Buying Your First Bike on a Budget.

While buying your first bike is fun and exciting, it is also something you need to do research on and know what you're getting into. If you are just getting into the sport it would be good to go to your local bike shop and test ride some bikes. You need to know your size and what type of bike will best suit your needs. Getting the correct size bike is one of the most important aspects of buying a bike. Below are some tips on buying your first bike.

1. What type of bike?
You need to know what type of bike will fit the conditions your going to ride through. Kind of simple if I generalize it. If you're planning only to ride on pavement a road bike is for you. If you like the road bike feel but will do light off-roading a cycle cross bike is right up your path. All dirt but like distance, there are several cross country bikes from hardtail to full suspension to choose from. Like tearing up mountains and dropping gaps, a full suspension bike with 4 inches of travel and up will take you there.

2. How do I know the correct size?

Image courtesy of Specialized

It's all about the fit! If the bike is too big or too small it will take all the joy out of biking for you. I could also make this whole posting about sizing but I will give the best generalization I can. For most riders, the first step in getting the right size bike is to stand over the frame with both feet flat on the ground. A properly-sized road bike frame will give at least an inch or two clearance between the top tube of the frame and your crotch. Not too much, not too little. A mountain bike should have more space - maybe the width of your hand across your fingers. If you are still uneasy about sizing up your own bike, run by your local bike shop and get fitted for the correct size bike. It is also nice because you can test out a couple of bikes and get a good "feel" for what type of bike you're going to be getting. On women's bikes that do not have the high top tube going between the seat and the handlebars, you can skip this step.


3.How Much, Where, and When?
Assuming you have your type of bike picked out. You know the exact size frame you need and what you're comfortable with because you got to test ride a similar bike in your correct size. You will now be ready to purchase the correct size bike. Where do I buy it, how much do I spend? I would first set a budget on how much you can comfortably spend on a new bike. You will also need a budget for your cycling accessories, (helmet, seat bag, tubes, pump, or patch kit), so include this as well. So now you can look at new, used, online, or a local bike shop. Most expensive will be a bike shop but you will hopefully get customer service, the correct size, and free small tunings and repair for life in some cases. If you know your exact fit and size and you also know the exact bike your heart is set on, online will most likely be your best way to get the best deal. There is so little difference from brand to brand at similar prices until you are well over $1000 that the bike hardly matters. You are mainly going to be shopping for bike components if spending under $1000. Shopping for used bikes will definitely save you the most money in the long run but is the hardest to shop for if you're a beginner. You do not want to buy a frame that has been crashed or blemished. Buying used is best done with an experienced rider as they have knowledge of old or new components, faulty parts, and can help judge if this is the best fit for you and not a money pit.

As this is very general and I can go into tons of detail in every aspect, this is a good rule of thumb when purchasing your first bike.

Good luck on your purchase and happy riding!

Premium Rush - A movie about biking.

There is a new movie called "Premium Rush" coming out in theaters on Aug. 24. A movie aimed towards the mountain biking and road biking crowd but with a fixie. I know a fixie, but if you have ever ridden a fixie you know its hard to do a trick let alone jump up or off a ledge, and "Wilee" kills it on the streets of Manhattan. I saw the trailer for it and it does not look too bad, I am interested in seeing it. I can already tell there will be a few "yeah right" moments during the movie but It looks pretty cool, bike jumps and explosions, -NICE!

Here is the story from the premiumrush.com website:

Dodging speeding cars, crazed cabbies and eight million cranky pedestrians is all in a day's work for Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the best of New York's agile and aggressive bicycle messengers. It takes a special breed to ride the fixie - super lightweight, single-gear bikes with no brakes and riders who are equal part skilled cyclists and nutcases who risk becoming a smear on the pavement every time they head into traffic. But a guy who's used to putting his life on the line is about to get more than even he is used to when his last envelope of the day - a routine "premium rush" run - turns into a life or death chase through the streets of Manhattan. 

I know this will not be the next "Rad" but its good to see they are at least making movies about our cycling lifestyle. Now if we can only get Sony to fund a movie of a few guys being chased down a mountain with some brand new downhill rigs right? Action packed with speed, huge gaps, awesome trails and women. The new #1 hit this summer already. OK, enough dreaming.

I want to see Premium Rush in the theaters hopefully when it comes out or a least next to the release date and try to post a follow up for those who are interested in the movie. If you see it before me please feel free to leave a comment, let me know what you thought of it. By the way check out their website they have a few bicycle games if you need to kill sometime.

Strava is sued over death!

Even though this story is everywhere I thought I would post it up, it is interesting.  William Flint “Kim”, a 41 year old electrical engineer, died in a cycling accident in the summer of 2010.

William "Kim" Flint

Kim Flint lived in Oakland where he held his title “King Of Mountain” (“KOM”) by speeding down a steep stretch of road down South Park Drive in Berkley’s Tilden Park at 49.3 mph in a 30mph zone.  He was trying to regain his title “KOM” which was recently taken from him on June 15^th 2010 by another rider who beat Flint’s time by 4 seconds.   Four days after he lost his title he was back up racing down the hill to take it back.   During his descent he braked hard to avoid a car, lost control, flipped his bike which proved to be a fatal crash.

Stava, a Palo Alto company founded in April 2009, lets cyclists upload ride data gathered by GPS units onto a central website.  This is said to be an influence on Flint’s run on June 19, 2012.  Some cyclists say Flint’s death was just an accident that could have happened to anyone, others say his involvement with the online social network (Stava) was the major cause.   Riders can see how fast they traveled, how high they climbed, and how far they went.  When these times are uploaded to the website, others all over can now compete against your time and speed.  Strava has already marked South Hill Drive as a hazardous run and has removed all speed statistics for it.   However, statistics still remain for other segments on which Flint held "KOM" ranking.

Strava.com

On June 19 2012, The family of William Flint “Kim” sued the Strava website for negligence on Monday in San Francisco alleging it encouraged him to speed.  Flint reportedly had learned his time had been beaten on the Strava website.  Strava does not create these segments so they assume no responsibility for the damage they can cause.  Strava has become widely popular for road and mountain bikers all over the world and continues to grow.  Since the accident Strava has designed in a reporting system where users can flag a segment as dangerous.  After so many flags are added, the segment may be removed by Strava.

Garmin 800 GPS

Members of Strava praise the site for creating a sense of community among the Bay Area’s thousand of cyclists, despite Flint’s accident.   It is hard to say if Strava was an influence or not.  Flint seemed to have a strong will to ride regardless if he was submitting times to Strava or not.  He would even get together with other Strava members to ride segments with others of similar times.  With any ride there is going to be danger and accidents involved for cyclists.  According to information on the accident, Flint was not obeying posted speed limits and it did not help out in his unfortunate accident.  To say Strava is or was the influence is a stretch in my opinion.  Having a tool like a social media app or website does not make reckless people reckless, it gives them another convenient place to have bragging rights.  His own quote on Twitter that he wrote on June 6, before he knew his time was beaten by another Strava member: “49.3 mph, on a bike.  How I find my religion on Sunday morning” 

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