Misconceptions associated with bicycles
The article is intended for those who are only going to ride a bike and those who ride, but not very much, at their pleasure, just to warm up or to move to the country, fishing, work.
And the first question that arises: what kind of bike layout to choose? Usually they buy about this kind of plan, that is, the so-called mountain bikes or road bikes:
But is such a choice always the right one?
For those who are not involved in professional sports, I suggest to look at the bikes of the classical sample.
')
In our country, they are now perceived as a relic of the Soviet past, regardless of which country and when they were released. Looking at them, many see something like this:
A real and modern bike can only be sporty. In fact, most of the bikes we see on the roads, in parks and in nature, only look like sports, but they are not. This fake sports bikes. Suffice it to recall not hardened bearings, constantly bending bushings and bursting tires, even with a small period of operation. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, but let's see what they go abroad for.
Berlin
Amsterdam
Copenhagen
Beijing
MĂĽnster - Germany
Japan
Pay attention to the number of bicycles and the number of sports among them. Moreover, most of the owners of these bikes have expensive cars, but they do not consider it shameful to pedal.
I want to draw an analogy with cars. Sports cars have a number of design features aimed at achieving greater speed. This is a stiffer suspension, rear-wheel drive, etc., which in normal driving turn into minuses, reduced permeability, worse extinguish road bumps, and overall comfort suffers. Same thing with cycling. Look at these pictures.
To reduce resistance to airflow, a person on a sports bike is almost horizontal, bending down to the steering wheel. The saddle is raised significantly higher than the steering wheel, and the steering wheel itself is pushed forward. Such a pose can not be called physiological. Increases the load on the arms, back, neck. The center of gravity shifts forward. Athletes are people accustomed to, but ordinary mortals get tired quickly. To fix this somehow, they lower the saddle and ride on their half-bent legs. If you do not know what it is, then try to go squatting or half-sitting a hundred meters. A small digression for beginners. The foot on the pedal in the lower position must be completely straight. If you, sitting on a bicycle, confidently reach to the ground with the toes of both feet, then you need to raise the saddle and do not need to be afraid to get off the ground. This is a very important point!
It is more convenient to sit when the steering wheel is above the saddle. In this case, you will not lose much in speed. Unfortunately, on sports bikes, the height of the steering wheel is not regulated or is adjusted slightly. Therefore, it is difficult to adjust the bike to your height.
On sports bikes, it is quite a rigid, narrow, thin layer of foam rubber and any lack of shock-absorbing springs. Of course, it’s not quite comfortable to sit like that. Sometimes you can see how the owners of "mountain" bicycles are afraid to call on the most smooth path. What is there to talk about mountainous steep and off-road ?! To correct this problem, women and men pump silicone into their buttocks. This means that they wear special shorts with silicone inserts. In the sports shops, foam rubber saddle covers are sold, but they do not help at all. On road bikes, wide seats with good cushioning and a thick layer of foam rubber are used. On such a saddle and a hundred kilometers you can fly easily.
At first glance, a great thing, allows you to hide bumps in the road, it is easy to drive up to the curb. But there is one unpleasant thing. When going down a hill, when the front wheel gets even in a small hole or on a hummock, the bike sends you somersault through the steering wheel and the softer the springs, the more dangerous. Here, of course, there is still wine and a low-set steering wheel, which is pushed forward, which is why the center of gravity of the cyclist shifts. To prevent this from happening or in the event of failure of the springs, professionals replace them in the plug with reinforced rubber hoses.
The tires with deep tread look very impressive. Something like this:
He bites well into the ground, but on the pavement because of him speed is lost. It’s like riding a square wheel. The difference is clearly visible when two cyclists move down a gentle hill without pedaling. On one bike wheels with deep tread, and on the other with a smoother. Professionals often have two types of tires and change them before the race, depending on the type of road. If you are going to drive mainly on asphalt, then choose tires with a smoother tread.
So he was before.
This is due to the fact that women traveled in skirts or dresses. Naturally it would not be decent to tilt the leg high over the frame, and the asterisk needed better protection in order not to twist the hem of the dress. Now such problems are a thing of the past. The fair sex puts on shorts or pants, but sly marketers are still trying to convince us that the bike for women should be different structurally. Allegedly, this is due to the different anatomy of men and women: shorter than the thigh, longer than the little toe on the leg, and so on. They make the frame a little shorter, lower the top bar below, just as they did before, the spring on the fork is softer, the bikes themselves are smaller. Chasing ghostly, barely perceptible features, manufacturers forget about the main difference between people in front of bikes - this is growth. As in men's bikes, the steering wheel is not height adjustable or adjustable, but within narrow limits. As a result, it will be even easier to fly over the steering wheel, going down the hill. Tall girls pick up the bike becomes harder because the manufacturers believe that all the fair sex is lower than men.
