General Cycling Discussion - Landrider

I am requesting information on the LANDRIDER.
I have read many members opinions of the Landrider bicycle but.... would like to hear from someone who actually owned one or has ridden the Landrider brand.

My wife and I are 55 yrs old, she has tried riding a conventional 10 speed in the past and had problems pedaling, shifting, and breaking. (she never had a bicycle as a child and never learned to ride). If shifting were removed from the equation riding might be easier for her.

Neither of us are challenged, both hold MS, we just want to ride for fun and exercise.

We would love to hear from anyone with first hand experience.

thank you,
Charles London

I have ridden a LandRider, just because I had to try the centrifugal force derailleur system. I don't reccomend the bike, but will make a reccomendation for you and your wife.

--the Landrider is HEAVY. The "magical" derailleur is still a derailleur, but one that only shifts if you pedal quickly enough and smoothly enough. It is easily fouled by debris and dirt (and I'd suggest the folks they market to aren't much into maintenance other than from the end of a hose). In operation, the shifting is novel, but not better than what it competes against: internally geared hubs like the Sturmey Archer hubs we all grew up with (and which are still made and sold). The quality of the frame and components are quite low.



--I suggest you consider bikes with internally geared rear hubs, such as those bikes sold by Electra, Giant, Breezer and Specialized. They are usually marketed as "comfort" "town" or "cruiser" bikes, and will address several of your concerns:

...internally geared hubs are shifted by a thumb lever or twist grip on the handlebar and are foolproof. On a 3 speed, you pick 1, 2 or 3 and it works seamlessly, every time. No dragging chain, no derailleur, no confusion.
...internally geared bikes come with various types of brakes, either with hand levers or the old-fashioned coaster brake that you actuate by pedaling backwards. Very easy.
...the townie, cruiser and comfort bikes have stable, relaxed geometry very well suited for beginner, tentative or even klutzy riders, and for those just seeking to get low-level exercise and transport.

I'm a mechanic at a bike shop and I have worked on these bicycle shaped objects called "Landrider" In my humble opinion you would be much better served by going to (sigh I can't believe I'm saying this) Wal-mart and buying a three speed Huffy. The derailieur system on the Landrider is driven by a rubber band connecting from a pulley on the back of the deraillieur to a modified spoke protector. If the band breaks you're screwed. Also if you have to stop suddenly be prepared for your drivetrain to crunch and grind like a 15 yr old trying to drive stick for the first time. Do yourself a favor go to a bike shop (one where they don't sell video games a few aisles over) and browse their selections.

Bottom line if you're going to spend that kind of money get something worthwhile.

Go with the intrenal geared rear hub type as suggested. Another cavet to the Landrider is flat ground, they will not downshift. Shimano makes and eletronic automatic shifter that's quieter and more reliable. I don't know eho sells a bike with one.

The new Electra Townie bikes have a hybrid geometry that allows the rider to put his/her feet down flat while stopped, but the cranks are set foward to get proper leg extension while pedaling. These bikes are equipped with a Shimano Nexus 8speed internal geared rear hub that can be shifted at a stop.

Personally I have never rode a bike these (http://www.browningcomponent.com/products.php) with these components but they have begun to show up at a couple of our better bike shops here you might look around and try one out for a test ride the Landriders are cheaply made and will not last these are components you can add to your own frame

I second the motion for the Electra Townie. In fact, this type of bike was designed for the person in mind who is an older rider and hasn't ridden in years. I would avoid a single speed cruiser as you always need at least 3 speeds when riding around town.

As for the Landrider, forget it. I saw one selling on ebay for $50.00 bucks and no one bought it!

