WHICH BIKE DO I NEED? (PART 1)
In Orange Bikes we always try to give to our customers what they need. When a person comes into our shop and says, ‘‘I want to buy a bike’’, our first questions are:
- Where are you going to ride it? City? Mountain?
- Are you going to use it daily or is it just for weekend excursions?
- What distance are you going to cycle?
And some more… our first goal is to sell to every customer the perfect bike to fit the need. Let’s talk this month about the city bikes, and we’ll leave mountain bikes for next month.
Obviously, you can buy a mountain bike to move around the city with no problem, but the body position is much more comfortable on a city or trekking bike.
There are three basic options for cycling around the city – the classic city bikes, trekking bikes and folding bikes.
The last kind has become really fashionable in the last few years, but there are some things to consider, mainly the size of the wheel. Even if you can have a folding bike with a good gear ratio, you need to pedal more with a small wheel to cover a distance in comparison to the standard wheel size of a city or a trekking bike. The biggest size wheels for the folding bikes are 20 inches, and city bikes used to have 28 inch wheels (there are some of 26 inches).
So if you have to cycle long distances in the city (Valencia is not a small town now… the river bed is about 12 kms long) and you don’t have special situations like a small flat or a small elevator in your building, the best option is choose a normal city bike or a trekking bike.
If you need a folding bike, there are really good options at around 300 euros with aluminium frame, six gears and good equipment (saddle, mudguards, etc.), and, of course, the 20 inch wheel size. This would be a good bike to cycle around the city if you have to choose a folding bike, but there are more options that go up to 2000 euros!
The queens of the city are the trekking bikes and city bikes. There are just small differences between them, both are really useful for the city cycling but the trekking are also good for cycling out of town. We can offer you city bikes with 26 inch wheels, one or six gears, mainly in street frames equipped with rear carrier and lights, and prices starting at 190 euros. There are city bikes with 28 inch wheels, the same size used in all the trekking bikes, with the same specifications. These bicycles have more gears (18, 21, 24 or even 27), but there are more differences than the number of gears. They usually have front fork suspension, a good rear carrier, front and rear light and mudguards.
The greatest advantage in comparison with the city bikes is versatility, because the trekking bikes are excellent vehicles for the city, but you can also make fantastic routes like Camino de Santiago or one of the Vias Verdes with no problem, carrying some luggage and enjoying days of cycling outside the city. The price for trekking bikes starts at around 300 euros, going up to 1300 euros for the high quality models. Two other types of bikes are really useful for the city. One is the Speedline models, really lightweight bicycles designed for the city and for the road, but not useful for off-road use. The other one is a really good option – the cross models, exactly like the trekking bikes but with no carrier, lights or mudguards.
Orange Bikes
Editor Manuel Aguilar,1
Valencia 46001
96 3917551
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