tasdisr

New member here and have a question of course.

The wife and I currently have a couple of 15 year old Giant bikes (Sedona and Cypress). We have not used them for quite some time as they have become very uncomfortable for us to ride, both of us are in our mid 60s.

We have done some shopping and the wife has pretty much decided on some version of the Electra Townie. She is currently looking at the 3i and the 7D. (I am still looking) She likes the upright riding position and the overall comfort of the bike, but is afraid the 7D may be a bit overwhelming because of the extra gears. The person at the local store advised her that the 7D would be the better choice and since she is more comfortable with the seating position and comfort of the bike getting used to the 7Ds extra gears should be very easy.

Our riding will be casual and consist mainly of paved bike paths in the area and being in SW Ohio there will be hills. So my question is would the 7D be the better choice for her? (I will probably go with a 7 speed myself when I finally make up my mind!)

RonH

The 7D has gears much like the Giant bikes you have. The gears on the 7D will help with the hills. A friend of mine has a "pedal-forward" design bicycle and hates it. His knees start hurting after less than 10 miles. And they're not built for speed.

tasdisr

I know she is not worried about speed. She was very comfortable with the "pedal forward" design , but she definitely wants to ride one a little more before making a decision.

VegasTriker

I agree that between the two, the 7D is a better choice. Your wife would still have only one gear changer to worry about and like most modern bikes this one is indexed so changing gears is as simple as rotating the twist grip. What 7 speeds allows you to do is to find comfortable cadence over more conditions (like the hills you mentioned). It's not just about speeds but comfort and saving your knees. I haven't owned a 3-speed bike since I was a teenager and can't imagine buying one today with even just 7 gears. On a multi-speed bike you will probably spend most of the time in one range, using the rear cluster to choose a gear that is comfortable. My current ride is 30 speeds but I spend almost all of the time in the middle range in the front, using the 10 speeds in the rear to be comfortable pedaling.

I looked both up on the REI website and the 7D is $100 cheaper than the 3i ($479 vs $579) with a 10% rebate at year's end for us REI members. I do see something that I really don't like about both of these bikes. "One size fits most". I don't like that statement at all. If you want to get a bike that is a pleasure to ride, get one that truly fits. If your wife is average height for a woman it might be just fine but if not there is some compromise to deal with.

ltxi

Hills...get the 7D...no question.

My wife has one of those and it works just great for her. A 3 spd is/would be too constrictive. Even for low and slow her. I have a Townie as well....a 21D. Great out and about/grocery getter/bad weather bikes.

tasdisr

Thanks for your input! We did check out a couple of local bike stores and she really did not find anything she really liked. We then stopped at the Trek store and after the sales person asked her some questions and had her try 3 or 4 different bikes she showed her the Townie 7D and she really liked the way it felt and rode. It was only after looking at the Electra web site that she even thought of the 3i. I think she is average height at about 5ft 3 tall and it seemed to fit her well. The sales person said it fit her well and would be a good choice for her.

tasdisr

Thanks! I will let her know that the 7D would be a good choice for her. How do you like the 21D?

ltxi

For me, couldn't ask for better in a cruiser...a style I wouldn't have considered for myself before we bought wife's 7D. Works really well for riding with her and as an errand bike. I also rode it through the snow this past winter when I otherwise would wouldn't have ridden at all. It's also just great for kick back and relax. For reference, I'm primarily a fitness and recreational roadie with current daily driver being an Ultegra group BMC GF02.

Also, fwiw, I like the 21D controls much better than the 7D twist grip shifter. Want a 7-spd?...just stay in the middle front chain ring.

tasdisr

Thanks for your help!! I think we will go up this week and let her take another look at the 7D and maybe I will check out the 21D.

tasdisr

Are the Townies rideable on a beach or would you need something with balloon type tires?

martianone

My partner and I each have a 7D, our beach bikes. Hers is a step through frame. I was interested in the three speed hub gear, but found hub gearing to be a little higher than felt than I wanted. On my bike; swapped out the tires for Big Apples, replaced the saddle with a Brooks B-68 and put on some MKS road pedals. So far our bikes have worked well.

FrenchFit 

My wife owns the Electra 20D Ticino Mixte, I guess it's going on two years now. Nothing but love; I suspect she only uses 4 or 5 of the 20 gears, I see her jumping from the big ring down to the little on hills, but the available selection works well for her riding style. They seems to be on sale now, it's pricey but I'm sure my wife would gladly pay the sticker price all over again. Maintenance wise, we ride every weekend day, all year, 30m r/trips. Other than air, her bike's needed nothing. Only complaint is the merlot metallic paint should have been thicker, it chips too easily.

canklecat

The Townie 7 models use the Shimano RevoShift twist grip shifters -- super easy. My 2008-2009 Globe comfort hybrid uses the same shifter. Works very well, no guesswork once the derailer is adjusted to match the RevoShift clicks -- which the LBS will do for you. Just twist 'til it reaches the next click, done. No need to feather, fudge or guess. As long as the derailer is adjusted right, it just works.

