Beach Cruisers bring comfort and style to bicycle riding. From the early times in the 1950's where bicycling became a family event manufactures of Beach Cruisers have striven to provide a Beach Cruiser ride that includes large bicycle comfort seats, handlebars that were easy to navigate and oversized tires for extra cushion.
After a dry spell full of mountain bikes and racing bikes the beach cruiser has come back.
Today's designs are faithful to the early bikes but have added cheerful colors such as Pink Beach Cruisers, Mint Green Beach Cruisers, Purple Beach Cruisers, Chrome Beach Cruisers,
Yellow Beach Cruisers, and then the usual Black Beach Cruiser, Red Beach Cruiser and Blue Beach Cruiser. Most are made of Hi-Ten Steel but a few are being made of aluminum and other light weight products.
While the beach cruisers purpose is primarily for comfort and style a few beach cruisers are being made with multiple gears including some three speeds with an internal hub. These multi geared bikes allow the rider to travel in more varied terrain and almost all beach cruisers will allow the rider to attach a basket.
Check out our testimonial section to learn how your friends and neighbors feel about their beach cruisers. Soon we will add a page where you can upload a picture of you and your beach cruiser.
Often we are ask what type of beach cruiser should I purchase and what size bike should I ride. Typically the type of beach cruiser that you ride is determined by the terrain that you will be riding in, the climate you are riding your beach cruiser in and the inseam on your pants. For example if you will be riding your beach cruiser in hilly country then you might want to consider a multi speed beach cruiser. If you will be riding your beach cruiser where rain is frequent then you probably should consider a beach cruiser with fenders so that the rain from your beach cruisers tires is not thrown back on you when you ride. As for the size of your beach cruiser most frames will be either 17 inches or 19 inches. However, unless you are extremely tall or extremely short the frame size will be less of a factor than the question of whether your pant inseam has enough inches to clear the beach cruisers cross bar. For example if your pants inseam is 24 and the beach cruisers cross bar is 26 then you will want to try a smaller beach cruiser. In our online beach cruiser shop we carry both 24 inch beach cruisers and 26 inch beach cruisers.
Most importantly, for most people, is how is the look and the feel of the bike. Be sure to select one that will set you apart from the crowd and something that you will be pleased with for years to come!!! Happy Riding!Beach Cruiser Bicyclist!
As for quality and reliability be sure to pay special attention to our Firmstrong Bicycles and Firmstrong Bikes. These bikes are made in Taiwan of exceptional parts and attention to detail. They are one of our most reliable bikes and carry the 5 star bicyclist stamp of endorsement. Firmstrong Bikes include Urban Bicycle, Urban Pro Bicycle, Nexus 3 (one of best three speed bicycles on the market) and a Firmstrong Chrome Bike Bicycle that is probably the best buy of any chrome bike in the U.S.A. Drop us an email and we can make some suggestions on the Firmstrong Bicycle that would be right for you.
A SHORT STORY ABOUT LEARNING TO RIDE A BEACH CRUISER
I still remember the first day that I learned to ride a beach cruiser bicycle like it was yesterday. My first bike was a old green Schwinn Bicycle with Ape Hanger Handlebars and a beach cruiser seat. It was a dark green and I always kept a Jack of Diamonds tucked neatly between the spokes.
My mother taught me how to ride this beach cruiser bicycle without ever holding the bike or running up and down the street. It was truly miraculous. She never even left the front porch.
My father had spent hours running up and down the street holding onto the beach cruisers oversized seat until he was blue in the face. Yet with all his trying and efforts I still was afraid to venture out on the bicycle myself. It wasn't that I didn't want to ride the beach cruiser beauty. It was just I had seen what a fall to the pavement could produce in the way of cuts and bruises and I wanted nothing to do with that type of harm. Instead, I continued to walk to church, friends, chores, getting milk and every other place that I would later learn could be done in half of the time with my trusted beach cruiser.
