Don't Get Stuck with a Bicycle You're Going to Hate
Spring is just about here, and it's bike buying season. Here's some advice on how to get what you need.
You've heard that the average North American lifestyle is killing you. Even as little as half an hour of solid aerobic exercise a day can greatly reduce your chances of heart disease.
One of the most enjoyable ways to get that exercise is on a bicycle. On a bike you zip along, and boredom is not a problem. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, you won't do it often enough.
Cycling is also a low impact exercise, that's much easier on your joints than jogging or even walking. For this reason, fit people well into their eighties can and do enjoy cycling.
For the practical minded, cycling can combine business with pleasure. In many parts of the world, where high fat diets are less of a problem, a bicycle is serious transportation. Bicycle commuting is becoming increasingly common in Toronto. I do it, rain or snow or shine, all four seasons of the year.
If you live within 10 km of your workplace in downtown Toronto, you can ride to work in not much more time than it would take by transit or by car, and at much less cost. Toronto has an excellent network of bike routes and side streets that make it friendly to cyclists. A few years ago, Bicycling magazine recognized Toronto as the best city for cycling in all of North America.
Even if you ride your bike to work just 90 days per year, you will save about $300 compared to the cost of public transit. That will pay for the price of a half-decent bike in one year.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of bikes sold in Canada are not even half decent. You can walk into any discount department store and come out with a shiny, pretty looking bike for under $150. But if you know what's good for you, you'll resist that "bargain." These bikes are rubbish!
Here's what's wrong with them, and why you should avoid getting one.
Their brakes are poorly fitting and poorly designed, so they can never be adjusted properly. They are made of thin steel that flexes and can't apply adequate pressure for braking properly.
On top of that, those nice shiny wheels are chrome plated steel, and what's shiny is slippery. When these rims are even a little bit wet, it's almost like having no brakes at all.
Consumer Reports tested bikes with brakes and rims like these. On a wet road, a bike with aluminum rims could stop from 15 miles per hour in about 15 feet. A bike with steel rims took five times as long to stop.
There are a lot of differences between low quality bikes and higher quality ones, but this one is the most important. You must get a bike with aluminum wheel rims. You can usually recognize them by their duller finish, but if you are not sure (sometimes either steel or aluminum rims are painted black) take a magnet with you.
Not only do aluminum rims stop better, but they roll better. They are much lighter than steel rims, and this really counts on the wheel, because it cuts down the inertia in getting the wheels rolling after stopping.
You can sometimes find bikes with aluminum rims for as little as $200 in some sporting goods and department stores, although they more commonly start in the $250 to $300 range.
The bike you get should also have indexed shifting and at least 18 speeds. Indexed shifting means that there is a click to the gear shift lever so that it automatically stops at the right place for the next gear.
You may wonder why you need 18 speeds. Well, you really don't need all the ones in between, but you need the ones at the ends. The lowest gears will let you pedal up even a steep hill comfortably, without having to walk up.
Generally, you should ride in a gear that's low enough so that you can spin the pedals rapidly and easily. Some beginners complain about knee pain. It's often because they are mistakenly pedaling slowly, against great resistance, in too high a gear.
As you move up in the price range, you will be getting better quality components that fit a bit better, and better quality, lighter material. In the $300 to $400 range, you will start finding bikes whose frame tubing is made partly or mainly of a steel alloy called "chromoly." This is steel that had chromium and molybdenum alloyed with it, making it much stronger, and allowing much thinner (and hence lighter) steel to be used.
Bicycle racers make a fetish of weight, and for the average rider it's not worth spending $1000 to get a sub-25 pound bike. However, you will really feel the difference between a better quality bike (30 pounds and under) and the bottom of the barrel bikes which often weigh as much as 45 pounds. You notice it when you are riding up hill, when your own strength is carrying the weight of the bike.
Component quality is a bit less important as you move up the price range. The market in bicycle rear gear shifters is dominated by a Japanese company called Shimano, and even their lowest cost indexed shifter works remarkably well.