The 3-chain ring front derailers can occasionally be a bit more fidgety, needing just a little feathering to shift the front derailer smoothly. But you can just leave it in one chain ring and that's often good enough for most roads and modest hills.

volosong

Another option is a Specialized Expedition.

tasdisr

Thanks for that information. Chances are we will end up renting bikes if we go on vacation where there is a beach, but this good info to have.

Thanks, I think my wife is pretty well sold on the Townie 7D.

Thank you for that information, I had read something similar to that on one of the forum stickies.

We did go and check this out but she liked the feel of the Townie much better.

freedomrider1

Whats wrong with the Giant's. I know you said uncomfortable, but could you explain.

tasdisr

We both, especially my wife, would prefer a bike where we can be flat footed when stopping without coming off the seat and also the more upright seating position.

ltxi

I'm not a beach rider so can't really say. Hard/packed sand I'd suspect so. If you want/need balloon tires Electra sells versions with them as well.

freedomrider1

Oh i see, maybe there would be some adjustments your bike shop could make to the Giants so that they would suit you and your wife .

tasdisr

Thanks, the more we talked about it we would probably not take our bikes with us on a vacation, but just rent them when we get there.

We probably could have the bike shop make some adjustments, but as we have not been comfortable with the bikes for a while I am not sure it would be worth it. Also the bikes are about 15 years old so we figure we owe it to ourselves to get something we will be comfortable with and use.

dachshund

I got a Townie 21D to have something to ride after a knee surgery. We have just enough hills that it was worth it to have the gears, especially since I was out of shape. The flat foot feature eliminated my post-surgery fears. Honestly I wish all bikes let you reach the ground with your feet while seated. Anyway, it's a very nice bike. She'll get used to the gears, and they have the indicators so you know what gear you're in.

It's not that comfortable for riding in a forward position to ride faster, but for cruising around it's a fantastic bike, and nice looking!

tasdisr

Thanks, that is good to know. The flat foot feature is what really sold her. Now she just needs to decide on a color.

rdmjr

I can't help you with the bike question, but for riding bike paths in SW Ohio, you've got a lot of options. There's the Little Miami Scenic Trail; it's recently been extended on the southern end, so now it runs from the Little Miami Golf Center on to somewhere near Lunken Airport (not sure exactly where it ends, I haven't ridden the new stretch yet). There's the Lunken Airport bike trail as well; that's basically a 5 mile loop around the airport - it has a couple of relatively steep hills on it, steeper than anything I've encountered on the Little Miami, and now has a connection to Armleder park on the other side of the Beechmont Levee. Armleder Park has a 2 mile loop through a lot of the park. There's also the Ohio River Trail (https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/bikes/b...r-trail-map/); the last time I tried it, it was a lot of disconnected segments, but it's been a couple of years, so maybe they've connected more of it. Eventually they're supposed to connect all of those trails - on the Ohio River Trail map the dashed line on the Little Miami trail is finished now; they're still working on getting the dotted line section to connect to Lunken/Armleder. Eventually there will be the Wasson Way Trail - that's planned to run from Xavier University to the Little Miami Scenic Trail through several residential neighborhoods. I've also ridden the Lebanon Countryside trail, which runs from the Little Miami trail to downtown Lebanon. My wife and I didn't care too much for that one; there are some much steeper hills than what we've found on the Little Miami, and part of it is a bike lane on a 45-mph highway, which in practice means the cars are about 2-3 feet away from you going 55-60 mph. There's also the Great Miami trail; it's got a 12 mile or so section in Fairfield/Hamilton, and a much longer section between Franklin and Piqua. If you start around the Dayton area, they've got a network of 6-8 (maybe even more by now) trails that are all connected, but all I really know about those is that they exist.

oddjob2

I suggest you let her choose and buy an Electra at REI. REI's customer service, flexible return policy, and earning a 10% rebate are hard to beat.

IMHO, 3 speeds are okay for flat areas, like most of SE Michigan, but if you have hills and don't ride much, 7 speeds will be needed. The extra learning time between 3 and 7 speeds is about 10 minutes.

tasdisr

Thanks for the information! We are familiar with the Little Miami trail, more specifically the Loveland portion. Did not know about the others. Hoping to order our bikes in the next week or so. (Having some remodeling done at our house and the garage space is taken up with the supplies.) Once empty there will be room again for our bike rack and bikes.

She has already decided she is going to go ahead and get the Townie 7D and I am going to get the 21D.