Bicycles

[CyclingInvestor]

I have ridden bicycles most of my life - paper routes as a child, commuting 27 years, and touring. My bikes of choice have been cross bikes for the last couple decades. They took the abuse of commuting well, and were fast enough for touring. In my 20s-30s heyday I road up to 14k+ miles/year. Now it is more like 3-4k.

Riding to work was always fun, since it was very early morning (leaving home at 4-6am).

Touring is great. Careful planning led to many almost empty roads or wide shoulders. Highlights were 1 x-country, 3 LosAngeles-Denver, PortlandOR-LosAngeles. Most rides were solo, although the x-country was with a friend.

 

[Tandemlovers]

My husband and I purchased a DaVinci tandem five years ago and have gone on many
self contained trips since then.
If all the stars align, we are planning to ride out of our driveway and circle Lake Michigan
this fall, camping along the way.

 

[golfersailor]

I bought a Giant bike on April 1st of this year. I ride for exercise and fun. So far I have over 970 miles on the bike and I love it. I was riding more in the spring and early summer but doing more stuff like golf and pickleball now as well as sailing.

 

[savory]

Biking has been a big part of my/DW life before and during retirement. For over 20 years, we would take a one week vacation credit card touring. We would also exercise and commute. After retirement, we have taken a few multi-month trips. We ride as much as we can. And, we are active in our local bicycling advocacy groups. I encourage bikers to support better bicycling for everyone. Most states have an advocacy organization and your town might have some people who are active. The bike store might know. One of the best national organizations is the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) who developed the Bicycle Friendly America program. If your town is not already a Bicycle Friendly Community, it might be worth your effort to make it one. By having the infrastructure and encouragement programs, it will add to your bicycling enjoyment. Also, here is a link to the National Bike Challenge where you can track your miles and simply see how you are doing for fun. You can participate as an individual or get a team together. Since May, I have ridden nearly 1500 miles with about half for commuting and half for exercise. https://nationalbikechallenge.org/

 

[nuke_diver]

I mostly ride a Bike Friday New World Tourist, a high-quality folding bike which is designed to pack into a pullman-sized suitcase. This photo was taken 2 months ago in the French Alps. I was touring with a friend who also has a Bike Friday.

Beautiful picture. I would love to do that one day but my wife is not much into the doing things vacation...riding up mountains would not be high on her list of priorities

 

[Spudd]

I mostly ride a Bike Friday New World Tourist, a high-quality folding bike which is designed to pack into a pullman-sized suitcase. This photo was taken 2 months ago in the French Alps. I was touring with a friend who also has a Bike Friday.

I'm thinking of getting Bike Fridays for my husband and I as a retirement gift to ourselves. How do you manage the travel logistically? Do you pack the bike in a suitcase and check it? What do you do with the suitcase at your destination? Also, are you happy with the NWT? That's what I think we would also get as we are big into bike touring.

To answer the thread question, yes, I am a cyclist. However since getting my Fitbit I have not been as motivated to bike, since the "steps" you get credit for in the Fitbit are much less than when walking. I still love it though.

 

[retirementguy1]

Hey now, I might resemble that!

Since you are a respected member of the forum I will give you a pass! lol

 

[anethum]

I'm thinking of getting Bike Fridays for my husband and I as a retirement gift to ourselves. How do you manage the travel logistically? Do you pack the bike in a suitcase and check it? What do you do with the suitcase at your destination? Also, are you happy with the NWT? That's what I think we would also get as we are big into bike touring.

Yes, I pack it in the suitcase, which is just under the airlines 62" cutoff dimension limit for not having to pay any oversize baggage fees. I bought the suitcase from the Bike Friday folks, but it is an off-the-shelf hard-sided plastic suitcase.

