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Three speeds + coaster brakes = wheeeeee!
Just back from helping a friend buy a bicycle. Like me, she's pushing 40, and unlike me, she adopted a child last year and is now in possession of a very active 2-year-old. She hasn't ridden since college days, and she wanted a bike to noodle around on while her girl tricycles about. She explicitly asked for something that would remind her of what it felt like to ride a bike as a kid. My partner and I were of a single mind (as we are too startlingly often): the Electra Amsterdam.
We knew an LBS that stocked Electras as well as Treks—so that she could try out a hybrid for comparison. First she took a neon-green Townie for a spin. She disappeared around the block, and when she rounded the corner coming back to us, I could spot her grin from a few hundred feet away. We were on the right track.
Next she got on the Amsterdam and I followed on the Townie, which was pretty fun to ride—and yes, it is nice to be able to plant my feet flat on the ground when stopped. But then we traded, and from the moment I pushed off on the Amsterdam I was in love. Omigod, is this a fun ride! Its coaster brakes totally reminded me of my first bike, and I could not stop ringing that damn bell! It even has decent pickup because its tires are quite a bit narrower than cruiser tires. To top it off, it's the most head-turning bike I've ever ridden; random strangers get all warm and gushy when they see it.
"Um, can I try it again?" Tina asked after I had hogged it for a while. Oh, right…you're the one shopping for a bike, aren't you? Of course you can ride it! :)
She liked the Amsterdam considerably better than the Townie—the bike that had formerly made her grin ear-to-ear—and she was ready to open her wallet then and there. We convinced her, in the name of thoroughness, to ride an entry-level Trek hybrid. She dutifully rode it around the block once and got off, shaking her head. We briefly flirted with a Trek Lime, just for good measure, but even the saleswoman said they just weren't great bikes for the money. The Amsterdam it was!
I love that Electra is capturing a whole market of former noncyclists who want exactly what Tina wanted: a bike that makes them feel like a kid again. She also digs that it has all kinds of fascia so that she ride it in a skirt or long pants without worrying about getting caught in the chain. And the rack has her thinking about trips to the library and local errands; I think this bike is going to see some use beyond riding around with her daughter. When we dropped her off at her condo, she hopped on the bike and rode it into her complex rather than walking it in. Her feet may never touch the ground again.
And I get to bask in the self-satisfied feeling of having performed a public service by getting one more person who thought they'd never ride a bike again back up on two wheels.