For sports bikes, this part is considered optional, more decorative, they easily fall off and do not fulfill their purpose properly - protecting the cyclist from splashing so that the back, trousers, shoes are not smeared with dirt. If you leave in dry weather, it does not mean that you will not get a puddle, which can not be bypassed.
Very good thing, allows you to gain crazy speed and overcome steep climbs. Only it must be properly used. Unlike the car, where you always need to start from the first, then switch to the second, etc., you do not need to constantly change speeds on a bicycle. Low gears are needed only for climbing a roller coaster, to gain power - to make it easier for you to climb, but to lose in speed. Often you can see cyclists riding on a horizontal plane, pedaling intensively, but at the same time slowly moving. If you turn the pedals with your feet, which do not meet any resistance at all, it still consumes a lot of power. Therefore, such a ride would be irrational.
Road bikes can also be completed with a system for switching speeds. Is it possible to go somewhere on a bicycle having only one speed? According to established public opinion - no, it is impossible. In fact, it is not. You can easily reach the nearest town, provided that there are no large elevation changes along the way. Also, do not think that if the bike is not “high-speed”, then you cannot ride it fast. It can not go into the "afterburner", but you can drive very quickly. Ultimately, a lot depends on the cyclist himself. I have witnessed more than once how the owners of a “sports” bike dragged their “iron horse” into a trolleybus and thus overcame the hills, and other people on road bikes with the same speed drove without problems on their wheels; as experienced cyclists on high-speed sports bikes constantly ride only with the speed of a retiree, and even at that speed they quickly exhaled.
Bicycle clothes, on-board computer, etc. First, I’ll give you a joke: "I want to go for a run so much, but I don’t have a fitness bracelet or smart watches." The computer provides a lot of interesting information about what the current speed is, how many kilometers it has been traveled, how many calories were spent, how many pastries can be eaten, but you can do without it.
If you want to look fashionable and stylish, then buy special clothes - t-shirts, shorts, etc. Otherwise, you can use a regular tracksuit with rather narrow trousers and sneakers. But the gloveless gloves thing is comfortable - it allows you not to rub your palms.
Again I want to repeat that we are not talking about professional athletes, but only about those people who ride for fun.
Helmet. Safety is a good thing, but if you really want to increase your chances, then avoid roads with heavy traffic. It is better to drive on the sidewalks, although this is contrary to the rules of the road. A fast-moving truck or a tourist bus just blows a bicycle through the air. There is a small category of drivers, which refers to cyclists, like birds - if they need, they will leave the road, and if not, then this is their problem. Although in my subjective opinion: a bicycle is not a motorcycle, a helmet for a cyclist is not necessary.
Many girls consider the basket on the steering wheel as an essential attribute of a bicycle. In no case do not put anything in it and it is better to unscrew it immediately. Even a small load, for example, a bottle of water, with a sharp turn of the steering wheel begins to beat against the walls of the basket. Thus, the position of the steering wheel may change. This is especially fraught with, if you turned sharply because of a suddenly appeared car. Better to put all the necessary cargo in a backpack.
Ride in the dark, especially on the roadway without front and rear lights, when you do not see anything, and you do not see - pure suicide. Therefore, lights may be needed.
When you buy a bike, the sellers in the shops will convince you that all bicycle gear is simply necessary, but the main thing is that the total cost of the entire purchase does not scare you away from purchasing the bike itself. What is really needed is the keys, pump, oil, repair kit for cameras and everything. By the way, at home it is more convenient to use not the set of keys that are sold in bicycle shops, but ordinary ones. And yet, road bikes are much cheaper than sports.
Someone instead of the vast expanses of fresh air and speed prefers stuffy fitness rooms, exercise bikes, a TV on the wall, which shows landscapes as if you are driving on the road - that is, an expensive imitation of a bicycle ride. Bike can give you not only dropped pounds of fat, but a sense of speed, unity with the wind, exciting trips, vigor and lightness.
If you are not a professional athlete, and love to ride or ride to work, fishing, etc., then buy not sports bikes and fakes for them, but ordinary classic road. They will be more comfortable for you, safer and more convenient.
