Electra townie?

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi.

Sorry to bother everyone yet again...hopefully this will be my last
round of questions before I actually get a bike.

I'm seriously considering the Electra Townie 21. I really like the
upright posture and the forward crank seemed nice when I tried it out.
(No sore neck or anything!)

I mainly want to commute. I have to navigate a few hills, but I'm
hoping the 21 speeds help out there.

The other two bikes I'm looking at are a small folder, which looks nice
but didn't exactly seem suited to either a commute or hills, and a big
cruiser, I think Gulfstream, about which I've been able to find no
information, but rode nicely, albeit with no forward crank (which I
assume meant I was higher up and would encounter higher wind
resistance) and no warranty (it was marked "clearance," and came with
nothing beyond a free tuneup, as far as I know). It was, however, quite
a bit cheaper than the Townie (which is already stressing my budget).

Has anyone tried it? It did look nice and ride comfortably in the short
run or relatively level ground around the bike shop. How does it handle
inclines? How is it for commuting? I want to make sure it's a bike
that's appropriate for the conditions I'll be using it under, and I
want to make sure it's a bike that will last me a long time, both
structurally and as a would-be regular rider.

Thanks,

- Raffi.

Well it depends on how far you have to ride on your commute, but I'd go for
the Electra Townie over the others you mentioned.
You can mount a rack and fenders easily enough too.

All I know about the Electra Townie bikes....I was in the bike shop one day
when a women brought hers in for its 30-Day tune up. I overhead her asking
the sales woman "How in the world am I supposed to climb a hill on this
bike?" The saleswoman turned to me and said, "Don't you have one of these?"
and I said, "No, I have a recumbent and when I go up a hill on it, I push
back against the back rest." Townies do not have back rests.

Is there some way you could make a trial run on a hill with this Townie
before you put down your cash?

Pat in TX said:

All I know about the Electra Townie bikes....I was in the bike shop one day
when a women brought hers in for its 30-Day tune up. I overhead her asking
the sales woman "How in the world am I supposed to climb a hill on this
bike?" The saleswoman turned to me and said, "Don't you have one of these?"
and I said, "No, I have a recumbent and when I go up a hill on it, I push
back against the back rest." Townies do not have back rests.

Exactly! They're just fine for a tootle down to the store or bar, but
the "comfortable" position won't be comfortable for long. Something
that gives you a slightly forward lean will be much kinder to your
back. The Breezer bike series is a perfect example.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi.

Sorry to bother everyone yet again...hopefully this will be my last
round of questions before I actually get a bike.

I'm seriously considering the Electra Townie 21. I really like the
upright posture and the forward crank seemed nice when I tried it out.
(No sore neck or anything!)

I mainly want to commute. I have to navigate a few hills, but I'm
hoping the 21 speeds help out there.

I started commuting 6 years ago. I now ride to work every day, except if
the roads are a sheet of ice. And I ride with pals most weekends. So I
ride 300+ days per year.

I started out on a mountain bike with front shocks and knobbies. The
knobbies on pavement unnecessarily slowed me down (by about 5km/hr) and made
a horrible whine when rolling at speed.

Next iteration: 1.5" slick tires on a mountain bike. Much better, but still
slow compared to the larger diameter road wheels with high pressure tires.
Next realization was that the suspension fork added 2 pounds of useless
weight and worse it bobbed in and out when climbing hills. This energy
sapping "suspension bob" was fixed when a rigid fork was installed.

After 2 years of commuting, you get in better shape, and more serious about
getting back and forth with as little energy as possible. You are spending
less time tootling around smelling the roses, and are more focused on just
getting there.

Road bike was next. This speeds you up by another 5km/hr right away. The
drop road bars are more comfortable over anything but very short distances.
Sometimes in winter I ride a converted road bike with flat (mountain style)
bars, but after 3 days I wonder why my wrists are dying.

A good road bike is my current ride. The difference between a 23 pound bike
and an 18 pound bike is startling. Especially if you have light wheels.
Especially on hills.