When I reach my flight destination, I have done all of the following: I left the suitcase with a friend in Paris; I have reserved the first and last night at either a hotel or guesthouse and they have agreed to store it for me while I'm biking. Only once was I charged to store the suitcase and I was told this beforehand. It was a miniscule fee (about 50 cents/day to store it at a guesthouse in Thailand). There was one time in Mexico when the hotel would not store the suitcase although they had told me beforehand when I made the reservation that they would. However, they suggested a shop nearby which did agree to store the suitcase (and my friend's bike box) and they didn't charge us a thing.

I also bought the hardware to convert the suitcase into a trailer, and I used it once when a friend & I were arriving in one town in Canada and flying home from another. He has a Bike Friday, too, and did the same thing. The suitcase conversion was easy and the trailer was stable while riding.

I've had my Bike Friday since 2000 and I love it. I think I've ridden well over 30,000 miles on it. It's my bike of choice, though I own 2 others. It rides like a conventional bike. I use it for running errands and riding with friends.

 

[savory]

I also bought the hardware to convert the suitcase into a trailer, and I used it once when a friend & I were arriving in one town in Canada and flying home from another. He has a Bike Friday, too, and did the same thing. The suitcase conversion was easy and the trailer was stable while riding.

I did not know about the suitcase conversion. Thanks!!

 

[nash031]

Since you are a respected member of the forum I will give you a pass! lol

When did THAT happen?

 

[HFWR]

When did THAT happen?

The bar isn't very high...

 

[athena53]

I LOVE my bicycle. I've had one most of my life. In late 2000, I got a consulting assignment in NYC. I lived in a commuter town in NNJ, but the train station had gone inactive long ago and the one 2 towns over had parking only for residents. (The bus went into midtown and I needed lower Manhattan.) I still remember bicycling through the cold, dark mornings, motivated only by the knowledge that the nice lady at the train station would sell me a cup of hot coffee for $1 when I got there.

The bicycle I owned at the time was over 20 years old. For Christmas, DH gave me a Diamondback Wildwood model. It's a hybrid and I have no idea whether it is/was a prestigious name. I've taken good care of it and it's gone thousands of miles. I know I would have done better in sprint triathlons with a lighter bike but it's practically part of me now. I've branched out into 50K charity rides- a distance that leaves me a little worn out but still feeling good (and ravenously hungry for something to replace all the calories I burn up!). It's also a good errand bike- we have a lot of stores within a 5-mile radius and it's ridiculous to take the car unless we're buying a week's worth of groceries.

I suppose sometime I'll have to give it up but I'm 61 and I hope it's a long time from now.

 

[Cat-tirement]

I tend to prefer single track, or more formal bike paths and rail trails, paved or not. For the dirt I have a ten year old Santa Cruz Blur, and for pavement I have a Cannondale cross bike that I put road tires on. Of course with working, I don't get to use them as much as I would like.

After my soon approaching retirement, I plan to do more biking (and more of many other things too). After DW retires and we move to our retirement home, I'll probably get a cruiser bike for bumming around town rather than driving.

 

[Revlefty]

I have a Trek hybrid and I love it. I just had some high rise handlebars put on it because my hands would go numb and my back couldn't take the hunched over position anymore. I ride alone and just enjoy the leisurely pace. Our city manager claims there are more bike paths in the planning for our city, but I don't think they are coming in the next few years. Our city is NOT bicycle friendly. They have bike lanes on the side of the road that just end. There is even one drainage grate that has the slots parallel to the roadway, so unless you know it is there, your tires could get caught.

Our county, OTOH has a great rails-to-trails system of paved trails, but I have to drive ten mile to get to the trailhead.

 

[ronin]

I ride the hills nearby nearly every day. I am lucky I can ride to a trailhead from my house in 20 minutes and I am gone. Hill system goes on to the east for miles with a lot of single track dropping off either side along the way.

Cannondale Trail SL 29er 2. Also have a vintage, rigid, cromoly Schwinn Sierra for messing around old school.

 

[FireBug]

Just because
http://http://online.wsj.com/articl...-the-comedian-and-the-bike-builder-1407970079

 

[fidler4]

I ride the hills nearby nearly every day. I am lucky I can ride to a trailhead from my house in 20 minutes and I am gone. Hill system goes on to the east for miles with a lot of single track dropping off either side along the way.