Finally, the eventful day came. The day was shiny and bright and although it was a weekend there were few cars about in the neighborhood. The widow McCowan was out in her yard tending to her flowers and my father was in the back working in the garden. It was just me, my mother and my brother. Not just any brother but the one I regularly plummeted every chance I got. So you can understand why he ran with glee when my mother told him to go get her a switch. (He could already smell whooping in the air knowing that there was no way I would ride that beach cruiser.)
That is where he was wrong.
No sooner had my mother said get her a switch than I had jumped on that beach cruisers and was riding like the wind.
Now admittedly I only went two houses up to the corner when I crashed but someting miraculous had happened. I crashed and hadn't died.
From that day forward my beach cruiser became my best friend. I rode that beach cruiser through rain, I rode that beach cruiser in heat and I rode that beach cruiser everytime I heard my name being called:)
We are happy to ship our bicycles to Canada (small additional charge) or any of the following states
Alabama
Montana
Alaska
Nebraska
Arizona
Nevada
Arkansas
New Hampshire
California
New Jersey
Colorado
New Mexico
Connecticut
New York
Delaware
North Carolina
Florida
North Dakota
Georgia
Ohio
Hawaii
Oklahoma
Idaho
Oregon
Illinois
Pennsylvania
Indiana
Rhode Island
Iowa
South Carolina
Kansas
South Dakota
Kentucky
Tennessee
Louisiana
Texas
Maine
Utah
Maryland
Vermont
Massachusetts
Virginia
Michigan
Washington
Minnesota
West Virginia
Mississippi
Wisconsin
Missouri
Wyoming
THIS ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES WAS FOUND ON GOOGLE
Beach Cruisers
By BRAD MISKELL
Published: July 15, 2005
VENICE, Calif.
YOU begin noticing them before you ever reach the beach: The opalescent baby blue cruiser with pink rims and whitewalls in front of the yoga studio on Main Street, its flip-flop-wearing owner removing her mat from its wicker basket. The matte black and solid chrome cruisers, draped with young men in mesh-back caps, clustered outside the local dive on Washington Boulevard. At Windward Avenue an art girl in thrift-store couture pedals past, a Paul Frank monkey mugging from her bike's shiny red frame.
These days it seems beach cruisers catch your eye everywhere you go in Venice, even at the beach.
Enlarge This Image
Stephanie Diani for The New York Times
EASY RIDES Cruisers, like these in Venice Beach, Calif., are ideal for flat areas.
That's saying something at Venice Beach, where people think nothing of seeing a man in a loincloth balanced precariously atop a stepladder as he attempts to charm a hydra-headed rubber cobra. It takes more than a pink and purple Hello Kitty cruiser to cause a stir here. Or so the family out for a ride on four conspicuously detailed vintage cruisers appears to think.
The bicycles, styled like those popular in the 1950's - with fat tires that can handle sand, wide handlebars, cushy seats and coaster brakes - have been known as beach cruisers or just plain cruisers since the 60's and 70's.
Schwinn finally came out with a model named the Cruiser in 1980. And for years they were fairly utilitarian. Some owners didn't mind their bikes rusting in the salt air. The worse they looked, the less likely they were to be stolen, the thinking went.
And so, on boardwalks, campuses and studio back-lots across Southern California, the humble cruiser became a fixture. Now, flashy cruisers have become a fixation.
Bike stores in the area report a noticeable surge in cruiser sales in the last year or so. At many shops, they've become best sellers. Bike Attack's new bike boutique on Main Street in Santa Monica has sold between 100 and 200 each month since opening in January. Design is widely credited for the boom. "Before a few years ago, if you wanted a cruiser, you basically chose between the red or blue one," said Scott McPherson, manager of Helen's Cycles on Lincoln Boulevard in Venice. "With the range of cruisers now available, many more people are buying."
The new bikes come in a dazzling array of colors and styles. Ten-coat paint jobs and flaring fenders are common. "I love the Hawaiian flowers and the butterfly on the seat," said Nancy Keller Bacon, 42, of Venice, out for a seaside ride aboard her gleaming new aquamarine cruiser. For baby boomers in particular, the new cruisers are the bikes they dreamed of as children. "The retro factor was the big appeal," Ms. Bacon said.
