Tired of Cruisers?

[schertztx]

I've got a 7 speed Nexus with roller brake and love it. :wink:

I picked up an older KHS aluminum cruiser with a nexus 7 roller and it is quickly becoming my go to ride. :mrgreen:

 

[Buck Masterson]

I usually roll on the flat black cruiser, but I have the Schwinn Hybrid with 7 speeds, and takes a little less effort to ride. I just want to be comfortable, and mountain bikes don't do that for me in any way. I have no knee pain on my Cruiser, but when I rode a mountain bike I was always hurting. Strange that everything is backwards from the original post. Also if I'm not sitting upright, I'm not on it!

 

[KOTA]

Steve said it perfectly. I got my first (Hawthorne) cruiser in second grade, Ya know with the full tank and the rocket (delta) head lights. A nice 26" bike, same size as my build off bike now. :lol: Fast forward 51 years and 200lbs more and I find I like building them. Can I ride them? Not to far. I'll take one, with apes and a banana seat around the neighborhood. But for long rides I'll uses my Electra Townie 21D... Takes me over two hours to do 25 miles, but I'm comfortable and I'm "stylin". :lol: If I want to go fast I have a Puch Classic road bike. Plus I have a Pro Flex MTB sitting in the shed. You have to have a bike for every occasion.

 

[deorman]

I commented earlier on this thread from the point of view of setting up the ergos as closely as possible to the same.on almost any bike that I ride, it's much the same as you will find on a right-sized mtb. It doesn't make them ride the same. The exceptions being my off-road bike :shock: :? , and a basic cheap late model 1-spd, where a wide pull-back bar allows me to roll along at a mild clip seated comfortably, and ride the crank instead of the front-end for rough ground or climbing, with some loss of speed-riding capability. Some bikes definitely work better than others for various mods, riders, and purposes.

 

[big AL]

you just need more bikes!! :roll: I always keep a fast bike around ... it aint stylin but its fun when you wanna go fast or gotta cover a lot of ground..

Agree Agree Agree. Of all the custom cruisers I own they serve one purpose and if I ride longer then what they"re desighned for my knees will pay the price. If cycling is your passion then you need the right tool for the job. For me it's a traditional road bike if it's a workout I'm after or a cross country bike. I love it all and can't give up one or the other. It's nice to have all the tools for all your moods. :mrgreen:

 

[Gary Mc]

I ride a MTB for exercise & longer distance rides. My cruiser is my fun around town ride for leisure when I'm not in a hurry or riding with my wife who only rides "leisurely" LOL but she does love to ride. It is also now my vacation bike for trips to the beach as we enjoy riding together and it is great exercise even at a slower pace. As a 50 year old 6' 230 lb man, I set my cruiser up where it was just flat out comfortable like deorman said from a geometry standpoint. I picked a very comfortable seat and grips, the seat sits up high on the bike. My handlebars come back to me for easy reach and to ease back issues on slower rides. Does it look as cool as other bikes on this site fellow rat rodders build? The answer is no but it is set up for my comfort and there's one thing you learn as you age, comfort beats cool when you have to ride it (almost) every time. When I was younger probably would not have thought that way. The answer is build one you are comfortable riding and can enjoy riding before giving up on them.

I have a Nexus 3 speed on my cruiser I truly love. Will it do what my Shimano 21 speed derailleur geared MTB will do? Answer again is clearly no but it is not built for the same purposes and it works great again for comfort for this 50 year old. I love riding both bikes but for different reasons and at different times.

Hang in there and build one you are comfortable on.....

 

[Wingman]

Rite on Mr. Gary Mc ... LOL

It HurtsTo Be Cool , my seats are pretty hi too, And .... the liesurly pace with the wifey aint half bad !!!

 

[Bettleguise]

I'm glad I got the debate going on this topic. The guy who wrote 4 days regular bike one day on the cruiser, that's right on. I was seriously going crazy before i got with the slow cruiser pace. Every ride to work was like a battle, smacking cars, getting chased by cars. If your looking for trouble riding in NYC it's right there, drivers are on the edge and people are quick to jump out and fight if you provoke them. The cruiser taught me to enjoy riding even if it wasn't about adrenaline and going fast. I think you can take that lesson to whatever bike you are riding cause after all it's never the bike it's always the rider. Unless it's a dual suspension $100 mountain bike, I would never ever ride one of those department store junkers. Ride happy!

 

[karfer67]

if your tall i can see issues as cruisers are one size fits most for the most part. however that said as any of my buddies how i ride my kustom called "the higgins." i beat that bike all the time and love how it pedals. oh and its only got 1 gear. i can also see how that would be an issue if you live where there are hills but lucky for me sacramento is for the most part flat. to answer your question NO i am not.

 

[Bigcam59]

At 6'1" I've found a lot of the cruisers out there are just too small. Luckily, my stretch and my Electra fit me pretty well. For long distances I use my 8 speed hybrid which is plenty big enough. It's a good thing you can own more than 1 bike. 8)
PS I heard that Schwinn did make a larger frame cruiser, but I'm still trying to track one down...

 

[Skipton]

Sold all my road bikes a few years ago. Ride this or other cruisers at least 16 miles everyday to work round trip

Chicago is flat!... this helps a lot!

 

[ElectraLance]

Here's the deal...

Cruiser bikes are mainly for leisurely rides. Sure, there are some folks who get hardcore and commute with them or do a lot of off roading, but the reality is, they are best suited for....um....cruising. Take a look at Randy (aka_locojoe). He and his wife are on a riding trip in Wyoming right now...they didn't take cruisers with them. Same with Clancy...probably one of our most committed commuters on the forum. His daily workhorse isn't an old cruiser. Both of these guys do have cruisers though for the low key rides and for having fun.

Most of the older cruiser frames were meant for kids back in the day so the frame geometry isn't always going to be the best thing for an adult...especially someone over 5'10" tall. Most of the newer cruiser bikes like Electra and Felt have considerably larger frames with geometry that makes riding much more comfortable.

If what you are saying is that you only want to have one bike and that bike needs to meet all of your riding needs then maybe a cruiser isn't the best bike for you. If you're saying you just don't like riding old cruisers, but enjoy fixing them up and looking at them....well, you may be a part of a bigger majority than you think. :wink:

Oh...and as far as the Nexus hubs go....I've had just about every configuration that they make and since I don't beat on stuff or ride them every single day, they have all work flawlessly for me and I have enjoyed the instant shifting and maintenance free aspect.

Agree with you Rat Rod - I think, for their purpose, cruisers are such a great ride. I am getting back into cycling, and for me, a 3 speed Townie does the trick very well. I love the simplicity.

 

[axsepul]

I have the solution to this problem, look at my build off bike. Its old, heavy, comfortable and it can go 100 mph (or was that a dream I had) but for real this setup is really comfortable. I say if you want to go fast get a hayabusa!

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