Originally Posted by lbholla

I bought this bike from a local bike shop, used but expensive (for my budget). It was a splurge purchase that I had hoped would help me gain confidence, but so far it hasn't helped. The guy who sold it to me didn't really seem to understand my needs as an unconfident adult rider. I've been at the stage of riding a bike around a parking lot for 20 years, spent many hours and days trying to build up my confidence, but I still don't feel comfortable even on a straight wide bike path (what if someone comes from the other direction! what if someone ahead of me stops short!). Maybe I'm too much of a nervous nelly for bikes? or maybe I have bad balance.. or maybe I've only ever had bad fitting bikes.. I just don't know! All I know is that I can't waste much more money or time on it without seeing any progress. I wish I could join my kids on bike trails and family expeditions! I have noticed that when my kids learned, they gained a lot of confidence on bikes that were technically too small for them. They were able to touch the ground easily with both feet (not heels) while on the seat, and use their bikes like glide bikes without engaging the peddles. With my current bike, I can only barely touch the ground with one tip toe while on the seat, so I slam the breaks hard when I want to stop (so that the force of the braking pushes me nearly off the seat and I can touch the ground more fully) - I don't feel that I can safely stop without doing this. The weight of the bike (it's heavy and cumbersome) and myself (short but stout) is maybe too much for that one little tip toe that can reach the ground? I constantly feel like I'm one inch from disaster on this bike.