So I used to ride a bicycle a lot of off-road and on trails when younger and have been toying with picking up a bicycle this winter at my wife’s loving suggestion that I need to do more cardio...
Damn these things are expensive! Went into a Trek store nearby and they tried to sell me a $2k bike as mid-range. I love motorcycling and am pretty sure this is something I’ll stick with but I don’t want to drop that much to get started on a hobby.
So I stopped by a local bike shop that’s a few blocks from where I work downtown a couple weeks ago. They were awesome - super nice and helpful and showed me several bikes in the $6-800 range which I was much more comfortable in. If you’re near St Louis and need a bike shop stop by Big Shark, they’re awesome!
I ended up buying a Reid Granite 1.0 bike. They call it a gravel bike, it’s kind of a street bike with an aluminum fork with clearance for wider tires (will fit up to 40c tires).
I love the color and the fit of it and compared to the steel bikes I used to bomb around on 20 years ago this thing is light and refined as hell!
The bike has been taken out and ridden on pavement around a park near me, but I expect to take it out more as the weather warms. We’ve had snow on the ground for the last several weeks so it’s been staring at me in the living room. It also just fits in the back of my sportwagen but I’ve put on crossbars since this pic and will have to get a bike mounting rail too.
So Oppos - any tips for a guy who hasn’t ridden a bicycle in 10 years to enjoy it and not hurt himself?