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sauergeekI am pondering acquiring a bicycle, and am looking for recommendations. I would use it for two primary purposes:
1) Riding from my condo to the train station. This is a distance of about a mile, over cobblestone, brick, wood, and asphalt pavement. (Mostly asphalt, with cobblestone a significant second.) There are bike racks in the parking garage at the train station.
2) Grocery shopping. The store I usually go to is about 2.5 miles away; there's a closer one that isn't as good about a mile away. Either way, I'm still facing the same pavement mix as above. I have not looked for bike parking at either store, but I believe there is none.
I may also use a bike for random short rides around the area. I am unlikely to take up any sort of long distance, competitive, or significant unpaved riding (though there may be a bit of unpaved riding here and there).
Any additions to a bike for carrying groceries should be either easily removed or so integral to the bike that it would require significant disassembly of the bike to get them off -- to prevent theft when they're not in use. (I'd prefer the former, and just bring them into the store with me.)
I would prefer regular bike pedals so I don't have to change shoes when I get where I'm going. I vastly prefer drop handlebars to straight ones.
Thoughts?
1) Riding from my condo to the train station. This is a distance of about a mile, over cobblestone, brick, wood, and asphalt pavement. (Mostly asphalt, with cobblestone a significant second.) There are bike racks in the parking garage at the train station.
2) Grocery shopping. The store I usually go to is about 2.5 miles away; there's a closer one that isn't as good about a mile away. Either way, I'm still facing the same pavement mix as above. I have not looked for bike parking at either store, but I believe there is none.
I may also use a bike for random short rides around the area. I am unlikely to take up any sort of long distance, competitive, or significant unpaved riding (though there may be a bit of unpaved riding here and there).
Any additions to a bike for carrying groceries should be either easily removed or so integral to the bike that it would require significant disassembly of the bike to get them off -- to prevent theft when they're not in use. (I'd prefer the former, and just bring them into the store with me.)
I would prefer regular bike pedals so I don't have to change shoes when I get where I'm going. I vastly prefer drop handlebars to straight ones.
Thoughts?
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Date: 2008-07-27 10:37 pm (UTC)Also get pedals which have fairly prominent grip points on the upper surface; the sort that are of an open-frame construction with blunt teeth built into the top tend to work well as long as there's some pattern to the bottom of your shoe or it's got a soft or rubber sole. The grip points on the pedal will lock into the pattern on the shoe and that works quite well. I've got whatever pedals came with the Sausalito and they're fine, but a cow-orker just got a pared-down touring bike with some amazingly tenacious pedals, I can find out the name if you want.