Towards Bikeopolis, Part 2: The Berkshire Review Guide to Enjoying your Bicycle, by Alan Miller
What follows are highly subjective opinions about the highly subjective subject of bicycles.
STUFF
1. The worst bike in a proper bike shop is a thousand times better than the best bike in a department store.
2. Many first time (or first time in a while) bicycle buyers walk into the local bike shop unsure of what they are looking for. As a result many end up on hybrids, bikes which attempt to combine the characteristics of a mountain bike and a road bike. Many riders enjoy their hybrids, and I wouldn’t want to put anyone off a bike they enjoy, but I recommend against them. The shortcomings of the hybrid are quickly revealed to those who find they like cycling and want to try mountain biking or more serious road rides. They are too flimsy for the former and too clunky for the latter (clunky at best; I raced my first mountain bike race ever on a hybrid equipped, in homage to 1990s mountain bike legend John Tomac, with road bike drop handlebars. The first lap went fine until the course suddenly descended a ski slope. I reached the bottom, just not on my bike.)

