A Little Bike History

Types of Bicycles Today

If you are a novice bike buyer, when you walk into almost any bike shop in 2006 you’ll find a bewildering array of bicycle types to choose from. Fat tires, thin tires, flat handlebars, drop handlebars, skinny saddles, lounge chair saddles – you name it, some bike’s got it. But spend a little time to figure out what you are looking at and you’ll realize the variety isn’t quite that extreme after all. There are roughly five types of bikes for adults that are popular in bike stores right now, and we’ll describe them here. Each type includes several subtypes which we’ll mention, but just keep in mind the five major groups and you’ll have a much easier time understanding what you are looking at. We’ll list them in roughly the order they became popular because to a certain extent that helps explain the differences.

Road bikes

This is the design that jumped to popularity in the original bike boom of the 1970s. The road bicycle is easy to spot: a very light weight frame, dropped (curved) handlebars, narrow seat, and very narrow tires. This design originated in European bike racing, and just about every feature comes from that fact. The dropped handlebars and narrow saddle allow the rider to pedal efficiently while keeping his back nearly parallel to the ground. This position is fast because there is less air resistance, but not very comfortable for most people until they ride a lot and get used to it. The wheels and tires are also chosen for performance. Narrow wheels and tires are lighter and have less rolling friction so you go further with less effort, but the tires transmit every bump in the road and are more prone to flats. If you want to average 15 or 20 MPH then a good road bicycle is the answer as the weight, frame design, narrow wheels and lightweight components all are designed for going fast. Road bicycles are still very popular with many experienced cyclists as both performance and durability have improved tremendously over the years.

There are several offshoots or subdivisions of the road (racing) bike category. One is the triathlon bike, which is designed to put the rider in the most aerodynamic position possible, with almost no concern for comfort. Another is the cyclocross bike, which has slightly fatter tires and lower gears so it can handle riding through mud, grass and gravel (cyclocross racing). A third offshoot is the one we are most interested in, the touring bike.

Touring bikes are designed to be comfortable, durable and stable when carrying a heavy load of equipment. They normally have wider tires than normal road bikes, stronger wheels, more powerful brakes, and stiffer frames. They usually have handlebars positioned higher up, and wider saddles than typical road bikes. All of these changes make touring bikes heavier and somewhat slower than true racing road bikes. But the increased comfort and reliability make them ideal for day or cross-country touring and bicycle commuting.

Mountain bikes

While the “10 speed” racing bike is a European invention, the mountain bike is all American. Virtually all the features that distinguish the mountain bike originated in California and the West Coast, and reached the mass market in the 1980s through American companies (although they were mostly produced in Japan, and later in Taiwan and China). The MTB is designed to be ridden on gravel trails, fire roads, hiking trails, and cross country – all areas that a normal road bike can’t touch. There are three key features that made the original mountain bikes work: 2” wide tires that had lots of cushion to absorb bumps and big knobs to grab the terrain; 15 gears or more, including many low gears to make pedaling up steep hills possible; a wide, flat handlebar, positioned as high or higher than the saddle to position the rider more upright than on the typical road bike. Mountain bikes have improved tremendously in the years since their introduction, with built-in suspension being the biggest change, but those key features of fat tires, low gears and an upright riding position remain consistent.

Mountain bikes took off quickly once they became affordable in the mid-80s. It wasn’t because they could be ridden off-road, although that did appeal to many people. The real reason for their popularity was because they were so much more comfortable and reliable than road bikes. The upright riding position meant less pressure on the rider’s back, arms and hands. The fat tires meant less jarring when riding over rough spots in the road, and fewer flats too. The big tires and wide rims also made for strong wheels, which could usually handle running over potholes and curbs without too much damage, where narrow road bike wheels could not.

Mountain bikes have evolved quite a bit since their first introduction, and have split into several different sub-types. The top group contains bikes with suspension built into both front and rear wheels for the greatest control over really rough trails, and the fastest downhill speeds. The bikes in this group are generally the most advanced, most expensive and heaviest of mountain bikes. The middle group contains what are called “hardtails”, or MTBs with a suspension fork but a rigid main frame and non-suspended rear wheel. This trade off makes the bike lighter and less expensive.