So I'm now riding a vintage Vitus road racing bike. It makes the other
bikes I had feel like riding a farm tractor.

If you are riding 10km+ each way, especially on hills, invest in a road
bike. Otherwise, it may take you years and 4 bikes to figure this out.

Dave Mayer said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi.

Sorry to bother everyone yet again...hopefully this will be my last
round of questions before I actually get a bike.

I'm seriously considering the Electra Townie 21. I really like the
upright posture and the forward crank seemed nice when I tried it out.
(No sore neck or anything!)

I mainly want to commute. I have to navigate a few hills, but I'm
hoping the 21 speeds help out there.

I started commuting 6 years ago. I now ride to work every day, except if
the roads are a sheet of ice. And I ride with pals most weekends. So I
ride 300+ days per year.

I started out on a mountain bike with front shocks and knobbies. The
knobbies on pavement unnecessarily slowed me down (by about 5km/hr) and made
a horrible whine when rolling at speed.

Next iteration: 1.5" slick tires on a mountain bike. Much better, but still
slow compared to the larger diameter road wheels with high pressure tires.
Next realization was that the suspension fork added 2 pounds of useless
weight and worse it bobbed in and out when climbing hills. This energy
sapping "suspension bob" was fixed when a rigid fork was installed.

After 2 years of commuting, you get in better shape, and more serious about
getting back and forth with as little energy as possible. You are spending
less time tootling around smelling the roses, and are more focused on just
getting there.

Road bike was next. This speeds you up by another 5km/hr right away. The
drop road bars are more comfortable over anything but very short distances.
Sometimes in winter I ride a converted road bike with flat (mountain style)
bars, but after 3 days I wonder why my wrists are dying.

A good road bike is my current ride. The difference between a 23 pound bike
and an 18 pound bike is startling. Especially if you have light wheels.
Especially on hills.

So I'm now riding a vintage Vitus road racing bike. It makes the other
bikes I had feel like riding a farm tractor.

If you are riding 10km+ each way, especially on hills, invest in a road
bike. Otherwise, it may take you years and 4 bikes to figure this out.

I'm actually only riding a few KM/day (MAX 18...less once the summer's
over). I'm not concerned about speed so much as I am about enjoying the
ride and making it doable. I do have occasional back/neck pain already,
and I did sometimes feel it creeping up on me when I was trying out
hybrids, which is why I like the idea of being upright. I'd be lying if
I said I wasn't also attracted to riding what looks like a beautiful
bike as well, but it's mainly the back comfort issue.

Quoted message said:

Dave Mayer wrote:

Quoted message said:

I'm actually only riding a few KM/day (MAX 18...less once the summer's
over). I'm not concerned about speed so much as I am about enjoying the
ride and making it doable. I do have occasional back/neck pain already,
and I did sometimes feel it creeping up on me when I was trying out
hybrids, which is why I like the idea of being upright.

Most hybrids have you lean forward a few degrees and that's a good
thing. The problem, imho, is that folks ride with hunched backs instead
of tilting the pelvis slightly forward. The Townie keeps you perfectly
upright, which I find can cause back pain from spinal compression when
you hit bumps. Mind, I've owned a few old timey bikes that had you
perfectly upright, and loved them, so I'm not trying to dismiss the
riding position totally. If the Townie feels nice, get it. There's a
guy that rides the local wetlands trails on one, and he loves it. It's
a conversation piece to be sure.

Quoted message said:

Hi.

Sorry to bother everyone yet again...hopefully this will be my last
round of questions before I actually get a bike.

I'm seriously considering the Electra Townie 21. I really like the
upright posture and the forward crank seemed nice when I tried it out.
(No sore neck or anything!)

.....

Has anyone tried it? It did look nice and ride comfortably in the short
run or relatively level ground around the bike shop. How does it handle
inclines? How is it for commuting? I want to make sure it's a bike
that's appropriate for the conditions I'll be using it under, and I
want to make sure it's a bike that will last me a long time, both
structurally and as a would-be regular rider.

