3 yrs later I find that I am in great shape, but I know that's not easy to schedule for... What is the chore part? Pedalling too hard, uncomfortable seating? Both?
>> The seating is uncomfortable. I feel like there's a lot of weight on my hands, and I'm not strong enough yet to hold myself up with my abs. Though I have to admit that I want to like the "faster" position, as I like going fast, and did so relatively successfully on motorcycles for a few years.
Which half don't you use? Top? Bottom? Middle?
>> I ignore the bottom 2/3 of the granny ring, and the top ring entirely. So I'm using the middle ring, and the top two or three cogs in the granny.
Is it mostly the sitting position that is a problem? You could push the seat forward and down, bring the bars back and in (shorter stem, or flip the stem if it's flipped to extend it), sit more upright, and focus on spinning low gears. That would get you sitting more upright, exerting less muscle power, *and* building cardio so you would pretty soon be able to chat at travel speed.
>> If I'm at proper leg extention now, wouldn't lowering the seat somehow mess up my...whatever...something important?
If you're really early in and you hate it, maybe dropping the bike is the way to go, you don't want to get scarred by it.
Does the townie have a gearhub? I like the concept of the explicitly non-performance bike, but when my eyes wander that way, they settle on a
breezer w/ a gearhub.
>>the Townie I was looking at was the 7D, a 44T up front a seven spd. cassette (14-34 "MegaRange") out back. WAY less expensive than a 7 spd. internal hub, and even $40 cheper than a 3-spd. internal.