IceNine
06-07-08, 07:29 PM
Hello there, I'm new here. Seems like a great, friendly forum you have.
About a month ago I got back into biking after about 10 years of not having a bike. I'm a little heavy, mid fourties, but able to exercise hard for an hour or more. I had multiple reasons for getting a bike. My primary reason is I really wanted a utility bike to cut down all the short trips in the car which were very excessive for me. For one thing, I live close to a lot of shopping. There are two shopping centers within a half mile, banks, groceries, etc. I drive an 8 cylinder SUV since my family runs a mobile food cart that requires a robust vehicle to move the cart twice a day. The food cart business has a lot of little errands--going to the bank to get change or going here and there for groceries and whatnot. It was really dumb to drive that vehicle for most of those trips.
I also wanted a bike that would allow me to get more exercise. Ideally, I ought to just have several bikes, but for now that isn't an option, so after debating I ended up getting a Schwinn Coffee with a 3 speed SRAM internal hub. I put Wald folding racks on the back and built a homebrew light system with a Malibu 14W light in front and a zenon strobe in back and a loud car horn powered by a 3.5 LB SLA battery. The bike itself is somewhat heavy with the steel frame, fenders and rear rack; with my additions and my 250 pounds and it makes for a heavy rig.
It has been working out great as the utility bike. I've been using it on average about 2-3 times a day for trips that I would previously have used the 4 runner, and my gas consumption has been cut in half. So that part of it has been awesome and I am motivated to keep that going, year round if possible.
I've also been taking it out for some good hard rides about four or five times a week for 60 to 90 minutes. This is where the problem is for me. The three speed transmission works fine for short errands, since most of those trips do not require going up hills or pushing the bike hard. Even when I have it loaded down heavily I do not feel as though the bike or I am really stressed, although it may be pushing the limits of what the rear wheel can handle. I generally take it nice and slow.
The problem I have with the longer rides is that I often end up going up hill. The Coffee really isn't geared very low, and in first gear I am putting a lot of torque into the pedals going up hills. Not only am I stressing the drive train, I'm also putting a lot of pressure in my joints and I feel some pain about an inch underneath my knees after a hard ride. I try as much as possible to plan out routes that are fairly flat so that I can avoid going up hill as much as possible, but it is hard to avoid them completely. I feel like I've made a lot of progress physically in one month. I've got a lot more strength and endurance than when I started.
In retrospect, an old touring bike might have been a better solution for me. It probably would be robust enough to work as a utility bike, and ought to have low enough gearing to get me up the hills without hurting it or me. I'm going to try to save up a little money and keep my eyes open for an old touring bike in a few months. The problem is, with the Fixie Craze, the old 70s and 80s road bikes are selling for way more than they are worth, so it won't be easy to find a good one in my price range. Any thoughts on this? What brand would work well for me?
In the short run, do you have any suggestions what I can do to minimize the knee pain? I really can't afford to get a serious injury, but I do want to continue to use my bike for getting a good work out.
About a month ago I got back into biking after about 10 years of not having a bike. I'm a little heavy, mid fourties, but able to exercise hard for an hour or more. I had multiple reasons for getting a bike. My primary reason is I really wanted a utility bike to cut down all the short trips in the car which were very excessive for me. For one thing, I live close to a lot of shopping. There are two shopping centers within a half mile, banks, groceries, etc. I drive an 8 cylinder SUV since my family runs a mobile food cart that requires a robust vehicle to move the cart twice a day. The food cart business has a lot of little errands--going to the bank to get change or going here and there for groceries and whatnot. It was really dumb to drive that vehicle for most of those trips.
I also wanted a bike that would allow me to get more exercise. Ideally, I ought to just have several bikes, but for now that isn't an option, so after debating I ended up getting a Schwinn Coffee with a 3 speed SRAM internal hub. I put Wald folding racks on the back and built a homebrew light system with a Malibu 14W light in front and a zenon strobe in back and a loud car horn powered by a 3.5 LB SLA battery. The bike itself is somewhat heavy with the steel frame, fenders and rear rack; with my additions and my 250 pounds and it makes for a heavy rig.
It has been working out great as the utility bike. I've been using it on average about 2-3 times a day for trips that I would previously have used the 4 runner, and my gas consumption has been cut in half. So that part of it has been awesome and I am motivated to keep that going, year round if possible.
I've also been taking it out for some good hard rides about four or five times a week for 60 to 90 minutes. This is where the problem is for me. The three speed transmission works fine for short errands, since most of those trips do not require going up hills or pushing the bike hard. Even when I have it loaded down heavily I do not feel as though the bike or I am really stressed, although it may be pushing the limits of what the rear wheel can handle. I generally take it nice and slow.
The problem I have with the longer rides is that I often end up going up hill. The Coffee really isn't geared very low, and in first gear I am putting a lot of torque into the pedals going up hills. Not only am I stressing the drive train, I'm also putting a lot of pressure in my joints and I feel some pain about an inch underneath my knees after a hard ride. I try as much as possible to plan out routes that are fairly flat so that I can avoid going up hill as much as possible, but it is hard to avoid them completely. I feel like I've made a lot of progress physically in one month. I've got a lot more strength and endurance than when I started.
In retrospect, an old touring bike might have been a better solution for me. It probably would be robust enough to work as a utility bike, and ought to have low enough gearing to get me up the hills without hurting it or me. I'm going to try to save up a little money and keep my eyes open for an old touring bike in a few months. The problem is, with the Fixie Craze, the old 70s and 80s road bikes are selling for way more than they are worth, so it won't be easy to find a good one in my price range. Any thoughts on this? What brand would work well for me?
In the short run, do you have any suggestions what I can do to minimize the knee pain? I really can't afford to get a serious injury, but I do want to continue to use my bike for getting a good work out.