How to choose a good, high-quality, reliable and at the same time inexpensive bike that suits your height, weight and riding style? Such a question asks almost every inexperienced cyclist in the selection of two-wheeled vehicle, choosing a mountain, road or city bike in an online store or on the market of his city. With lots of models, sizes, and specifications, it can get harder to find a bike. Want to make it as easy as playing blackjack online? Then here is a list of basic criteria for choosing a bike that will help beginners decide when buying their first bike.
Model Year
Models of bicycles of famous brands have their own model range, which is updated each year. You can find bikes with exactly the same names and having in the name of the only difference is the model year. For example, Merida Matts 6. 100 2015 and 2016. In addition to the year, the manufacturer may make small, minor changes in technical equipment, for example, change the type of brakes, or may simply introduce new colors, and everything else will remain as on last year’s model. The new model is sold for more money than the old one, even if it is technically worse equipped. That’s what happened with the 2012 and 2013 Cannondale Trail 6 series, for example, where they installed mechanical disc brakes on the 2013 model instead of hydraulic brakes like the previous bike. And the price tag was still higher.
When choosing a bike, we advise you to look closely at the model of the previous model year. It is likely to be cheaper, and the equipment may even be better. Of course, this is not always the case, and so to choose the right bike, it is worth comparing the other parameters, which we will consider below.
Type of Bike
All bicycles are divided into types (mountain, road, city, road, BMX, cruisers, folding, electric, fat-bikes, etc.), which are designed to divide bikes by the way they are used. Some types may have subtypes. This division serves primarily to facilitate the choice of bike for the cyclist’s riding style, the terrain on which you will ride, or the selection of the bike for the specific characteristics that are inherent in this class of bicycle.
Drive Type
The next parameter when choosing a bike is the type of drive. This refers to the part of the bicycle through which the rotation of the pedals is transmitted to the rear wheel. On a conventional classic bicycle is a well-known chain. Since this is the most common type of drive, we will not focus on the chain in detail. But this is not the only way.
Recently, belt drive has been gaining popularity. It is especially often used on city folding bikes, as it combines the following qualities. It is lightweight, easy to bend and does not require lubrication, and accordingly you will not get your pants dirty when folding the bike and lifting it to the N-floor. It is worth noting that the classic gear-shifting system (shifting) on a bicycle with belt drive is impossible, so the only way to date is to use the planetary hub.
And finally, an absolutely brutal cardan type of drive. It exists, but because of the set of serious shortcomings is not widespread. The main disadvantage is that it is heavy and bulky.
