DEPARTMENT STORE VS. LOCAL BIKE SHOP

As the weather will soon start to get warm here in New York City, people will start shopping for bikes. A lot of people always tend to look for cheaper bikes that they can purchase from a local department store such as K-Mart, Target, Walmart, and Toys R Us. Often people wouldn't want to spend a little bit more money simply because they feel that they will only use it for the summer. Also, parents in particular when they think about purchasing a bike for their little ones they go the Toys R Us route because (1) they don't want to overspend on a bike that their child will outgrow, (2) when they think "kid" they automatically think Toys R Us.

Bicycles from the mentioned department stores and other department stores usually are delivered to their branches in a box and unassembled. So who do you think assembles this bicycles. Do you think that these stores would actually hire a professional bike mechanic, the answer is probably "NO". So my assumption would be that some stock boy or cashier probably does the assembling for a little bonus on their paycheck. The problem with that is this person probably pulls out the badly printed instructions and slowly puts the bicycle together and tightening the nuts as much as they could until they can no longer tighten it. There are many things that go into putting a bike successfully. Its not just about the bike looking like it is put together. The bike has to be in perfect operating condition to assure the safety of the consumer.

I have purchased a bike from Kmart when I was still in Junior High School and yes I did enjoy the bike for awhile until suddenly my brake pads decide to fall off out of nowhere. I recall trying to screw the brake pads back on and couldn't, simply because the threading on the nut had been stripped because of over tightening. This is the common mistake people make when dealing with nut and bolts.

What a lot of people do not know is that Local Bike Shops do carry some bikes that are in the same price range as the ones that sell in these Department Stores. When you purchase a bike from a bike shop, you can be sure that the bike was assembled by a professional. Also, most bike shops don't just look into making a sale they are also there to educated the consumer. In addition, they also would recommend you to a bike that better fits your riding style and your budget. Furthermore, most bike shops offer lifetime tuning on the bikes unlike the department stores. So next time you decide to purchase a bike go to your Local Bike Shop instead of your local Department Store.

THE NEED FOR SPEED

They refer to him as the fastest man on the bike. Mark Cavendish is one of the fastest sprinters out there in the Pro Tour. After watching tons and tons of cycling videos, I have come to the difficulty of trying to find out which riding style I would feel most comfortable in. As a young kid I have always had this addiction to speed(not the drug). Its just the feel of the wind hitting your face, the sensation that you are going fast. Often I go out to ride and train myself to achieve this level that I am comfortable in, except at times I tend to tire myself faster than I would want to, simply because instead of spinning I'm "MOSHING" my pedals. Often I see people riding with very slow cadence, but yet they are going pretty fast. But how long can a rider keep up with the pace of the peloton by continuously riding in this high resistance style of riding. As a result, I have put in more effort to try riding with a slower gear but with a higher cadence. With high cadence I find myself exerting less energy and am able to maintain an average speed for a longer period of time. Still I'm trying to make myself faster by continuously training in high cadence riding. Its not about how hard you can push the pedals its about how fast you can spin the pedals.

2010 FUJI TRACK PRO

The first time I saw this bike, I fell in love with it in a blink of an eye. I like it so much that I am willing to sell my SPECIALIZED LANGSTER TOKYO, which I have grown to love so much. But my obsession to this bike has grown and grown that I am very eager to sell the Langster. Upon my excitement I have decided to read up on reviews and get a better idea on how the bike performs. Sad to say that the reviews I got wasn't really to my liking. The good part of the reviews I bumped into was that the bike is really light, its race ready and its very smooth and looks absolutely gorgeous, the bad part is if its gonna be used on the streets and not on the velodrome its gonna be a very rough ride. I guess somethings have to be sacrificed, regardless I chose to decide that I will be getting this bike as soon as I get enough money. So I picked up the phone called a couple of bike shops to get started on my bargaining. Sadly all the bike shops I spoke to said that the bike wont be available until April of this year. What I wanna know is, is the bike not released yet or is it such a "hot" bike that FUJI has them in back order.

CYCLIST RIGHTS IN NEW YORK CITY

You wouldn't want this happening to you.
As I have been commuting to and from work for awhile now, I often see a lot of motorist and cyclist put themselves in dangerous situations. A lot of motorist and cyclist does not even know that there are specific laws that are placed to protect the cyclist. Often motorist have the sense that they have the right away to the road, as I have experienced this first hand. I have been verbally harassed by motorist telling me that cyclist do not belong on the road. This is where the motorist is wrong, cyclist has about the same right as a motorized vehicle do on the road, as a matter of fact cyclist has to also abide by the same or very similar laws that apply to the motorist. Also, there are cyclist that takes advantage of the fact that they are not operating a motorized vehicle. These few cyclist often disobeys the traffic light thus putting themselves in danger as well as the pedestrians and motorist. To be safer on the road both motorist and cyclist have to develop and understanding regarding the laws of the road. Here is a link that further explains the laws, regarding cyclist in NYC streets,www.bikingrules.org/rules/rulesoftheroad