Re this comment:
Originally Posted by
ridingfool
Don't know if you have a dicks sporting goods near you but you should be able to get 2 decent bikes for about 800 dollars they will be better than a 200 Walmart bike and should last a few years or more if mantained rigjt
I stopped by the Dick's SG near me yesterday and was impressed with what they offer. The guy running the cycles section had a couple of bikes on racks putting them together. Their program is to carry decent entry level bikes and provide fitting and maintenance service in-house. I looked at a Nishiki flatbar hybrid (700 cc tires) that is on sale and it's tempting to shed my Giant in favor of something more comfortable.
And back to this vein of thought:
Originally Posted by
livedarklions
There's a lot of pretty good hybrids without crappy suspension features at that price point. The Raleigh label seems to be particularly good for those.
My dad is 89 and has been fat all of his life, so in a few months, I'll introduce you to a 90 year old fat man. Personally, I don't know a lot of 90 year old men of any weight class, living that long is much rarer among men than women. My grandmother was fat 90+ year old women, I don't think it's that unusual.
I don't consider this a quibble--I think you did something quite wrong. You gave someone specific advice about their goal weight based on no information other than their height. No one asked you to do that (it was actually quite off-topic), you volunteered for this criticism. Everyone who knows ANYTHING about the subject knows BMI should not be used in this manner--its classifications have only one advantage, they're very easy to calculate. They are, however, quite arbitrary, and don't correlate well with any measures of health, except at the extremes. Percentage of body fat appears to correlate much better with healthiness and longevity, and more and more of the research is showing that the relationship of that to BMI is very complicated. People who have "normal" BMI can actually be fatter than people who are "overweight" on the BMI. You always have to keep in mind that a) muscle weighs more than fat and b) people of the same height can have very different frames.
First, if your family is constitutionally equipped with the genes to live to old age with good health, count your blessings. Fat or not, very few people make it to 89 or thereabouts without some type of chronic ailment. I used to be an ER chaplain and long since lost count of the number of death notifications I've done. Almost all of them were due to heart-attacks or car wrecks.
Enjoy the days you have with them.
Re, my "giving advice." Methinks the pot is calling the kettle black. You are hard-down arguing against the budget conscious lines of bicycles that introduced millions to the sport, all while extolling the virtues of bikes above their stated budget, and you take a shot at me with the accusation of "giving advice?"
If you go back and read my posts you'll find I offered information for perspective, which naturally implies suggestion for thought, but my words fall well short of advice.
I hope all this quibbling has not discouraged the OP. The simple act of getting on any bike and pedaling around the block calls on the largest muscles in the human body, and yields enormous benefits for improving one's physical health and mental outlook. She and her fiance' have several purchase options within the budget they stated. After that, (and here's my unqualified advice), they just need to get on the bikes and ride.
IMHO