Bikes

Home \ Miscellaneous \ Bikes

I have two main bicycles:

Vista Cruiser
Specialized Expidition

I also have my reasons for bicycling, such as having a broken-down car. A few years ago, I got really disgusted when my car broke down and went without a car for about a year. The bus system wasn't really convenient or reliable enough for my needs, so I did a lot of bike riding back then. My car is currently broken down, but I'm hoping it won't be another year before I'm driving again. In the meantime, I'm riding my bicycles.

City Biking
Advantages and Disadvantages of biking
Bike Trip

Vista Cruiser

The Vista Cruiser is an older bicycle from the 1970's. It's a standard 5-speed cruiser with 26" x 1-3/8" tires, and it looks like an old, rusty, beat-up bike. It looked bad when I first got it, used, back in 1984, but it's been a reliable bike for me ever since.
I was going to OSU in Stillwater at the time, and I bought it at an OSU auction for a measly two dollars, a price even a college student could afford. I guess nobody wanted it because it looked like an old, rusty, beat-up bike, but I took it back to my dorm room, oiled it, aired up the tires, and it worked just fine.
Of course, like any mechanical object, it's occasionally needed some minor work and repairs, like new tubes and tires, or brake pads. I've also changed the seat and added front and rear baskets (the better to carry groceries with). But's it's mostly been pretty minor stuff. The worst problem I had was when the bearings in the front wheel went out on me. But it didn't cost too much to buy a new wheel for it. This, of course, is one of the big advantages of a bicycle: low maintenance and repair costs.
I've gotten a newer and, for the most part, better bicycle, but I still keep the old Vista around as my backup and workhorse. One advantage the old bike has over the new bike is the fuller, wraparound fenders over the tires, making it a better choice for biking in the rain or snow.

Specialized Expedition

Back in 1997 or '98, when I was without a car for a year and relying on my bike for transportation, I decided it might be time to buy a brand new bicycle. I went to a local bicycle shop and ended up with the Specialized Expedition, a hybrid with most of the features of the modern bike: 21-speeds, fatter 26" x 1.95" tires, a light aluminum frame, and quick-release wheels and seat post. I also especially appreciated the motorcycle style gear shifters being integrated into the handlebars, instead of the older lever- or thumb-shifters. They make it very easy to shift gears with only a minimal amount of hand motion, without taking your hand off the handlebar.
Admittedly, I was originally rather frustrated with my new bike, because it took some getting used to. It just handled so differently than the old Vista. But as I grew accustomed to it, I realized it was easier to pedal, especially going uphill, and the extra gears let me gain more speed and/or distance than the older bike.
While I mostly just ride around town (work, grocery store, post office, etc), I once took the bike on a trip down to Shawnee, Oklahoma, which is 110 miles, one-way.

City Biking

I'm normally just a "city biker", and although I sometimes put in 20-30 miles getting around town, I usually travel far less than that. I only live a mile away from my job, for example, and about the same distance to the grocery store and post office. Wal-Mart is about five miles from my current home (I used to live much closer to it before I moved), so now I usually make Wal-Mart more like once a week.
Commuting to work isn't that big a deal, espeically since it's close to my house, but the trips to the grocery store can be more challenging. I added baskets to my bike spefically so I could carry more stuff, and I can usually handle about $40-$50 worth of groceries at a time on the bike.
The City of Tulsa passed an ordinance a few years ago that legally allows bicycles to take up a whole vehicle lane, but anybody who's done any biking around town realizes that that's not really very practical, especially on some of Tulsa's busier streets, and that you're nomally better off hugging the curb. In some places, the sidewalk is convenient, although the uneven-ness of the sidewalks will slow you down. Also, while the city has been gradually adding more sidewalk ramps, there are still many places that the ramps have not been added, meaning you have to jump the curb or swing out into the street to get around the curbs. There are also some places where there's enough shoulder or inter-connected parking lots where a bicyclist can safely travel off-road, but these are usually at most only a few blocks or a half-mile.
Sometimes there are shortcuts or backroads you can take so that you miss the heavier traffic, but you have to find these by trial and error--some residential roads will dead-end or loop around, making your trip longer, especially when they're close to one of the highways that go through town.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Biking

Advantages:

Faster than walking
More convenient and reliable than the bus
Low maintenance and repair costs
No pollution
Good exercise
Not limited to the road
Fun!

Disadvantages:

Slower than a car
Limited carrying capacity
Takes human effort (tiring)
Not always easy to find a place to lock the bike up
Can't take a date on a bike

Bike Trip

After having my new bike, the Specialized, for a while, I decided to take a trip down to Shawnee to visit my mother. Shawnee is 110 miles one-way from Tulsa. This was in winter, when I was off work for the Christmas break, but the weather had been pretty mild. The Weather Channel showed that snow was coming, but I thought I could make it down before it hit.
The first day of the trip went quite well, even better than I expected. I started off not-too-early (about 10 AM) on a Sunday morning. The weather was clear, the sun was shining, and it wasn't even very cold. I started out by taking 21st street over to Southwest Boulevard, and then following Southwest until I got to Sapulpa. I stopped for an early lunch in Sapulpa, then continued on highway 66. Traffic was fairly light, and for most of the way, there was a broad shoulder to ride on.
The first couple of steep hills I ran into were a bit too challenging, and I ended up having to walk the bike over them, but I eventually got the hang of shifting down to climb the hills. With the higher gears, I was able to make up time and distance when going down the hills. I stopped two or three more times for rest and refreshments as the day wore on. The temperature fell a little as well, but not too much, and the skies remained clear.
I reached Stroud around 4:30 pm, and decided to spend the night there and continue the trip in the morning. Stroud is about 60 miles from Tulsa, and it took me about six-and-a-half hours to reach it. Taking my stops into account, I figure that I averaged a little better than 10 miles an hour. Not too bad, but I wasn't really pushing myself too hard, either. Maybe I should have, or maybe I should have ridden farther before calling it a day.
I stayed in a cheap motel that night. When I got up in the morning, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Freezing rain had started coming down, and by the time I got packed up and left the motel, it had turned to snow. The sport goggles I had gotten just in case turned out to be worthless, and I had to take them off again for visibility. It was kind of nice for a little bit. The falling snow muffled other sounds, making it rather peaceful, and it was a beautiful sight. By the time I made the next small town, though, I was pretty miserable. My pants were soaked, and the snow and sludge had started icing up my gears and bike chain, making biking more difficult.
The traffic to Chandler was pretty heavy, in spite of the snow, and I no longer had a shoulder to ride on at that point, so my progress slowed considerably. At one point when I again pulled off the road, a pickup truck also pulled over, and the occupants gave me a ride the rest of the way to Chandler. The snow remained steady, and the roads weren't getting any better, so I gave up on making the rest of the trip. I called my mother and she came and picked me up from Chandler.
It was so disappointing to not finish the trip, especially after the first day had gone so well, but the weather changed too soon on me. Still, I was pleased that I didn't have a sore rear or sore legs after biking so much.
I may try the trip again, but next time I'll know better what to expect, and I would probably try it in a warmer season to avoid running into snow.

*An interesting point about aluminum is that it's actually a dense, heavy metal. The reason things made with aluminum tend to be lighter is that since it's a stronger metal, aluminum products can be made thinner, with less of the metal, than with other metals like steel.