Type of bike
And the first question that arises: what kind of bike layout to choose? Usually they buy about this kind of plan, that is, the so-called mountain bikes or road bikes:
But is such a choice always the right one?
For those who are not involved in professional sports, I suggest to look at the bikes of the classical sample.
')
In our country, they are now perceived as a relic of the Soviet past, regardless of which country and when they were released. Looking at them, many see something like this:
A real and modern bike can only be sporty. In fact, most of the bikes we see on the roads, in parks and in nature, only look like sports, but they are not. This fake sports bikes. Suffice it to recall not hardened bearings, constantly bending bushings and bursting tires, even with a small period of operation. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, but let's see what they go abroad for.
Berlin
Amsterdam
Copenhagen
Beijing
MĂĽnster - Germany
Japan
Pay attention to the number of bicycles and the number of sports among them. Moreover, most of the owners of these bikes have expensive cars, but they do not consider it shameful to pedal.
I want to draw an analogy with cars. Sports cars have a number of design features aimed at achieving greater speed. This is a stiffer suspension, rear-wheel drive, etc., which in normal driving turn into minuses, reduced permeability, worse extinguish road bumps, and overall comfort suffers. Same thing with cycling. Look at these pictures.
To reduce resistance to airflow, a person on a sports bike is almost horizontal, bending down to the steering wheel. The saddle is raised significantly higher than the steering wheel, and the steering wheel itself is pushed forward. Such a pose can not be called physiological. Increases the load on the arms, back, neck. The center of gravity shifts forward. Athletes are people accustomed to, but ordinary mortals get tired quickly. To fix this somehow, they lower the saddle and ride on their half-bent legs. If you do not know what it is, then try to go squatting or half-sitting a hundred meters. A small digression for beginners. The foot on the pedal in the lower position must be completely straight. If you, sitting on a bicycle, confidently reach to the ground with the toes of both feet, then you need to raise the saddle and do not need to be afraid to get off the ground. This is a very important point!
It is more convenient to sit when the steering wheel is above the saddle. In this case, you will not lose much in speed. Unfortunately, on sports bikes, the height of the steering wheel is not regulated or is adjusted slightly. Therefore, it is difficult to adjust the bike to your height.
Saddle
On sports bikes, it is quite a rigid, narrow, thin layer of foam rubber and any lack of shock-absorbing springs. Of course, it’s not quite comfortable to sit like that. Sometimes you can see how the owners of "mountain" bicycles are afraid to call on the most smooth path. What is there to talk about mountainous steep and off-road ?! To correct this problem, women and men pump silicone into their buttocks. This means that they wear special shorts with silicone inserts. In the sports shops, foam rubber saddle covers are sold, but they do not help at all. On road bikes, wide seats with good cushioning and a thick layer of foam rubber are used. On such a saddle and a hundred kilometers you can fly easily.
Damping fork
At first glance, a great thing, allows you to hide bumps in the road, it is easy to drive up to the curb. But there is one unpleasant thing. When going down a hill, when the front wheel gets even in a small hole or on a hummock, the bike sends you somersault through the steering wheel and the softer the springs, the more dangerous. Here, of course, there is still wine and a low-set steering wheel, which is pushed forward, which is why the center of gravity of the cyclist shifts. To prevent this from happening or in the event of failure of the springs, professionals replace them in the plug with reinforced rubber hoses.
Tire covers
The tires with deep tread look very impressive. Something like this:
He bites well into the ground, but on the pavement because of him speed is lost. It’s like riding a square wheel. The difference is clearly visible when two cyclists move down a gentle hill without pedaling. On one bike wheels with deep tread, and on the other with a smoother. Professionals often have two types of tires and change them before the race, depending on the type of road. If you are going to drive mainly on asphalt, then choose tires with a smoother tread.
Women's bike
So he was before.
This is due to the fact that women traveled in skirts or dresses. Naturally it would not be decent to tilt the leg high over the frame, and the asterisk needed better protection in order not to twist the hem of the dress. Now such problems are a thing of the past. The fair sex puts on shorts or pants, but sly marketers are still trying to convince us that the bike for women should be different structurally. Allegedly, this is due to the different anatomy of men and women: shorter than the thigh, longer than the little toe on the leg, and so on. They make the frame a little shorter, lower the top bar below, just as they did before, the spring on the fork is softer, the bikes themselves are smaller. Chasing ghostly, barely perceptible features, manufacturers forget about the main difference between people in front of bikes - this is growth. As in men's bikes, the steering wheel is not height adjustable or adjustable, but within narrow limits. As a result, it will be even easier to fly over the steering wheel, going down the hill. Tall girls pick up the bike becomes harder because the manufacturers believe that all the fair sex is lower than men.
