hey there bikers

[mopinko]

how ya doin' in here? looking at plaid's post there about bikes. thanks for all that info. i am thinking i might get myself a good bike for my b-day.
i started riding a lot last year, when i was having a lot of personal troubles. it is a great way to burn off angst. i bought myself a cheap used huffy savannah that i actually really like. i do a lot of my short distance travel on it, when i don't have crap to schlep. not sure i could get a bike that i liked better, or that has any real advantage. sure can't beat the one thing that i really, really love about the one i have- i only paid $35 for it. if it gets copped, i won't have too much to cry about.
i would like a bike that is a little more suited to female body mechanics. i lean into the handle bars as i get tired, and it is hard on my wrists. that's about my only complaint.

[happyslug]

1. Go with a Terry or a recumbent

These are a LOT more expensive than your Huffy, but designed, not copied from other bikes. Now Terry says her bikes are designed for Women for women have smaller arms and legs compared to men (This ha ben shown to be incorrect but more of that later). Thus Terry designed her bikes with a shorter distance between the seat and handlebars (Which requires the use of two different size wheels, a 700 cc in the back and a 24 inch in the front).

Most bikes are designed for men. Men's center of gravity is in the middle of his chest. This is due to muscle being four times the weight as fat in the same volume (and ten times the weight in nerve endings). Thus your head is relativity light compared to the rest of your body (You have your skull which is quite heavy but the brain is quite light in weight).

While men have more muscle than women, women have the single biggest muscle in Humans, the muscles to push out a baby when you give birth. The significance of this (Beside a women's curves) is that the center of gravity for women is two inches below her belly button. Thus when a man is on a bike his center of gravity is between the seat and the handlebars and he can move the bike as he himself moves. Women on the other hand given the same bike feel "top heavy" (They center of Gravity is up in the air on the seat). Thus Terry's observations that women have "Shorter Arms and legs" while not correct, provides a more upright position for women and thus a better ride for women. In effect while the theory is wrong, the effect is correct.

Recumbent are another solution for you end up setting on your center of Gravity. Some of these are better designed than others. Terry designs a nice bicycle.

For more on the Terry:
http://www.terrybicycles.com/

[mopinko]

2. i am tempted to get a recumbent, but

the one thing that i really like about the huffy is that it is small, and light. easy to schlep up the stairs, easy to find a "parking spot", including on the trains here.
but i think that a recumbent would be nice, especially looking into the future. i will be 52 next month, and my health is already kinda crappy. if i had a garage to park it in, i would probably look at it differently. also, i do not understand what makes recumbent so freaking expensive.
thanks for the link on the terry's, tho. their hybrid looks pretty good. the price is pretty much the top end of what i would be able to stand to pay. i am a born cheapskate.

[happyslug]

3. Recumbents are expensive for they are custom made

Even the Cannondale Recumbents are hand made. The tooling used to make other bikes generally can NOT be used to make recumbents, thus have to be hand made, thus the expense. If more people would buy just one Recumbent then the expense per unit will go down, but that is a long way off with the Tour de France hostle to them (as is the rest of Europe).

[mopinko]

4. makes me want to go into the bike business

somebody who wanted to tool up, and crank out a $500 recumbent to us frantically aging boomers would make a f'ing fortune.

[happyslug]

5. They are a couple for about $1000

And the EZ bike of a few years ago was selling for about $700. The problem is sales volume. While aging baby boomers will buy more and more recumbents as will women, the demand is going to be small compared to the number of suppliers. The reason for this is that the biggest problem is designing the drive train. While a recumbent maker can use so much conventional bike parts, you have to have an extra long chain AND means to get it from the front of the bike, where your feet are in a recumbent, to the rear drive wheels (Alternatively to make the bike front wheel drive, which means a mechanism to take your feet power and to get it to work on a wheel the turns independent of your feet, i.e. as you steer). This is the chief problem of a recumbent, the short chain and drive train of a conventional bike can not be used.

The rest of a recumbent is easy, two wheels with a chair in the middle. The front wheel can use a very short version of a conventional bike's front wheel. The big problem is the drive train.

[mopinko]

6. i've seen a few ez bikes around

are they out of business?

[happyslug]

7. I believe so, but I have to confirm that.

http://www.recumbentcyclistnews.com/faq.html

A list of Recumbent Builders:
http://www.recumbentcyclistnews.com/sponsors.html

I found "Alfred E-Bike" and "E-bike" and even "Sun EZ-1 recumbent", but none look like the EZ bike I remember from a few years ago. I believe I heard they went out of business but the bike was popular (For an Recumbent) and thus other companies will try to use names close to it.

[bperci108]

8. You might check with Trek

They have quite a few WSD (Woman-specific design) models. Their Navigator models are quite upright and adjustable; they might fit your needs. :)


www.trekbikes.com