This is one of the more embarrassing posts I have begun. :o
Lately I have been thinking about how nice it would be to get a bike and start riding, just to get outside & exercise a little. Now, understand, I am almost 51 years old, quite overweight, and have not ridden a bike in probably over 20 years. But they say you never forget, right?
I have been looking around and today I took the plunge and bought a 26" Huffy street cruiser. It is a thing of beauty, soft mint green with cream and brown trim. Wide tires, comfort seat. I paid for it and brought it home, smiling all the way.
When I got home I mounted up and…almost broke my neck without even getting out of the driveway. I could get one foot on a pedal, and that was about it. I could barely get my leg over the damned thing. The joy of getting the bike turned to fear… fear of falling, fear of breaking a bone.
I brought it inside the house and waited a while then tried again. Pretty much the same result; I did make it about a half a block, but it was about as far from pretty as you can get. I got off and walked it home.
The bike almost feels too big for me-it’s 26" and I’m 5’6". According to the paper I got with it, there should be at least 1" of clearance between the top tube and my crotch, and that seems right, but… nothing seems to fit with me and my coveted bike.
What am I doing wrong? How can I make this work? Any hints for a fat old woman to re-learn to ride a bike?
Sounds like you went to the local WalMart/Target/Big Box. The bike size is not 26", that’s the tire size. Take it back and go to a local bike shop for a bike that fits and won’t fall apart before your eyes.
I agree with runner pat. Going to your local bike shop means getting somebody with more of a clue about bikes than the average big box store salesperson to help you choose the right bike for your needs and adjust it properly. Bike shops also do service/repairs, so it’s good to have a regular shop that you can trust.
You need a properly fitting bike. A mountain bike frame should have several inches of clearance, a road bike will have only an inch or two.
The seat should be high enough so that when you are seated your leg will have a slight bend with the ball of your foot on the pedal and the pedal is at the bottom of the stroke.
Handlebars should be a comfortable reach with a slight lean forward of the torso.
Look down at the hub of the front wheel, the hub should be just back of the bars(mtn. bike), obscured on a road bike.
Here are some womens’ cruiser bikes from Trek. I’m sure the other major manufacturers have similar lines.
I will say that unless you plan to never go more than a few miles, this type of bike is not suitable. If it’s at all hilly where you live, three speeds are not enough.
I have seen some quite large riders finishing metric/full centuries so size is not always a hindrance to covering a considerable distance.
Don’t give up, PapSett. It could just be that you’re too tense. You have to relax and kind of move with the bike. I know that “new bike feeling”, and the cruiser-style bikes certainly have a kind of classic beauty. Huffys have traditionally been a pretty strong bike, although they’re certainly not light and you might want to double-check bolts for tightness…the WalMart assemblers are not noted for quality work. I’d suggest you keep trying, on easy, level ground with no obstacles to distract you. Try to loosen up and relax, and your riding skills will probably come back pretty quickly. Pay careful attention to your seat adjustment… when the pedal is at the bottom of the stroke your leg should be almost fully extended. Good luck!
SS
Part of the trouble is that your body is a different shape than when you learned. Your balance and center of gravity are totally different now, and the part of your brain that may remember how to ride a bike is trying to balance a different body!
Don’t give up. You can do it. Remember that if you pedal faster and harder, your balance will be easier than if you pedal slowly. If you start to lean, turn the front wheel *into *the lean. Feel like you’re falling to the right? Steer right! It’s counter intuitive, but it works. It’s how I taught my daughter to ride, no training wheels, in about 15 minutes. Keep pedaling, and turn *into *your “fall”. You’ll get it.
I think you might want to try riding something a bit lower to the ground until you get used to it. It can be daunting to not be able to brace yourself with your feet on the ground because the seat is set as high as recommended. Setting the seat so that your leg is nearly all the way extended with a small bend may be best for muscular efficiency, but you need to treat this like a kid learning to ride. Can you lower your seat a bit to where you feel comfortable enough being able to reach the ground with your feet? Just practice gliding along a bit to feel the balance before you actually start using the pedals. Once you’re comfortable, you’ll be fine moving the seat back up to where it’s supposed to be for your height.
You’re 5’6" and presumably have an inseam of around 29"-30"+/-. For beginning with a road bike you need to adjust the seat post so that your feet can easily reach the pedals. If you can barely reach the pedals or put your leg over the bike it is entirely mis-sized for you.
Bike sizing guide.