Wings
For sports bikes, this part is considered optional, more decorative, they easily fall off and do not fulfill their purpose properly - protecting the cyclist from splashing so that the back, trousers, shoes are not smeared with dirt. If you leave in dry weather, it does not mean that you will not get a puddle, which can not be bypassed.
Gear shifting
Very good thing, allows you to gain crazy speed and overcome steep climbs. Only it must be properly used. Unlike the car, where you always need to start from the first, then switch to the second, etc., you do not need to constantly change speeds on a bicycle. Low gears are needed only for climbing a roller coaster, to gain power - to make it easier for you to climb, but to lose in speed. Often you can see cyclists riding on a horizontal plane, pedaling intensively, but at the same time slowly moving. If you turn the pedals with your feet, which do not meet any resistance at all, it still consumes a lot of power. Therefore, such a ride would be irrational.
Road bikes can also be completed with a system for switching speeds. Is it possible to go somewhere on a bicycle having only one speed? According to established public opinion - no, it is impossible. In fact, it is not. You can easily reach the nearest town, provided that there are no large elevation changes along the way. Also, do not think that if the bike is not “high-speed”, then you cannot ride it fast. It can not go into the "afterburner", but you can drive very quickly. Ultimately, a lot depends on the cyclist himself. I have witnessed more than once how the owners of a “sports” bike dragged their “iron horse” into a trolleybus and thus overcame the hills, and other people on road bikes with the same speed drove without problems on their wheels; as experienced cyclists on high-speed sports bikes constantly ride only with the speed of a retiree, and even at that speed they quickly exhaled.
Equipment and accessories
Bicycle clothes, on-board computer, etc. First, I’ll give you a joke: "I want to go for a run so much, but I don’t have a fitness bracelet or smart watches." The computer provides a lot of interesting information about what the current speed is, how many kilometers it has been traveled, how many calories were spent, how many pastries can be eaten, but you can do without it.
If you want to look fashionable and stylish, then buy special clothes - t-shirts, shorts, etc. Otherwise, you can use a regular tracksuit with rather narrow trousers and sneakers. But the gloveless gloves thing is comfortable - it allows you not to rub your palms.
Again I want to repeat that we are not talking about professional athletes, but only about those people who ride for fun.
Helmet. Safety is a good thing, but if you really want to increase your chances, then avoid roads with heavy traffic. It is better to drive on the sidewalks, although this is contrary to the rules of the road. A fast-moving truck or a tourist bus just blows a bicycle through the air. There is a small category of drivers, which refers to cyclists, like birds - if they need, they will leave the road, and if not, then this is their problem. Although in my subjective opinion: a bicycle is not a motorcycle, a helmet for a cyclist is not necessary.
Many girls consider the basket on the steering wheel as an essential attribute of a bicycle. In no case do not put anything in it and it is better to unscrew it immediately. Even a small load, for example, a bottle of water, with a sharp turn of the steering wheel begins to beat against the walls of the basket. Thus, the position of the steering wheel may change. This is especially fraught with, if you turned sharply because of a suddenly appeared car. Better to put all the necessary cargo in a backpack.
Ride in the dark, especially on the roadway without front and rear lights, when you do not see anything, and you do not see - pure suicide. Therefore, lights may be needed.
When you buy a bike, the sellers in the shops will convince you that all bicycle gear is simply necessary, but the main thing is that the total cost of the entire purchase does not scare you away from purchasing the bike itself. What is really needed is the keys, pump, oil, repair kit for cameras and everything. By the way, at home it is more convenient to use not the set of keys that are sold in bicycle shops, but ordinary ones. And yet, road bikes are much cheaper than sports.
"The virtual reality"
Someone instead of the vast expanses of fresh air and speed prefers stuffy fitness rooms, exercise bikes, a TV on the wall, which shows landscapes as if you are driving on the road - that is, an expensive imitation of a bicycle ride. Bike can give you not only dropped pounds of fat, but a sense of speed, unity with the wind, exciting trips, vigor and lightness.
Total
If you are not a professional athlete, and love to ride or ride to work, fishing, etc., then buy not sports bikes and fakes for them, but ordinary classic road. They will be more comfortable for you, safer and more convenient.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/403375/
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