Originally Posted by
Nightshade
Not protecting at all. Your view point on this tells me that you, like many not "into" cycles, have no concept of what is needed to "fit" a bike to you.
Yes"fit" the bike to you. Anyone can throw a leg over a bike but it takes a lot of knowledge to know how to set/adjust the bike to your body and abilities. Without a proper fitting your ride experience will be much much less that it ever could be.
Therein also lies the problem of 'just buy a bike on-line'. If you don't know anything about bicycles...like most of the American public... or most of your knowledge about bicycles comes from the bike you had when you were 10...like most of the American public...you aren't likely to get the bike you need from an on-line retailer. And if you order the wrong one, you have to pay twice for shipping. There goes that price advantage
A cautionary tale about bicycles: When I married my wife many eons ago, we both had '10 speed bikes' that we had got from Sears as kids. The bikes were 27" bikes and were identical in nearly every detail, including size.
I'm 6' tall and my wife is 5' tall. She rode the bike with the saddle smashed as far down as possible. When she 'straddled' the bike, she still had a good 2" or 3" before her feet hit the ground.
HelMart and the other Big Box Boys still sell their bikes the same way. One frame size fits all