History of the Cruiser Bike
It’s pretty clear from the name; cruiser style bikes are all about laid back comfortable riding. Often referred to as beach cruisers, these bikes are designed to maximize comfort and easy riding over efficiency and performance.
Cruisers commonly have balloon tyres, a comfortable upright seating posture and simple steel frame construction. They often come as single speed bikes, can sometimes be found with three or even twenty-one speed drive trains. These multi-speed bikes are noted for their durability and heavy weight as well. While other styles of bikes are constantly getting lighter, faster and made with a plethora of super high tech materials and high-end components, cruisers have maintained the same basic construction for the better part of a century.
Cruisers became popular in the 1930′s as more people were looking for inexpensive yet sturdy bikes. Schwinn introduced a line of bikes that had frames based on motorcycles the company had once made. When combined with large balloon tyres these bikes could take a lot of abuse and were especially popular with the youth market. The popularity of the cruiser bikes peaked in the 1950s as light and more maneuverable bikes from Europe became readily available in the United States and around the world. Many cruisers sat in garages gathering dust until the late 1970′s when riders in Northern California started buying them, stripping them down and adding custom components to race down mountain trails. This was the beginning of the mountain bike craze and cruiser frames were literally at the center of it.
In the mid 1990′s cruisers began again to grow in popularity. Aging baby boomers enjoyed the nostalgia and comfortable ride they remembered from their child hood and started buying more of these bikes. The retro styling and relatively inexpensive price appealed to the younger crowd too. Cruisers are very popular amongst urban riders now because they are easy and comfortable to ride, while being mechanically simple as well.
Not everyone needed nor wanted a BMX, road racer or mountain bikes. A huge segment of the market was going untapped and many bike companies finally figured it out. There are now dozens of good-sized bike manufacturers that exclusively sell cruiser style bikes with tons of independent fabricators and small shops selling them as well. Not to be left out of the game, large bike companies quickly expanded their cruiser line-ups or bought brands with solid reputations. It is very rare to find a major bicycle manufacturer today that doesn’t offer at least one cruiser or urban bike. Many have entire lines devoted to this class of bike.
As cruisers have gotten more popular, riders started demanding more options, better designs and more modern style than were previously offered by companies just trying to make “retro” bikes. Many modern cruisers are labeled as “comfort bikes” in a companies catalog. These bikes take the comfortable ride and riding position of the classic cruiser, but have added more current styling options, lighter weight frames and more modern fabrication techniques. They are usually equipped with more modern and higher tech features like fenders, large paddled saddles, large saddle springs, better suspension seatposts and forks. Many modern cruisers have a forward pedaling design that kicks the Bottom Bracket of the bike out a couple inches. This allows the rider to sit lower to the ground, have both feet flat on the ground when stopped and maximize their pedaling extension. You still get the upright riding position and every thing else you’d expect from a cruiser, just more so.
Embracing their Southern California custom hot rod roots, many small shops and fabricators started making unique versions of their cruiser bikes over the last couple of decades. Like cars of the same name, low rider cruiser bikes have become very popular and usually feature classic Schwinn Stingray frames with accessories like springer forks and bullet headlights added to give them a classic car look. In the same vein, many companies have started making cruisers that mimic the look of custom motorcycles more commonly known as choppers. Big name companies like Schwinn and Electra have chopper style bikes in their line-ups. These bikes commonly feature a low center of gravity, suspension forks, bright paint jobs and large rear tyres.
As more people find out about how fun riding cruiser bikes are, clubs are being formed to go on group rides. This is a common occurrence with mountain and road bike riders for years now, and the cruiser community is coming together as well.
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BioLogic Suspension Seatpost
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