Coolidge, Arizona: Hybrid Bicycles -- So Hip, So Cool, So 2009

Mary Lynn and I figured we would buy a couple of bicycles since we will be staying at Palm Creek for two months. It's a big place and bikes are perfect for getting around the park and of course, are great exercise. Buying the bikes sounded simple enough; we thought the tough part would be figuring out a way to carry the bikes while traveling with the RV and toad.


However, we knew if we could not find a 'good solution' for transporting the bikes with the RV we could always just sell the bikes in a couple of months when we leave this park. Translate 'good solution' to "cheap, easy to load on the RV/car, cheap, secure while traveling, & finally, cheap" -- three guesses on whose 401K now looks like a 201K after last year's stock market performance.

The solutions for carrying bicycles while traveling in an RV that is towing a car are:

1. Buy folding bikes that store under RV -- workable but folding bikes are very expensive and a little ungainly to ride. Also you have to avoid the fold button while riding....


2. Bike rack on car hitch - adds at least 2.5 feet to our total length; we are already at 61 feet, so not really an option.


3. Bike rack on the RV's hitch - Our motorcycle already occupies this space so this won't work for us.


4. Hang bikes on the RV ladder - hanger & straps are cheap; not sure if the motorcycle allows enough room. Also, will bikes block tail/turn signals?


5. Bike rack on top of CR-V - not cheap, rack stays on CR-V all the time.

So we figured working out how to take the bikes would be the biggest issue. How did we know selecting a bicycle would be even tougher? When did this all become so complex?

When I was a kid, bike decisions were: a) red or blue b) regular street bike or stingray c) basket/no basket, and did you want the streamers attached to the end of the handlebars. Accessories were limited to baseball cards attached with clothes pins to make really cool clicking noise. The faster you went the better the clicking noise sounded...

Not so today. First you have to decide what type of bike you want. The options are:

1. Cruisers


2. Hybrids


3. Comfort


4. Mountain


5. Street racers

Street racers are what we used to call 10 speeds, which allowed you to choose from 10 different gear ratios to make pedaling easier, especially while going uphill. Notice I said easier, not easy. Riding a bike up a hill is never easy unless you have a motor hidden somewhere on the bike. That's why I ride a Harley; I keep the motor hidden under the gas tank. Hardly anyone notices....

Plus street racers have really low handlebars and those long, narrow seats. I mean, you ride one of those when you are an older guy and not even Viagra is gonna help you... that's if you can ever get a date after women see you in those shorts... I mean, have you ever seen one of those overweight middle aged guys huffing and puffing along wearing riding shorts. Not a pretty sight...

Anyway, today's bicycles have an unbelievable selection of speeds: 3 speeds, 7 speeds, 10 speeds, 12 speeds, 15 speeds, 21 speeds, 27 speeds... I'm sure there are a few more however the ink on my keyboards 's' key is starting to wear off.

First thing we said was eliminate the speed racers; neither MLA or I will be training for the Tour De France. Plus no one wants to see my fat butt in those biking shorts/shirts. So eliminate the street racers.

Then we eliminated the mountain bikes based on where we plan to do most of our riding, which is in RV parks and on bike paths. Well manicured bike paths. Mostly paved bike paths. The biggest gap I'll be jumping is the curb at the local Dairy Queen so I probably don't need a mountain bike with front and rear suspension, disc brakes, who knows how many gears and a shock absorber mounted in the frame.

So we are now down to a:

1. Cruiser Bike -- sounds pretty good; I can just picture riding, scratch that, 'cruising' along the boardwalk at the beach, enjoying the fresh air, the sound of the ocean and all of the beautiful sights found at the beach - Thrashers French Fries, Pizza, Frozen Custard, etc.


2. Comfort Bike -- right away this sounds like a good choice -- comfort -- you can just feel your butt enjoying a big comfortable seat, the handlebars up nice and high so you don't have to lean over which you know always hurts your back. So that's a keeper.


3. Hybrid Bike-- A Hybrid is between a Cruiser & Comfort style of bicycle. I don't know what it is but it just sounds so hip, so 2009. I mean, all the car makers are going with Hybrids. Maybe a Hybrid bicycle has the same 'green, electric motor' hidden somewhere on the bike?

MLA & I couldn't decide without help so we consulted the guidebook which explained the differences between all 5 styles of bikes. Except the book uses that same exact definition for Cruiser, Hybrid, and Comfort. I am dead serious. The same exact explanation is posted on the wall at the store too: bigger seat, high handlebars, wide handlebars, wide tires, etc.

And no mention of anything electric, motor or otherwise, on the Hybrid bike.

In the end, after all our research we bought MLA a cruiser. Why the cruiser you ask? After all the reading and comparing and checking the web, all we could find at several stores was a cruiser style for women. Could have accomplished this much quicker if we had just gone to the store with no reasearch in advance

And we found nothing for me -- at least not in bike style/price range -- cheap. Plenty of bikes for me in the $500-$1000 & up range.

So we bought MLA a cruiser bicycle and added a front basket. Very cute. She vetoed the little ringer bell that attached to the handlebars. That said, I've seen her ride a bike before; we owe it to the other campers, wildlife, small children, etc. to install a bell on her bike -- and maybe some of those flashing lights. Don't say anything to her -- I'll install them when she's not looking.

See Ya!