Those bikes are horrible! I work at a shop and occasionally we have the unfortunate task of trying to work on them. They are poorly made. We had one that had a bad rear wheel....good luck trying to find a replacement wheel that will use all the same components for the shifting system. (this was a different brand, but same concept....company was out of buisness so we couldn't get help from them)

Get a real bike and make it a quality one, you'll be so much happier in the long run. Even better, find a good local bike shop to help you figure out the whole shifting thing. It's really very easy once it's properly explained to you. Then pick out a nice hybrid bike from them and start enjoying it. I guarentee you will get much better performance this way, and you'll develope a nice relationship with your LBS who can help you should any problems arise.

My dear friend who is now 85 years old and an expert bicycle mechanic bought a Landrider out of curiosity.

The only thing he would say was "it doesn't work" and owned it for less than one week.

I am requesting information on the LANDRIDER.
I have read many members opinions of the Landrider bicycle but.... would like to hear from someone who actually owned one or has ridden the Landrider brand.

My wife and I are 55 yrs old, she has tried riding a conventional 10 speed in the past and had problems pedaling, shifting, and breaking. (she never had a bicycle as a child and never learned to ride). If shifting were removed from the equation riding might be easier for her.

Neither of us are challenged, both hold MS, we just want to ride for fun and exercise.

We would love to hear from anyone with first hand experience.

thank you,
Charles London

Well, I've never ridden a landrider, but I was thinking about getting one. I am in what I figure is the Landrider target market..over 50, just want to get a little fun and exercise like you, and I do remember ten and fifteen speeds as being way too complicated. Turns out bikes have changed. I ended up getting a Raleigh with 21 speeds. It turns out that more speeds are less complicated, not more, because having a rear hub with more cogs gives more options when the chain is on each front cog. As it was pointed out to me, "you're going to have the chain on the middle front cog most of the time. You put it in the little cog if you're going uphill and the big cog if you're going downhill or trying to catch somebody". That sort of demistified it for me. Also, forget those little levers that you had to reach down and try to figure out. Everything is thumb toggle or grip shift now. Of course, you still have to know when to shift and how, but it's a lot easier than it used to be. And you are in control of the shifting. I think that's a plus. I've got a grip shift that even has a little window to tell me what gear I'm in, front hub on the left, rear cog on the right. No more guessing. Now to the bottom line. For about the same price I would have paid for the landrider plus shipping, I got what I think is a better bike, plus a helmet, plus a bike rack and saddle bags, (I ride to work about 4 miles when it's nice) plus a bike lock and a nifty little folding bike tool kit, plus a pump, a headlamp and water bottle and holder. I mean..I got all set up.

Never buy anything marketed though an infomercial.

I'm saving my money to buy one of those ATM machines in the commercials. The best locations are still available!

Never buy anything marketed though an infomercial.
Did you know Mercedes and other auto manufacturers have made infomercials? And Tropicana Orange Juice and Clorox Bleach? Armor All is doing one right now. As is MSNtv. Point is, many Fortune 500 companies have jumped on the infomercial bandwagon in order to expand their marketing efforts. Not every infomercial is for cruddy products - though I would agree that that is the perception.

55/Rad
Maker of many infomercials.

Just go to one of those "As Seen On TV" stores at your local mall. I guarantee that you'll never be tempted to by anything you see on one of those ads again. By calling the merchandise "cheesy" is being disrespectful to cheese.

Modern internal hubs have 7-8 gears, which is plenty for riding in all but the steepest terrain.
If you ride occasionally, then they are easy to use and to remember. You can change them when riding or stopped. You dont need an automated system to know when to change, your legs will tell you.
There has been a resergence in good quality hub-gear bikes, and they are well-worth checking out. On a low budget, the Breeze models are good. For a high quality bike, the Bianchi Milano is one to be seen on.
The Electra is a strange design, Im not sure if you could ride any distance on that style.

Did you know Mercedes and other auto manufacturers have made infomercials? And Tropicana Orange Juice and Clorox Bleach? Armor All is doing one right now. As is MSNtv. Point is, many Fortune 500 companies have jumped on the infomercial bandwagon in order to expand their marketing efforts. Not every infomercial is for cruddy products - though I would agree that that is the perception.

