Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Musing Journal #7


The Tale of Two Bikes

So, I currently have two bikes. Which one I like better? Well, I like them both equally. It's just too bad that the older bike is falling apart.

The first bike costs me $10. I know that's the price because that's the sticker I have on the bike. It's a Tourney 920se 10 speed road bike. Or hybrid bike, as it has straight bar instead of drop bar. It certainly has road tires.

When I take that bike around Aurora Reservoir pathways, I have to built stamina and the first few times around it, I have had to stop at various points around the path. I did finally managed to loop the reservoir without stopping. It took about half hour to do, or about 16 mph average speed.

With my second bike, Schwinn Frontier MTB 21 speed. I didn't have to stop. I can climb the hills just fine by dropping down to the lowest gear. My legs do get exercised rather severely, and near the end I wasn't so much pedaling as kicking my way up the hill. But I didn't have to worry about raising my stamina up. The bike has enough gears to handle moderate hills.

So, is my second bike better? Come to think of it, I felt like my mountain bike is slower than my road bike. This is confirmed on flat road. Assuming the road is flat, I think that I'd enjoy my road bike more, even old and heavy as it is. On hills, though, I need my gears, and the mountain bike handles that well enough.

So, I like them equally well for different reason. Come to think of it, maybe a hybrid is better. Since the mountain bike has better gear and the road bike has better tires, how about if I put on a road tire on my mountain bike? Hmmmm.

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