No, I’m saying “I’m not spending $400 on a different bike because I’m paying off a wedding and starting law school next month, and though I don’t mind spending another $300 over the course of a year I’m not spending another $300 now.”
To clarify a point on this: for most men, tilting the saddle down (below the base of the saddle) is a bad idea. If the saddle is actually tilting down you end up sliding onto the nose of the saddle, and your nuts will balls much, much more. Start with the saddle level and make sure you’re sitting on the widest part. If you’re still sore, try tilting the nose up just a bit.
If you would like to try another saddle, I would recommend against getting one that’s especially squishy and soft. While these seem comfortable when you press on them with your thumb in the store, all that gel jams itself right into important arteries and nerves, which causes pain. Many, including myself, like Brooks saddles, which can be bought here. I use a Brooks Imperial, but the B.17 is their most popular model. They’re a touch spendy, but the retailer offers a 6 month return policy, and you could almost certainly use them on any other bike. With proper care, these saddles can last decades.
I very much agree with this. Wear something that will keep all parts firmly in one place. It could be as simple as boxer-briefs with some spandex in them.
How “nearly straight” is your leg? It shouldn’t be fully extended at any point in the pedal stroke. One method of getting the saddle height roughly where it should be: sit on the bike, and put your heel on the pedal. In this position, your leg should just be fully extended at the farthest point in the pedal stroke.
Can we have a measurement of where the bars are in relation to your saddle? If the saddle-bar drop is any more than ~1 inch (and probably even then), you bought a bike that is much too small for you. Consequently, it will probably never be comfortable.
I’ve always heard that the pad slant is meant to keep the brakes from squealing. If they’re not making noise, then there shouldn’t be much of a problem.
Make sure the brakes are tight enough. One rule: put two fingers between the bar and the brake lever. The brakes should engage before the lever hits your fingers.
Thanks!
If the pedal had about 3-4 inches more travel it would be fully extended with the ball of my foot on the pedal. I thought it was supposed to be fully extended - so I guess the bike does fit after all.
I have the bars at the same height as the seat at the moment.
Bike shop manager here.
As has been pointed out, you bought a piece of crap.
But much more importantly, does the bike* fit*?
First is the frame the right size? If not, you are very limited in what you can do re adjusting the bike’s components to make your riding efficient, comfortable, and low stress for your body.
Even if you did buy the correct frame size, the bike’s components still need to be set up to get a proper fit, and I suggest you get fit on the bike by someone at a bike shop who knows what they are doing.
A basic fit can take five minutes and will involve coarse-adjusting the seat and seat post, stem, and handlebars.
An advanced fit can take as long as two hours, cost $400, and involves aligning the bike’s components and body with lasers and devices that measure angles, swapping-out components, and so on. The most complex part of an advanced fit involves the foot, where there as many as seven different factors to consider (with clipless pedals). So, consider the detail in fit you desire/can afford and go get it. But If the frame itself is not the right size, return the bike.
Riding a piece-of-crap $100 bike is not a crime, but riding an improperly fit bike, whether it’s worth $100 or $10,000, is.
Well, not that you asked, but your first mistake was going into debt for your wedding.
That wasn’t part of the plan. My parents were going to be paying for half, and suffered some rather abrupt financial reversals (thanks, Bush!) and were suddenly unable to. Of course, by that time we’d already paid deposits and signed contracts and so on.
It’s not a lot of debt.
Also, a good pair of bike gloves will be your best friends EVAR if you have a wipe-out of the sort that involves your hands skidding along the pavement for a ways.
People who are enthusiastic about and regularly engage in a sport or hobby (and have for a long time) always tell you that you must have superior equipment if you are going to join them in the sport or hobby (cameras, kayaks, bikes, doesn’t matter what it is). Let me offer a post from the other standpoint. I bought a bike to take camping with me. I’m one of those people who tend to always buy quality, so my bike, for occasional use six months of the year, cost more than $400. My husband thought he might like us to go biking together around here (he doesn’t camp). He’s one of those people who always buy the cheap stuff. So he got a $100 bike from Walmart. He’s perfectly happy with it. Once in a while a gear catches while shifting and there’s a hesitation before it clicks into place…big deal. He is more enthusiastic about riding than I am, always wants to go out, so what if it’s 100 degrees? Let’s go! He loves it. Our rides generally don’t last longer than 2 hours, though–this is a pastime, something we do for fun, and then we go do something else. Enjoy your bike, get your $100 worth of fun out of it, don’t be discouraged by the responses here.
I don’t think anyone is saying that he needs a $2500 full suspension MTB to have fun, but at some level there is real crap equipment in every sport. Some stuff is designed for use once a year, others for kids to play with, others just to get people in the store where they can be upsold. And this $100 bike will be functional, to a degree. But it’s never going to be something you can build on, and it never going to be care free or all working perfectly.
