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Bike Breakthrough!
May. 12th, 2014 11:35 amLast fall we started looking for a new bike for Richard that would be easier for him to board. His old beater has a mixte frame (half-way between a "men's" and "women's" frame) and he just can't lift his foot that high anymore. We were discouraged at how few options were out there. Typically, each bike shop had exactly ONE over-priced "cruiser" bike (with limited gearing) and 1 or 2 of the drop-bar bikes still anachronistically referred to as "women's" bikes.
Considering how many old, stiff baby boomers are out there, I find this simply mind-boggling. It takes a lot of flexibility to swing your leg over the back of a traditional "men's" bike. The lack of choices for people who can no longer do that is hard to comprehend. Sure, a lot of older people just give up on biking. But maybe if they could find bikes they could actually get onto, a lot of them wouldn't do that?
This spring we hit the bike shops again. Started at REI because I get a membership discount there and they did have one of the drop-frame Electra Townie bikes. But they didn't have the 21-speed model (contrary to what their inventory said) and the lack of bike knowledge exhibited by the well-meaning salesman was discouraging. So we headed back for The Hub, the shop where we had found a bike that might possibly do last fall. But things had changed. The Giant Sedona we were looking for was now out of stock, but they were now carrying THIS. So we bought it on the spot. Richard is thrilled.
Considering how many old, stiff baby boomers are out there, I find this simply mind-boggling. It takes a lot of flexibility to swing your leg over the back of a traditional "men's" bike. The lack of choices for people who can no longer do that is hard to comprehend. Sure, a lot of older people just give up on biking. But maybe if they could find bikes they could actually get onto, a lot of them wouldn't do that?
This spring we hit the bike shops again. Started at REI because I get a membership discount there and they did have one of the drop-frame Electra Townie bikes. But they didn't have the 21-speed model (contrary to what their inventory said) and the lack of bike knowledge exhibited by the well-meaning salesman was discouraging. So we headed back for The Hub, the shop where we had found a bike that might possibly do last fall. But things had changed. The Giant Sedona we were looking for was now out of stock, but they were now carrying THIS. So we bought it on the spot. Richard is thrilled.
