Newtoriding99

Good afternoon everyone! I am recently new to cycling and I am just looking for some advice on some gear that I might need. I will need to buy a bike but I am looking for any information or advice on indoor trainers, power meters and anything else helpful!

Thank you in advance!

wolfchild

A new cyclist should spend a minimum of 2 years in the saddle to build some basic fitness and endurance and to see if they enjoy cycling and if it`s for them...before investing in expensive training equipment....99% of cyclists don`t even need a power meter.

10 Wheels

Get a bike. Then figure out what you Need or Want.
Most will be Personal Choice That you chose. Pedals, Shoes, Socks, saddle. helmet.

Steve B.

And repair parts - saddle bag to carry, 2 spare tubes, CO2, small bike tool, with tire levers, maybe a patch kit. And a mini-pump mounted on a bottle cage. And - Yes, 2 bottle cages, some water bottles specific to cycling, front white blinky light, rear red blinky light, note that if all you ride is bike trials you don't need lights Cheap bike computer or maybe use a smartphone and get a good quality handlebar mount - quad lock comes to mind.

PeteHski

I think we need a bit more information to help you. Like what is your budget? What sort of riding are you thinking about doing? What are your goals? Indoor training by itself is quite a big topic. Peloton vs Smart trainer etc. Likewise with power meters. We need to start with some background here and some idea of your aspirations.

SquishyBiker

I loath indoor trainers.

Get outside, get appropriate riding gear, get some good quality flashing front and rear lights, and just ride...

mstateglfr 

Cyclist A- 'Any help on how to decide which mountain bike to buy is appreciated!'

You- 'I loathe mountain biking. Get yourself a track bike instead.'

Rolla

I would take indoor trainers and power meters off the "need" list, and replace them with a helmet and some basic flat tire repair tools.

cyclezen

Not being snarky... but this is like:
"I was just born, what comes next?"
a little more info about yourself and what has attracted you to cycling might help...
have you ridden before? where are you based? knowing an age range helps... do you have aims/objectives/what you'd like to get out of cycling?
knowing gender can help for some things... your physical size... do you like coffee or beer (or tea)
the more info you are willing to provide will determine the signal to noise ratio of responses...
we all have a mental image of what a 'wonderful ride' is... what's yours ?
Ride on
Yuri

CAT7RDR

Power meters?
I'm just looking for disc brakes that don't rub.
I need to aim higher.

Maelochs

@Newtoriding99---This is all sound advice by and large.

"Accessories:" you need if you don't even have a bike would be things to help you actually ride the bike and keep riding the bike---simple tools, maybe lights, depending on whether you ride in areas with a lot of traffic or between dusk and dawn.

You don't need a helmet but most riders recommend them. You don't need gloves but some riders use them. You don't need padded shorts but after a certain number of miles you might find you desire them.

An indoor trainer is only useful for people who absolutely cannot ride outside and absolutely cannot miss a day's exercise. Riding on a trainer is like walking on a treadmill ... it is an exercise, not an activity. The scenery is the inside of your garage. With no road, no scenery, not corners or hills, riding is as dull as can be imagined.

If you spend a couple thousand, you can build a set-up where you can compete virtually with others, on a screen ..... but you basically have to buy a complete second bike's worth of gear.

if you ride for fun and recreation, riding on a trainer might seem like torture. Usually only people who compete or are exercise-obsessed and refuse to lose any conditioning over the winter, rider trainers much. personally, I'd get a bargain gym membership and use the ellipticals a few times a week---I don't know your tastes, but personally I find I have a great fondness for watching women in tights. The time flies right by.

Power meters are really only useful if you are an obsessive trainer---either a competitive athlete or just a person who feels the need to get every bit of potential performance. Most riders (and for most of the history of the bicycle) people just rode hard when they wanted to ride hard, and then rode hard when they were tired and didn't want to , and then rode hard all the way home, even though it sucked.

Power meters might gain you a few percentage points of wattage over a certain distance or time ..... but it will take a couple years of dedicated riding to even get to the limit where that few extra percent can be accessed. the most basic power measure is FTP--functional threshold power, which is how hard you can ride for an hour ... and if you cannot even ride for an hour, let alone ride really hard for an hour .... what would you be measuring?

Get a bike. Ride your bike. You will answer a lot of your own question. (I got a flat! How do I fix it?---My brakes don't work as well as when they were new and the shifting isn't as precise. How do I adjust it?) YouTube has thousands of videos on every aspect of bike maintenance and repair.

I suggest an underseat bag, with at least a multi-tool, a small pump, three tire irons, and a pair of spare tubes inside it. (The pump can also go on a rack on the bottle mount.) I also suggest a bottle and cage, I don't patch tubes roadside---I prefer to swap tubes. Get a patch kit and patch the tubes in the comfort of your home.

I also suggest a full-sized floor pump---a cheap one will work okay, just don't go ultra-cheap. Mine cost under $20 several years ago and I expect to have it for a couple decades---all I use it for is bike tires.
Another thing to consider after several months of riding is a rack for your car,. There are some areas which have bike trails which are too far away to ride there and then ride the trail. or---- I only have one cycling club in my area and they are too fast. There are a few slow-poke clubs, but they are an hour or more away---so if I want to ride with them, I need to drive there. I have a trunk rack a friend found in the trash that has served me for two decade. Probably it is better to buy one which isn't rusting and fits your car.

