New bike!
I've been saying for the past two plus years now that I want a bike. I was dead set on buying one during my second year in graduate school but fiddled around and never did. And then I swore up and down once I moved to a new city, I'd buy a bike. I moved here in July and kept making excuses as to why I hadn't bought one. But when my birthday rolled around, I realized I could no longer make another excuse and rather than spend birthday money on clothes (as I usually do), I had to buy a bike. Only issue: I had no idea how to even go about doing this.
How tough could it be you ask? With Forest Park only a mile from campus, I definitely wanted a bike that would allow me to explore the park and get a great exercise. I didn't really want a top of the line road bike as I didn't see myself biking professionally (nor did I see myself spending all the money to invest in the authentic biking apparel) nor did I want a Huffy mountain bike. I wanted something middle of the road. Something I could enjoy on the streets or on a quick run to the grocery store or the drug store and something I could enjoy taking up and down some hills in the park. Only problem was, I didn't really know what that looked like. I also wasn't sure where to look. Do I hit up the big bike stores in town? Check out craigslist for a used bike? Visit Target and Wally World to check out their selection? And despite having some play money, sources told me I probably wouldn't find a decent bike for around the $300-$350 range I had set in my mind. And did I really want to spend $400+ on a bike!? It all became so overwhelming.
Praise baby J I have a best friend who bikes for a hobby and is informed about these types of things. Since he visited the Lou this past weekend, I took advantage of his expertise and his valuable opinion to go bike shopping. He helped me decide that I needed a hybrid (bigger tires than a road bike but smaller tires than a mountain bike), that a single speed bike could be enjoyable but perhaps not the most practical, that curved handlebars would be more ideal than straight ones, and that color isn't everything (even though I think it's important to have a trendy looking bike). After visiting the top bike store in town, I left feeling defeated finding nothing lower than $500 that fit my criteria. I suggested we scope out REI and to my chagrin, found just the perfect bike for me!
Meet my new ride:
Thanks to the good people at REI and my best friend, I'm now the proud owner of a Marin Bridgeway, seven speed, hybrid bike! It's nice to look at, fun to ride, and I'm amped to begin exploring Forest Park this upcoming weekend. It also didn't hurt that the bike was on sale and I was able to purchase it for under $350. I'm happy that the dream to own a bike finally became a reality this past weekend.
Cheers.
How tough could it be you ask? With Forest Park only a mile from campus, I definitely wanted a bike that would allow me to explore the park and get a great exercise. I didn't really want a top of the line road bike as I didn't see myself biking professionally (nor did I see myself spending all the money to invest in the authentic biking apparel) nor did I want a Huffy mountain bike. I wanted something middle of the road. Something I could enjoy on the streets or on a quick run to the grocery store or the drug store and something I could enjoy taking up and down some hills in the park. Only problem was, I didn't really know what that looked like. I also wasn't sure where to look. Do I hit up the big bike stores in town? Check out craigslist for a used bike? Visit Target and Wally World to check out their selection? And despite having some play money, sources told me I probably wouldn't find a decent bike for around the $300-$350 range I had set in my mind. And did I really want to spend $400+ on a bike!? It all became so overwhelming.
Praise baby J I have a best friend who bikes for a hobby and is informed about these types of things. Since he visited the Lou this past weekend, I took advantage of his expertise and his valuable opinion to go bike shopping. He helped me decide that I needed a hybrid (bigger tires than a road bike but smaller tires than a mountain bike), that a single speed bike could be enjoyable but perhaps not the most practical, that curved handlebars would be more ideal than straight ones, and that color isn't everything (even though I think it's important to have a trendy looking bike). After visiting the top bike store in town, I left feeling defeated finding nothing lower than $500 that fit my criteria. I suggested we scope out REI and to my chagrin, found just the perfect bike for me!
Meet my new ride:
Thanks to the good people at REI and my best friend, I'm now the proud owner of a Marin Bridgeway, seven speed, hybrid bike! It's nice to look at, fun to ride, and I'm amped to begin exploring Forest Park this upcoming weekend. It also didn't hurt that the bike was on sale and I was able to purchase it for under $350. I'm happy that the dream to own a bike finally became a reality this past weekend.Cheers.
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