55/Rad
Maker of many infomercials.

Since I don't watch TeeVee, I was certainly not aware of that. But having been told, I will be sure to avoid products from those companies in the future.

You gotta wonder what kind of person would sit through a bleach infomercial. I mean, you could get an acceptable bike ride in the time wasted on Clorox TeeVee.

Charles,
Judging from the date of your post, you have already made your decision to buy or not to buy the LandRider.

This is for the other folks who are reading this now and forming an opinion of the LandRider. I am 72 and retired from a 35-year career as an Experimental Test Pilot with one of the major helicopter manufacturing companies. I have 45 years experience with aircraft maintenance so I can recognize quality equipment.
My wife is (her words) much younger than I and we both have had our own LandRider bicycles for about 3 years. Our purpose of buying the bikes was for exercise in our neighborhood and on the bike trails in the area. We have found the bikes to be very comfortable, simple to operate and satisfactory for this purpose.

The bikes are not the $1500 to $3000 super lightweight titanium frames nor do they have the 20 plus different gear ratios. The bikes are lightweight mountain bikes with the fat tires and very comfortable seats and handle bars which are both simple to adjust. They are not for the serious, long distance, hard riding competitive bike rider.

There is a manual twist grip selector on the handle bar grip for the front sprockets, high range and low range selections and the rear sprockets are adjusted automatically. The faster you pedal the higher gear is selected for you and if you pedal slower the lower gear is selected for you. I don't see how it could be more simple. Also, something was mentioned in one of the comments that there was a rubber band in the gear selection apparatus. - Not so, it is the normal bicycle chain and multiple metal sprockets design with the metal centrifugal gear selector device. Pedal fast and the weights move out and a higher gear ratio is selected for you and pedal slower and the weights move in and a lower gear ratio is selected. The pedals must be turned for the gear selection to occur.

The only maintenance that I have felt was needed is light oil on the chain and air in the tires. I ride more than my wife and neither of us have had a breakdown of any kind. These bikes are perfect for my wife and me.

DB

Charles,
Judging from the date of your post, you have already made your decision to buy or not to buy the LandRider.

This is for the other folks who are reading this now and forming an opinion of the LandRider. I am 72 and retired from a 35-year career as an Experimental Test Pilot with one of the major helicopter manufacturing companies. I have 45 years experience with aircraft maintenance so I can recognize quality equipment.
My wife is (her words) much younger than I and we both have had our own LandRider bicycles for about 3 years. Our purpose of buying the bikes was for exercise in our neighborhood and on the bike trails in the area. We have found the bikes to be very comfortable, simple to operate and satisfactory for this purpose.

The bikes are not the $1500 to $3000 super lightweight titanium frames nor do they have the 20 plus different gear ratios. The bikes are lightweight mountain bikes with the fat tires and very comfortable seats and handle bars which are both simple to adjust. They are not for the serious, long distance, hard riding competitive bike rider.

There is a manual twist grip selector on the handle bar grip for the front sprockets, high range and low range selections and the rear sprockets are adjusted automatically. The faster you pedal the higher gear is selected for you and if you pedal slower the lower gear is selected for you. I don't see how it could be more simple. Also, something was mentioned in one of the comments that there was a rubber band in the gear selection apparatus. - Not so, it is the normal bicycle chain and multiple metal sprockets design with the metal centrifugal gear selector device. Pedal fast and the weights move out and a higher gear ratio is selected for you and pedal slower and the weights move in and a lower gear ratio is selected. The pedals must be turned for the gear selection to occur.

The only maintenance that I have felt was needed is light oil on the chain and air in the tires. I ride more than my wife and neither of us have had a breakdown of any kind. These bikes are perfect for my wife and me.

DB

Wait until you get a stick stuck in that excuse of a derailer.

A friend of mine bought one ...very heavy. She sold it ,and then it was sold again and again and again. All in about a years time. I think there might be a message there.

