One thing is choosing the right bicycle to suit your needs, but many people forget, that choosing the right saddle is just as important. My currant bike is a Raleigh Tourist Deluxe with a Brooks leather saddle. – Sure it looks cool, but after some time, I realized that I was ruining all of my jeans.
Apparantly the edge of the Brooks saddle was chewing through my jeans, – and five pairs of designer jeans are quite a bit more expensive than a Brooks leather saddle.
Well anyhow my old Raleigh (which I had for 10 years) really needed to be put on pension, so I started scoping the market for a new bicycle. I was still on the lookout for a city/trekking bike, due to the fact that these bikes are really convenient in the city. I live in Copenhagen, Denmark and picking up the kids from school, going grocery shopping og surviving the harsh treatment of the Danish night life is a tall order if you don't have the right equipment.
I wasn't willing to invest more than 3-400 $ (US), but on the other hand I needed a quality bike that could last at least 5 years. So I checked out some bike stores in CPH and all the bikes that suited my needs cost about 6-700 $.
So I visited Denmarks largest bicycle store: Coop Nettorvet - Cykler (which means bicycles in Danish), which had some super offers:
http://www.nettorvet.dk/kategori/sport-og-fritid/cykler-og-tilbehoerI found a city bike, which might not be the most masculin bike in the world, but it had everthing I needed. The bike was priced at 300 $ (a real bargain), and inspite of the low price, it was certified by European standards for quality and safety, which is good when you're planning to pick up the kids. in a situation like that you want something that is secure.
I've had the bike for about a year now, and the real upside is, that I'm not ruining my jeans any more. The saddle is comprised of an elastic silicon material and a soft gel-like substance inside, – and apparantly thats not as though on my jeans as the Brooks saddle. However I must admit the Brooks Saddle looked way cooler, but sometimes you can't have everything, right?