Usage: You need to ask yourself a few important questions. What type of riding do you want to do? Where can you ride? City or Country? Paved or Gravel? You want to ensure the bike is best suited for the terrain and type of riding you plan on doing. These questions will help narrow down the types of segments of bikes and help you pick the style of bicycle that will best work for your needs.

Commitment: Cycling takes time. Think of how committed you are. You’ll need time to ride your bike. Can you and will you sacrifice time out of your busy schedule to get on a ride(s)? Are you going to ride alone or join a cycling club. Having a circle of friends that share cycling as a passion will definitely keep you more engaged and committed to going out even though sometimes you may not want to.

Budgeting: Your budget should be flexible based on the experience you would like to have with your new bike. Let me illustrate with a couple examples. If you have less time, you may have a smaller budget because you will not be riding the bike as much and it doesn’t make sense to invest when you’re just going to ride it once in a while. On the flip side if you are planning on joining a cycling club and/or have avid cycling friends that can help motivate you to go out etc. then you may have to increase your budget. After all, you want your investment to be future proof.

Shopping for a Bike: The final step is actually going to a bike shop and seeing if they have something for you. As the industry is always changing, it is important for you to check out a few bicycle stores in your area that you feel can help support you in your cycling journey. Buy your new bike from the shop that you feel you can work with and build a solid relationship because you will need to be able to trust your local shop and rely on their advice for many things both technical and non-technical.

GO RIDE!