Originally Posted by
Crookneez
Hi everyone, newbie here (warning)
Advice needed I think. I'm 66 in a couple of days, haven't ridden much for close to 20 years (except for exercise bike at the gym). I'm 5'8" and (Ugh) 120kg now and getting heavier daily because I haven't been to the gym for 6 months. As my name implies, I have crook knees too
I used to ride mountain bikes for many years and did quite a lot of miles back then so recently I decided I want to reacquaint myself with a real bike again.
I've been looking around and come up with this as an option to buy
http://www.trekbikes.com/au/en/bikes..._series/8_5_ds
My question to all you experts out there is... would this be a good choice considering most of my riding will be on sealed roads or bike paths with just the occasional fire trail from time to time. I really do need the exercise and would like to get back on a real bike that wasn't too radical.
Help anyone?
One can never lose with a mtn bike. They are very flexible, and one can put "slicks" instead of knobbies for tires, making them more suitable for sealed roads and paved bike paths. Looks like a good choice for you. Trek is generally an excellent brand, along with Specialized, Jamis and many others.
Other options one might want to consider would be a "hybrid" - which one could take on a fairly non-rugged fire road. It has smaller diameter tires (but larger diameter wheels), and might go a bit faster on the paved roads.
I started with a mtn bike at age 58, and rode it for a year before deciding to also get a real "road" bike. This bike thing creeps up on one - now I have 2 road bikes, 1 rideable mtn bike, 1 mtn bike as a trainer in the basement, one vintage Peugeot U08 "road" bike, and one recently acquired recumbent. My wife has a hybrid - which she loves, and a mtn bike. Our garage is full of bikes, as my son also has a 3 wheeler in there.
However, one only needs one bike to ride!!
Enjoy and post often.