and then you notice it.  Another downside to hardtails is that as you increase the stuff on the bike, then the more stuff that needs to be serviced, which isn't all that bad, since after a while I'm sure that you will go to places like Performance Bike and buy tools and take classes, so that you can service your bike yourself and save a little on the service fee's.  Prices for these bikes range from 250.00 dollars all the way up to 5700.00 dollars, oh by the way for 5700.00 dollars that a carbon fiber, racing bike that just hauls butt, and no you cannot show justification to your wife if this is going to be your first commuter bike.  I've tried. alot and multiple times. 

 

     So do you want to guess what style of bike is next?  Thats right its the full suspension mountain bike.  These bike are the luxury bikes of commuting, they absorb all the bump in the road and at times you feel that you are just gliding.  The are very very plush, gentle on the body, so what could possibly be bad about this style of mountain bike, well the weight, they usually start off at about 25 lbs.  which again doesn't sound like alot until your riding up hill again, as you are pressing down on the pedals your also compressing the rear shock, so you don't get all of the power transfer to the back wheel that you would get out of a brute or hardtail mountain bike.  Not only is the weight and power transfer an issue at times, but the cost can sometimes be a problem as well.  Full suspension bikes generally start at about 500.00 and can top out somewhere in the neighborhood of about 10,000 dollars (and no that is not a type o).  Now of course they have some shocks on the front and the rear that you can "lock out", meaning that you get no compression out of the shocks at all, but here is a very simple question.  Why would you buy a bike that has all of these features if you weren't going to use them.  So again just in this one section you have alot to think about.

 

     2.  Road Bikes.  Now for this section alone, I could eat up every bit of web space I have at my disposal going over everything that there is to go over about road bikes.  Everything from materials to weight to why you can't race some of these bad boys in the Tour de France, because of how light they are.  Road bikes are designed for one thing and one thing only.  Go fast and in some cases go really fast.  Now depending on what part of the country that you are reading this from, you will be able to tell which one is the dominant style of bike that is used for commuting.  Road bikes do very well for commuting because by their nature they put you into an aerodynamic position for riding, they have skinny little tires that have very little resistance to them, so getting up to speed is not a problem at all.  Parts are available anywhere.  don't believe me?  Go to www.performancebike.com (oh by the way I am not an employee there, just after being a cyclist for this long and spending literally days surfing the web for cycling bargins, no one can really touch performance's prices).  And plug in anything related to road bikes, now you do the same thing for mountain bikes and you will see that your selection is cut in half, and your options for upgrades all but triples, so with all of this selection and choices for parts and materials and things of that nature, what are we really talking about here price wise?  Well you can get into a road bike for as little as 329.00 and they go all they way up to what Team Discovery will be riding next season at 10,500.00 dollars (and again that is not a type-o).

 

     Now within the Road Bike arena, there are several little sub catagories, so we will start with the racing bike.  Just as the name implies, these bikes are bikes that their whole purpose on the planet are to propel you as fast as possible with the smallest amount of effort.  Good point, you can get from point A to point B very rapidly.  Their weight is very very small like some are less than 15 lbs.  Downside replacement parts are on the expensive side, but replacement is usually less frequent as with other types of bikes, to include the mountain bikes.  Their initial costs are up there quite abit as well.  One real quick side note, the material of the bicycle does not make it a race bike.  It is how the bike is built or its geometry.  They have steel frame racing bikes, just as aluminum, carbon fiber and a multitude of other materials, so don't think just because the bike is made out of a material does not mean that it is not a racing frame.  It is how it is laid out, not the material.

 

     Next in the road bike arena is what is known as the comfort road bike.  These bikes are designed to have you sitting up a little more than the road racing bike.  Just as the Racing Bikes, you can have a multitude of different materials and how you want parts laid out.  These bikes are generally a little less expensive than the racing bikes, depending on the materials used and so on.  Good points of these bikes is the fact that you are sitting up a little more, so if you have back issues as I do, then you will greatly appreciate this style of road bike, the prices are typically a little more gently on the wallet, the down side is the fact that you are sitting up a little more, so the areodynamics aren't all that great, so if your a speed freak, you may not want to look at this style of bike.  Although just as a side note, a friend of mine has an Iron Horse Excelsior road bike which has a comfort bike look and feel to it and I was still able to do a 28 m.p.h. sprint.

 

     Last, but certainly not least is the Touring Bike.  Now touring bikes have lost a little of their popularity in the last 8 years, but they are still available and some would say that they are the best bike for commuting, Touring bikes have a road bike look, but they are different in the respect that the frame is slightly stretched out.  The reason for this is so that you can carry bags on them.  If you have seen a bike with side bags on the back, it was probably a touring bike.  Another reason for the stretched frame is so that your feet don't hit the bags as you are peddling.  So you can load up work clothes, lunch, and just about anything and everything else that you can think of in the bags and head for work.  Which is a really nice feature if you don't want to use a backpack or messenger bag to transport your stuff in.  Also with the touring bikes, the gearing is a little different, because of the extra weight of the touring bike, you could blow out your knees very quickly if you used racing gearing on a touring bike (although I have friends that do have this set up on their bikes), the gear range is a lot wider than the traditional road bike.

 

 

     Alrighty, so that we have covered the basic (and the bike section is just the basic, I could go into bikes alot more in depth, but with what I just covered it kinda gives you the idea of what your options are) so I will talk about helments now.

 

     Yes you are a full grown man or woman, you are an adult, your the boss of your house and your head will pop just like a childs head if you are hit by a vehicle or crash out on the road and you are not wearing a helment.  Depending on the city that you are living in these can be an option.  As a health care worker who has worked in several of the busiest Trauma Centers in the US, I have seen the after effects of the whole "Helments are for kids" philosophy.  It is ugly and bloody and not something that you want to put your family thru.  Now if you live in a city like Seattle then it is not an option and if you are caught by Seattle Police Department riding a bicycle on the street without a helment then you can be subject to a 101.00 dollar fine.  Now with helments starting out at 9.00 dollars it doesn't make much since not to spend the money for the helment, unless you can afford to throw away money on not wearing a helment fines.  In which case if you have that kind of money to throw away, please feel free to email me, I will gladly take your money.  Helments just as seat belts, save lifes.  Ok enough of my preaching on that.

 

     Lighting, I am a firm believer in lights, even in the daytime.  Ever seen a cyclist that has just got some of the brightest, most annoying lights on their bikes, there is a reason for that, they want to be seen, and they will run them even in the daytime, the fact of the matter is, is the fact that you may be an alert driver who is constantly checking mirros, scanning five cars in front of you, but not everyone does that, they look for something that will catch there eye, while they aimlessly drive along.  Catch their eye, before it is to late.  Now me personally I run with a head light that has a strobe mode and a tail light that run with a strobe mode as well, just one each, but if you want to run more, then by all means, do it.  Do what you feel is necessary to be seen and not hit.  Lights depending on what your looking for can be as low as 4.99 for a basic headlight that runs on AA or AAA batteries, all the way to 650.00 for a rechargable zenon, super bright, light up the road like the sun headlamp.  Now lights just as helments can be mandatory depending on where you live.  So check in with your local police department to get all of the particulars.

 

     Well I guess I will let you soak in what you have read so far.  I will be adding more content on this subject later, so please check back periodically.  If you have any questions, comments or concerns then please feel free to click on the contact us tab and shoot me an email.  I promise that I will repsond as soon as possible.