In many scenes of the 1956 film And God Created Woman, Brigitte Bardot is seen getting into mischief and turning the heads of Saint Tropez men with a blue bicycle in tow. The film did much for the career of Bardot, who was subsequently launched into the public eye as le bombshell—but one could say it also made a pretty convincing case for the bike as a fashionable accessory. Come 2020, the humble bike has become a hot commodity as both a socially-distanced way to get from A to B and an entertaining low-fi activity.
For all the previous reasons, in April I opted into the bike craze and picked up a baby blue beach cruiser with a basket, too. The visual was spot on; I could ride to the farmer’s market and fill my basket with just-picked berries and veggies. The reality was less romantic; I’m too tall for my bike, it might actually be a large child’s bike, but never mind that! (Save for the vision of me pedaling to and fro in a summery dress, I approached my purchase blind, so I couldn’t really be upset that the fit wasn’t great.)
As I have since learned, there are many factors that should go into your bike purchase, though it seemed I was not alone in my impulse buy. Per Dave Weiner, founder of the NYC-based Priority Bicycles, bikes are selling out like hotcakes. “The biggest change is obviously the increased demand, but we’re also seeing a lot of people who are just looking for anything. People are just looking for a bike, not the right bike. People are just buying whatever’s in stock. And while some people can sacrifice color, the fit of the bike and the style of the bike shouldn’t be sacrificed.”
For the sake of the novice cycler, Weiner identifies three main categories of bikes to consider. There are beach cruisers with little as no gears for the boardwalk, the sand, and perhaps an Instagram or two; commuter bikes, which are light and nimble with handles facing downwards to allow for an aerodynamic leaning-over shape for speed; and mountain bikes, which are heavy-duty, intended for terrains more rugged, and come with several gears.
After selecting the style, shoppers should consider the size of the bike. It’s not necessarily your height that denotes your proper bike size, but your inseam measurement. “Women for example tend to have longer legs and shorter torsos than men,” said Weiner, explaining that though he and his wife are several inches apart in height, they actually have the same inseam and thus ride the same size bike. Weiner produced a video guide on how to measure your inseam because, as he says, “ask five people to measure their inseam and they’ll do it five different ways.”
After selecting the appropriate size, then by all means pick the color and trick it out with a lovely little basket—but don’t forget the helmet and a bicycle pump.
