Column 1: Buying a New Bike

In April I began a monthly Shifting Gears column in the Minneapolis Downtown and Southwest Journals, with a focus on biking in the metro area. This blog will provide an opportunity to share additional information that couldn't be included in the print edition.

My first column focused on "Buying a New Bike." Here are a few additional points I didn't have space to include in the print story:

• I wasn't able to include much information about other styles of bikes beyond the broad, and nebulous categories "road, mountain and hybrid." This meant I had to overlook, for instance, the venerable class of recumbents, whose proponents are both numerous and passionate. Likewise, I dissed BMX and stunt bikes, which have become very popular again, and not just among young people.
  
• Within the road bike category there are also far more subspecies than simply touring and racing. Time trial bikes have risen in popularity not just among time trial specialists but triathletes (who seem to be reproducing like rabbits these days). Track bikes are worthy of mention, since track racing is making a resurgence both in terms of participation and as a spectator sport. I hope to make my first trip to the Velodrome this season and maybe even enter a beginner's race.
• Perhaps most egregious is the catchall category of hybrid. This label has simply come to mean not road and not mountain. That leaves a lot left over. Putting cyclocross bikes in the same camp as cruisers and comfort bikes, for instance, would be sacrilege to many of the guys I ride with on weekends.

One other recommendation I have for those looking for a new bike had to be cut from the story. I know there will be many dissenters to this opinion, but I'd recommend sticking with a major bike maker if this is your first bike purchase in a while. By that I mean, look at models from Trek, Cannondale, Specialized, Giant, Bianchi, etc. They tend to have better warranties (though they also have better lawyers) and if you have a problem it's more likely your shop has another one just like it. Once you fall in love all over again with cycling you can make your next purchase a high-end, custom-built carbon fiber beauty made by hand by some guy in his one-room shop in California (or a tiny village in Italy).

There are many more points I could have made in this short piece but these will have to suffice for now. The next installment in the Shifting Gears column is focused on tips for would-be bike commuters. It should be out in early May, just in time for Bike-to-Work Week (May 12-16).

Until then, happy riding!