Keez

Hello everyone,

I have just taken up bicycle riding again, the last time I rode a bike was in the early seventies – when I was in college. A month ago, I found a used Schwinn Ranger at a garage sale, and I have put about a hundred mile on it since then. I am really enjoying my rides, never thought I would look forward to exercise, but it is a great way to relax and enjoy being outdoors – especially now that the weather has cooled down here in the Florida Panhandle. A neighbor’s son, out for a ride on his own bike, stopped to talk with me, and after looking my bike over told me that It was a mess. Who knew? Apparently the front and rear breaks rub, the rim wobbles and my detailer needs adjusting. I knew it was harder to peddle than I remembered, but I chalked that up to my being old (64), fat and out of shape. If I remember right the last bike I had was a 1973 or 1974, Fuji 10-speed, I was in my early 20’s and rode that bike to school, work, the bar and just for fun, probably racking up a couple-of-hundred miles a week.

Jeez, I am rambling. I am having the local bike shop tune the Schwinn, but, now that I know that I enjoy riding again, I would like to buy a bike that is better suited to my riding preferences. My question is: What should I buy? I enjoy riding on our local roads along the beach, and occasionally in the country. I do not plan on any off road riding, and our streets are pretty well surfaced around here. I need a bike that allows me to ride in a more upright posture than the schwinn, I have some screwed up vertebra in my neck, which makes it difficult to keep my head up to see where I am going, when riding bent over. I don’t really need a lot of gears, we don’t have any hills around here, and I don’t ride fast, I just kind of pedal along at my own speed looking at the scenery.

The Raleigh Haskell seems to fit the bill, but I have never seen one other than in a catalog. My local bike shop is a Raleigh dealer, and he will order it for me, but he hasn’t seen one up close either. Here is a link to the product page: Raleigh Bicycles - Haskell
The Haskell is a five speed, internal hub, has hydraulic disk brakes, and I like what I have read about the internal hubs and hydraulic disk brakes. Does anybody on the forum own one, or have an opinion on them? I like the idea of the Raleigh brand because as a kid I always wanted a Raleigh 3-speed, we called them English Racers – but they were outside of my budget, at the time.

Thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Rick@OCRR

I clicked on the link you provided, Keez, and it looks to be a decent bike for the money, maybe a few more gears than you need but that's not a problem.

Concerning your neck issues, you may be well advised to at least try a recumbent with it's more laid back seating and easy forward sight-line. No need to go high-end for your applications of course.

Rick / OCRR

Keez

Thanks Rick, any particular brand or model recumbent you recomend?

Rick@OCRR

No, I'm not a "recumbent guy" but many on this forum are and should, hopefully, be willing to advise. I think for entry-level at least Sun is a good brand.

https://sunseeker.bike/

Rick / OCRR

BobbyG

The bike looks nice. I believe hydraulic discs are self-adjusting, so that's low maintenance. Internal gearing...less chance of having a chain fall off. Seat with springs...even at "only 53" I like that. Perhaps a step-through frame would be better. They call them "mixtes" instead of "girls" bikes. Depending on your kneck a "crank-forward" bike might be a nice compromise between a conventional upright bike and a recumbant.

Keez

There is a place in Santa Rosa Beach that rents recumbent bikes, I will check them out tomorrow, thanks.

Keez

Thanks, BobbyG. I am not sure what a crank forward bike looks like - although the name gives me a pretty good idea I will look online and see what I can find out about them.