One day, you walked your dog in the park. Then, you saw a guy riding a cruiser bike on the street, passing through the traffic. You recalled someone told you the benefits of a cruiser bike. But, you didn’t care as you think cruiser bike is mediocre.
True, huh? I mean, when we have the option, we rather choose a road bike or a mountain bike.
We are obsessed with road bikes and the trendy cycling outfits, as if we are the shining spotlight on the road. We catch people’s attention whenever we’re cycling. And don’t forget the speed. – How nice.
For a mountain bike, we enjoy the adrenaline-rushing moment when cycling on trails. It’s risky, but this makes mountain biking exciting.
What about a cruiser bike? Well, maybe you just smile awkwardly, as you don’t really know what is so cool about this. It’s boring!
Although the bikes like a road bike and a mountain bike are superior, it doesn’t mean cruiser bike isn’t worth attention.
And here we are to discuss the benefits of a cruiser bike. After explaining the benefits, I believe you know more about a cruiser bike.
After this, I hope you can appreciate the benefits of having a cruiser bike.
1. Cheap
When it comes to choosing a bike, the price varies, depending on the design and the materials.
For example, a cheap road bike can be as cheap as a few hundred dollars, whereas a top-notch one can go up to a few thousand dollars.
Likewise, the price of the cruiser bikes varies, too.
Nonetheless, cruiser bikes are usually cheaper than the other bikes, especially road bikes and mountain bikes.
Owning a road bike is cool, because this makes you look like a pro. But, your wallet will cry at the same time.
Looking into cycling but refuse to spend a lot of money? Cruiser bike is the perfect choice.
You can have a nice workout by riding a cruiser bike. Your body doesn’t distinguish what bike you are riding.
Since there is a cheaper option, why not choose this?
2. Comfortable
When talking about cycling, people would like to ride as fast as they can, so that they could outpace the rest.
And in order to ride fast, we need to be in AERODYNAMIC posture. Meaning, we lean our body forward so that our body is parallel to the ground.
There’s a catch. Try to ask road cyclists how they feel when riding with this posture. I assure you that this posture is extremely uncomfortable.
Or, be ready for getting shock and injuries when riding a mountain bike on a trail. – That’s the price to pay for adrenaline rush.
All you want is to ride on a bike comfortably without hecticness, is that hard? It’s quite simple, because a cruiser bike is what you’re looking for.
In order to ride comfortably, you sit upright and you place your hands on a cruiser handlebar. You sit on a big and cushioned saddle.
In fact, this is an ERGONOMIC riding posture as your posture is in neutral position. – Meaning, you don’t strain yourself while riding.
And that’s the beauty of a cruiser bike. You’ll notice you can keep riding without feeling any discomfort.
3. Transportation
Commuting within the city is pain in the butt.
So, we drive to save the trouble. As you know, buying a car is not for everyone because of the money. Also, we always get stuck in the traffic. Worse, we create air pollution. – Apparently, we create other problems when driving.
Even when we want to save money, we choose to use public transport. Let’s face it. Somehow, we still need to “walk” to the stations. And don’t forget about the punctuality of the public transport. These factors make us sacrifice our sleep……
Even imagining this already gives us headache.
If you truly want to save money, save the environment, and have enough sleep, cycling is definitely the best choice!
FYI, cycling is common in many countries, such as:
- China
- Belgium
- Switzerland
- Japan
- Finland
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Sweden
- Germany
- Denmark
Yes. It’s slower than a car. But imagine yourself riding on a bike lane next to the congested road, you know you’ve made the right choice.
Plus, you don’t have to wake up early just to “waste” your time waiting for the public transport……
Amongst the types of bikes, cruiser bikes stand out because of its price and effectiveness. It’s not surprising where cruiser bikes are popular commuter bikes in Japan.
4. Recreational
Most of the time, we are obsessed with speed when cycling. We enjoy the moment when we outpace the other cyclists or vehicles.
But, we tend to ignore the essence of cycling. That is chilling and relaxing.
Why not slow down and take your time to have fun and enjoy the moment? You’ll be surprised that cycling is a great choice for FAMILY BONDING.
You can consider bringing cruiser bikes when camping or having a picnic with your family. Take the time to ride with your children to make camping or the picnic more enjoyable.
After all, that’s the meaning of CRUISING. Forget about the speed and racing. Ride for pleasure.
5. Additional accessories
One of the benefits is a cruiser bike usually has a front basket and a rear rack. In contract, you rarely see these on a rood bike or mountain bike, unless the cyclist purposely installs them.
Some people simply dismiss the purpose of having a front basket and a rear rack. They think these are old fashioned. And of course, they don’t need them.
Again, if you need a commuter bike, you will have different thought. Because you know how useful they are!
Take the front basket as an example. You can put your briefcase and your documents in it while riding to work. Similarly, you can put your backpack or books in it while cycling to your school.
