Customers: The secret to success
There is a soft spot in my heart for those guys who pose with toothy grins, suit and tie, on the cover of self help books. They stand a simulacrum to the pinnacle of entrepreneurial success. Arms crossed on a paperback with the word “investment” or maybe a glowing dollar sign, or some gears in the cranium region, undoubtedly symbolizing the emotionless mechanical disposition of capitalism. These books are usually selling the secrets to prosperity in simple layman's lists. They can be click-baity, or they’ll have “the golden rule.” Beaming paperback model/author aside, when I flip to the back, or to the thesis, if you will, of these books, when I finally find the “golden rule” I’m usually disappointed. It’s either so painfully obvious, or obtuse, I end up thinking I missed some trick to it. “Sachs’ Golden Rule is keep the money; don’t give it away.” That can’t be right. Wait a minute. There has to be more. How could they fill four hundred pages with this one idea? Usually repetition, reiteration, metaphors, shallow lists and corporate buzzwords. The secret was hidden in plain sight after all.
Speaking of business and golden rules and obfuscated obviousness, I, a not-so-passive observer of small business, have found my own secret to success. In the bike shop world - I can’t speak to much else, at least not in an enlightened way - the most crucial ingredient to success is the customers. That’s right, those pesky customers, the ones who spend money, who bring bags of coffee and sometimes pastries - running low by the way, hint-hint Red - are required to keep the lights on.
Sarcasm aside, customer service is essential. And as axiomatic as that fact may be, my daily word wide web sleuthing finds an exhausting amount of conflict between L.B.S’s - local bike shops - and their customers. Forums are filled with detailed stories of squabbles, one I found titled It's really hard to support my LBS when they are rude and deceptive.. had a comment that just read “Burn LBS, Burn.”
On a more legitimate scope - and by that I mean someone who is writing to be published rather than someone furiously slamming on a keyboard - I found an article by Euan McKenzie in icebike; The 10 Most Epic Sins Of Your Nearest Bike Shop And Local Bike Mechanic. It’s worth a mention that a large part of McKenzie’s article stands counter to my last blog. The introduction is a cautionary tale from when he brought his Big-Box-Store bike to his LBS. According to the story none of his six - six? - local shops had mountain bikes for $1000 dollars or less, so he had to go online. When he went to get it repaired, only one would help him out, “...In less than 2 hours, I’d had a selection of looks and [s]narky comments that quite frankly incensed me.” McKenzie begins his list here, explaining in ten different ways the customers right to choose what bike they want to buy, saying at one point “My first bike cost me $250, and yes, it didn’t last 6 months, but it was all I could afford. Maybe it’s all they could afford, you know what I’m saying?” I do know what you’re saying but in the defense of bicycle mechanics, and to reiterate my last blog, the problem with a $250 bike is exactly the fact it only lasts six months. But I’m being defensive, that’s only the surface of McKenzies point, the real message here, and - no offense intended - what could be condensed into one single line is best stated as Hey, Bike Shops: Stop Treating Customers Like Garbage.
Coincidentally, it is also the appropriately titled article published in Bicycling Magazine by Gloria Liu. Liu has a handful of stories in her piece accompanied by some statistics. Her stories range from an overweight customer being called a “Clydesdale” to a Somerville rider having to name drop brands to gain the respect of the mechanics. As for her statistics, she states “Sixty percent of 718 respondents say they’ve had at least one negative experience with a bike shop employee that made them feel unwelcome. Thirty-eight percent say this has happened more than once, or often.”
Like I said before, it’s obvious that the success of a small business, especially one in the service industry, is contingent on customers. Which begs the question why do bicycle shops treat their customers like garbage?
Well, McKenzie circled the idea, but Liu said it best: “the snob factor.” Bicycle shops refuse to work on bikes that are not top of the line, or even not their home brand. That’s frustrating. Infuriating, even. Especially considering the customer is aware of their importance in these exchanges. They aren’t asking for free labor, they just want their bicycle to function. That said, let’s go one level deeper, and ask the question, where does the “snob factor” come from?