But, since he’s got the bike and is using it, I would recommend in order [ol]
[li]biking gloves[/li][li]biking shorts[/li][li]adjust the bike as best you can by yourself[/li][li]go to a bike shop to get the bike adjusted[/li][li]buy a new seat[/li][/ol]
This assumes you’re already getting a helmet. I’d be hard pressed to recommend anything else for this bike. The next big thing would be clipless pedals, and I wouldn’t bother with a bike like this. If you find yourself going long distances and want to carry things, a cheap bike rack will make life easier.
No, that’s pretty good. Part of the reason I don’t want to buy a nicer one yet is that I like tinkering, and getting to practice on a shitty one for a while will make me a lot more comfortable with a nice one.
Anyone care to recommend a helmet?
I have this helmet: http://www.rei.com/product/794711 but really any new helmet you get is going to be just fine.
Now then. Speaking from recent personal experience: I’d gone on two bike rides with borrowed/rented bikes and decided to take the plunge and buy a bike. I am a graduate student, so I’m not exactly rolling in money either. I’d been looking on Craigslist for a used bike that I could fix up before just deciding to spend the money up front and buy this one. Honestly, spending the money once on something that you’ll be able to use for years and years was worth it to me. The local bike shop I used fit me perfectly (including using protractors to measure leg angles!) and promised to re-fit me later if I decided I wanted the riding position to be more bent over or more upright. I’ve had department store bikes before, but I could ride all day comfortably on this one. It truly and honestly does make a difference.
I guess I would advise against putting any money into the bike you currently have beyond things like helmet, U-Lock, gloves, and clothing. I wouldn’t put new pedals or a new seat on the one you have now. Save that money! Just apply it toward a future bike that will be fit perfectly to you and to your needs. Ride and tinker now with what you have, but I wouldn’t put money into the bike. Riding what you have now will let you determine if you want to go for road/hybrid/mountain, if you want clipless pedals, what riding position you’d like, etc for when you’re ready to invest $300-$400 into something nicer.
Riding a mountain bike on the street won’t be the most pleasant experience but it won’t be the worst either. If your seat is at the right height and you can find a reasonable height for your handlebars–I doubt you want to be in a fully sitting straight up riding position–I think that’ll solve most of the comfort issues. Wearing some UnderArmour-type compression shorts under gym shorts will help a lot with comfort too.
Also, about gears: I don’t know if you’ve ever driven a manual transmission car, but your bike gears are basically comparable. By this, I mean there’s a single appropriate gear for the speed you’re going. If you’re pedaling too much, it’s just like running up the RPMs on your engine… except the engine is your legs! Your goal should be maintaining your cadence. If you’re pressing the pedals so hard you feel as if you need to stand or if your legs are moving against too little resistance such that your quads start to hurt, it means you are in the wrong gear for that speed and terrain. This takes some getting used to.
Also, just like a manual transmission car, downshifting when you come to a stop is important too. If you’re in a gear made for going fast (the smaller sprockets in the back and the large sprocket in the front), starting up from a dead stop is bad for you but particularly bad for your bike as you stomp down with all your weight on the gears and chain. If you want your bike to last, downshift into stops such that you start up with lower resistance.
You will also want to avoid “cross-chaining”. Basically, your chain should stay at roughly the same tension regardless of gear. Presuming you have a 21-speed bike, this means you have 3 different sizes of sprockets in front and 7 in the back. To avoid cross-chaining you should only combine the big sprocket in front with the 3-4 smallest sprockets in the back; these are your “going fast” gears. Similarly, you should only use the 3-4 biggest sprockets in the back when you’re using the smallest sprocket in the front (for going up hills). Avoiding cross-chaining means the chain, gears, and derailleur will hold up better over time.
Your bike is purdy, and not all that expensive!
Actually, although the bike is technically as 21-speed, the rear derailleur is rather unreliable, and the higher the gear, the more unreliable it gets. I basically left it in 7th at the back and just shifted up and down through the front gears the last time I rode it.
Typically, I would do the same thing, but that means I tend to end up with a lot of really, really expensive junk, like $500 skis and $1000 weight benches and $800 camcorders that I use for a month and then forget completely. I don’t need a bike; my commute is 30 minutes by car, and that’s an average speed of about 60 miles an hour. This one’s for very limited trips (ie., McDonald’s, and maybe the local bar) and fun only.
I figured that three or four months of sore knees is totally worth $500, largely since I don’t have $500 right now.
I completely understand this view. I tend to be the same way, so I’m quite glad everything worked out for me!
I think the main reason people seem a little touchy in this thread is that they’re largely concerned that you’ll take the sore knees or being easily tired and conclude that biking isn’t for you. When done properly–which doesn’t have to be super expensively but does need to be done the advice of bike shop experts–your knees won’t hurt, you’ll be able to ride long distances, and you’ll probably enjoy yourself. It’s supposed to be fun!
Good luck, and I hope you enjoy it enough to invest in the kind of ride you’ll be able to use for years and years.