And what about the rear rack? Literally you can pick up another person. Technically, this is a free ride. To your surprise, this is really common in some Asian countries, such as Japan, China, and India.
You can do these for road bikes or mountain bikes. But, it defeats the purpose of the design. Why make your life complicated since there is a ready-made option for you?
6. Wide group of people
So, you plan to have family time with your parents and your children. And you are thinking about cycling.
Next, you consider the types of bikes that are right for all of you. Before that, you already dismiss road bikes and mountain bikes as you don’t think they fit the occasion.
Gravel bikes, hybrid bikes and touring bikes, not really. They are too tall, as you don’t think they are suitable for elders and children. Plus, your parents can fall down easily and hurt themselves.
And there you are! Isn’t it obvious you need cruiser bikes for all of you? You see. Many kid bikes are “mini” cruiser bikes. And your parents can sit comfortably on cruiser bikes as well.
Although falling from cycling is an issue for elders, this shouldn’t restrict elders from cycling. That’s because cycling generally improves their health.
All you need is to make sure they ride slowly and safely to reduce the risk of falling and injury. Cruiser bikes are what they need.
7. Learning
When you plan to learn to ride a bike on your own, don’t bother to look for fancy bikes.
First, the saddle might be too high for you as you already face the first challenge even before you mount the bike.
Second, the handlebar might be too low for you as you might need to drop your elbow. You can’t even balance yourself.
Third, the bike frame and tires might be too thin. Literally, you need great balancing skill to balance on the bike.
Trust me. You will never learn to ride a bike again because it’s too challenging while riding on the fancy bike. As a result, you keep falling.
Learn the basic. You need to learn balancing when learning to ride a bike. To do so, you need to sit upright and be in NEUTRAL posture.
As mentioned earlier, this is the posture that you will be riding on a cruiser bike. Master the balancing. Once you know how to ride a bike, only consider fancy bikes.
8. Tour travelling
Everybody loves travelling. But, we all always struggle with one thing. That is commuting.
That’s another way, though. We can walk. But walking is never the best option. I mean, who like to torture themselves by walking all the time?
Plus, we could only visit a few places if we chose to walk. That’s not efficient! – Talk about trying to visit as many places as possible when travelling.
So, we use public transport or take Uber to travel around. But, we have issues here. We still need to “walk” to the station to take the public transport.
Besides, there’s no guarantee when taking public transport or Uber. The fee and waiting time vary. And they might be quite expensive that hurt your budget!
The next choice is renting a car or motorbike. You pay a lump sum and you can travel wherever and whenever you want! Sound cool, huh?
There’s a catch too. Car and motorbike renting is rarely cheap. Plus, you need international driving license! And this is the greatest obstacle for this option. – Not all people have international driving license……
Ok, enough with this long-winded tales. What I emphasize is you can rent a bike to commute when traveling.
Why should you rent a bike when travelling? First, you don’t have to walk. Second, you don’t need an international driving license (most countries don’t require this). Third, it’s truly cheap.
Why renting a cruiser bike?
Again, you can rent any bike you like. But, there are times where cruiser bike stands out.
You don’t need to ride fast. You can ride slowly to observe and explore the new places. – And it’s also for safety purpose as you are not familiar with the new places.
Rent a cruiser bike with a front basket. You can put your backpacks or whatnot in it. It’s super convenient.
That’s the main purpose of travelling, right? Take your time and explore new places on your own pace. Also, renting a cruiser bike might be cheaper than other bike options, if any.
9. Grab less attention
Imagine yourself riding a road bike with the fancy outfit. You are the spotlight because everyone notices you whenever you ride on the streets.
Conversely, if you ride a cruiser bike, nobody gives a damn, and you are a real “nobody”.
This seems bad as cruiser bike is not attractive. But, let’s think about it.
We like to be the spotlight. At the same time, it is insecure. Lemme explain this.
Let’s say you want to steal a bike. You see a shiny titanium road bike and a clumsy cruiser bike parking by the pole next to each other. Which bike do you want to steal?
The answer is obvious, isn’t it? That’s because the titanium road bike is so eyeball catching and valuable. You could steal and resell it to earn some great bucks. Or, use it as your own bike……
BIKE STEALING happens around the world. And, it is terribly common. Though it doesn’t mean bike thieves won’t steal cruiser bikes, they prefer stealing “valuable” bikes.
That is why grabbing less attention is better, sometimes. At least you reduce the odds. Even if this happens, your loss is small. And you can easily buy another cheap one.
Imagine a road bike getting stolen, you have to spend big bucks to buy another one. – It’s devastating.
Final thought: cruiser bike benefits
Cruiser bike rarely draws people attention as few people actually know its benefits.
While we adore those fancy bikes, perhaps we should expand our horizon and treasure the little one – cruiser bike.
While understanding the benefits, cruiser bike can be a great helper in many aspects. – For example, being healthy, tool for family bonding, commuting, etc.
So, do you think the benefits justify the need of having a cruiser bike?
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Lovely post!
Thanks! Haha