How to Buy a Senior Bicycle
Touring Is More Fun on a Comfortable Bike
Senior riders enjoy bicycling vacations most when they ride in comfort. Tips on choosing and riding senior bicycles for adventures, fun and fitness.
Even if you haven't ridden a bike since the sixth grade, it's true: you never forget how. Better yet, senior bicycles you can buy today or rent from a tour operator are likely to be more comfortable and better built than your sixth grade wheels were. The cost could be less, too.
Road Testing Comfort Bicycles
First step: test-pedal one of the current of senior-friendly bicycles available at a shop near you. If possible, rent a bike before you buy one. Be careful of used bikes at yard sales; they frequently are old, heavy, and in need of a new saddle, inner tubes and tires. You're better off using that money for a new bike.
Going on a tour? Most organized bike trips that appeal to seniors -- including those offered by Backroads, Butterfield and Robinson, VBT and Timberline -- rent excellent bicycles and can adjust them to your dimensions.
Where are you riding? How fast do you want to travel? Answers help determine what kind of bike is best for you.
If you plan to ride on paved or hard dirt roads, consider a casual bicycle with upright handlebars, variously called hybrids, city, commuter, cruisers or comfort bikes.
If you live in the hills, or expect them on a trip or bicycle adventure vacations, true mountain bikes make more sense. They come with extra gears as well as some kind of suspension -- shock-absorbers on the front, rear or both built in to cushion bumps and bounces over curbs, rocks and roots.
Great Senior Bikes for Under $300
A good lightweight steel bike with at least 7 gears, upright handlebars and comfortable saddle costs as little as $300. (Three-speeds are a rarity these days.) But don't resist bikes with 15 gears or more. They prevent you from hurting your knees, which happens when you are forcing the pedals to turn in too tough a gear, or exhausting your lungs, which happens when you pedal furiously in too easy a gear. Among brands both first-rate and widely available are Specialized, Trek, Giant, KHS and Fuji.
The Test Drive
On your test rides, make sure the bike "fits" you. Pay attention to feel, not to frame size. A good bike shop will use either a fitting machine or an experienced salesperson to help you get the correct size.
"Novices are prone to select a frame which is too large," says Richard Ballantine, author of a classic bike maintenance book. Straddle the bike, both feet on the ground. You should have several inches of daylight between crotch and top tube. The seat should be adjusted so that when pedaling your leg extends just shy of straight at the bottom of a stroke.
Once you're moving, your arms should be relaxed. Many entry-level bikes come with adjustable and changeable components as well as adjustable stems so you don't strain to reach the gear-shift levers.
Learn Bicycle Riding Skills
Before your senior bike trip starts, practice pedaling and shifting. If the easiest gear makes it hard for you to climb uphill, ask for a model with more appropriate gearing. Shifting into the smallest chain ring in the front combined with one of the bigger cogs in the rear should allow you to climb hills without your leg muscles and joints begging for mercy.
Whether you borrow, rent or buy, start out in a safe place. The major obstacles to bike fun are traffic, sore butts and unrealistic expectations. Almost every town or city has a dedicated bike path or a road fairly free of cars. Depending on the weather and your overall fitness, you might go a few blocks or a mile or two. How did you feel the next morning? OK? Increase your distance and try riding several times a week.
Helmet for Safety
What do you call a rider without a helmet? A potential organ donor! Buy or rent one and make sure it is snug. Happy trails!
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