Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.sandymcmahon
07-30-06, 08:52 PM
I'm a guy in my mid-50s who has, to date, run to keep in shape. Six weeks ago I pushed things too hard and did some significant damage to the tendons around my left knee. Fortunately, I have a good Dr. and all is on the mend. However his stern message to me was "quit running and get a bike." When I heard this, I cringed because the last time that I did much biking was about 10 years ago, using borrowed cheap equipment, and was driven crazy by the gear shifts. So. . . . . two days after my Dr. told me to get a bike I was watching World Cup Soccer, and at the end there was one of the infamous LandRider infomercials. This seemed to answer my historic concerns and included a 30-day money back guarantee so I figured, what the hell! I got the bike 2 weeks ago - 34 lbs fully assembled, nice looking (my guess is that they've made some improvements since the Auto Bike days mentioned in some of the strings herein) - and started riding. LandRider says that it takes some time to get the AutoShift working, and it did. However even after working through this I found three things that irritated me: (1) I couldn't easily downshift when I wanted to, (2) When I had to stop for a stop sign (yes, I do stop for these on occasion) or a stop light, the bike automatically restarts at the lowest gear and forcing me to slowly work back through the gears, and (3) I often found myself winded because of inappropriate gearing for how I was riding.
Thanks to the advice on this Forum, I visited a local bike shop this morning and tried the Trek 7200 and 7.2 - bikes that are appropriate for my planned usage. What a world of difference! Bottom line - tomorrow morning I'm returning the LandRider for the refund and getting a Trek. Thanks! :)
Thanks to the advice on this Forum, I visited a local bike shop this morning and tried the Trek 7200 and 7.2 - bikes that are appropriate for my planned usage. What a world of difference! Bottom line - tomorrow morning I'm returning the LandRider for the refund and getting a Trek. Thanks! :)