TheLifeOfBryan

My name is Bryan, and I'm in Wilmington, NC. I haven't really ridden a bike since I was a kid on a BMX bike in the 80s. I'm picking up a Trek 7100 later this afternoon. I did a quick test ride yesterday and just about laid it down trying to turn left. This might be an interesting evening...

I'm a fairly experienced inline skater, and I'm looking forward to having the freedom to leave the pavement. I plan to become a serious commuter eventually, but I've never really ridden anything with gears, so I'm gonna start slowly. Feel free to shower me with good advice that I will stubbornly refuse!

East Hill

Hello Bryan--my bit of good advice is to practice those turns .

Actually, the important thing to remember is that this isn't that different from a BMX bike, but your new bike DOES have gears, and it probably weighs a lot less. Also, I'm not certain about your ability to bunnyhop on the Trek.

Welcome to BF!

East Hill

TheLifeOfBryan

I ended up getting a Giant Cypress ST instead. My girlfriend rode away with the Trek that they had set up for me, so that worked well. After an hour test-driving various bikes we felt comfortable enough to ride home. And gears? Yeah, I like ’em. It was nice to hit 20mph so easily. But I’m glad I bought from my LBS, as I’m thinking I might wanna exchange it for more of a road bike. I thought upright was what I wanted, but I may have been mistaken. We’ll see.

As for the bunnyhopping… I did alright getting up over curbs, so I’m not too concerned. Currently working on an excuse to take a ride to the grocery store before bedtime.

East Hill

Upright looks good when you start, but drops are where it's at for a lot of people. I find that my back feels better when I stretch out, rather than sit upright.

See, you haven't forgotten your skills if you managed to bunnyhop the curbs .

East Hill

TheLifeOfBryan

Wow, I just reread this after nearly two years. I’ve become a full time commuter and my car hasn’t been driven (not even once!) since May of last year. I did 1,688 miles on that POS Giant before finding a really sweet deal on a Bianchi Boardwalk. I’ve got 2,361 miles on it and 369 miles on the old Cannondale R300 I found last month. That puts me at 4,499 since starting this thread (if you checked my math, the missing miles are me riding Jenn’s 7100 that I almost ended up with (really dodged a bullet there!)).

During that time I’ve found a lot of valuable info here, so thanks for that!