Cruiser/comfort bikes

[Aloysius_Poutine]

I've been bike commuting exclusively for the last 6 months or so. But I'm really sick of my bike setup. It's a modified mountain bike with road tires and bars that are a little more upright.

My commute is short--just 3km each way, so I can easily get away with a more simple ride I think. I like the idea of a cruiser/upright bike just for the comfort factor. Someone posted a video of cycling in Amsterdam and I realized I am guilty of trying to race traffic. I want to get over that and just take it easy on the road.

Does anyone ride a cruiser bike?

[cerberusss]

In the various discussions about bikes, I'm amazed (as a Dutchman) that the mountainbike comes up so often.

I ride a bike roughly like this one:


I use it everyday to work, which is ~4 miles one-way. A mountain bike is rougher on the wrists, the saddle is less comfortable and the tires are less smooth and have more resistance.

[boy_bye]

Cruisers are great when it's flat. But if you have any uphills to deal with, they can start to feel extremely heavy and hard to move. I had an Electra Townie that I hardly ever rode because of this issue.

Now I ride a hybrid that looks a lot like the one cerberuss posted. It's a nice balance between comfort and the ability to haul ass (which is fun to do sometimes) and the ability to get up a hill when needed.

[sarahcooksalot]

Can you please identify the pictured bike?  I can't zoom in enough to tell

[cerberusss]

Can you please identify the pictured bike?  I can't zoom in enough to tell

I'm not sure if it's the right one, but I think I got something like this one (Dutch): http://www.gazelle.nl/collectie/stadsfietsen/comfort/2013/primeur/primeur-t7

Link via Google Translate: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gazelle.nl%2Fcollectie%2Fstadsfietsen%2Fcomfort%2F2013%2Fprimeur%2Fprimeur-t7&act=url

But I think it's a Dutch brand, you'd have to look for something equivalent.

[Jamesqf]

A mountain bike is rougher on the wrists, the saddle is less comfortable and the tires are less smooth and have more resistance.

I think you're wrong about 2 out of 3 (right about the tires, though).

What you may be missing is that most people who bike in the US don't just bike to work.  They may spend evenings on a mountain bike trail, or weekends/vacations riding a long tour.  So why have an extra bike to just to ride to work?

Then figure that with that geometry I think (haven't actually ridden one like that since I was a kid) you're going to be limited in how much effort you can put in, so you will go slower and not get much exercise.

[Mrs WW]

Beautiful and wonderful swedish bikes that will give you an upright position, lots of speed and comfort:

www.pilencykel.se (available in the US)
www.stalhasten.se

Pretty American bikes, can't vouch for their functionality:

www.publicbikes.com

In my opinion:
- an upright position is much better for my back and neck and gives me more power to my legs. I ride faster on my dutch lady-bike than most lycra clad racing bike commuters, up and down hill, to their and my surprice.
- do not buy a cruiser if you want comfort, they are hard on the backside, to say the least!

[drg]

Best bike is the bike that fits you properly.  However, over 3 km, it's not going to matter much what bike you're on, but when you start going farther, it'd be nice to have something comfy.

Dutch-made "city bikes" are superb, I ride mine every day.  But they're best on the flat, not so good on steep hills, because most of them are only 3, 7, or 8 speeds.  E.g. I wouldn't want to ride one in Ottawa, unless you stick to the flat bike trails.  They're also hard to find in Canada.  If you're hilly, I would instead go with a derailleur-geared 21-speed city bike.

A few ideas:
Giant Cypress: http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/bike-finder/men/onroad/?level=lifestyle
Raleigh has a few: http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/lifestyle/citypath/
Electra (Ticino, Amsterdam, Townie): http://www.electrabike.com/Bikes/ticino-bikes-electra

[boy_bye]

Drg has some good suggestions, though I would steer clear of he Townie if you live in a hilly place.

This is the bike I have, a Raleigh hybrid, and I love it. Great on Pittsburgh hills:

http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/lifestyle/citypath/detour-2-5-13/

[jfer_rose]

Pretty American bikes, can't vouch for their functionality:

www.publicbikes.com

I traded in my road bike for a Public Bike about two years ago and I only wish I had done so sooner. I got the eight speed mixte model. It's perfect for my needs. It has a more upright position compared to a road bike but I can cruise along quite well. I've put A LOT of miles on this bike. My commute is 10 miles round trip plus I do errands by bike and a bit of social bike riding. It's my only bike (well, aside from the 1,000 plus Capital Bikeshare bikes that I also use).

