Buying a first bike

Grad school has been so hectic and demanding that I've had little time to blog in the past 2 weeks (I should have gone to bicycle repair school). Now that there's a little lull in the pace, it's time for some updates.

Back in mid-September after a summer of biking around I was ready to buy my first bike as an adult. It really didn't take long to realize why the university's bikes were always hanging alone and neglected in the bike room. When you ride one you look about as sexy as Fozzie the Bear. Yes, you might get a few looks here and there but probably not for the reasons you hope.

The Muppets enjoying a nice ride.

After wandering through Bicycle Habitat in Soho (a bit pricey even by NYC standards) and test-driving a few Trek WSD hybrids, I decided that vintage was the way to go and after seeing a teenaged girl straddle her men's frame road bike with the top tube spanning straight across in a completely unfeminine manner I knew I had to get a men's road bike too. Hoisting my leg up and giving everyone a clear view of my crotch albeit concealed in demin is like flipping people the bird but in a way that suggests it was unintentional and completely outside of my control.

I started to research what bike to buy. After looking around I decided to avoid American manufacturers because there were too many Raleigh and Schwinn 10-speeds all over NYC (they're like the Chevy and Fords of bicycles), but the Pinarellos and De Rossas (lambourghini and alpha romero) were way out of my budget. I did what any American would do in this kind of position--I decided to buy a Japanese brand.

I discovered the Miyata bike company while browsing around on eBay. Miyata, while not well-known in the U.S., used to build some sleek racehorses for events like the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia back in the 1980s. They made racing bikes, mountain bikes, and even touring bikes. Being a total novice at the time these bikes all looked pretty similar. Throw in the modern varieties of hybrid, comfort, and cyclocross my eyes glaze over and I just wanted to pick something pretty. Luckily (or so I'd thought), I had educated myself enough about bikes to try to measure myself with a bike fit calculator first at the Competitive Cyclist website. While this calculator works well if you are male, it is (like many things in the world of cycling) completely inaccurate and incorrect if you're female. Basically, after measuring myself and entering the results the calculator told me that I needed a frame with a top tube (center-to-center) length of 53.7 cm. But when I entered in the same measurements and selected "male" the calculator told me that I need a frame with a top tube center-to-center of just 52.4 cm. If you're unfamiliar with bike frame sizes this might not make sense to you but just know that if you compare an average woman and average man of the same height the woman will have a shorter torso, shorter arms, and longer legs. If your torso and arms are shorter, you will of course need a shorter (not longer) top tube to reach the handlebars--obviously the 53.7 cm top tube length for a woman is wrong if the top tube length for a man is just 52.4 cm. What a disappointment! I just wrote to the owner of this "bike fit calculator" and let them know that their results for women are screwed up. Good thing I didn't bring these calculations to a bike shop and try to buy a bike with those dimensions. It would have been a very costly mistake! If you are female and are in the market for a vintage road bike with a diamond frame (and not a step-through frame), the best suggestion I have is to stick to the 1-to-1 rule (I just made up this name). Basically, it means that whatever seat tube length you buy, you should aim for a top tube of the same length or even a bit shorter. For example, if you punched your numbers into a bike fit calculator and it told you that you need a 48 cm seat tube height, then you should look for a top tube with the same length of 48 cm (this approximation was taken from Myra Simon's website Buying a bike that fits a woman). I have assessed my own fit and this ratio works for me though I might even go 1 cm shorter for a top tube and just get a longer stem to increase the weight and stability of the headset. Of course, the best way for a beginner to find a bike that fits is to get a fit assessment from your local bike shop and test ride a bike before you buy. A road bike may take some adjustment, but it should be fairly comfortable from the moment you ride it. If you end up riding a lot and you develop more core strength and flexibility, you might end up getting a longer stem because your reach will be longer. A reach that is a little longer than comfortable will be okay if you plan on building up endurance, riding long distances often, or getting into racing.

In the end I browsed around on eBay and found a blue Miyata 310 made in 1982 that was selling for $175. Sweet deal said my mind. It turns out the shipping was about $100, but in a bike market like NYC's, $275 for a mint, well-maintained Miyata 310 is nothing to whine about. Of course, I immediately violated the first cardinal rule of bike-buying: never buy a bike without test riding it first. To help you, dear reader, to avoid the same mistake I recommend reading the article How to Buy Your First Bicycle by Bicycling Magazine. I have no need of that or of any other instructions. I like to suffer through trial and error.

So, here is a photo of what the Miyata 310 looks like. This photo isn't mine; it's someone else's perfectly preserved bike. Mine has a few more scratches hidden nicely from view, so looks similar. I will post up photos of my bike after rebuilding. Hopefully, all those vintage parts bought on eBay will arrive in a week.