Cannondale Trail SL 29er 2. Also have a vintage, rigid, cromoly Schwinn Sierra for messing around old school.

Is this in the Puente Hills with the San Gabriel Valley in the background?


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Badger]

I've ridden bicycles all my life although there have been dry years. In '87 when DW and I married we bought matching hybrid bikes (Specialized Street Stomper). Later I bought a used road bike to participate in sprint triathlons. A couple of knee surgeries encouraged me to get a nice road bike as incentive for therapy so I bought a Klein Quantum frame in '90 and built a nice bike. A few years later wrist and back problems forced me to hang it up in the garage rafters where it remains. In '98 DW heard about recumbents and we bought a couple of Trice (now Ice) recumbent trikes that we still ride on occasion.

These posts have encouraged me to get down the old Specialized hybrid to see if I could still ride it after a lumbar fusion a few years ago. I was a little shaky but with a good cleaning, a few adjustments, and a little lube it may be alright for around the neighborhood. The front wheel was a little "wonky" and kept rubbing against the brake pad on one side so I bought some spoke wrenches to try my hand at truing a wheel. An hour later it seems to be good so we'll see if it holds up.

Thank you all for the posts. I missed riding and they gave me encouragement to get back in the saddle even if just for short rides around the neighborhood.

Cheers!

 

[candrew]

I understand the Schwinn Passage was only made for a couple of years and is considered collectible nowadays.

I ride a 2 year old Gunnar Sport - made in S.W. Wisconsin by Waterford bicycles that was part of Schwinn back in the day. Richard Schwinn continues to operate Waterford bikes.

 

[ronin]

Is this in the Puente Hills with the San Gabriel Valley in the background?

Good eye.

 

[dessert]

Yes I do enjoy cycling. I've been riding bicycles since I was a kid. Back then it was our only source of traveling since we lived out of town and had to keep in touch with our friends who lived miles apart.
When I served in the US Navy, I did not like driving into any of the bases so I would simply bicycle into the base and park right in front of the ship. The commute by bicycle reduced my times by quite a bit.
Now my wife and I each have hybrid bicycles that we use to recreation ride when we get a chance.
I also have a Specialized Secteur Elite road bike that I take out every other day for a spin through the back roads for enjoyment and to stay in shape.
I agree that the motor is the key to cycling.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Cycling has been the main sport all of my adult life with no significant gaps. Staying in shape is much easier than getting into shape is a lesson I needed to learn just once.
My heart is with touring, although fast pace-line riding is the best aerobic rush.
If I ever settle down and get a shop again, I plan to design and build from scratch a new fleet bikes for DW and I - currently six bikes.

 

[Grigori]

I ride a Rans Stratus XP Aluminum (Recumbent bike) on the 13 mile round trip George Bush Park trail behind my townhouse in Houston, Tx. I see deer, snakes, and wild pigs. The recumbent bike is really what my body likes now at age 59; no more holding my head up, neck pain, numb hands, or numb crotch. Only thing is that the bike is slower because of 26" wheels. I switched to it two years ago after riding diamond frames (Cannondale Touring bike) for 25 years.

When I FIRE at the end of December, I look forward to longer (20 miles) leisurely rides, and sitting at the coffee shop and library.

I would really like to do some long distance touring with some FIRE'd people. I've solo toured in Italy, and group toured in France, but it's 20 years ago.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

I passed a guy riding one of these contraptions on my Sunday ride.
I guess it would be a good solution for someone with back/seat problems and more scenic than the gym with that missing ingredient - momentum.

 

[sengsational]

Just checked on cruise critic and there are a few posts about bike friday's on cruise ships. Apparently not a problem if you check in advance and find a way to keep it in your cabin. But when the port times can are typically so short, motorized transportation will get you more places faster (i.e. rent a scooter for two for $50/day).