Category Archives: Cycling

New Proform Tour de France Training Bike / Indoor Cycle

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Proform has just come out with a very new Indoor Cycle that is unlike any indoor cycle currently on the market. The Proform Tour de France (TDF) Indoor Cycle uses the existing  iFit Livetechnology (powered by Google Maps) and a new Intelligent Wind Resistance technology to simulate realistic road (and/or Tour de France stage) riding conditions. 

Proform Tour de France

Proform has used the iFit Live technology on their Elliptical Trainers and Treadmills for some time now but, to my knowledge, this is the first exercise bike (indoor cycle, spin bike) to use this technology.  What you do is select a course (anything that Google Maps has indexed) and the bike takes you down your course and adjusts the incline/decline to match the actual terrain of the course. Wind resistance is also calculated (and the bike wheel resistance adjusted) based on your height and weight.

Naturally, the Tour de France and other popular routes and courses are already programmed into iFit, but you may also be able to set your own neighborhood route if it has already been indexed by Google Maps.

There are, of course, many big advantages to the new Proform TDF Indoor Cycle. The most obvious advantage is the realistic riding environment and the variety in your workout. Other advantages are that the iFit Live technology has already been available for some time now and has proven to be reliable and just to have an indoor cycle that is more fun than most indoor cycles out there with the advantage of  relieving the potential boredom of  indoor workouts.

The disadvantages of this bike are that it is still very new and there is not a lot of customer feedback or customer reviews online and of course the price is still a little high at this point.

At this point I think that the advantages out weight the disadvantages and this looks to be a pretty exciting new kind of Exercise Bike technology.

For Our Full Review and more details on this indoor cycle see our ProForm Tour de France Indoor Cycle Review. 

Also one final note: You don’t really need to wear your helmet on this bike as pictured above (this is much safer than this year’s real Tour de France)! 🙂

Best Summer Bike Sale at Performance.

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Sorry I am a little late on this but I just found out about the 15% off sale at Performance Bike and I know from past experience that this is a great sale especially since it includes an additional 15% off of the sale price already listed for bikes.

So if you are looking for the bikes that qualify for this sale at Performance see our Bikes For Sale Online page. If you are looking for accessories that are on sale see our Bike Accessories page.

I have included big red banners for the bikes that qualify for this sale on all of the related Bike Sale and Bike Review pages (this primarily includes GT, Fuji and Schwinn but there are other manufacturers on sale).

I did not include the big red banners for the bike accessories since this applied to any bike accessory that is for sale at Performance once your order is over $75, See our Bike Accessories page for information and easy access to the most popular bike accessories.

Good Bike Accessory Sale at Performance (but not everything)

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I was at our local Performance Bike store yesterday and saw that they were having a sale. When I was working on this site and checking prices online, I also saw that the Performance Bike website has huge banners about the sale that is going on now (thru Sunday 6/26) also.  

I always try to find out when the higher end bikes for sale on this site are on sale at Performance, so I checked the prices some of our bikes and found that they were still the same.

So my point here is that there is a good sale going on at Performance Bike right now, but it is not on everything (as the banner says, since most of the bikes are not on sale). There are quite a few Bike Accessories on sale at Performance right now though.

See the Performance Bike links on our Bike Accessories page for more info and to check out this sale.

Note: The Performance Bike site slows down a little, due to all of the additional website traffic when they have  one of these sales, so be patient…

Elliptical Bike Reviews

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We now have a whole new and exciting category of bikes available thanks to a need and some good old fashioned yankee ingenuity!  Elliptigo’s Outdoor Elliptical Bikes are now being manufacured and sold online and at selected retail outlets.

Elliptigo Elliptical Bicycles

These machines can truely be called “bikes” or “bicycles” (they have 2 wheels and are self propelled) but they are really quite different than just about any other bike that has come before them. Elliptical Bikes use the same design as indoor Elliptical Trainers but the pedals are attached to the bike crank, chain, gears and wheel of a bicycle to allow you to get an excellent aerobic Elliptical Trainer/ Running style of workout – outdoors!

I had an opportunity to ride and review the Elliptigo Elliptical Bikes recently and have just posted a couple of reviews on these new machines. See the Elliptigo 8C Review and Elliptigo 3C review for the details.

Overall, these bikes are very easy to ride and provide an excellent, low impact, runner style workout. These bikes are especially well suited for cross training but I can see how some people may even like this kind of bike just for the excitement of trying something completely new and different and/or for casual trips around town. 

I was very impressed with the Elliptigo Elliptical Bikes and I think that we will be starting to see a lot more of these around very soon!

Wireless Bike Computer (speedometer) Information (and tricks)

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I really like my Vetta wireless bike computer that I have had for 6 years now and over the years I have learned a few things about bike computers and specifically about wireless models that I thought I would take a moment to pass along here. 

Bike Computer

Vetta Wireless Bike Computer

If you’ve visited the  Bike Computers page on this site or some of the other related bike electronics pages (like the Bike GPS page, etc.), then you know that I am really into bike electronics and I think these things are fantastic. I can’t imagine riding without one anymore. Actually when I’ve had problems with my cycle computer, I usually end up postponing my ride until I get it working again.