Thanks,

- Raffi.

I have not tried it. ....I only own recumbents now; I know a thing or
two about riding comfort. There's only one upright bike I'm planning on
spending money for right now, and the Townie isn't it.

The problem with just about all comfort bikes and beach cruisers is that
they sacrafice pedalling efficiency for a bit more comfort.

You might check out the RANS crank-forward bikes, especially the
Fusion/Cruz (~$800+). Greatly reduced seat/hand/neck pain, much more
comfortable than a normal upright, but they still pedal efficiently. A
lot of people who normally rode recumbents have gotten these bikes and
just rave about them.
~

landotter said:

. Something
that gives you a slightly forward lean will be much kinder to your
back. The Breezer bike series is a perfect example.

How so?

Dave Mayer said:

If you are riding 10km+ each way, especially on hills, invest in a road
bike. Otherwise, it may take you years and 4 bikes to figure this out.

What abt a good touring bike?

DougC said:

There's only one upright bike I'm planning on
spending money for right now, and the Townie isn't it.

So what would it be?

Quoted message said:

landotter said:

. Something
that gives you a slightly forward lean will be much kinder to your
back. The Breezer bike series is a perfect example.

How so?

Something that gives you a slightly forward lean will be much kinder to
your back. The Breezer bike series is a perfect example.

Quoted message said:

DougC said:

There's only one upright bike I'm planning on
spending money for right now, and the Townie isn't it.

So what would it be?

One of the four RANS crank-forward bikes.
http://www.ransbikes.com/
Two of the four (Dynamik/Zenetic) are more leaned-forward than the other
two (Fusion/Cruz).
I like the disk brakes on the Dynamik, but might go with the Fusion if I
like the position better. Haven't rode any of them yet.
~

Quoted message said:

There's only one upright bike I'm planning on
spending money for right now, and the Townie isn't it.

What is it?

Quoted message said:

You might check out the RANS crank-forward bikes, especially the
Fusion/Cruz (~$800+). Greatly reduced seat/hand/neck pain, much more
comfortable than a normal upright, but they still pedal efficiently. A
lot of people who normally rode recumbents have gotten these bikes and
just rave about them.
~

Unfortunately, they're pretty far out of my price range, although I
admit they look great. I was hoping the townie was a reasonably similar
cheaper sort of thing.

Have you considered the Raleigh Gruv 2? Of all the various
bikes calling themselves 'crank forwards', this is the
one that comes closest to the RANS bike designs.
(At least out of the budget camp)
Have a look at some pictures of it compared to others
such as Giant Suede, Trek Navigator etc and you will
see that its crank is a lot further forward than those models.
In fact it could be thought of as a poor mans RANS Fusion.

Quoted message said:

Have you considered the Raleigh Gruv 2? Of all the various
bikes calling themselves 'crank forwards', this is the
one that comes closest to the RANS bike designs.
(At least out of the budget camp)
Have a look at some pictures of it compared to others
such as Giant Suede, Trek Navigator etc and you will
see that its crank is a lot further forward than those models.
In fact it could be thought of as a poor mans RANS Fusion.

The Raleigh crank is nowhere near as forward as the RANS is--it's just a
bit more than the other comfort bikes. The Raleigh also still uses an
upright bicycle seat---which is simply bad. That style of seat is a big
part of the pain problem that many, many people have with upright bikes.
~~~~~

DougC said:

The Raleigh crank is nowhere near as forward as the RANS is--it's just a
bit more than the other comfort bikes.

Correct, I didn't mean to imply it was the same as a RANS, just that it
was more forward than other similar non-RANS models.

Quoted message said:

The Raleigh also still uses an upright bicycle seat---which is simply bad.

I wonder if you could fit a RANS seat to the Gruv? Or perhaps
thecomfortseat.com?