There is no shortage of reasons for choosing to cycle. Some folks are having a hard time keeping up with the rising cost of gasoline and maintenance bills, so they choose to ride a bike. Some decide to cycle because they want to have less of an impact on the environment when traveling.
And others still are riding simply because they love to ride. No matter the reason you want to find the perfect cycle for you, you should keep certain things in mind when you are ready to go shopping. You will be surprised at how much more there is to a bicycle than just the looks. Here are some helpful tips that you can use to help you decide which bicycle you should buy.
The brakes on your bike are of utmost importance. Brakes are very important on a bike, you need to understand how they work and what type you will most likely need for your bike. For light use you can get a bike with traditional brakes, ones which simply squeeze the tires with small pads. If you decide you want your bike for more off-roading adventures, you need a different kind of braking system that can keep up with that particular style. The best kind of braking system to choose for this style of riding is the disk brakes, because they are build to handle more and are less apt to fail under stress.
Take 9" away from the total of your inseam if you plan to get a road bike. This is because of the size of the tires on your road bike. These tires will be thinner and designed for efficiency on concrete roads or pavements. For a mountain bike you will need to take 12" away from your total inseam. Again this is to account for the size of tires. These tires are designed to handle rocky and jagged terrain so are therefore thicker. Mountain bikes can travel on city pavement but that is not what they are designed to do.
Ask yourself the number of gears necessary for your bike. If you are going to be travelling in relatively flat places, you will not need as many gears as you would need in rockier terrain or a terrain with lots of go now hills. You can’t evaluate the bike only by the number of gears it has. The truth is that you might not need all of those different gears. It’s a waste of money to pay for all those unused gears. Find out where you’ll ride your bike, especially if this is your main vehicle, and make sure you have enough gears to handle the areas through which you will travel.
Your main priority is the physical fit of your bike. If you intend to use your bike a lot, perhaps as your main method of transport, it is important you keep this in mind. Comfort and saftey are the two most important aspects of riding a bike.