Make sure, however, that you don't get cheap plastic brake levers that bend when you squeeze them hard.
Equally important with material quality is bicycle size and fit. If you must make a mistake, get a bike that's too small, rather than too big. If the bike is too small, you can remedy it afterwards by getting parts such as a longer seat post and handlebar stem. However, if the frame is too big, there is nothing you can do about it.
Make sure there is at least two inches of crotch clearance when you stand over the bike with your feet on the ground. If you are a woman, I advise against getting a "woman's" frame. These were designed for a by-gone era when a proper woman had to wear a skirt. This kind of frame makes for a weaker bike.
Incidentally, when you are seated on the bike you should not be able to put your feet flat on the ground. If you can do this, the seat has been set much too low. You have to bend your knees too much, and you cannot pedal comfortably or efficiently. When the bike is stopped, you get off the seat. It's as simple as that.
What style of bike should you get? The market is dominated by so-called "mountain bikes" or "all-terrain bikes." These bikes are certainly versatile. Don't get me wrong, I like them. Two of my five bikes are mountain bikes. However, if you are only going to get one bike, a mountain bike is probably the wrong choice unless you really do plan to ride through rough ravines and similar areas.
If you plan to ride mainly on paved roads in the city, a "hybrid" bike is really the best choice. This shares many features in common with a mountain bike, but has smoother, narrower tires and a lighter frame (for a given price range).
All kinds of people ride mountain bikes with big knobby tires in the city. Perhaps this makes sense if you want to maximize the exercise value from a short, slow ride. These tires are noisy and roll poorly on smooth roads.
Of course, if you buy your bike from a specialized bicycle dealer, you can ask to get the standard knobby tires on a mountain bike replaced by smoother treaded ones. This gives you the versatility of later switching back to knobbies if you branch into off-road riding.
In theory, a specialized bicycle dealer ought to be the place to go for a good bike. If you are willing to spend at least $500 for a bike, this will work for you. Unfortunately, many of them cater to this price range and upwards. By contrast, sporting goods chain stores and small neighbourhood bike stores will have the basic, "half-decent" bike I have described here in the $250 to $300 range.
Recently, I have seen a major discount department store advertising such bikes, which is an encouraging sign.
In fact, if you are looking for a good bike on a budget, the best place might be a used bike store. Quite a number of these have opened up in the last few years, and they usually have friendly, knowledgeable owners. The components of a bike are pretty long lasting, and a good frame lasts almost forever.
Reliable used bicycle dealers include Bikes on Wheels (in Kensington Market), Sport Swap and Curbside. Silent Sports in Thornhill holds swap meets a few times a year, with hundreds of bikes on sale. For new bikes, the Toronto International Bicycle show at the National Trade Centre, Exhibition Place, is an opportunity for genuine discounts. It's held at the end of the winter, usually the first Friday in March. There's also a Fall show in October.
There used to be a monthly Toronto Police Auction sales of unclaimed bikes found by the police. More recently, these have moved onto eBay (info at www.riteauctions.com). Sometimes you can get a good deal on a high-end bike here, and bikes that would be $400 to $500 new often go for $150 to $200. However, caution is required in auctions, as sometimes people get so excited that they pay more for a shiny looking (but poor quality) bike than they would have paid at Zellers or Canadian Tire. It is still possible to go to their warehouse (222 Islington, south of the QEW) and inspect them in person before bidding.
A used bike will have its paint scratched, but for $200 you might be able to pick up a bike that would set you back $350 to $400 if it were brand new. If you have only $150 to spend, you will get much better value from an old, ugly looking bike than from a shiny new clunker.
Now you know what to avoid. Happy riding.
A good alternative to a regular bike for travelling or for commuting partly by car or train is a folding bike. For information on my folding bike experiences click here.
Peter Spiro is an economist who's been riding regularly to work from North York to downtown Toronto for over ten years.
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