From the leather bike saddle to seat clamps, there are many things to consider when you take up riding a bike – perhaps more than the average non bike rider would actively realize. Adeptly riding your bike is a skill to be grown, to be sure, and a popular one at that. But riding a bike well also means putting a lot of time and effort into your bike itself, from the leather bike saddle to your carbon rails (just to name a few options for customizing your ride).
Biking has become a very popular sport here in the United States (as well as elsewhere in the world, of course). In this country alone, more than twenty one million people have ridden their bikes within the last one hundred days or so. But it doesn’t stop here in the United States. No, in fact, bike riding is so universal and so popular that there are more bikes than cars in this world, and the gap between the two forms of transportation is one that is only growing and growing. In fact, there are twice as many bikes as there are cars.
And the popularity of bike riding is certainly not a stagnant thing. Since the year of 2005, now nearly fifteen years in the past, there has been an incredible increase in the number of people choosing to make their daily commute via their bikes. In total, the number of people riding their bike to work has jumped up by more than forty five percent – by nearly half. And more than three million of United States residents say that they ride their bikes on a very regular basis.
So why ride a bike instead of, say, driving a car or even taking public transportation? For one, it’s great exercise. A lack of exercise has become a problem for many Americans, especially once they reach adulthood. During childhood years, it is much easier to get up and moving but with adulthood comes desk jobs for many people embarking on many different careers. When you drive to work or even take the bus or the train, you end up sitting or standing in one place for the vast majority of your day. Riding your bike to and from work gets you moving and gets you the exercise that you need to keep your body fit and healthy for years to come. In fact, data backs this up and shows that if you bike at least twenty miles every week, you’ll lower your risk of developing coronary heart disease over your entire lifetime by as much as fifty percent.
It’s also gentler on the environment – by far. Riding a bike instead of driving your car takes at least your one car off the road for what often amounts to be an entire day. It might not seem like a considerable thing – it’s just one car, after all – but if many people bike to work, it will end up making quite the considerable impact, at least not one that can be discounted.
If you decide to buy a bike, to join the growing number of avid cyclists around the world, you’ll need to pick a bike that’s right for you – for your size, your ability level, and the activities you’ll be using it for. For instance, a mountain bike is not likely to be the best fit for someone who primarily plans to bike around a city. And many people ogle over bikes that they simply cannot afford. But going to a bike shop and asking questions and letting the sales people assist you can help you to find the bike that, at the end of the day, is the right one for you.
Of course, optional extras can also be added as time goes on. Take the seat of your bike. There are more options for the seat than the non cyclist might imagine. A vintage leather bike seat is available, as is the new leather bike saddle. A carbon fiber bike saddle has it’s advantages as well. At the end of the day, choose comfort. A leather bike saddle might provide that for some, but for others a leather bike saddle might prove more uncomfortable than not.