I had a regular wired Vetta for 15 years (when bike computers (cyclocomputers as they are sometimes called) were first coming out as we know them today). This computer still worked after 15 years but the fork mount was a specific size (not the tie wraps that most use these days) and when I got my new bike it would not fit on the fork so I had to replace it.

So 6 years ago I bought my then new wireless bike computer and it is still working but I have had a couple of problems that I thought that I would mention.

First of all, what I like about the wireless models is the installation is even easier than wired models (which aren’t that hard either), the cleaner look (no dangling wires) and no fragile wires to break (and splice back together (which does seem to happen occasionally no matter how careful you are).

What I don’t like about wireless models are that they do take more batteries and more battery power. In addition to the computer battery itself there is the battery in the transmitter on the fork and, if you get the cadence model (which I did) there is the battery on the transmitter on the crank.  Also, the computer itself (the head unit) may still look like it has power because it has enough power for the display and functions but it may not have enough power to pick up the signal. So I have had to replace the head unit battery even though it still looked like it had power.

I started having a problem with my bike computer about a year ago where it would stop working (not receive a signal)  intermittently even after I replaced all of the batteries. I actually thought it was time for a new one when I discovered a little trick that has been working ever since I had this problem.  

Of course, I would check the alignment of the transmitter on the fork and the magnet on the spokes and make sure that they were perfectly lined up and as close to each other as possible but this did not always get it working again. What I discovered is that if I move the transmitter so that it actually hits the magnet on the wheel (you hear a little click each time the magnet passes the transmitter) it would start working again and then I would just lean over and pull it back just enough so it no longer hit as it went by and bam! it kept working!

It just seems like the transmitter might just need to be tapped a little to wake it up or something. Of course, this may not work in all cases, but this has worked for me for well over a year now and it works every time so if you have a similar problem it may be worth a shot (unless you really just want a new bike computer… or better yet GPS unit).

Great Springtime Bike Riding Tip

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OK, I have already written about this once before (back in 2009) but I have found this one small thing that you can do before a ride on what looks like a rainy day to be so simple and helpful that I just have to do an update and mention it one more time.

Check your Local Weather Radar before your ride. I have a “favorites” location added in my browser for the online weather radar specifically for my area and I set it to be animated when I go there, but you could also just go to the weather channel on TV for a quick update if you prefer. Weather Radar for Bike rides

This is the most helpful on cloudy days when it looks like it might rain or on days when the forecast is calling for rain. Often times it is just cloudy and there are no major rain clouds in the area or when the forcast says rain it might just be a very small percentage of a chance that it is really going to rain.

There are many days (such as just a few days ago) when it really looked like it was going to rain and I really wanted to get out and ride. Well, I checked the local radar on the internet and  saw that there was no major rain heading my within the last radar updates (usually 1/2 hour to an hour) so even if it sprinkled a little on my ride, I was very confident that I would at least not get soaked (and most of the time it did not even rain at all). If you need to check more time, for a longer ride, just zoom out for a wider view.

There are other times when I saw rain coming on the radar and was able to accurately predict when it would hit the area where I would be riding and adjust my ride to the time that I had available. It’s amazing how well this works and how accurate it is.

Anyway, I hope this helps and it is really quite a simple helpful way to plan your rides.

For some other related bike ride and weather information. Here’s a link to my 2009 post on this subject and a link to some other helpful hints on what to wear for your ride in different weather conditions.

2011 Best Buy Bike Updates

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The About-Bicycles 2011 Best Buy Updates are in (sorry for the delay). Although we do have some changes for 2011, the bikes in some of the categories remained unchanged from 2010 to 2011.  You can see the 2011 Best Buy Bikes Online Updates here. Below is a brief summary of the 2010 to 2011 changes.

The mountain bike categories remained unchanged for both full suspension and hardtail. The GT Zaskar and Jamis Dakar models just can’t be beat in their categories and price ranges.

The GT Series 4  remains in the top road bike category for now although the 2011 GT Series bikes are not yet available online.

Although the Schwinn Voyager GS remains at the top of the Comfort / Hybrid bike best buy category, I have found that quite a few people are looking for more of a “Total Comfort Bike” so I have created the new Total Comfort Bike category. The undeniable best bike for this category is the Electra Townie.  

In the Recommended Hybrid Bike category (true road/mtn cross), the Fuji Absolute has been replaced with the GT Transeo Disc. Although, I still believe the Fuji Absolute to be an excellent hybrid, the online reviews (and sales from this site) show that many riders in this category really like this bike.

I did not really include any direct links to the best selling, low cost, “big box store”  hybrid bikes on the 2011 Best buy Bikes Online page but the top bike in this category is the Schwinn Midmoor Men’s Hybrid.

Well, there you have it. OK, time to go out and hit the trail (or road, hills, track or whatever your preference!)

2010 and 2011 Bikes for up to 70% off 4/12 and 4/13

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I just caught this sale at Performance Bike when I went to the site to do some look-ups and noticed that the site was slower than usual.