As much as I loathe etymological simplification of complicated subjects, I see two distinct shops. With the potential to be a solitary activity, cycling can have as much company as one likes. I think a large number of bicycle shop owners don’t realize that this optional social part of cycling doesn’t extend to the daily operations of small businesses. These places started because a bicycle aficionado wanted to spend more time thinking about bikes. You can bike by yourself, or with a group of friends - whatever you feel like that day - but when you’re running a retail store, or a repair shop, you’re going to have to talk to someone. A lot of someones. Some of these folks will be aficionados like the shop owner, they also spend all day thinking about bikes, but most of them won’t know the difference between and Italian threaded bottom bracket, and an english threaded, and if that irks you beyond comprehension, a retail shop is probably not the best career move. And this brings me to the second kind of shop owner. The one mentioned as a wonderful silver lining to the Liu article. There are owners like David Guettler. ““One of the things I tell my staff is, if I can’t have an attitude, no one else can, either. I’m a real stickler in that regard. I know there’s this grumpy curmudgeon type of mentality that somehow seems to be acceptable in our industry. That’s the stupidest thing ever.”” or Sara Pearse who simply says “just treat customers like people.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.
And it’s obvious right? So obvious some people just can’t see through it. The forest through the trees is an expression for a reason. I digress, what can one do? Well, to the shop owners around there, maybe consider how your behavior affects the customers. No one should be ignored, each customer is as important as the next. At least that’s how I see it. The industry as a whole gets a bad rap because, unfortunately, a lot of the shop owners are the first kind I mentioned.
But time for my silver lining. Despite being a young, and therefore a presumed idealistic socialist, I see a strength to capitalism. The darwinism of economic policy; survival of the fittest. As the consumer you have a choice. And hopefully a bit more luck than Mr. McKenzie when it comes to local brick and mortar shops. The consumer holds all of the cards in the free market. If one place is providing a higher quality product - and don’t be mistaken, customer service is a product of the bicycle shop, they are a part of the service industry - buy it there. The best example I heard was comparing purchases to votes. Every time you buy a tube at the local bike shop that doesn’t treat you like garbage, is another vote to keep them open. After a while, the LBS’s who can’t stand customers won't get any and they’ll close up shop, and you know what. That’s ok. That’s the circle of life. Customers are essential for business. It’s as simple as that. Obvious. So obvious it could be the golden rule to the next edition of 7 Rules to Small Business Growth: Productivity to Profit. On the cover would be a man with a nice haircut, suit and tie, holding large wrench arms outstretched with a big toothy grin.
In case you are curious about the articles:
https://www.icebike.org/bike-shop-sins/
https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a27496999/bike-shops-need-change/
Brains on Bad Bikes
Take a three inch nail and press it into the top right side of your skull and chances are you’ll nick the ventrolateral frontal cortex, a mass of gray matter that if you didn’t have it - well - I think it’s safe to say you’d function better with all of your brain, so eschew the self-mutilation for now. I’m going to take a risk here. I’m going to risk the raised finger, the silent open mouth and the biting of the tongue, from visinal non-consanguineous relatives, especially those with doctorates in some area of neuroscience, not to name any names - but Ryan. Despite his patience regarding my aeolistic chatterings on subjects I, all things considered, know nothing about, I’m sure to get a familial embrace followed by a dump of corrections to this blog presented with such elegance and patience that I’ll be reminded how much I love this dude. That said - my own ignorance notwithstanding - what is the ventrolateral frontal cortex doing in a blog about bicycles?
Well, it has to do with the part it plays regulating inhibition. According to Aron, Robbins, and Poldrack, who published a paper in 2004, inhibition - in this context the intentional act of abstaining - is a function of the prefrontal cortex exerting executive control. The academic publication is far more interested in the specific location of the specific type of executive function; as stated in the abstract “It is controversial whether different cognitive functions can be mapped to discrete regions of the prefrontal cortex.” The article ends by proposing further research.
Truth be told, from what I understand ‘further research’ is where the majority of neuroscience articles land. With the publication of one groundbreaking scientific discovery regarding the human mind, come further potential avenues to explore. One door opens to a hallway of three doors, each with another three behind it, Zeno's paradox of science; it’s publications all the way down and the deeper we go the less it really means to the folks standing on the rim of the hole being dug by PhD’s and research. Only the scientists who have navigated the hallways of funding, experimentation and publication can lead the commoners to their specific seemingly infinitesimal discovery.
If my frustration on the matter of brain science bleeds through the writing then maybe you can understand the importance of executive functioning. The monkey brain in me, in you, in your neighbor Sharon, wants satiation. We want the information now, and we want it served on a plate of simplicity so that we can take pictures, taste it, chew it, digest it, and then shit it out before the next serving of small portions of palatable tidbits. Instant gratification; or in other words the antithesis of inhibition. Those serving life sentences of grueling research and writing are rewarded internally, or by more funding, or by a pat on the back from their equally intellectually superior cohorts. A combination of the three which - as evident in the fact that these people keep doing the work and new people keep showing up to help - is clearly rewarding.