FOR some, cruisers are retro-chic, for others, nostalgic. Makers offer models reminiscent of old woody wagons or with names like Roadster. The bikes recall a simpler time, when cars, smog and sprawl hadn't seriously endangered the Southern California idyll of orange groves and endless summers.
Cruising past sandcastles and surf breaks seems to return some of that.
"Getting out, enjoying the lifestyle, that's what it's all about," said John Michela, 41, of Valencia, whose family regularly drives the hour to the beach for rides on rare cruisers that he painstakingly restores. Today, his orange metal-flake Dyno Cruiser, with its motorcyclelike "tank," attracts many admirers.
Cruisers are uncomplicated, appealing to those overwhelmed by 27 gears and rampant technology. And they're comfortable: They have wide seats and, sitting upright, riders can relax and enjoy the scenery instead of bending forward uncomfortably. The Townie made by Electra is designed so that riders can always touch the ground yet still extend their legs when pedaling, a feature that attracts reluctant cyclists.
Cost often seals the deal. Though the Electra Townie is $470, other jazzy new cruisers go for as little as $129. Many cost around $250, less than a tenth the price of some fancy road bikes. At such prices, almost anyone can ride in style - which can be a source of amusement. "They're easy impulse buys," said Kitty Monsalud, an owner of Bike Attack. "Some girls see them as accessories, like a pair of shoes."
Not everyone finds that so amusing. "Surfing is so 'in,' " said Cybele O'Brien, 35, a surfer and a Venice native. The bikes "are just another prop for people affecting the lifestyle."
In the end, though, no matter why you glide down the beach or the street, standing on the pedals of a cruiser it's hard not to feel, well, a little like a kid again. Ms. O'Brien long ago attached a sparkly, battery-powered wand to her cruiser's basket: Even for skeptics, riding a beach cruiser can be magical.
Lose weight cycling is a fun and enjoyable way to improve your health and to make you feel better. Pedaling down a rural road or through a city park rouses your spirit and awakens your senses.
A regular routine to lose weight cycling can reduce the risk of serious conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity.
One of the most powerful arguments for encouraging more people to cycle is that it leads to considerable improvements in public health.
Cycling is also a good way to improve your balance and co-ordination. It enhances your general well-being and promotes mental health. Beyond the health benefits, it's an enjoyable way to get around.
Getting on your cycling bike regularly can also be an effective form of aerobic exercise. Cycling can have positive effects on how we feel too.
Moderate exercise has been found to reduce levels of stress and depression, improve mood and raise self esteem. It has also been found, in some instances, to relieve symptoms of PMS.
Benefits in strength and agility can come from regular cycling also. There are no real-age barriers to cycling and people at almost any fitness level can begin slowly and gently if necessary.
Physically active older people can reduce the rate of hip fractures with regular cycling exercise. Most of the negative things we associate with aging aren't a result of chronological aging but rather a lack of physical activity.
A recent study found that even a small amount of cycling for weight loss can lead to a significant fitness gain. Aerobic fitness was boosted by 11
The Beach Cruiser Bicycle is one of the few bicycles that attratcts both young and old customers alike. The older group like the Beach Cruiser comfort while the younger generation longs for the 'coolness' effect of riding the Beach Cruisers retro look. We try to carry both kinds in our large inventory of Beach Cruiser Bicycles.
More bikes at http://justbicycles.com/store
Beach Cruisers
By BRAD MISKELL
Published: July 15, 2005
VENICE, Calif.
YOU begin noticing them before you ever reach the beach: The opalescent baby blue cruiser with pink rims and whitewalls in front of the yoga studio on Main Street, its flip-flop-wearing owner removing her mat from its wicker basket. The matte black and solid chrome cruisers, draped with young men in mesh-back caps, clustered outside the local dive on beac cruiser bikes bicycles. Comfort Bicycles At Windwa
