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Review: Giant Simple Single

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Review: Giant Simple Single

Old 08-09-08, 11:43 PM
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Review: Giant Simple Single

I know cruisers aren't everyone's cup of tea. They're not really mine either but I had a chance to ride one this weekend and thought I'd give my impressions.

We were staying at a hotel in Duluth, MN along the North shore of Lake Superior. The hotel lets you check out bikes and I wanted to meet my wife at Canal Park (for those of you familiar with Duluth) which was a couple of miles down the shore. The bike they had was a Giant "Simple Single". A coaster brake, single speed, cruiser bike.

The bike has an aluminum frame so it was fairly light for a cruiser. The balloon tires had minimal tread and they rolled pretty easy. I haven't ridden a coaster brake bike in a long-long time and I have to say the stopping power left a lot to be desired. You're not going to get moving too fast on one of these, but still.

The gearing was a compromise of course. It was low enough to get over the couple of small hills without too much effort. It was also easy to spin out on this bike. For riding along the lake it works great but Duluth is a hilly place and it wouldn't be a great bike to have if you lived here.

The ride was plenty plush for the short distance I rode. The suspension post squeaked. It could have been something easily remedied I suppose and the bike lives outside which I'm sure doesn't help. In a way the squeak was in keeping with the style of the bike ;-)

it's funny how people will describe road bike handling as twitchy. I guess it depends on what you're used to but I had a more difficult time turning this bike sharply while still keeping my balance.

All in all it was a fun bike and while I wouldn't use it for my commute I could easily see it as a nice cheap bike to use for commuting short distances.
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Old 08-10-08, 10:53 AM
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coaster brakes

Originally Posted by tjspiel
I know cruisers aren't everyone's cup of tea. They're not really mine either but I had a chance to ride one this weekend and thought I'd give my impressions.

We were staying at a hotel in Duluth, MN along the North shore of Lake Superior. The hotel lets you check out bikes and I wanted to meet my wife at Canal Park (for those of you familiar with Duluth) which was a couple of miles down the shore. The bike they had was a Giant "Simple Single". A coaster brake, single speed, cruiser bike.

The bike has an aluminum frame so it was fairly light for a cruiser. The balloon tires had minimal tread and they rolled pretty easy. I haven't ridden a coaster brake bike in a long-long time and I have to say the stopping power left a lot to be desired. You're not going to get moving too fast on one of these, but still.

The gearing was a compromise of course. It was low enough to get over the couple of small hills without too much effort. It was also easy to spin out on this bike. For riding along the lake it works great but Duluth is a hilly place and it wouldn't be a great bike to have if you lived here.

The ride was plenty plush for the short distance I rode. The suspension post squeaked. It could have been something easily remedied I suppose and the bike lives outside which I'm sure doesn't help. In a way the squeak was in keeping with the style of the bike ;-)

it's funny how people will describe road bike handling as twitchy. I guess it depends on what you're used to but I had a more difficult time turning this bike sharply while still keeping my balance.

All in all it was a fun bike and while I wouldn't use it for my commute I could easily see it as a nice cheap bike to use for commuting short distances.
Sounds like my Dads old 1942 Henderson, only not as heavy. I rode that old bike as a boy in the 60's-70's and hope to restore it soon. I'll probably ride it to work on my 8.5 mile flat commute someday.
I like the wide sprung saddle and the motorcycle looking, wide handlebars. I'm curious how much slower I will be on it and look forward to finding out. I'll bet not that much however. I've been surprised how little difference in time I experience when riding with less effort now. I can almost not even break a sweat and only lose maybe 5-10 minutes.
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Old 08-10-08, 11:10 AM
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I have been riding cruisers for years. I grew up with them in the 50's. In the seventies I rode 10-speeds. After having three of them stolen over a short period, I went with old rusty cruisers. If you have a bike somebody wants here, and it is not locked in your house, it gets stolen.

My ride is 3.5 miles one way and New Orleans is flat. The bike tops out at low speed but given the braking power that is a good thing. It is not that there is anything so inherently wrong a coaster brake, its just that there on the rear wheel and cruisers usually don't have a front brake. The coasters lock up fine.
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