I do think that a bike like this is a bit more utilitarian than a true cruiser/comfort bike. If you're going to bike a lot of miles, you can be really uncomfortable on the big padded saddles that come with cruisers. For people who don't bike, that's counterintuitive but there's something about those big cushy saddles that ends up hurting a lot on a long ride. I speak from experience.

[Posthumane]

This is a good article on bike saddle fit, from one of my favourite sites. Worth a read.
http://sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html

[Mrs WW]

I would still say that a good quality 7-speed upright will take you pretty much anywhere you want to go in comfort. You have to have really strong legs when biking the upright up steep hills, but for me it only took about a week to adjust from the 21 city hybrid i rode before. No neck or back pain, or hm.. ladypart pain, just strong legs. My commute is a 4km very nasty hills going home from work and I'm no athlete, at all. The reason I push this type bike so hard is the increase in joy from biking that I experienced from changing.

Cheers

[jfer_rose]

The reason I push this type bike so hard is the increase in joy from biking that I experienced from changing.

Mrs WW, I agree with you 110%! My joy also increased when I changed from a road bike to a more upright ride. I used to be a road bike snob (I always said I like road bikes better because you have three handlebar positions instead of just one-- thing is, I'd never really tried a more upright ride, and as I get older I like that more upright position so much more than all three handlebar positions on a road bike combined.)

And this is not mustachian, but my bike is a color I love, and that gives me even more joy every time I ride it.

[chackman17]

jfer_rose: which type of Public do you own?

Live in Arlington, have been pondering what kind of bike to buy. I'm in good shape (runner) but need to handle lots of hills: live on a big one and work atop a very big one about 9 mi away.

Thanks!

The reason I push this type bike so hard is the increase in joy from biking that I experienced from changing.

Mrs WW, I agree with you 110%! My joy also increased when I changed from a road bike to a more upright ride. I used to be a road bike snob (I always said I like road bikes better because you have three handlebar positions instead of just one-- thing is, I'd never really tried a more upright ride, and as I get older I like that more upright position so much more than all three handlebar positions on a road bike combined.)

And this is not mustachian, but my bike is a color I love, and that gives me even more joy every time I ride it.

[jfer_rose]

jfer_rose: which type of Public do you own?

I have the M8. The 8 speeds have been enough to get me up DC's hills. Really, even a 3 speed would probably be ok. The high and low gears are similar-- it's just that an 8 speed has more gears in the middle when compared to a 3 speed. I would say that most people don't need more than 8 speeds unless they are racing or doing other types of performance biking.

[chackman17]

Thanks!

[capital]

Publics are nice bikes, but you can get a similar quality Taiwanese-made city bike (with a slight downgrade in aesthetics) if you're willing to learn how to do the assembly and maintenance yourself or with the help of a local bike coop (which is a very worthwhile skill to learn), or if you find a bike shop that you can pay $50-$75 to build up a mail order bike:
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/city_bikes.htm (the Windsors on the bottom)
The mail order bikes are actually made of a nicer sort of steel (chromoly) than the Linus and Public bikes (high-tensile), although they have lower-quality crankarms. I saw an older Public around that appeared to have rather cheesy brakeset and seatpost, but they appear to have been upgraded since.

[scottydog]

I'm a bit late to this party, but this past June I got a Dutch bakfiets.nl bike for taking my 3 kids to daycare and school each morning.  I'm in Montreal and I ordered the bakfiets from a Canadian company, Urkai, that imports Dutch bikes into Canada and offers free delivery in many places.  The bakfiets wasn't cheap, and it's heavy, but it is so much more comfortable than my speedy-but-stiff hybrid that I'm quite tempted to get a Dutch cruiser for the solo part of my commute -- although the budding mustachian in me (and my wife) says to stick with what I already have.  I was truly surprised at how much more comfortable the upright riding position is.  The internal hub and full chain guard are wonderful too.  I do find that I ride more slowly and enjoyably when I'm on the bakfiets, partly because it's more comfortable and partly because it seems ridiculous to try to race with it.

[scamutz]

I started riding to work about a month ago - about 6 miles each way with about 250' of elevation change on my Jamis Explorer 2 hybrid.  I love it.  So comfortable, and it's a 21 speed so I can handle the hills.  The only downside is that I hate when road bikes pass me like I'm standing still and I'm going as fast as my legs can carry me in the highest gear.  That said, I don't know that I'm a confident enough rider yet to go faster than the 25mph or so that it maxes out at.