For those who are wondering how I could possibly relate this to bikes, well, wait no more. There has been a common frustration of mine, one I have been in conflict with for quite some time. Let me, if I may, describe a, not uncommon, scenario from the life of a bike mechanic, as seen generationally since, oh I don’t know, early 2000’s. A tumultuous time of corporate combat. Bankruptcy, bidding wars, billions made, billions lost, as companies desperately tried to pivot their focus. In regards to bike manufacturing, companies went one of two ways, they (1) cut costs to increase sales, or (2) increased quality to increase brand reliability. For those who haven’t noticed yet, I’m simplifying. The aeon in question was chosen due to the proximity of the absorption of one bike company A into the mother company B who, in turn, quickly cut manufacturing costs to increase sales. A smart move fiscally considering prior to 2001 bike company A was a well known, well established brand, an average-Joe might think an 8 speed A-Bike for a hundred bucks was a steal: it wasn’t. And with that in mind - our scenario: Our average-Joe walks into the bike shop with the A-Bike he just bought. It’s in complete shambles having been ridden lightly for less than a week. The bike mechanic now has the horrible responsibility of telling average-Joe the bike he just bought is going to cost more to repair than it was to buy it. Well how is this possible? For one, the bike was mostly assembled in China for ten cents an hour using inferior parts purchased on sale in corporate bulk - a quality no shop would be found dead with, at a price no shop can compete with - and two, they are fully assembled by employees paid per bike - which means fine tuning is not a priority. The system which pumps out these bikes has been designed for quantity, not quality.
There is, arguably, a voice on the internet to argue anything. Late night trips down the digital rabbit hole and I’ve found folks who claim these bikes are worth every penny, but I have never met a die hard Big-Box-Store bike aficionado in person, so I can’t speak to the legitimacy. What I can say is that all - yes all - of the times a Big-Box-Store bike comes into the bike shop it’s never really the happy ending we are all looking for. But I have a solution.
The ventrolateral frontal cortex is quite an impressive chunk of organic mass and in this particular situation it will come in handy, but only if we have the right information. See, the whole purpose of this brain bit, is to abstain in order to achieve future goals. That we might think now, and choose now, the lesser option in order to gain more in the future. The problem here, and that which is not stated in the academic paper, is the prerequisite of information for the decision making process. Those who lack the prodigious depths of knowledge regarding bikes, the average-Joes out there, might not know the difference between one bike, and another. And why would they? The average-Joe has more important things to do, better hobbies, actual interests. Armed with some wherewithal on bicycles, I’ll let you and average-Joe in on a secret. One I was not privy to until recently, and it’s the cost-per-use formula. Take the price of something, and divide it by the number of uses, the lower the number the better the deal. Here’s an example:
Gray A-Bike Hybrid 27.5 all around commuter bike: $399.
Brought into the shop after one month of moderate riding: Pronounced dead.
If we assume it was used daily, ridden all 30 days, that brings the cost per use to $13.9 per ride.
Fuji Sportif 1.3 Commuter bike with accessories: $1,600
Still running after eight years, used five times a week for half the year: Dirty, but still running.
Here’s some math: 130 (days of the year ridden) X 8 (years total) = 1040 (total days ridden)
$1600 (total cost plus accessories) / 1040 (total days ridden) = 1.5 dollars per ride.
But bikes break, what about upkeep costs? Well let’s say the repair costs over eight years is another $1600, $200 per year in repairs. $3200 (total cost plus accessories and total yearly repair cost) / 1040 (total days ridden) = 3 dollars per ride
A whole ten dollars cheaper per ride. This doesn’t take into account several things, safety, ride quality, reliability, efficiency, longevity, the list goes on. It probably goes without saying the bikes I’m comparing here are actual cases, the first being a bike that came in last week, and the second being my own personal commuter.
I know it’s hard, and the upfront cost is a bite to swallow. To be honest you don’t have to spend $1600 to get a quality bike, but you’ll probably spend more than $400. I’m not trying to be critical here; I get it, I am also prone to buying things cheap because, I mean, come on, is it really worth it? In this case, yes. The math is pretty simple, I have a myriad of examples, horror stories of twisted metal, I can present at will. Which means, unlike neuroscience it’s not an endless pit of research and experimentation, just ask the guy who fixes your bike.
