bicycle.net -- cycling news, product reviews, original essays, podcasts & video :: tour de france 2008

Bicycle.net has a new contributor from an extremely cool bike shop in Southern California. They are a cruiser bicycle store only. Their first editorial contribution is below. read the post and then check out Chubby’s One Stop Cruiser Shop. My favorites are the stretched out singlespeed cruisers.

How a Beach Cruiser can keep you fit

Working out does a lot of good for your health. Regular exercise keeps you fit, strengthens your entire body, lowers everyday stress levels, and generally improves your overall well-being. But let’s face it, working out can be a pain and very boring. I know that spending time and money in a gym can feel like a serious waste of resources and precious time. With the fact that riding a bike at less than 65% of your VO2 Max (That’s like riding at your comfortable cruising speed.) you will burn fat, proof biking is a great way to exercise and will actually bring you more than pain and sweat.

This summer I decided to try something out, I dumped my multi speed mountain bike ride for a one speed beach cruiser. The idea was to simplify things and enjoy the ride more. Mountain bikes and the likes have multiple gears and cable operated brakes that require a lot of maintenance. Let’s face it, the more moving parts you have, the more things can and do break. A beach cruiser is very low maintenance and very simple to operate. In fact, it will take a lot of abuse before requiring any maintenance; nothing broke on mine during the riding season. My riding experience over the summer was fantastic with a very relaxing riding position, no back, neck or wrist pain and no numb hands. So if you want to exercise while looking at actual scenery and have fun in a very stylish fashion, consider getting yourself an inexpensive cruiser.
My riding season was a lot of fun on that cool looking bike. I never went anywhere unnoticed and I was able to ride with peace of mind and carrying nothing more than a very light tool bag.

Till next time, ride safe and Godspeed.