cruiserhead

I'm new to the area and thinking of getting a bike and riding around the area.
I'm starting from the S Boston pier area (Seaport)

Also would love recommendations for routes to ride and check out the city and/or surrounding areas.

Thinking of getting a Strida, or Trek District
if anyone knows of dealers in the area.

Thanks!

BROOKLINEBIKER

WheelWorks sells Treks though I am not familiar with that model. WheelWorks & REI are both good for maintenance. For rides, try the Minuteman Bike Trail & Charles River Bike Trail. They are crowded but good jumping off points for interesting places. Enjoy!

Leebo

Check out mass bike and bike boston for ride info.

pocky

Cruiserhead, welcome to Boston and welcome to biking in Boston!

Since you're starting from the South Boston Seaport area, you definitely want to ride the gorgeous new Boston Harborwalk.

Are you new to the bike-buying experience, or has it perhaps been a long time since you last bought a bike? The reason I ask is because the Strida and Trek District are *extremely* different bikes. Are you looking for a folding bike (like the Strida) or a single-speed bike (like the District)? Or are you really looking for a regular commuter bike? Don't worry about specific brands and models too much until you find a good bike shop and do a bunch of test rides of the same lengths and under the same conditions as you plan on riding most often. In your part of town, I'd recommend Urban Adventours. They are run by down-to-earth folks, including several friends of mine, and they do a huge rental and tour business in addition to sales, so you could test ride the bike on one of their tours, or pay them to take out a few different bikes for 24 hour periods over a few different days, and they will credit the cost of the rental toward your purchase. They don't sell Strida or Trek, but if you're looking for something like the Strida, check out the their folders, or for something like the District, check out the Kona Band Wagon, or for something similar but with gears to make a more useful regular commuter bike, check out the Kona Dew series, which makes up the bulk of their rental fleet.

cruiserhead

thanks pocky, nice people and they hooked me up with a nice ss
boston is a great place to ride

pocky

Awesome, I'm so glad they did well by you! BTW, which ss did you end up with, and who at the shop helped you?

Boston *is* a great place to ride -- See you on the road! If you come to a MassBike or CommonWheels ride some time, I'll probably meet you in person.

boston_ant

The Charles River is nice, I used to sail out of the Harvard Boat Club. Just got back in to biking and plan on hitting the dirty water trail this week.

cruiserhead

I got a Masi, lots of fun. Jesse and a couple others there, one girl, they were all great. I really like it there.
I've been all up and down the Charles River along Starrow all the way up past JFK bridge (love this route!), Cambridge, North End, all through the city center/commons

Any other recommendations for routes?

Jim from Boston

In a former post, I wrote a little compendium about road cycling in Metro Boston for the newcomer or visitor:

My excellent bike shop is Back Bay Bikes on Comm Ave.

IchbinJay

My local favorite is Community Bike Supply Some of my family grew up in Boston and liked this shop alot. Very down to earth and helpful staff.

pocky

Great! Was the girl Danielle?

As far as good rides go, if you still haven't ridden the Boston Harborwalk, what are you waiting for?

cruiserhead

the harborwalk was good- I went down past JFK library and back up to Cambridge.
On the weekends, is there a good route from the city to some good riding outside of the city? Looking to just put some miles in.

pocky, I don't know the girl's name. She had some nice tats and short blondish hair I think.

buzzman

For bike shops near to downtown Boston I would second the recommendation for Community Bicycle Shop on Tremont in the South End. For higher end stuff Wheelworks (Belmont or Somerville- I'm biased because I worked there about 25 years ago and it has only continued to grow over the years- they really know their stuff if you're racing, long distance touring or need classic or high end stuff) Harris Cyclery in Newton is also very good.

For routes: pick up the Rubel Bike Maps- they can be purchased at most bike shops in the area or through MASSBIKE. You should also check out the MASSBIKE website. You could do some group rides with them or with the Charles River Wheelmen to learn rides in the area and meet other riders. Also go to the mapmyride.com website and there are tons of good routes in and out of Boston that are downloadable as cheat sheets, maps or GPX files for a Garmin.

cruiserhead

thanks, i looked up mapmyride and found a route out past Chestnut Hill Resi it's a nice ride through some nice areas.

I went out past North Cambridge once and the roads didn't seem as bike friendly. Same goes for Somerville

I've got my favorite routes around town and out to cambridge and coolidge corner area.
If there other suggestions of a good route, much appreciated. Flater is appreciated, remember I'm on a singlespeed!

thanks for the tips, we'll see what I find today

pocky

Try the Minuteman Bikeway, as far out as it goes, and beyond.

I second buzzman's recommendation for the Rubel maps and any MassBike rides. Check the MassBike calendar for postings of many rides not directly run by MassBike, too. As for Charles River Wheelmen -- their rides tend to begin further away from Boston. If you can manage to get out there, check the skill level of the ride: most of their rides aren't necessarily the easiest things to do on a SS.

To meet some more riders from your neighborhood in person rather than online on a very short but fun ride later this week, check out Courteous Mass this coming Friday. Arc En Ciel Bike Studio does massive group night rides every month on the Full Moon, so that one should be coming up soon too. For the best group ride in Boston later this month, you should definitely do Hub On Wheels. The shorter routes should be quite doable, though the 50 mile route would be brutal on a SS (the only person I've ever seen do that is Sherbornpeddler two years ago on a freewheel in 42/16, but he's a masochist.)

cruiserhead

Hub on wheels looks like a great one- is the 50 mile route hilly? That would be good mileage.
it looks like much of it along the coast and through town is flat and i've done the coastal route a few times now.
Rode to Squantum and it was a fun and easy ride.
Never been to Stony Brook Reservation/Mt Hope Cemetery area, that looks like it could be hilly from the map (?)

I missed courteous mass but will definitely try the minuteman bike path- i've been to Cambridge so many times but have never seen the bike path :/

thanks everyone for the tips!

pocky

The 30 and 50 mile Hub on Wheels routes are identical except that the 50 takes an additional loop down through Hyde Park before meeting back up with the 30 at Forest Hills Cemetery. They don't diverge until the 30 turns left out of the Arnold Arboretum, and the 50 turns right. So you don't need to decide until about halfway through the ride. I think that if by this point you have any doubts, you should turn left. You'll miss Stony Brook Reservation, which is one of the coolest things on the ride, but you'll also miss the biggest hill.

We did a dry run for it yesterday (I'm volunteering as a ride marshall), and I'm a pretty strong cyclist, but I noticed I went into my granny gear for at least three of those hills. My fixed gear bike is 52/16 and I'm a pretty strong cyclist, but I'm sure taking that bike on this ride would destroy me. What is your gear? As I mentioned, I ran into Sherbornpeddler doing the 50 on his SS in 42-16 (on the freewheel side) two years ago in the rain, but he's a masochist.

There'll be another Courteous Mass next month -- I think October 14th!

You should come on the Full Moon Ride tonight. I'll send you a PM.

cruiserhead

I PM'd you back

I have a 44 chainring, not sure on the rear cog 15 or 16 maybe.

I have a extra 42 chainring, might swap that in for the ride if I am not too lazy.
thanks for the recon