VERY new to cycling

[Jesshopes]

My husband and I have recently become interested in cycling. We started camping this year with our nine children and have taken family bike rides while camping. We've been really enjoying these rides and decided that he and I could take bike rides on our own in the evenings.

Last week we biked over 22 miles in 4 days I know it's not groundbreaking but it is a start. We really feel like this is a hobby/form of exercise that we could stick with. The only problem is our bikes. I have a Rockslide Mountain Series Huffy that I had in college (over 15 years ago). It's in pretty rough shape.

My husband has a Road Master Kalinpro Huffy that I found at a garage sale for $10.

When our plan was to bike at campsites these two bikes seemed more than sufficient. They are good for trail rides (remembering that we have 9 kids either riding or being towed behind us).

But if we are going to be doing road rides, just the two of us, we are interested in better bikes.

Obviously the options are overwhelming and we don't want to spend a fortune.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Jessica

 

[jpr95]

One man's fortune is another man's trash. Or something like that. Without a clue as to your budget, we'd be grasping at straws. You can get more bang for your buck buying used off Craigslist or similar if you're fine with not having the latest and greatest, plus it reduces the investment risk if for some reason cycling doesn't continue to hold your fancy (often a source of like-new bikes on the used market...).

Other than that, the old adage of "you get what you pay for" generally holds. And, when it comes to bikes, what you pay for is less weight or custom sizes. The kicker is that the weight of the bike is only a minor percentage of the weight going down the road, so it's not as important for Joe Weekend Rider as it is for Jane Hill-Climbing Racer. You can get a pretty nice, serviceable used bike for a few hundred bucks, or you can buy something with nearly the latest tech for a couple thousand.

 

[Jesshopes]

Well, because we are new to this it's kind of difficult to say what we want. Right now we are trying to ride at least 5 miles a night 4-5 nights a week. We hope to stretch that distance little-by-little and eventually have some long weekend rides (20 miles).

I know that I need a new seat. Ouch. And both of our bikes are very heavy. My bike was wrecked in college and has some issues (the back brake doesn't work, the gears don't shift correctly, etc.) I'm okay with putting some money into getting it fixed, but don't want to spend a lot if I can put that money towards a new road bike.

The thing is, I know nothing about bikes. I don't know if it is even possible to get a solid road bike (where I could tell the difference between what I am currently riding "long distance") for a couple $$. Every review says something a little different and there are so many options to choose from it just gets a little overwhelming.

I'd gladly look on craigslist...but I feel like I have to have a couple of bikes on my radar before I try that. Right now I would be buying blind.

Thanks

 

[jpr95]

Seriously, without knowing your budget, anybody wanting to help you on this forum can't even begin to steer you towards an appropriate bike. Most of us don't care whether you ride a $100 bike or a $10,000 bike--we like to encourage people to cycle.

As for tuning up/repairing your current bikes, there is a LOT of how-to online, and many repairs/adjustments just take a few standard hand tools (hex wrenches, open/box-end wrenches, screwdrivers and an adjustable wrench will cover much of it). YouTube, parktool.com, sheldonbrown.com are all a good start.