bryan123

hey all i just have a few bike q's

#1. Does cycling help build muscles?
#2. Why when i ride the part of my leg or should i say knee.... hurt while riding and a little bit more after riding?

Portis

#1: Of course.

#2: There are a lot of possible reasons. Saddle position is a common problem. Bike fit or lack thereof is another.

mayukawa

1. It depends, if you ride track, MTB or sprint a lot, you'll build muscle. I think for most other biking activities, you'll tone your muscles.
2. Poor bike fitting? Pushing too high a gear?

bryan123

okay.... ty

v1k1ng1001

Just check me out:

damnable

Come on, your legs are way too skinny. The only muscles that count.

v1k1ng1001

Oh yeah? Well this is what my legs look like after a couple hours of riding (knees are for girly men):

Olya

Hello, Guys. I want to ask you for help. I want to buy this bike, but not sure if it's good. Its name is Norco. Can you tell me is it a good one? I'm a greenie in bikes, so this would be my first purchase.

Pat

1) Well, that seems to depend on the individual. When some people get fit, they get toned and wirey. Other people tend to build bigger muscles. From cycling, my legs are pretty muscular and developed but not the rest of me. But as I said, I have seen other cyclists who ride hard and fast and do not have really big legs.

2) Your knees should not hurt when you cycle. In facts, cycling is sometimes used for knee rehabilitation. Your knee pain could be from a poor bike fit. Most of the time, it is from having the saddle too low. Another problem could be that you are not running a high enough RPM. A third thing is that many new cyclists just push down on the pedals. Try pedalling faster in easier gears. They do not lift their legs for the return. That means they are pedalling harder and putting more strain on their knees. Try lifting your legs on the return stroke. Lifting your legs called "pedalling in circles" reduces the wear and tear on your legs but feels a bit odd at first. I suspect that your problem is probably a combination of the three above - saddle too low, riding in gears that are too hard and not lifting your legs on the return stroke.

chephy

Norco makes many different models; which one are you looking at? Also what kind of riding are you planning to do? Norco is generally a good company, so the question would not be so much whether the bike is of a good quality (it probably is), but whether it's a right bike for you and you're getting a reasonable deal on it. So tell us more.

Olya

Wow, thanks for answering so fast.
Well, i'm planning to go on rides outside the city, little cycling tours i can handle. But no extreme, no downhill riding.
Well, how about now. What can you tell me now.

P.S. Please, don't pay attention to my way of expressing thoughts, I may talk funny for I'm from Ukraine .

damnable

When you say outside the city, do you mean mostly on roads/pavement or going offroad on rougher terrain?
How often are you likely to go?
And, what is your budget?

What is the model of the Norco you were looking at?

Olya

Not very often, once a month perhaps.
Outside the city means just ground i guess, not roads, just a little maybe.

I was looking at Norco Storm. I liked the accessories, is it how it is called?

Olya

About the price, i'm going to buy bikes in Ukraine, and I guess prices here differs a little. I have about $300-400

chephy

I've looked at Norco Storm specs; they differ from year to year, but I'm not sure which one you're getting. Something like this? If you had a list of components or a link to the particular model year that would help. But anyway, regardless of model year, it looks to me like a fairly good bike, especially for that little money. It will probably do fine for not-too-long rides once a month. Granted, on very rough stuff you'd be more comfortable on double-suspension bike, say, but you can't get such a bike for the amount of money you specified, and ultimately you don't need it.

For $300-400 it looks like you'll be getting a used one, right? I don't think they'd be able to sell them for much cheaper in Ukraine than in North America. If that is the case, you need to make sure you're getting a bike in sound mechanical condition, otherwise it may end up costing you twice as much as you planned. It's best to have someone with good mechanical knowledge examine the bike before you buy it.