Huffy is OK to cruise the neighborhood, but I would not count on it for extended road trips. They are low cost bikes of mediocre quality. A visit to a real bike shop might be the best solution for you.
I love how easy it is to spend other peoples’ money on the internet.
Don’t go to a bike shop. From your post it is apparent that you are/will be a casual rider. You don’t need a “bike shop bike” if it’s not in your budget, yours will be more than adequate.
As fun as it is to bash the Big Box Stores, plenty of people do just fine with what you bought. Sounds like the seat and handlebars just need adjustment. And you need a little practice. And a helmet if you don’t have one.
I agree. I’m one of those who often jump into threads where people ask what sort of a bike they should buy to say (or agree) that they should go to a proper bike shop and get well fitted etc. In this case however I think a good few of the answers are from people who have given the standard SDMB bicycling crowd reflexive response without properly listening. This is at best marginally a bike fit problem. This is a bike riding familiarity and confidence problem.
Unless you luck out, all new bikes feel like everything is wrongly placed to begin with. It’s normal and you are just feeling it more acutely because it is so long since you have ridden.
Ignore the advice about putting the seat right up till your leg is almost straight when the pedal is in the lowest position. Get it down low so it’s easy as possible to sit on it with your feet near the ground so you can catch yourself easily if you feel like you are going to fall. Just don’t go so low your legs are getting bent to a pretzel when the pedals are at the top.
Start with a very gentle slope with flat at the bottom and just walk up and roll down so you can get into steering and braking. When you’ve got doing this straight down, introduce some swerves so you get cornering skills back. Then start pedalling as you reach the flat and keep extending the ride till you are able to just keep going indefinitely (subject to tiredness etc) by pedalling.
As you do this, it will all gradually start to feel less and less precarious and weird. If you have already managed half a block, I suspect we are talking 15 minutes or so maximum before the feel comes back.
Now that you have confidence, now you can start to think about getting the seat to a proper height and whether the bars are too close to you and so on. I doubt the fit is so bad that a tad of adjustment won’t get it good enough for casual purposes.
I had occasion to ride an adult tricycle mountain bike recently. Unless the rear axle is fitted with a differential (assuming rear wheel drive!) it is very hard to ride, as only one wheel is powered. This means that the “mountain bike” premiss is not very accurate, off-road riding was hard due to wheelspin. I did a fair amount of research, and could only find single wheel drive models (this was, however, in South Africa. You may get more variety elsewhere)
Also, the natural motion when riding a bicycle is to pull on the handlebar slightly, and lean slightly, when pushing the pedal on that side - which keeps balance nicely.
If you do the same with the tricycle, you are likely to fall over, or oversteer and go in circles.
I found the best way to manage the tricycle was to always understeer - and of course, never try to lean into a corner, as the thing is not very stable.
All in all, I would recommend a normal two wheeler over a three wheeler (unless the trike is one of those prone-position ones, which I have not tried) - a traditional bicycle is much simpler!
For what it is worth, the owner of the tricycle informed me that his friend, who normally rides a unicycle, experienced a similar level of difficulty with the tricycle.
What you forgot about was that yearly weight gain for the last 30 years or more. That makes it harder boarding a bike and getting started. I would say the type of bike you purchased would be suitable for your elementary needs. What you need to do is find someone who can adjust the seat and handlebars so they feel comfortable. The seat adjusts in two directions. You have to decide what feels right and make adjustments in small increments, like half and inch or an inch on the heights. Remember to keep coming back to it and you will soon have the hang of it enough to feel secure and go much further. The best decision you made was to get going and do something. Don’t forget about simple walking as well.
PapSett - Think of this as a step toward getting back on a horse. You can regain your sense of balance. It’ll be awkward at first, but the more you do it, the easier it’ll get. Good luck!
I completely agree. It’s not like she’s going to go out and jumping on the Tour of California. I find a lot of local bike shop employees to be ridiculously pretentious and condescending. Just lower that seat low enough so that you can easily put a foot down while seated and take the bike to a wide open park or parking lot without any cars and practice there.
LOL… horses were always SO much easier! 4 legs vs. 2 wheels… no contest.
I actually had a hard time learning to ride a bike when I was a kid, too. My sense of balance just sucks.
And those of you who defended my choice of a Huffy, thank you. I don’t intend to be going on any long-distance rides, just nice, easy, rides around the neighborhood.
I really appreciate all the feedback I’ve gotten, it is all very helpful.
Going to try to go for a little ride later… wishme luck.
And if I kill myself, it’s been nice knowing y’all.
