There are twice as many bikes on the road worldwide as there are cars. At about 1 billion in number, bicycles have been the way to get around for over a hundred years, and bicycles are being improved all of the time.
The two wheel bike, as well as other styles like the tricycle and even four-wheel models, are ridden by the young and old alike. Children, parents, and grandparents love the freedom of riding a bicycle in the beautiful America we live in. Since the year 2005, the United Sates has seen a 46% increase in the number of people who are commuting by bicycle every day. It has become the way to save gas, get fit, and still be able to be flexible.
Perhaps you might remember the days of your youth. It is likely, depending on where you live, that you had some sort of bicycle to ride as a young kid. If this was not the case for you, then maybe you remember the one kid who always had trouble with his seat. The bike seats, or bicycle saddles as you might have learned to call them in your later life, were never the most reliable parts of the bikes you ran around town with. If you had a comfortable bike seat, then you were the envy of your bicycle gang.
The comfortable bike seat was not something that came standard on all children’s bikes. In fact, even a leather bike seat, in general, was rarely seen on the playgrounds. Every once in a while, you might have seen a kid who broke his seat and tried to ride around with just the seat post sticking up, hoping he didn’t hit an unexpected bump.
Hopefully, riding bicycles as a young person brought you a great deal of joy. As you got older, though, maybe your love for riding took a back seat to the beautiful feeling you received from being able to drive a car. You got your license and then it was off to places too far to go on a bike. A comfortable bike seat no longer mattered because you had the leather car seats to keep you comfy as you sped down the highway. Your need for a bike didn’t exist when you were able to drive.
Things change, though. People grow up and establish their lives, wanting to make enough money to spend it on things they want to spend money on. They have certain bills and expenses so things they want to do might have to take a backseat in their lives. So, they prioritize. They decide where they can skimp and how they can save.
Many people have found that returning to a bicycle as a way of commuting to work or to places close by home will not only save them money but will also help them stay in the kind of shape that will allow them to live a healthy lifestyle.
In 2015 alone, there were over $1.2 billion is used bikes sold. People are looking to get themselves back to where they used to be. To that place where freedom was found in the pedaling, not the peddling. Bikes are an amazing way to let your mind get some different kind of exercise than it might not get from simply driving to work every day.
So, you want a bike. Good for you. Now what? Where do you go from there? Well, try a bike out. Go to a bike shop and test out several. Take them on test drives and find the one that speaks to you. Before you ride one, have an expert at the store fit you properly on a bike. Make sure you have a comfortable bike seat and then just have a blast.
There are many different types of bikes for you to choose between. There are road bikes, off-road bikes, all terrain bikes, touring bikes. It is all up to you and according to your tastes. If you haven’t ridden a bike in a very long time, or if you don’t think you’ll be able to remember how to do it, don’t worry. Riding a bike is like, well…