How To Buy A Bike

Hello, my name's John from On Your Bike, in London. I've been a bike mechanic for twelve years. I'm going to show you a few things about bikes, things like saddle height and setting it up so that it's the correct size and a few maintenance tips as well.

How to buy a bike. There's quite a big selection of bikes, a lot of it is going to be down to budget, where you will be going to riding it, things like that. If I pick on something like this, this is like an entry level, basic bike.

They class it as a mountain bike but you could ride this down the toad path, around the city, you could ride it anywhere. It has front suspension, so that if you ride it on bumpy ground or through the forest, it makes it more comfortable, more controllable. It has slightly wider tires as well, which make it a bit more puncture resistant and give you a bit more grip.

Being a basic bike, this has got which is known as V-brakes which work on the rim of the wheel, whereas a more expensive bike would have disc brakes. This bike's got a push button gear, so you change up with your thumb and then change down with your finger, which makes it a lot more accurate and a lot easier to use. This bike also has an aluminum frame which means it's lighter and also it's a lot less susceptible to rust than say a steel frame.

This is a more advanced bike. This one has disc brakes which are a lot more powerful, a bit like you get on a car or a motorbike. Also, this one's got fluid inside the brakes instead of having cables which means they're sealed so dirt, mud, things like that, won't get into it and it makes them more powerful.

Also, the suspension on the bike, as well on this one, you can turn the suspension off. So, if you're using it around town or something like that, you're not wasting energy with the bike bouncing up and down. It makes it a little bit faster.

But, if you do go off-road, you just press the button and it turns the suspension back on, so you go down the toad path of the forest, then you've got that as well. .