New Website Notice for Edinburgh Bicycle Please note that the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-Operative now has a new website. To visit the new website, please follow this link. If you have bookmarked a page from the old website, please update your bookmarked page so that you can go straight to our new website. Thank you. The Edinburgh Bicycle website team. |
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INFO ON THE MODERN BICYCLE |
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If the last time you
cycled, it was on a 10-speed 'racer' or a 3-speed butcher's bike,
you are in for a pleasant surprise. You no longer need the assistance
of a winch to lift the bike up and you no longer need to fiddle
with a gear lever for hours trying to find that elusive tenth
gear. There is a vast range of styles and sizes of bikes on the market. Bikes are now built for every purpose you could imagine, from competing in the Tour de France to going to the shops. So whether you want a bike for commuting or one for climbing up Ben Nevis, or even a bike to do both, there will be one for you. Safe, Lightweight and Comfortable Recent developments in materials mean that you can now get a lightweight bike for a fraction of the cost you would have paid ten years ago. Lighter bike = easier to pedal up hills. The use of alloys not only reduces weight, but improves safety. Brakes work much better and much more smoothly on alloy rims than on the chromed steel rims so common in the past. A Smoother Ride Recently we have seen suspension forks fitted to a wide range of bikes (these can also be fitted as an upgrade). Suspension forks take the bumps and strain out of cycling, enabling you to cycle further and longer without feeling sore.On bumpy stuff, suspension forks will help you go faster too. Your contact points with the bike are the saddle and handlebars so spend some time investigating the best for your needs. Saddles now come in a huge range of shapes to fit every type of rear end and gender. For riders who like to stretch out to the bars, you'll be most comfortable on a saddle so skinny, you are barely aware it's there. If you prefer to sit upright, a wider cushioned Gel saddles offers armchair-like comfort. Handlebar stems are far more than a place to hang your bars on. Changing to, say, a taller or shorter stem can transform an instrument of torture into a comfortable bike. Ease of Use One of the major innovations in the last decade has been the introduction of indexed gears. This has meant an end to crunching up and down gears. The gear is moved precisely in 'indexed' steps, so you get the correct gear at the push of a lever or by twisting a grip. It couldn't be easier!
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