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Know what you want |
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Your bike should fit your needs and you should look
around and compare as much as possible before going in to see the dealer. From
the practical point of view most people look for a workhorse that can take them
to work everyday, run errands, do odd jobs, not cost too much, nor guzzle up
too much petrol, be easy to put on stand and get off stand, be fairly reliable,
and easily repairable with easy availability of spare parts. Your budgetary
constraints are also an important decider on the kind of bike you’ll eventually
buy. Apart from budget, the two most important factors in a bike are safety and
comfort.
Safety:
Important aspects of safety comprise braking, road holding, balance, powerful
headlights, loud horns, bright blinkers, tail-light and brake-light.
Instantaneous locking of the wheels upon applying brakes is not good braking,
and can result in a nasty fall especially on a wet road. The brakes must act
gradually rather than instantly. Road holding and balance depend on quality of
suspension, seating geometry and height of center-of-gravity of the bike; the
quality and state of wheel and rear swing-arm bearings, but most importantly on
the quality and state of the tyres. If the bike continues arrow-straight at
about 40 kms without wavering, wobbling or pulling to one side, then road
holding and balance of the bike are good. The next important requirement is
headlights, to which there are two aspects, beam power and beam quality. The
beam power of most bikes is inadequate and the beam quality of most is
downright pathetic. However, as far as the currently available models go, take
the bike on a straight road at night. At low beam you should be able to see
clearly up to ten times the braking distance of the bike and twice that
distance at high beam. Also, you should be able to see clearly the side of the
road on both sides.
Comfort:
The next important thing to think of next to safety is comfort. The four most
important factors contributing to comfort are:
• Seat - shape, width and cushioning
• Suspension - hard or soft
• Seating geometry - handlebar width, handlebar to seat distance
• Seat to footrest distance
In these respects, a bike designer is faced with conflicting demands. If the
seat is too wide, your feet will not reach the ground, which makes it unsafe
while if it is too narrow, it is uncomfortable. If the cushioning is too much,
it will raise the seat height due to which the center of gravity of the bike
will rise and make it unsafe. If the handlebar is too wide, you will have to
sit in a crouched posture, which may cause pain in the spine, while if it is
too narrow, handling will suffer. If the handlebar is too far from the seat,
you will have to lean again causing pain in the neck and back; if it is too
near it will foul with your knee while making sharp turns. If the footrest is
too near, you will have to sit crouched; if it is too far, it may touch the
ground on curves, causing an accident.
The conclusion therefore is that as far as safety and comfort are concerned,
you make your choice based on the physical dimension of your own body such as
height, weight, eyesight, hearing and reflexes.
Gender also matters apart from body dimensions. Dresses like saris and lungis
make it impossible for wearers to sit cross-legged on a two-wheeler. For such
kind of attire, a scooter or a moped / bike with a step-through frame is
necessary. The step-through gap in a scooter is also useful for carrying
luggage, especially in scooters which don’t have a foot brake but whose both
brakes are operated by hand like in a bicycle. This leaves the entire floor
space between the seat and the handlebar empty for carrying any kind of luggage
you wish to. |
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