The third mountain bike sub-type became popular about five years ago, and is made up of what are called “comfort bikes”. These start with a standard hardtail mountain bike, but alter it to make it even more comfortable. A comfort bike will have the handlebars several inches higher than the saddle, will have a wide, cushy saddle, usually with springs under it, and will have smooth tires designed for street riding. All these changes make the comfort bike unsuited for off-road riding, but make it about the most plush ride you can find for traveling on the street.

Hybrid bikes

Around the end of the 1980s the initial burst in popularity of mountain bikes had peaked and was on the decline. Some people were buying MTBs to ride off road, and those people have continued to buy them to this day. But most people were buying mountain bikes because they were more comfortable and reliable than their old road bikes. These people liked the comfort and sturdiness of the MTB, but were finding out that mountain bikes are heavy and slow on pavement. They liked comfort, but wanted to keep up better with their friends who were still riding road bikes. Thus came the idea of the hybrid.

The hybrid has a combination of features from both road and off-road bikes. It has a high, flat handlebar and fairly wide saddle, borrowed from the mountain bike, to put the rider in a comfortable, upright position. It also has a suspension fork and often a sprung seatpost copied from the MTB, to make the ride more smooth. But it has narrow rims and tires that are closer to road bike tires than MTB tires, which makes the hybrid roll more easily. The hybrid has a wide range of gears like a mountain bike, but those gears are in a higher range that is more appropriate for the street.

The hybrid is a compromise. It is not as light as a road bike and doesn’t roll quite as well. It is not as strong as a mountain bike and can’t handle rough trails. But it is much faster on the road than virtually any mountain bike, and it is much more comfortable to ride than almost any road bike. So for the average rider doing his or her average 1 or 2 hour ride around local streets and paved trails, the hybrid is usually the best choice. That conclusion is supported by sales in bike shops, where hybrids have been the most popular models (occasionally beaten out by comfort bikes) for nearly the last 10 years.

Recumbent bikes

A recumbent has a big seat with a back instead of a skinny saddle, and puts the pedals out in front of the seat instead of down beneath the saddle. Usually (but not always) the front wheel is smaller than the rear wheel. Sometimes the handlebars are up above the seat, sometimes they are down below the seat. Recumbents come in too many variations to list, but in all cases the rider sits in a somewhat reclined position with his legs stretched out in front of him.

Recumbents are very comfortable to ride. Most people find them to be far superior to conventional bikes where comfort is concerned. Recumbents are also fast. The reclined riding position means you cut through the air much better than on a regular bike. But they aren’t very popular. Why is that? There are several reasons.

First, recumbents are very expensive. You will pay 2 to 3 times as much to get a recumbent with the same frame and component quality as any given conventional bike. This is partly because recumbents are just bigger and more complicated, and partly because recumbents aren’t made in big enough quantities. Regular bicycles are so inexpensive because factories in China are churning out thousands of them per day making each one cost less, but this economy of scale hasn’t happened for any recumbent manufacturer yet. Second, recumbents are big, bulky and hard to transport. Most of them will never fit in a car trunk the way most regular bikes will, and getting them through doors, up stairs, or into storage can be more of a chore than with a standard bike. Third, recumbents just ride differently than standard bikes. People are sometimes put off by this on the initial test ride, and don’t allow time to get used to it. And recumbents are slower going up hill. (But much faster going down the other side. And some recumbent riders will hotly debate whether recumbents are really slower going uphill either!)

Tandem bikes

A tandem is a bicycle built for two. The rider in front is called the captain, and that person pedals, steers, operates the brakes and shifts the gears. The rider in back is called the stoker, and that person pedals and watches the scenery go by. Tandems are a great way for two people to ride together who enjoy each other’s company, but are not equally strong and don’t normally stay together when riding on single bikes. Not everyone ends up having a good time on a tandem. The stoker has to trust the captain, and the captain needs to be a smooth rider and a good communicator (to tell the stoker when you are stopping, bumps coming up, and so on). But if you find a good partner, riding a tandem can be a blast! For the same effort you can go much faster than your single bike riding friends (except on the uphills), and having someone you can easily talk with while riding is very nice.

Tandems are not very popular compared to single bikes, for many of the same reasons that recumbents aren’t very common. Tandems are big and hard to transport. They are expensive because they are complicated and made in small numbers. It does take practice to get comfortable riding them, and there is the added necessity of being a compatible team. It is too bad that more people don’t overcome these objections, because riding a tandem on a good day with a good friend can be about the best time you’ll have on a bike.

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