At the risk of beating a dead horse the reason I am persevering on this difference - the difference between big box store bikes and those sold at your local bike shop - is because a purchase at Big-Box-Store doesn’t just affect the average-Joe spending the money. For one, it puts your local mechanic in a bind when asked to put time and effort into a bike that’s not worth it. And I don’t mean that in an elitist way, I mean the labor cost, the cost of materials are not worth the finished product. Plain and simple. With that in mind, a lot of these bike owners, these average-Joe types, end up throwing away their purchase in less than a year. Landfills are piled with tangled bike frames that were ridden less than a hundred times.
The only people who profit on a bike like this, are the corporations manufacturing them. The consumer will have a dangerous sub par product, the repair shop will be in an awkward position of politely explaining the quality of the bicycle, and mother nature will inevitably get another ten ton heap of metal dumped on her. Am I telling you what to do? Well, yes, I suppose so. Only because I’m frustrated. Frustrated because I work real hard helping the people who walk into the shop with their bicycles, but I am undercut by corporations making a dime per bike duping people with price tags. But now it’s out there. I’ve put it down in writing and if you are still with me, then you have absorbed just enough knowledge to optimize your ventrolateral frontal cortex. Abstain from immediate gratification, modify response selection to achieve superior future goals.
Postscript: As a final note I want to be clear I’m not vilifying any bikes here. What I am trying to say - and sorry for not being clearer - is that inexpensive bikes tend to be more costly. That’s it. Well that and some inaccurate brain science. But if you have a bike and you want the shop to take a look, regardless of how much you paid for it, don’t be afraid, come on down. Estimates are free and we will work with you to come to a consensus on the best plan of action.
Click here to go to an article, In case you are interested in the ventrolateral frontal cortex…
Local Honey Available!
Tis the season for honey! Actually, I think honey can be harvested at many points during the year, but for the past three or four years, I’ve harvested in the fall, usually after the bees have either flown the hive or died off. Truthfully, I don’t know what happened this year: when I went into the hives, they were full, and I do mean FULL of honey – probably close to fifty pounds per hive – and no bee bodies to speak of in sight. This leads me to think that something happened to the queen as she is in charge of reproduction. So it makes sense that if she died, the population would age and then die out, most likely away from home, while foraging. I guess the other possibility is they swarmed (when part of the colony flies off to a new nest somewhere), but there are usually signs of that, and I’m not convinced that they would swarm and leave behind a winter’s supply of food. Also, I didn’t see any capped brood.
At any rate, I was sad about the bees but delighted with the honey harvest this year. Also, to be honest, harvesting honey when the bees are occupying the hive is pretty terrifying, even with the bee suit.
We spent two weekend days spinning out the honey, filtering it, and pouring it into over 100 jars (still working on that part). I even ordered little stickers for the tops to make them look more official. “Bee Blessed” is the logo I came up with on short notice and pink, well, I like pink.
So half pints of honey are available at Beverly Bikes for $10 each. Support your local beekeeper! And ENJOY ;-)
I Love My Bag
One of my favorite things about my bike is my bike bag. There are many reasons for this. I ride about twenty miles a day and will often see things on the side of the road that I want to take home; recent finds include a raccoon coffee cup, crystal doorknob, glass lasagna pan, perfectly good pair of pliers, and a baggie full of refrigerator magnets in the shape of various U.S. states. These things have all come in handy, but I never would have been able to carry them on my bike without my bike bag.
Sometimes my bike rides can be as long as three hours and often the weather changes: sun comes out, it starts to rain, things like that. So the bike bag is a great way to bring extra clothing or a place to store clothing you’ve had to take off. I keep a pump and a bike lock in there as well.
This summer, my longer bike route took me past a house with a basketful of tomatoes and cumbers out front with a sign that said FREE. I took three or four tomatoes and one small cucumber a day for about three weeks. This was great as I am terrible at gardening, but I still got fresh vegetables.
I also pass two free little libraries – you know, those little cupboards nailed to a tree in front of a house with books inside. This is another use for my bag – I borrow books from these libraries, and also take books I no longer want and drop them off. This would be very cumbersome without my bike bag.
And lest we forget groceries-- not that I shop when I go on my bike rides--(Bill is the shopper, lucky me) but sometimes there will be a cooler on the side of the road with “fresh eggs, $3” printed on the side. If I have remembered to bring money, I usually stop for the eggs too.
