A bicycle for tourism, sports and recreational riding.

We have already repeatedly told you, our dear readers, about the benefits of cycling in weekly, periodic aerobic training, which you are recommended to use to supplement your regular exercise in the gym. We also introduced you to such popular mass social movements as bicycle trips and bicycle excursions. Today we will try to figure out the question: how to choose the right bike for tourism, sports and recreational riding.

So let's get started...

And any online bicycle store of a very well-known and popular retail chain in Russia will help us with this “Velodrive" Or rather, its expert is leading sales consultant Maxim Degtyarenko. So our main question is:

“How to choose a bike for yourself?”

When choosing a two-wheeled friend, you must first decide on the following questions: what exactly do you need a bicycle for? Where and in what conditions do you plan to ride it? And for how long?

In fact, all bicycle equipment can be divided into the following types:

1. Walking bikes,
2. Sports or track bikes,
3. Mountain bikes,
4. Electric bicycles.

^{In the photo: fitness idol of all times Sylvester Stallone on his bike.}

Of course, this gradation is rather arbitrary. There are also divisions based on gender: the so-called male and female models. And also according to age: adults, teenagers, children. But from a fundamental, technical point of view, the most basic are four varieties. Let's look at each of them...

Walking bicycles are aimed at a wide range of consumers. Their main purpose is recreational riding in urban conditions on bike paths or streets predominantly with asphalt pavement. And also - non-extreme cycling tourism on specially designated routes. The technical requirements for such bicycles are minimal. It is mandatory to have: front and rear lights, respectively, white and red, as well as reflectors and other reflective elements of the body.

Mountain bikes are another very popular type of bicycle today. Unlike the previous variety, this class of vehicles is precisely “tailored” for tourism of various levels of complexity and movement: over hills and slopes, over holes and ruts, over stones and cobblestones - in general, off-road, sand and everything imaginable and inconceivable tracks. Such bicycles have special reinforced wheels, powerful wheel tread, and a convenient gear shift system for all occasions. They are extremely wear-resistant, durable and “unbreakable”.

Electric bicycles are a modern class of two-wheeled transport, gradually gaining popularity around the world. In fact, it is a kind of hybrid between a bicycle and a moped or motorcycle. If you have traveled a considerable distance and are already tired, or, for example, you need to overcome a huge bridge with a hard climb, and you don’t have enough strength to pedal, a special electric motor will take over your work. All you have to do is turn the steering wheel and control your speed with the throttle and brake handles. As you can see, the device is very interesting, universal and multi-functional. In addition, the electric motor is environmentally friendly, although charging it will take a decent amount of time. Also worth noting among the minuses:

1. Excessive weight, compared to other types of bicycles, is still the additional mass of the engine, transmission and batteries.
2. The price of these devices is quite high - let’s hope that over time such cool vehicles will eventually become cheaper and become more accessible to a wide class of our Russian consumers.

^{In the photo: Bodybuilding star, six-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger on his bike.}

In turn, the editors of the site “Russian fitness and bodybuilding” thanks the leading sales consultant Maxim Degtyarenko for a comprehensive presentation of the material and a detailed story about modern types of bicycle transport. In our subsequent articles on this topic, we will repeatedly turn to him for advice. So, our dear readers, many more interesting things await you ahead! Don't switch.