I have been a Landrider biker for several years. I am 56 years young and the bike suits me fine. Rode it 25 miles today. It is fine for smooth trails, commuting, and leisure riding. It is not fast but neither am I. Maintenance is easy and I do most it myself. Just upgraded the tires with a smoother tread and they work great. I could use a bigger frame but it's fine for the riding I do.

I have been a Landrider biker for several years. I am 56 years young and the bike suits me fine. Rode it 25 miles today. It is fine for smooth trails, commuting, and leisure riding. It is not fast but neither am I. Maintenance is easy and I do most it myself. Just upgraded the tires with a smoother tread and they work great. I could use a bigger frame but it's fine for the riding I do.

Wow. Do you work for landrider? jk. Seriously, these bikes are wal-mart bikes- work okay for some folks, but by and large are a waste of money.

I have been a Landrider biker for several years. I am 56 years young and the bike suits me fine. Rode it 25 miles today. It is fine for smooth trails, commuting, and leisure riding. It is not fast but neither am I. Maintenance is easy and I do most it myself. Just upgraded the tires with a smoother tread and they work great. I could use a bigger frame but it's fine for the riding I do.

You sound to me like a good person to ask. What's the attraction?

With modern indexing derailleur systems all it takes is a push of a lever and it shifts. I don't get what it's doing for you.

People who are too lazy to learn how to shift a bike's gears... shouldn't ride one or should stick to a singlespeed.

You sound to me like a good person to ask. What's the attraction?

With modern indexing derailleur systems all it takes is a push of a lever and it shifts. I don't get what it's doing for you.

He is delusional from the shock of wasting so much of his money; he clearly doesn't know what he's saying anymore.

He is delusional from the shock of wasting so much of his money; he clearly doesn't know what he's saying anymore.

It was a serious question.

It was a serious question.

It was a half-serious answer.
Some people just can't admit that they wasted their money and will end up convincing themselves that the problem was just themselves, or that they need to 'break it in' or whatever.

Look at some of what he said '...It is not fast but neither am I...' '...I could use a bigger frame but it's fine...' He's not admitting they are problems with the bike and instead attributes it to himself.

I would try a Landrider if I had the chance...although I admit that I don't really see a problem (changing gears manually) that needs a solution. I don't mind changing gears, in fact I sort of like the process of finding the perfect gear for each situation, and I mostly use 80's-retro technology (suicide? levers near the top of the handlebar stem). I also have rapidfire shifters on a flatbar roadbike which is simpler still (than the levers) and I assume that current manual shifting technology is even easier with the shifting and the brakes essentially being in one place. (although I've never tried the newest technology).

My questions/concens about the Landrider: Would the automatic shifting chose the exact gear that I wished to be in at a given moment. If the gearing is dependent on candence then would it fit my candence and/or could it be adjusted to fit a different cadence. (if I was anticipating a climb or a decent I assume I could not get "prepared" by getting in the correct gear beforehand...also if I altered my cadence a bit back and forth, say on a climb, would the deraileur be moving the chain back and forth between different gearings? How smooth it would be in this situation?

What would make me give a thumbs up to the Landrider, and possibly make me want one? If it changed (or chose) gears the same as I would manually...in effect if it could change (chose) gears like it was reading my mind. If I was always truely in the gear I wished to be at any given time, and never had to think about shifting, that would be impressive to me. I would be interested to see how close it could come to this "ideal" functionality (of course, I believe with the Landrider, one still has to manually shift between the chainrings up front, so that sort of tarnishes the whole "automatic" aspect of the bike right there for me)...Like I said, I would try one if I had the chance.

It was a half-serious answer.
Some people just can't admit that they wasted their money and will end up convincing themselves that the problem was just themselves, or that they need to 'break it in' or whatever.

Look at some of what he said '...It is not fast but neither am I...' '...I could use a bigger frame but it's fine...' He's not admitting they are problems with the bike and instead attributes it to himself.