Trust me, if you like riding you will find thousands of dollars of worth of things you could buy ..... tens of thousands of dollars, in fact. But if you don't actually ride a bike, it will all be wasted money.

Get a bike, ride it, see how you like to ride, and set yourself up to do what you really like to do.

fooferdoggie 

yes it would be like torture riding one.

livedarklions

To give you any sensible advice, we need to know a bit more about what you mean by "recently new to cycling" as you don't seem to have a bike yet. Have you done any? What kind of bike were you riding on? What do you intend to do?

livedarklions

Yeah, no.

Cyclist A is asking if they "need" an indoor trainer to get started. It's perfectly appropriate to say that OP probably has the cart in front of the horse here. Get the bike and ride first before you decide on whether or not you need a trainer. A lot of us on general cycling do tons of riding without setting butt on a trainer. That's actually good info for the newbie.

For that matter, I don't know if OP is talking about riding a track bike, a MTB or a road bike.

PeteHski

OP is asking about info and advice about indoor trainers and power meters. Not whether or not they "need" them. I'm pretty sure the OP knows that they are not necessary to ride a bike. But that doesn't mean they are not desirable depending on their circumstances. But we don't know anywhere near enough about the OP to make any sensible suggestions on any of this.

Let's say I came here and said I weighed 350 lbs and lived at the North Pole going into winter (I could be Father Christmas actually). In that case an indoor trainer would probably be the best starting point to get into shape before venturing outdoors on a bike.

70sSanO

Despite being skeptical of the OP’s post, my advice is to get an exercise bike with the level of tech you want and forget about buying an actual bike. At the least you’ll want to have access to BF when you work out.

You need a winter of solid training before you can expect to engage in finding a bike with the proper frame material, weight, gearing, etc.

Too many people think they can just get on a bike and ride it.

John

Rolla

Inusuit

I got back into cycling a couple of years ago on a $7.50 Diamondback mountain bike I bought at a Goodwill Store. I just got on it and rode it. Discovered I enjoyed riding much more than indoor cardio on an elliptical. Then began the process of investigating proper fit, frame material, weight, gearing, riding type preferences, etc. A solid winter of boring indoor training would likely have turned me off to cycling and would not have provided any of the information I needed to take the next step.

Reflector Guy

Has no one mentioned bike fitment yet?

EDIT: I see the guy before me mentioned it even if only just in passing. So, as Miss Emily Latella would say, never mind!

livedarklions

Disagree completely. I think it's essential to actually go out on ANY reasonably fitting bike before you start investing time and money into the bike tailored for your particular needs. Otherwise, you might end up with some very expensive bespoke wall art for your garage.

The whole point of a bike is you can just get on it and ride it, and if you can't, finding the perfect bike is a pretty useless endeavor.

And I agree with the above posters that if I had done what you suggested, I never would've stuck with cycling because indoor cycling is tedious, and inefficient as a workout compared to other indoor machines.

guachi

The general advice to make sure you like cycling before outlaying lots of money is sound. I'm military and have access to free gyms. The gym exercise bikes just weren't doing it for me. Went to Germany for some training and we had the option to rent a bike for $100 for a month from MWR. It was some 3x7 low quality mountain bike but it was certainly sufficient to get me around. The sights in and around Garmisch, Germany were so nice the bike quality didn't really matter.

It was only after returning that I decided I really liked cycling and that's when I bought a bike. So my question at this point is for you to clarify what you mean by "new to cycling".

livedarklions

What OP actually said: "I am just looking for some advice on some gear that I might need. I will need to buy a bike but I am looking for any information or advice on indoor trainers, power meters and anything else helpful!"

Please notice the word "might". "Bike" is in the need category, everything else is in the "might need" category.

"You probably don't need that yet" is perfectly reasonable advice, may be helpful, and is responsive to the OP's inquiry.

We are all agreed that OP needs to tell us more to get any sensibly specific advice, but I'm fairly certain that OP does not live at the North Pole.. .

70sSanO

I disagree that we are in agreement that the OP doesn’t live at the North Pole.

John

Fredo76

I ride as much to get out of the house as to exercise, but everyone's different. If you're attracted to the indoor/spinning thing, here's the forum for that here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/indoor-st...cycling-forum/

For outdoor riding, unless you're in the southern hemisphere or some other warm spot, about now you'll be wanting winter clothing. I like Pearl Izumi clothing. Their 'Lobster gloves' really work well in cold weather, for instance.

+1 on more info - just your age, general fitness, and location would make suggestions more relevant.

Also +1 on basic tools - a floor pump, a riding pump, spare tube and tire levers, a multi-tool, an under-seat or rack bag to put stuff in, water bottles and cages, and your flat-tire friend, Slime.

Bikes range from free, to $15K. Knowing where you want to ride would help with suggestions, too.

livedarklions

Agree to disagree that we are not in agreement.