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Publication-Consumer's Digest Date-June 1999 Title-BEST BUY'S IN BICYCLES Findings:
Publication-Fitness Cycling Date-July 2001 Title-BIKES WITH MAXIMUM VALUE FOR MINIMUM DINERO Findings:
Publication-Consumer Reports June 2003 Bicycles for the road
Bicycling certainly draws a crowd. More than 15 million devotees average a ride at least once a week, and close to 60 million take a bike ride at least once a year. One reason: Cycling is an enjoyable way to get a good, low-impact cardiovascular workout; a mile of pedaling on flat roads can burn about 50 calories. Most cyclists need to upgrade their bikes as their level of riding increases. The $250 bike that worked for short, easy rides won’t be much fun on a 30-mile outing. Trading up means buying from a cycle shop and spending more. The average bike-shop bike sells for $400, compared with about $100 at a mass-merchandise store. But you’ll get more. Cheap bikes are made of heavy steel. A typical bike-shop bike has a frame of aluminum or lightweight steel alloy. Gears, brakes, and other components on bike-shop bikes are lighter and work more smoothly than their cheaper counterparts. You can also get help with fitting, choosing, and maintaining a bike from a bike shop. Bike shops also tend to do a better job of putting a bike together. For this report, we tested comfort, fitness, and road bikes (see Types), three of the types of multispeed bikes that are sold by dealers. THREE KEYS TO PERFORMANCE Our engineers rode the bikes on steep hills, busy suburban streets, and paved bike paths. We evaluated these important characteristics: Climbing. Bikes tend to be easier to pedal uphill if they are lightweight and have adequate gearing. We tested on a quarter-mile hill, looking for low pedaling effort, our body position while pedaling, climbing while standing on the pedals, and how well the bike accelerated with each pedal stroke. The Bianchi Avenue, a comfort bike that has gearing comparable with what you’ll find on a good mountain bike, made climbing hills easiest. Road bikes lack the Bianchi’s low gearing, but they have a frame design that allows a rider to leverage body weight while climbing for better efficiency. Road bikes also weigh less than comfort or fitness bikes. Handling. This matters most when you’re going fast and need to make precise turns. We tested for high-speed stability by zipping down that quarter-mile hill at 20 to more than 30 mph. At slower speeds, we made a series of S-turns to test stability and responsiveness. At slow speeds, all the bikes handled competently. As a group, the road bikes were far more stable than the others at higher speeds. But then, road bikes are designed to distribute the rider’s weight more evenly over both wheels. That helps keep the bike from becoming skittish on fast downhill runs. Comfort bikes were less responsive in our tests largely because of their wide tires and high weight. Fitness and road bikes, which have skinnier tires and are lighter, are generally zippier and more responsive. Shock absorption. Most road bikes lack suspension, so any shock absorption comes from resiliency in the frame. Some fitness and comfort bikes have suspension on the front fork, the seatpost, or both. We rode the comfort and fitness bikes at moderate speed over a stretch of poorly maintained roadway, judging how well the suspension and frame dampened impact and vibration. We tested the road bikes on a 4-mile stretch of paved bike path and over brick paving blocks. The comfort bikes’ big, squishy seats and wide tires gave them the cushiest ride. Among the fitness bikes, the Specialized Sirrus Expert has a suspension seatpost (as does the Cannondale Road Warrior 500) and a carbon-fiber fork; those components help soak up bumps. The Iron Horse Adventure Deluxe, with a suspension fork and seatpost, had the most comfortable ride of the fitness bikes. The road bikes with the best shock absorbency were the Cannondale R400 Sport and Specialized Sequoia Expert, which have a suspension seatpost, and the Bianchi Eros and LeMond Tourmalet, which have a more-compliant steel-alloy frame. The Klein Q-Carbon composite frame absorbs shocks particularly well. Braking. All the bikes we tested braked adequately. RECOMMENDATIONS All of these bikes performed well. The ones we recommend offer particularly well-balanced performance. For short rides on generally flat terrain. This is the forte of comfort bikes. The Giant Cypress, $300, and the Specialized Crossroads, $290, deliver the best combination of shock absorption, handling, and hill-climbing ability. The Bianchi Avenue, $320, is best on hills. For regular workouts or daily commuting. Your best choice is a fitness bike. The Giant Cypress SX, with very responsive handling, is A CR Best Buy at $650. The Specialized Sirrus Expert, $750, is very good at absorbing shocks. For long, demanding road trips. Choose a road bike. The Bianchi Eros, $1,050, Klein Q-Carbon, $1,400, and LeMond Tourmalet, $1,100, are well-rounded choices. For off-road cycling. Choose a mountain bike, which can cost as little as $200 or as much as $5,000. Knobby wide tires, straight handlebars, and low gearing characterize the mountain bike. Most have suspension, either on the front fork or the front and rear, that allows you to maintain control while riding over rocks and roots. But mountain bikes are sluggish on pavement. If you don’t envision doing any riding away from paved roads, one of the bikes tested for this report would make a better choice. Two shiftless bikes Infomercials for the LandRider automatic-shifting bike would have you believe that a 27-speed bike has 26 speeds too many to shift by hand. But automatic-shifting bikes still need some work, according to our tests of the LandRider and Bianchi Auto Milano (see the Ratings). The LandRider uses a weight spun by the wheel to move the rear gear changer. The Bianchi uses a small computer to select speeds in an internal rear-wheel hub. The Bianchi shifted very smoothly; the LandRider was sometimes noisy and abrupt. But both bikes were only so-so overall. They often seemed to be in the wrong gear on flat ground. Neither one has gearing low enough for climbing hills, a major shortcoming in a comfort bike.
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