Tip #1 – Get the Right Frame – First of all, it is important that you get the right frame for your body when you are choosing the right fit for a Schwinn cruiser bicycle. If you get the wrong frame size in the beginning, you won’t be able to adjust the handlebars and seat to fit you the way you should. When you stand up with your feet on the ground, there should be a couple inches between the top tube of your bike and the crotch area, this is important and failure to follow this guideline could lead to injury.

Tip #2 – Find the Right Angle and Height of the Seat – The next thing you need to do to make sure that you Schwinn bike fits you is to make sure that you find the right angle and height for the seat of the bike. You’ll want to avoid hurting your knees, which can occur if the seat is too low or too high as well. If you need help raising or lowering the seat, read the Schwinn owners manual for help. Of course the angle of the seat is important too, and while it may feel better to have the seat tilted down, this can lead to a lot of stress on your neck, fingers, arms, and wrists. The seat should be level or tilted a couple notches up; however, if it feels uncomfortable, then you may have the seat up too high.

Tip #3 – Consider the Style of the Handlebars – You’ll find that handlebar style is important as well. You’ll find that the Schwinn cruiser bicycle and Schwinn mountain bikes have special style handlebars that will allow you to sit up while you are holding onto the bars. However, regular 10-speed bikes may have you hunching over. If you have the old handlebars from a Schwinn antique that are uncomfortable, you may want to consider going with a different style.

Tip #4 – Get the Handlebar Height Right – The height of your handlebars is also very important when you are trying to get the right fit for your bike. You should adjust them to be just as high as your seat or even higher so that you don’t have to hung over to hold on to the handlebars. Usually just loosening that top screw will allow you to raise or lower the handlebars, but if you need more help, the Schwinn manual should provide you with easy instructions for adjusting the handlebars.

Bicycle racing has been around for a long time – since the mid nineteenth century. However, it didn’t take the form it has today until around the beginning of the twentieth. Now, some of the first races that were established for cyclists are still among the most prestigious. In general, the world’s most famous bicycle races include the Grand Tours, races at the Olympics, and professional races under the Union Cycliste Internationale, or UCI. These are road bicycle races. Other types of bike racing that aren’t as well known include mountain bike racing (first recognized in 1990) and cyclo-cross racing (originally developed for road racers in the off season).

Grand Tours

There are three Grand Tours of cycling, of which the most famous is the Tour de France. This multi-stage race takes three weeks, and passes through France, ending up in Paris traditionally. Founded in 1903, this bike race covers almost two thousand miles, and consists of twenty different stages between specific towns. The winner is the person with the shortest times in each stage. The other Grand Tours are the Giro d’Italia (sometimes just Giro), which was founded in 1909, and inspired by the Tour de France. In Spain, a similar race is the Vuelta a Espana.

The Olympics

Cycling has been a part of the Olympics since the 1896 games, in which a 12 hour race was attempted. Many Olympic cycling events of the past have now been forgotten, including 1908′s 660 yard bicycle sprint. Today, bike competitors in the Olympic games compete in track cycling, road cycling, mountain bike races, and BMX or off-road competitions. The races are divided by gender, and in some cases are done in teams.

UCI Races

The UCI ProTour was created in 2005, to replace the older UCI World Cup. The World Cup was made up of only races lasting a single day. The ProTour, however, contains the famous Grand Tours, as well as the Tour de Suisse, Criterium de Dauphine Libere, Paris-Nice, and other well-known multi-day races. It also still contains all the one day races that made up the World Cup: Belgium’s Ronde van Vlaanderen and Liege-Bastogne-Liege races, Italy’s Milan-Sanremo and Giro di Lombardia, France’s Paris-Tours and Paris-Roubaix, the Zuri-Metzgete in Switzerland, Spain’s Clasica de San Sebastian, the HEW Cyclassics in Germany, and the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands. Some races are spring only. Others are held in the fall. In general, cycling is a sport for summer, this definition is often stretched so that the season really begins in early spring, and ends in autumn.