A long time ago I got a bike for Michelle. I wanted her to have something comfortable and easy to ride, so I got her a dual suspension mountain bike. Unfortunately, she never found it all that comfortable or easy to ride. I've been a serious cyclist ever since I was a kid, so at the time I never considered a cruiser/comfort style bike for Michelle. I had never owned a bike like that and assumed without thinking they were all heavy tanks or junk rides, didn't think she would ever like one. Soon afterward we got a tandem and had a ton of fun riding it so the mountain bike didn't really matter. However, I rode that mountain bike through La Ruta, and it's still around today, so it didn't go to waste.
Lately, Michelle Emma and I have been riding the Burke-Gilman Trail. Since there are now 3 of us and Emma outgrew the half-bike, we ride separate bikes. Of the 7 bikes we owned, that old mountain bike was the only one that Michelle wanted to ride. But wanted to ride doesn't really describe it... she didn't like it much but she liked the others even worse.
In a rare moment of inspiration, I realized it was best for all of us if Michelle had a bike she really liked. And my recent positive experience with modern internally geared hubs (better made, more efficient, more reliable than the 3-speeds of yore), plus being many years older and wiser than before, had me seriously considering a comfort bike for Michelle. These bikes have come a long way. I wasn't all that wrong before - decades ago they were indeed heavy tanks or junk rides. But over the past few years, as people are trying to exercise more and strive for greener lifestyles, these bikes have had a resurgence of popularity among casual cyclists. This fresh demand has spurred bike makers to reimagine the traditional upright bike of the 1940s with modern design and materials. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of these bikes.
I checked out several bikes:
Each of these is a nice bike ... the only question was which one was right for Michelle?
After the virtual research we were ready for real-world research. We took several hours visiting a few local bike shops. We sat on or test rode the Townie, Decanter and Via 1 (in that order). In this case, 3rd time was a charm. Michelle loved the color and look of the Via 1, test rode it, found it upright, comfortable and smooth. So what could I do? After we got home I drove back in my truck and bought the bike.
Actually, my trip involved more than that. Did I mention we are a 3 person family with 7 bicycles? I had to get rid of at least 2 bikes in order to make room for a new one. So the first part of my trip was taking my old Iron Horse mountain bike (hard front & tail) (which I bought when I lived in San Diego in the early 90s) and the half-bike (Aluminum folding Adams) to Goodwill. Then, with the back of my truck empty again, drove over to the bike shop (Bike Stop in Ballard) and picked up Michelle's new Giant Via 1.
At first Michelle wasn't sold on the 3-speed internally geared hub. She said she always had derailleurs, they worked fine, and nothing was wrong with them. I told her the benefits are the gears are perfectly evenly spaced, with bigger jumps between them you don't need more than 3, it's cleaner, looks better, lower maintenance, and easier to shift - unlike a derailleur, you can shift any time - standing still or moving, pedaling or coasting. Modern geared hubs are better built, with better materials, smoother, more efficient, lower maintenance and more reliable than the ones of yore.
We did our first ride today and Michelle's now a convert to internally geared hubs. She also loves her new bike. We rode 10 miles and she had no back or arm strain, it's a bit heavy - around 30 lbs. or so - but has a nice smooth ride. You don't feel the weight once you're moving, and it seems to actually improve the ride quality. Comfort goes a long way to performance - she rode the same speed or faster than she did on the mountain bike. There were a couple times she forgot to downshift before stopping. No problem, just twist the dial back to 1st gear while you're standing still. Don't try that with a derailleur!
I rode her bike around for a couple of miles around our neighborhood when I was fine tuning it. This bike rides amazingly cool and retro, just sit up and lean back. It's like riding a Lexus LS430 - very smooth and quiet, a bit on the heavy side yet it moves right along. The hub is an SRam 3-speed freewheeling - no coaster brake. I prefer freewheeling geared hubs because coaster brakes create additional heat and stress that doesn't mix well with the complex internals of a geared hub. I haven't calculated the gear inches, but the gearing is absolutely perfect. 2nd gear cruises the flats around 13 mph at a normal cadence. 1st gear is 36% lower, 3rd is 36% higher. If 2nd gear is 60 gear inches (it feels about like that), then 1st is 44 and 3rd is 81.
Michelle's only compaint is the seat - it's a bit hard. It does have springs that do actually work, which helps. And sitting upright reduces the crotch stress casual riders can get on bikes that make you lean forward. But she could use something a bit softer. That's going to be hard to find, in brown that matches the bike's nice leather grips.
Overall we're both happy with this bike. It's very comfortable in a casual upright way, rides smoothly, shifts easily and reliably, brakes are easy to control, not too grabby or too weak and looks great in a traditional way. It comes with aluminum fenders and a front basket that are ruggedly made and look great with the bike.
And the best part is, now that Michelle likes her bike, we'll go bicycling more often and we'll all have more fun. Today's ride was great and I'm looking forward to more, especially as summer is coming.