Monthly Archives: April 2011

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))!

Paul Douglas and Crabtree Bike Trail Conditions, 2011

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Well, we had a pretty nice day for riding here in Chicagoland today and I just got back from riding the entire Paul Douglas Bike Trail and the connecting Crabtree Bike Trail.

I was about to write how there were no problems at all on either of the trails until I got to the very end (last 1/4 mile) of the Crabtree Trail (the northern end). There is one little section that is under construction and the sign says for 2 weeks. It’s really no big deal and it is passable too if you want to get out to the parking area off of Palatine Road.

Anway, as for the Paul Douglas Bike Trail, the entire trail is open and there are no problems. Even the one section that has flooded occasionally (on the west end of Paul Douglas) was clear and dry.

There were some puddles and wet places and my legs got a light spray of water as I rode by (I didn’t slow down much from average of about 13 mph so if you slowed down more you would stay completely dry).

I was glad to see that there was no flooding on the west side of Paul Douglas like there was in the past (see the Paul Douglas Trail flooding page) even though it is still pretty wet out there. Of course we are supposed to get some big storms tomorrow so we’ll see if it stays clear and dry. I am pretty optimistic.

My favorite part of this trail remains the loop around Paul Douglas (skipping the part along Algonquin Road) but the little strip that goes into the Crabtree preserve (about 1 mile) is very nice too. The Paul Douglas loop is about 7 miles (counting the part along Algonquin Road).

Well, it was great to get out there today and the Paul Douglas Trail is still a great place to ride. If anyone has any updates, please let me know or post a reply if you like.

Later, Rob.

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.