My bike bag features flaps that can be unzipped and hang down (pannniers they’re called), providing more room for more stuff. These were useful recently when I commuted to class at Endicott and was able to fit all my books and papers in it.
And finally, it is great for picnics. Sundays, Bill and I often take long bike rides with a plan for a picnic somewhere near the end (usually at a cemetery, a nice quiet place). The bike bag comfortably holds lunch: sandwiches, chips, deviled eggs, chocolate, and a water bottle full of wine, our picnic foods of choice. This sure beats the granola bar stuffed into our back pocket! I love my bike bag.
Getting there safely
Before the seventeen year old inside of all of you collectively roll your eyes, just give me a chance. I want to talk about bike safety. More specifically commuting safety. Unlike mountain biking, commuting is mostly on the road, and unlike road biking it is mostly in densely populated areas. Roads are not always in the best shape, there is a lot going on, lots of cars, pedestrians, lights, corners, and the line (the path you intend to ride down) is not always clear. So I want to go through some suggestions on commuting safety, and hopefully get you to work or school in one piece.
First one is obvious and I need to get it out of the way. Wear a helmet. Here come the eye rolls. Wearing a helmet can reduce serious head injury by 70%. You never know what’s going to happen on the road, and sometimes when you crash, you didn’t even see it coming. So be prepared and wear the helmet just in case. If you do crash and you are wearing a helmet, they are only good for one whack. The foam that makes up a helmet is designed to crack and absorb the impact, so your skull doesn’t have to. If you have taken a spill on a bike, and think you might have hit your head, go to a bike shop, have them inspect the helmet and they will let you know if it’s still safe to use. Now that we got the big one out of the way, let’s go into some obscure bike safety tips.
The second one you might have heard before, and I’m just going to put some logic to it. Ride with traffic. I know that having a two ton metal machine sneak up on you can be terrifying, but trust me, it’s safer than the alternative. We will start with the math: Let’s say a cyclist is going north on some road at around 15mph (22 feet per second), and the car behind them is going 30 mph (44 feet per second) which is a bit fast for back roads, but sometimes people speed. If the car starts 100 feet behind the cyclist, it will take the car 4.5 seconds to reach the cyclist. That’s four and a half seconds to see the cyclist and react appropriately and if there was a collision, it would be at 15mph. However, if the cyclist is going against traffic, there is only 1.5 seconds before the car reaches the cyclist, and they are moving towards each other at 45mph, which would be devastating. Reaction time would be low, and consequences would be much higher, not to mention, most drivers while turning right and pulling out of a stop sign will be looking left, and not at any possible incoming cyclist, meaning if you are riding against traffic every single intersection becomes incredibly dangerous. If after all that you are still concerned about riding with traffic there are a few things you can do to put your mind at ease. A mirror can help. I find being able to see the car behind me allows me to gauge how close a car is and how fast it is approaching. Lights also help. Get a taillight, I recommend 80 lumens or higher; rule of thumb here is brighter is better. A headlight is also very helpful and also often overlooked. It allows cars at intersections to see you coming towards them, and 85% of bicycle accidents involving cars happen at intersections, and again; brighter is better, and most lights have a blink mode. Use it.
Now that we have established that we should be riding with traffic, let’s talk about how to ride with cars. If you are moving at the speed of the cars in traffic position yourself to the right side of the car with your front wheel overlapping the rear bumper just enough to see their tail lights. Being right next to the car is dangerous, because they can make a right turn (colloquially known as a right hook) into you. Occupying the space between cars is dangerous as well, sometimes cars coming from the other direction will turn left, and think the space between the cars where the cyclist is just empty space and a t-bone situation can occur. If you are behind a car and they turn on their right blinker, do not pass them on the right, even if they wave you on. If they come to a complete stop and they even make eye contact and waves you on, go around to the left or just dismount and wait for them to move. First the safe assumption is that none of the cars on the road see you, even if it seems like they do, and second, doing this promotes bad habits for drivers. The person who puts on their blinker to turn right, stops, and waves on a cyclist to pass them on the right thinks they are being courteous but they are putting cyclists everywhere in danger by promoting bad habits for cyclists. It's a vicious cycle best to nip it in the bud. Finally, passing an intersection, where you, the cyclist, has the right of way, if a car pulls up on the right to a stop sign, make eye contact, then look at their hub caps. Humans, like most animals, determine movement by lateral motion, much like a deer galloping, and because cars glide, it can sometimes make it difficult to judge movement or speed. Looking at the hubcap gives you a reference point to judge the stopped cars movement and allow you to anticipate the driver's next move. If you see the wheels move, slow down, or move out into the lane (if it is safe to do so) because that means they are pulling out into you.
