New from NoVA
 

Well, I am fairly new to cycling. I have been working on and riding bikes for only a few months now, aside from when I was a kid. I have a few questions, that perhaps some of you can help me with.

1. When I was younger I rode a Schwinn World Tour, and that was a great bike, but nothing I have seen in stores seems like it. It had road style handlebars, and a full rear rack, with fold out baskets, and stem friction shifters. I went to the closest bike store, and found that not only was this sort of equipment not for sale, but the cheapest road bike was nearly $1000! is this normal?

I got a frame (unknown make, it doesn't have any sort of writing on it), I put an old Shimano SIS rear derailleur, and a Shimano Tourney front derailleur, a "Prowheel" 28-38-48 crank, and a no name 6 speed cassette, It had these terrible Truativ shifters, but, I put some Falcon stem shifters (friction) on it and some other more cosmetic parts (i.e. Schwinn wide seat, Schwinn speedometer, Schwinn lights, a rear rack, spring loaded kickstand, etc).

2. Is it at all normal to be riding a mutt such as I described above?

3. I am completely confused why is everyone so concerned about weight? I was always taught a heavy frame was more durable, and that momentum carried you up hills. Is everyone involved in racing or something?

Hello sdlm, the World Tour is 'old-fashioned', but there are plenty of us here who still love and ride those bikes (see the Classic & Vintage forum). There are cheaper road bikes, but decent ones do start at around $550 and go up from there.

Plenty of people here who ride 'mutts'. After all, you are the one riding the bike, not us. If it works, and you feel good riding the bike, who cares what we think?

People who want to race, or people who have a lot of testosterone who would like to race, go for carbon frames. You can be a weight weenie if you like, just be prepared to plunk down a lot of money. If you don't care how fast you go, and just want to enjoy the ride and getting there, a heavier bike will do just fine.

Welcome to BF, and feel free to PM me with any questions :) !

East Hill
Forum Moderator

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