This is one of those excellent springtime sales at Performance where they clear out some of their older stock, like 2010 bikes and have some other good bike products on sale too.

If you go to our Online Bike Stores page, there is a quick link to Performance Bike (in addition to some other good other online bike merchants). Just give the Performance Bike site a little extra time right now. You may found out that the wait is well worth it.

This particular sale has up to 70% of on many items, including Bikes! Performance has a great selection of Fuji, Schwinn, Schwinn, Dahon,  K2, Mongoose, GT, Nirve, Diamondback and Performance Brands, Scattante and Dahon.

Normally, I post some banners for these  kinds of sales on my relevant bike review pages but I am late on this one so I’ll just have to settle for this blog post.

If you are looking for a new bike this year, this is really a good time to purchase from Performance online (or even at the store if you have one close to you).

Check out the sale selections with the Performance Bike Link at  Online Bike Stores (before the end of the day tomorrow (Wednesday))!

Just My Rides – Spring 2011!

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Alright, it’s that time of year again, Finally! I noticed in one of my last posts that I mentioned that  “Bike Riding Season is here” back in March. Well, I guess I was a little over anxious on that one. We had a pretty cold March here in Chicagoland and I didn’t really get out after that last post.

Well, today is in the mid 50s and I made it out for a nice little 11 miler. It was a really nice day for a ride and there is just something the First Ride(s) of the Year. It was relaxing and just felt great. There was a little bit of a wind and I did not push myself very hard at all. I need to get into riding shape a little. Well, I ended up averaging 12.7mph on my ride anyway so I guess I still have some left over strength from all the faster riding that I did towards the end of last season.

I like the thinking time that you get on rides and it seems like it is even more exaggerated on those first rides of the year. I was thinking a little bit of the riding benefits that I wrote about in my Bike Riding Niverana article but also a lot about the workout and weight loss benefits of riding.

I believe that just about any kind of bike riding (even at a very relaxed pace) will have the benefits of getting a good aerobic workout, stress relief, and is just plain fun but what I have discovered recently is that riding fast is by far the best way to lose weight by bike riding (if that happens to be one of your goals).

You don’t need to start out riding like Lance Armstrong or anything, but if you just start pushing yourself a little bit each ride and ride fairly often, before you know it, you’ll be feeling great, losing weight and averaging some pretty good speeds.

If you are new to biking you will definitely need a Bike Computer (aka bike speedometer, bike odometer, etc.) to track your progress. These things are really a lot of fun and you can get them for really cheap if you choose or you can go all out and get some pretty amazing features (you can actually get into Bike GPS units if you are really into bike electronics and tracking everything!)

As for myself, I have really been wanting a bike GPS unit for quite some time but I currently just use a wireless bike computer and although there are models that allow downloads to your PC, I track my ride data manually in a spreadsheet. After each ride, I just enter my ride data (miles, average speed, odometer reading, other interesting stuff) from my bike computer (A Vetta) into my spreadsheet (a MS Excel 🙂 ).

OK, well I’ve gotten a little away from the original ride update but this is a lot of the stuff that I was thinking about on my ride.

As for some of the more specific info, my first 2 rides this year have been totally local. My neighborhood and a ride in Inverness. I also had to ride to Walgreens for a bike computer battery before my first ride.

I brought some gloves with me today although I did not think that I would need them.  Well, I could have done without them, but since it was still a little chilly it was nicer to have them on and I’m glad that I brought them with me. And also still like the Topeak Bike Bag that I bought last year to keep this kind of stuff in.

OK, well, that’s it for the first ride update, I guess. I’ll probably add replies to this post for additional rides this spring (rather than a new post with all the rambling about my rides) and I also welcome replies and ride stories from all of you out there too if you like.

Later, Rob.

2010,2011 Bike Model Updates and Online Sales

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Yep, the 2011 bike riding season is here! I only have a few miles in so far this year, but we’ve had some decent riding days in the the Chicagoland area already and daylight savings time is starting next week!

I also just discovered  that most of the retailers, that sell bikes online (for home or store delivery), still have some 2010 bikes available (and in some cases, at very good prices) and are also starting to get a good selection of 2011 bikes listed.

So I’ve gone through all of the bike review pages and links on this site and have updated them to the 2010 and 2011 bike models that are currently available online. Now this can be a little bit of a moving target since bikes models come and go and online supplies vary too, but you can still usually find more of a selection online (for the manufacturers that allow online sales).

So if you start with the Online Bike Sales page on this site, you will have all of the models that are for sale online and have been reviewed on this site. This now includes primarily 2010 and 2011 models (although in some cases you can get a real deal on some 2009 bikes if the model and size that you want is still available).

Note that this site focuses on bikes that are available for purchase online so you will not find reviews here for brands like Trek, Giant, Haro, Specialized, etc. that are not for sale online. You will need to visit one of your local bike shops to buy one of these brands.

And finally, my next project is to update the Best Buy Bikes page on this site to include the 2011 models. I’m sorry but I have not been able to update this page with the 2011 models yet but I am in the process of reviewing the bikes, the online sales and also the bike sale statistics from this site from 2010. I should have this completed real soon.

Enjoy the 2011 riding season!