Originally Posted by
Dhorn33
"1. The bike should have alloy rims - no steel!
2. The bike should have downtube shifters, brifters or barcons (barend shifters) and not the stem mounted ones.
3. The bike frame should be labeled with some sort of indicator of the tubeset - ie Columbus, Reynolds, Ishiwata, etc. and should be butted, double butted, triple butted, etc. These are generally indicators of a quality bike frame. Often the fork is also labeled with this info and that is even better.
4. The brake levers should not have "suicide levers" - those extra levers that allow you to brake from the horizontal portion of the bars. These are generally only used on lower end models."
1. Who Cares? I don't! I loved the Raleigh and Peugeot's I rode with steel rims - Remember, I'm just a beginner!
2. As a rider, I simply want the least distracting means of shifting gears possible - the one that forces me to look away
from my path as little as possible. I happen to LIKE stem shifters for that very reason - IT'S A SAFETY THING!
3. Sure, a nice frame is nice, but issues of use vs. abuse, obvious visual cues as to how the bike was stored and
maintained are all of considerable importance. A 30 year-old Sears Free Spirit might be the better bike than a 30
year-old Schwinn Le Tour II, if you don't have an additional $150 to throw into mechanical rejuvenation.
4. Dhorn, PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE Don't ever, ever, ever engage me on this one. YOU CANNOT WIN. A good,
close friend of mine, went to the LBS in 1974, and paid them to install a brake lever with this side extension bar. The
guy was a professor of physics at UCSB. Less than a year after he'd done this, I saw him downtown, and we started
talking bikes. He said being able to grab the side-bar extension, totally saved his life. He was riding down a narrow
old street with his hands on the top of the drop-bar, when some doper just opened his VW door right smack in front of
my friend. Without having to move either hand even one-inch, he had the bike panic-stopped with several inches to
spare, and avoided what could have been crippling, or fatal injury. SUICIDE BAR?
GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!
The 1989 Raleigh Technium 400 I just bought, came with those brake levers, and I breathed an immediate sigh of
relief when I saw them there, and I made absolutely certain that my LBS got that part of the braking system in perfect
adjustment!
Two LBS owners I've been talking to, agree with me that in retrospect, the side extension brake lever, was, for
many, if not most riders, a very significant safety-booster that appeared more on entry and mid-range bikes because
in many cases, the riders of upper-end Road Bikes, tended to be more tradition-bound, and the LBS owners were the
ones who made that specific point, not me!
The LBS owners, both of whom are 40+ years in their businesses, plus the physics professor, plus ME, all agree on
one very critical point of accident prevention - Hands must have near-instant access to brake levers AT ALL TIMES.
But, we're not always riding in Tour de France racing mode, leaning forward, holding the bar at the drop-
ends where the brake levers are. Many times, we're riding a bit more casually, in a more relaxed, upright position,
holding the bar from the upper bar. When riding, and an urgent need arises, to STOP THE BIKE, every millisecond
your hands are NOT able to grip and compress brake lever, YOU ARE OUT OF CONTROL OF YOUR BIKE.
That is what I said -
When your hands are NOT gripping the brake levers, and you need to stop, YOU
ARE TOTALLY, FREAKIN' OUT OF CONTROL!!!!!
One LOUSY second is all it takes to create a life-altering tragedy. The proven experience of ONE FRIEND, is all I will ever
need to convince me that he knew what the Hell he was doing, and all I can say is that it's a shame the brake
manufacturers didn't continue to refine and improve that basic design - IMO a great advance in bicycle safety vs. the
original drop-lever-only design, which contributed to my smashing the front fork on my 1967 Raleigh, and bending the
frame, back in 1969, ending the life of a bike I truly loved, JUST BECAUSE I couldn't get to the hand-brake soon enough.
Dhorn33 Thanks sincerely for the rest of your input. I guess you didn't read that I had already BOUGHT the Denali and continue to ride this bike. In the next few days I'll shift over the "new" 1989 Raleigh, but so far, and about 175 miles into the Denali, I still love the way this $99 Wallyworld bike handles and rides! IMO Kent did an amazing job for the money - the value equation here is stunning, especially for the cash-strapped beginner who doesn't have $500-$1,000 to blow on a starter bike, JUST TO SEE, if they're going to enjoy cycling or not. That's my take. and now that I'm getting more into cycling, I was willing to invest more time and effort in lining up a really nice vintage quality Road Bike. With absolutely everything, including complete cleanup and lube, two new gumwall tires and new gel-padded seat, I'm in this gorgeous Classic U.S.A. - made Raleigh about $265 including FedEx shipping from Ohio. Hell, some of the Big-Box bikes were priced higher than this!
Another thing, For the most part, I don't have to be concerned about the Road Bike snobs putting me down for riding something, they (GASP!) disapprove of!