This is obviously not a complete comprehensive study of bicycle commuting safety but hopefully it gives you some food for thought. If you have any questions about bicycle safety, commuting or otherwise, about helmet integrity, or what lights to put on your bike swing by the shop. Most of us commute on bike so you might say we’re experts on the subject.
MICHAEL KERRMARCH 31, 2019
Ride Inside
There are few joys that come with the winter season. Hot chocolate…sitting by the fire…watching your neighbor shovel his driveway. What else? RIDE INSIDE!
Picture this: hanging out with your friends, working up a sweat, shedding pounds to Bill’s favorite music:-)
Ride inside is the perfect venue for working on your spring fitness, maintaining your summer weight, and keeping up with your friends [literally}. For the more motivated among you, there are opportunities for competition. Using your laptop and trainer, you can virtually (that is, digitally) race the person next to you.
No pressure though! For those of you who just want to cruise, tackle War and Peace, or chat with your neighbor, that is perfectly acceptable too!
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6-8 PM.
Hope to see you there!
Which Bike?
If you are already into the bike world you probably know this, but each bike type, whether BMX, mountain, road, or comfort, has a completely different culture. Most people, when they get into biking, choose a style and stick with those in it. Road bikers with road bikers, mountain with mountain, BMX with BMX and so on. Even within each group there are subcultures. For example, I have heard an elite endurance road cyclist disdain the efforts of crit riders (short distance road cyclists). I would just like to add that personally, I believe everyone is entitled to their own styles when it comes to bicycles; at Beverly Bikes, we don’t judge. If you want to put 700c tires with studs on your carbon Fuji SL, I’ll admit it would be unusual, but it makes no difference to me. No type of biking is inherently better or worse than any other, because in the end all bikes are just two wheeled machines. Ok with that said I’ll answer the question, Which bike? The first thing we need to ask is what do you want?
If your keyword is casual, then a comfort/hybrid bike is the way to go. Nothing too serious as far as componentry (shifting, brakes, speeds etc) goes, so it is not a big punch to the wallet, and there are plenty of choices depending on what you are looking for. Casual rail trails? Try something with a little more tread. Commuting? maybe slicks with flat bars. Looking for more comfort? Try a pedal forward bike. This kind of bike is also a popular bike for people with back, hip or knee issues.
If you are looking for intense fitness and/or community, the style would have to be road or mountain bike. I will try to make the distinction between the two as simple as possible. Once you get past prior opinions in safety and style and culture I think the best distinction between the two genres is the “high.” Endurance training (road biking) gives you more of a runner's high; an endorphin rush. Mountain biking is more adrenaline based; you feel amped up. I find younger folks tend to be drawn to the adrenaline side and older folks tend towards the endorphin side, one side just has more than the other. Road biking and mountain biking share both adrenaline and endorphins Downhill mountain biking is mainly adrenaline based. But cross country mountain biking is very much endorphin based. Granfondo races (RB) are high endorphin content and low adrenaline, but crit races (RB) are adrenaline fueled. With so many choices it is pretty easy to find something that suits you.
Finally, there is BMX. BMX is a race bike or a trick bike. This is not for the average joe. While BMX does not require as much endurance, it requires an enormous amount of bike handling skills. This is the kind of bike I would recommend to a skateboarder who is trying to get into bikes. Something you can bring to the skate park, and eventually, if this is the direction you want to go, there are BMX races on small dirt courses. The nicest thing about BMX is they are low maintenance and almost indestructible. Since they are so durable and for the most part one size fits all, they are very popular as kids’ bikes.
I think it goes without saying, this particular look at the cycling world, and how one might pick out a bike is pretty one sided. It doesn’t take into account style, location, practicality, storage budget or a myriad of other things to consider while looking for a bicycle. And I am not trying to suggest that anyone has to be subject to one style over another. I just want to bring a different perspective to the bike buying experience. Something that will make your cycling interest a habit, rather than a fleeting phase. If after this you still don’t know what you want, or even if you do, the best thing you can do is go into a bike shop and start a conversation. So if this is you, and you are in the area, swing into Beverly Bikes, have a cup of coffee and let’s talk about cycling.