Hi all,

First, I want to thank this forum and fellow bike enthusiasts for the warm welcome and welcome advice and guidance. I have only been riding the Schwinn for two days, it is smooth as silk, and I love her, BUT, when I was at the shop pricing out the tune up and repairs, for slightly more money I could have bought a new ride, and one in particular really caught my eye. However, sentimental value won, and I redid the Schwinn. As I said, it was Dad's bike, and he was 6' 2", and I am only 5' 8", so the bike is tall for me. So after today's ride, after taking the photos (thank you KZBrian on the lesson how to post photos), and after a chat with my sister, I decided to go back and get the new bike after all. So many of you have collections of bikes, and I think that is cool. I brought my sister's bike to the shop tonight to get hers refurbished, same thing, new tires, tubes, chain and whatever it needs. It is the same year as Dad's but she has the Schwinn World Tourist, and it is a ladies style bike. When I walked her bike into the store, the clerks remembered me, and I said, HOLY SMOKE, look both tires went flat already, and I just picked the bike up yesterday. My sister's bike is the same color as Dad's, and the clerk was falling for my joke, so I had to quickly say only kidding. The bike that caught my eye was the Raleigh Route 3.0 comfort hybrid because it was a brilliant blue, and it was the color I fell for at first. However, in the long and short of it, I ended up with the 4.0 model because even though the purple is not as flashy as the blue, the upgraded features made it the reasonable choice, well worth the slightly higher price tag. And it is a Ladies Bike. I will take pictures tomorrow. Right now, she is in the back of my Odyssey (secure in the garage) because I am hitting the beach bike trail early tomorrow morning. I love that trail!!!! Soon, I am going to join the local bike club. This is all great stuff.