A Scary Bike to Ride
06-11-17, 08:45 AM
#1
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A Scary Bike to Ride
Recently we were in Williamsburg, Va. and the Williamsburg Inn offered the use of a bike to tour the historic village.
It has been so many years since I rode a coaster bike that I was completely shocked to realize I felt utterly clumsy without my clip in shoes, handlebar brakes and sensible handlebar width. I rode it for about 45 minutes and then gave up since it was not a very pleasant experience and I thought I might run into some of the strollers along Duke of Gloucester street.
It has been so many years since I rode a coaster bike that I was completely shocked to realize I felt utterly clumsy without my clip in shoes, handlebar brakes and sensible handlebar width. I rode it for about 45 minutes and then gave up since it was not a very pleasant experience and I thought I might run into some of the strollers along Duke of Gloucester street.
06-11-17, 12:45 PM
#2
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I'm so glad you were able to avoid serious injury on those wierd foreign bikes.
06-11-17, 02:04 PM
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rebmeM roineS
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Had you ever ridden a Flat Foot Technology bike by Electra - or any other crank forward bike? That could have been part of the issue.
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Bacchetta Giro A20, RANS V-Rex, RANS Screamer
06-11-17, 03:49 PM
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There sure are some freaky looking "comfort" bikes out there nowadays.
06-11-17, 06:14 PM
#5
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I don't care for the flat foot technology electras But have a loft 1 with coaster brakes I love
06-12-17, 11:01 AM
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The thing that troubled me the most, apart from the lack of handlebar brakes and the wide bar, was the inability to reposition the crank when I wanted to. Any back pedaling and you are applying the brakes. I likke to start up with the crank in position for an optimum start. The whole experience was very strange.
06-18-17, 03:27 PM
#8
Road Runner
I haven't had coaster brakes on a bike since I gave up my original Huffy kid's bike for an "English racer" style Raleigh when I was -- what -- 10 years old maybe? So riding one from a rental outfit in Key West a couple years ago was downright scary. Closest I've come to just simply falling over on a bike in years! :-D
06-18-17, 07:30 PM
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feros ferio
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At age 12 I started out on a Schwinn "middleweight" with 26 x 1.75" tires, paperboy "ape hanger" handlebars, and a 2-speed Bendix rear hub with a coaster brake and a gearshift that looked like a handbrake lever. Six months later I asked for and received a low-end Bianchi road bike for Christmas and never missed the coaster brake. My only other coaster experience was during grad school, when I experimented with a Sturmey-Archer AWC 3-speed coaster hub on the Bianchi. I still had my drop bars and front handbrake, and since I friction-shifted with a downtube lever, I was able to find a true neutral position between 2nd and 3rd, and I used this precisely as described above, to position my cranks for a smooth startup from a stop.
My biggest objection to handlebars other than drops is the lack of variety in hand positions. I did not fully enjoy my mountain bike until I added perpendicular extensions to the ends of the handlebars.
My biggest objection to handlebars other than drops is the lack of variety in hand positions. I did not fully enjoy my mountain bike until I added perpendicular extensions to the ends of the handlebars.
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Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
06-21-17, 10:21 AM
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That thing looks ridiculously uncomfortable. And, if you're used to brakes on a road bike or hybrid, dangerous.
06-21-17, 10:47 AM
#11
Banned
Crank forward bikes are what people that want to put a food down, as if on a motorcycle, at stops, buy
You are not used to that, obviously.
Hotels, Here, offer regular classic style cruisers, for their patrons..
.......
You are not used to that, obviously.
Hotels, Here, offer regular classic style cruisers, for their patrons..
.......