If I'm wrong and you're getting the bike new - good. Try to buy it from a store that has good after-sale customer support (you'll need a shop where your bike will be maintained and repaired, and many bike stores offer free services to customers and various discounts on maintenance). But then in Dniepropetrovsk you might not have much choice.

Bike size and fit are extremely important. Make sure you can test-ride the bike before you buy it. And if you don't know how to fit a bike properly, either read up on it, or ask here, or make sure you buy a bike from someone you trust who is an expert in fitting bikes.

Olya

Thanks. That helped. I also visited this bike shop yesterday, and they have Norco Bushpilot (or pilotbush, not sure, ) and Norco Cytadel. Are they good ones? I would probably buy one of them.

chephy

Out of the two, I'd pick Bushpilot for the sort of riding you'll be doing. Citadel is more of a "comfort" bike, which can be good for short and smooth rides, but for more serious riding Bushpilot would do better. It'll allow you to go faster, it'll actually feel more comfortable on longer rides, it'll shift and brake better since it has better components.

Olya

Well, i've got a bike. I bought Trek 4300. I really liked it. It seems very comfortable to me. All the equipment is very trustable. Bantager, Shimano Alivio. I took a ride today morning. Just had a few rides up and down the street. That is awesome. I love bikes!

Falkon 

You english is great. I wish I could speak Russian hahaha!

The Trek is a good all around bike. You can use the bike as a good errand bike as well, riding to the store and to work.

chephy

Good choice! Enjoy your bike. (BTW, it's Bontrager, not Bantager).

There are a couple of reasons it might not be such a good idea in most parts of former USSR, unfortunately. The driving culture in those parts of the world, as far as big cities go anyway, is pretty atrocious. One does not feel safe in a car, and on a bike... good friggin luck! The laws are pretty restrictive there too: for example, according to Russian traffic laws, a cyclist must never be further from the curb than 1 metre away. How do you make vehicular left turns, you ask? You don't - you're not allowed to change lanes. You must do a two-part left turn. And even if you follow all the laws, lots of motorists will be very mean and hostile to you... just like in North America but much worse. Intimidation tactics and general hostility is the rule on the roads, not the exception. If I were to ride a bike in one of those cities, I'd forget that I'm a vehicular cycling instructor blah-blah and just stay on the sidewalk. As for driving... I just wouldn't.

Theft is something else entirely. Amsterdam, New York and Toronto are only bike theft capitals of the world, North America and Canada respectively because people actually lock their bikes on the street there. In ex-Soviet cities/towns leaving a bike outside practically guarantees that it will be stolen. The only reason bike theft numbers are low there is that nobody in his right mind would ever leave anything more expensive than a rusty 80s Soviet-made single-speed on the street. And if you are not a very strong person (and sometimes even if you are), the bike may very well be hijacked right from under you.

There are many people in ex-USSR who run errands etc. on bikes, but that's usually restricted to rural areas where traffic is sparse and everybody knows each other so theft is less likely. And they ain't riding Treks over there...

Nermal

It can tone, and even increase muscle mass, bryan, but if that is your primary objective, there are faster ways; some might even say cheaper ways.

CommuterRun

#1. Yes, all over to some degree, but primarily in the legs, as to be expected. For good overall fitness you will still need to do some upper-body work.
#2. For me (keeping in mind that we're all a little different) this is an indication that my feet are not properly positioned on the pedals. Particularly if it's only one knee. I like to keep the spindle of the pedal just a wee little bit forward of the ball of my foot, with my feet angled to my natural walking gait.

Olya

Well, thanks a lot for telling me about the riding culture in CIS, but, hey, I know it pretty well.
Traffic is aweful, noone abides by the rules... no comments. Besides, i don't know any traffic rules myself, so i would not use the bike to move around the city. I bought it to go outside the town. Well, thanks anyways. It's great that you all care and advice me stuff.

chephy

Well, actually I was more for Falkon and the rest of the forum users unfamiliar with this "culture". I kinda guessed that you knew what CIS is like.