Totally lost, help with bike Purchase?

[safak]

Hello all.
I have been trying to research for a few weeks now but finally realized...I come across a new blog or post and throw everything I thought i learned yesterday out the window and start from scratch..over and over.
I read about this part or that, and oh just another 100 bucks and i can get that etc..

Does it really matter for me at this point?

I'm 41 years old and have not really ridden a bike in 20 years. I hopped on my father in laws bike a few years back at his urging but I popped the rear tire within 2 minutes (in my defense I told him it would happen, he insisted it would not..score one for the good guy lol) I'm not THAT big i was 230 at the time...

My goal is basically get in shape. At my age with back problems, broke my hip recently (broke the other side years ago among with many other sports related injuries that are catching up with me) so I'm not going out trying to break speed or distance records. With knee issues from being slightly fat and tearing some ligaments long ago, I can't really run very long , so routine excercise seems to be get a pool or a bike. With my covenants and restrictions, a pool is 30k so bike it is plus my kids are getting to the age where they can go on longer rides with me.

Anyway this would be road riding pretty much all the time, maybe through some flat trails but nothing approaching extreme. I am hoping to eventually work my way up to much longer rides, but that isn't in the very near future and I'll revisit another higher quality bike down the road.
-I should note, I live in a very hilly place so riding around my house is a lot of farily steep hills.

Im 215 lb right now(at 6'2") and my main concern with road bikes is supporting my weight, and that I have back history, That looks painful bent over so much for so long with most of the road bikes.

Does anyone have lower back history have any advice? I have had surgery for herniated disk about 8 years ago and i usually don't have any pain, unless I do something stupid--which i do more than i should, i 'look' like im in shape so neighbors and family always make me help the move or carry treadmills or whatever..(I am definitely NOT in shape i just never really got fat enough to look out of shape, with my shirt on anyway)


I know I have read how going to Dicks or Walmart or w/e is not advised but for me, in the first year or so of riding am I even going to notice?

I don't want to throw a ton of money into it right away, 500 max but in reality does steel this or carbon that make any difference at all to a casual beginner? I know for the initiated disc brakes vs pads is an extreme change. I just want to be sure I can stop.
It almost takes me back to my brother building a top end gaming computer, throwing just a little more for this video card, and that cpu, until its over 2k...to basically facebook and play poker.

I read Hybrids are crap because they are 'ok' at everything but not good at anything. does that even matter for someone not out there trying to go as fast as possible to work, or in a race, or w/e? The fact i can sit straighter has me intrigued.


Disclaimer, im not interested really in used because I don't know what I'm buying and thats asking for trouble. Plus every bike that looks ok on craigslist..I go to a 'blue book for bikes' and they are asking 3x as much, is that thing accurate or no? Plus I am wary of it being a stolen bike when I do that as well.

Is someone like me, initially anyway, really going to be able to tell a difference between one of the $299 bikes on BD and a $500 one?

It finally dawned on me hey, I can read blogs and forums all day and if lucky, I'll learn maybe 1/10th as much as some of you guys have already forgotten so why not just ask...someone just tell me what bike to buy and I'll order it!
--apologies for the novel, i get long winded at times

 

[I like Skol]

I will post more later but two points initially.

1. Hybrids/flatbar bikes are not crap. A good one is as good as any road bike and some people just don't get on with drop handlebars so why be forced to. A crap Hybrid is just as crap as a crap road bike! My hybrid is great and of my four bikes is the one I ride most by far (and one of those bikes is a £2k carbon roadbike). I did a massive 185 mile ride in one day a few weeks ago, guess which bike I used?
2. 215lb isn't fat, hell it is barely overweight. I weigh around 205lb and measure just a bit over 6' and I am certainly not fat! If you really are BIG then maybe your scales are lieing to you. Have you been weighed on some proper medical scales?

 

[Racing roadkill]

I'd look at a recumbent trike, if I were you.

This sort of thing.

http://www.icetrikes.co/

There's a sub forum on this site, all about these machines. The owners will be best placed to advise you on what's best.

 

[Goggs]

Hi @safak

I've been in pretty much the same boat as you. I'm also carrying back injuries, I'm 6'2" and not exactly fit (not by a mile) and recently bought myself a new bike. I bought a hybrid because for me a road bike was out of the question. Although it was easier on my back than a road bike would've been it still wasn't right. Anyone who's seen the myriad threads I've started re wrist pain, lower back pain etc will testify. I've finally done it though. I replaced the low, long racy stem with a higher rise & swapped the bar for a wider, more swept-back item. I also changed my grips for ergonomic ones and my pedals for proper MTB ones. The ride has been transformed. I sit more upright & it's far from aerodynamic but I get no twinges in my back and my wrists feel fine after 10 miles. Next thing to 'fix' is my saddle because, although the factory one looks nice it's more an instrument of torture, particularly now that sitting more upright is putting more pressure on my rear.

The contact points on a bike almost always can do with some degree of personalisation, particularly at the lower end of the price scale. Don't be put off by that. Do make sure to buy the correct frame size in the first place because if you don't then no amount of fettling will really make it work. At your price range the grips, pedals & saddle will almost certainly be garbage. Know that & change them as you identify problems.

Good luck.

 

[Darren Gregory]

I can certainly relate to your concerns regarding your back. I'm 37 and had a partial discectomy in the winter of 2006. Since then I have been pretty much pain free although I have bad days occasionally nothing that a little rest doesn't fix.

A few years ago I wanted to get a bike as we went from having two cars in teh family to one and I wanted to be able to do short trips to the shops without a car. I found my local bike charity who provide jobs to people struggling and they inturn repair and fix old bikes and then sell them. I picked up a basic mountainbike for very little money, I forget how much but certainly no more than £200 I think.

I rode this happily for some time before I realised that was enjoying riding, and I had no major pain from my back.

I then decided that I would look to commute on my bike, but I wanted something nicer, lighter and shiny so I bought an "advernture bike", basically a slightly stronger built road bike with bigger tyres and disc brakes. Dropped handle bars don't have to mean super aero, aggressive geometry and they give you multiple hand positions which is very comfortable on longer rides.

So my advice would be see if you can find a bike charity, or failing that speak to your local bike shop see if they ever get trade in or hand in bikes or see if you can find someone in a local club who will look over an ebay bike for you? Don't spend silly money at the outset as you may find cycling is not for you, if you get bitten by the cycling bug you can upgrade later.

When you do get a bike take thigns slowly your body might take time to adjuct to the increased activity, the position on the bike and the saddle.

If you have had problems with your knee I think the general consensus is to keep your cadence high and not grind big gears so consider that when looking at bike gears. Something like 34/50 on the front and 11-32 on the back would be a good idea, mountain bikes might give you easier options.

Things will probably ache and hurt as you get fitter but most people can usually tell the difference between aches and pains where your body is simply protesting as it is not used to working and REAL pain, danger sign pain.

Good luck

P.S.

I dug out the post I made before I bought the charity bike:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/yet-another-what-bike-request.149086/

And this is the same when I was contemplating a brand new bike:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/b...ing-for-some-opinions-advice-comments.165377/