It's not a half-serious answer, it's an insulting answer that keeps us from learning the poster's motivation. I'm more interesting in learning what he thinks than what you think of him.

My questions/concens about the Landrider: Would the automatic shifting chose the exact gear that I wished to be in at a given moment. If the gearing is dependent on candence then would it fit my candence and/or could it be adjusted to fit a different cadence. (if I was anticipating a climb or a decent I assume I could not get "prepared" by getting in the correct gear beforehand...also if I altered my cadence a bit back and forth, say on a climb, would the deraileur be moving the chain back and forth between different gearings? How smooth it would be in this situation?

It's speed sensitive shifting. Assuming that everything is working right, a Landrider will always shift into the same gear at -say- 15 MPH.

It's speed sensitive shifting. Assuming that everything is working right, a Landrider will always shift into the same gear at -say- 15 MPH.

Not exactly. It is cadence sensitive shifting, i.e. the centrifugal spinner is connected to the cassette. Worked on one not too long ago. Interesting concept behind the bikes, but the execution is a major fail. Again, these are wal-mart bikes people!

It's not a half-serious answer

LIAR!
it is too a half serious answer


the other half just happens to be insulting
so what? I LOLed

There have been a few variations of the Landrider over the years. A customer brought one in to our shop for regular maintenance, and I took it for a spin just out of curiosity. I was pretty much underwhelmed.

For those who don't know (Landrider prospective customers), gear selection has less to do with speed than terrain. It sometimes takes the use of multiple gears to maintain the same speed on varied terrain. You might shift down a few gears going up a hill, or shift up a few gears when going down a hill. The reason we change gears is to make more efficient use of our strength, not to maintain a steady cadence over varied speeds.

A human being is not a gas powered engine, people can get tired after a long ride and decide that an easier gear would suit them better. On a Landrider you have to change the "range", which is just another word for "shift". So the Landrider is not truly automatic, is it?

If you want a nice bike which you and your wife can ride regularly (as often as possible), then get a couple new Schwinn cruisers. You can get them with 1, 3, or 7 speeds. The 3 and 7 speed models use internally shifting hubs with old fashioned coaster brakes, which shift as easily as changing the "range" on a Landrider, but without the complicated and cheaply made autoshift set up.

I have a Schwinn Classic 7 Deluxe. It's a faithful copy of the old 50's Schwinn Phantom. It's a beauty to look at, and a beauty to ride, and its a much better deal all-around than the Landrider. Everyone who sees it (there aren't many of them around here in Japan) asks about it

FWIW, I am a serious cyclist who has been riding for more than 30 years. I bought the Schwinn because I wanted something to ride around the park with my girlfriend, and now I find I ride it much more than any of my other bikes.

Here are pics of both, which would you rather ride?

Schwinn Deluxe 7

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj268/Frontman7/cruiser2008-08-12.jpg

Landrider

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj268/Frontman7/Landrider.jpg

Amazingly enough, they both cost about the same.

I too would covet a bike that read my thoughts. The LR lags behind a bit in your proactive approach (as is my nature also) to making gear changes. It will actually lag a bit (just a few seconds actually...maybe 10) in it's response to changing pedal speed/terrain. This is adjustable but I have not "gone there" yet. Admittedly, the AutoShift is a bit of a novelty and takes a bit of "gettin used to" to enjoy it's advanages.....which are highly criticized by the vet bikers. Such is life. Opinions are like brains...everyone has one. The type riding I do is highly variable and the Landrider gets it don for me......but I will eventually upgrade to a much higher tech bike...maybe a Cannondale.

But, having bought my LR at a deal on Craigslist....I am OK with the choice and will keep her around for many rides to come....we're going to Charleston, SC this week along with the BMW K75 to do some winter fun in the sun and trails.

I am the least of experts but this is an approach that works. Look for bikes on Craigslist in your area, go and ride them, with your wife doing the same. This way you can save bucks and get a test ride and find a better fit for your position in life.