Everything You Need to Know About Buying a Beach Cruiser Bike | How to Choose a Cruiser Bicycle

Hey guys, I'm Dustin, and today I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about buying a Beach Cruiser. Stick around.

All right, so today I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about buying a Beach Cruiser. But before I do that, hit the subscribe button below and stay in touch with us here at Sixthreezero. All right, so you're looking for a Beach Cruiser bike and you want to know everything there is to know about beach cruisers. I'm here to tell you. So beach cruisers are awesome. They're a very traditional style of bike. They've been around for a long time. Tended to have a lot of popularity by the beach, by the lake, cruising around town, and things of that nature. But they've also gained a lot of popularity just as a regular bike people ride around anywhere, because the reality of a beach cruiser is, it's just called a beach cruiser. Doesn't mean that you can only ride it by the beach, obviously.

What really distinguishes a beach cruiser is a couple of factors regarding the design. Number one is a balloon tire. Now, in the traditional sense of a beach cruiser, you're going to have a balloon tire. Typically, two inches and above is what fits into the category of a cruiser tire. It's fatter, it's wider. It's something that's going to provide you with a more cushy ride, so you're not going to feel the vibrations. The idea of a cruiser is obviously comfort cruising. And so with this fatter balloon tire, it's going to absorb a lot of the vibrations as you go up and down curbs, you ride over bumps, things of that nature. In addition to the balloon tires, you tend to have a swooping handlebar, a curved handlebar, a little bit wider than a mountain bike handlebar, where you're here on a cruiser handlebar, you're going to be somewhere like here.

It's going to keep your arms relaxed, your shoulders relaxed. It's going to feel different than hybrid bikes and road bikes. But again, it's supposed to be more of a comfortable ride with the handlebars curving into your body. Now, in addition to that is also the frame design. Typically, cruisers have a very distinguishable appearance. It's a swooping curved frame, very elegant, and beautiful, with nice flowing curves. It's not going to be boxy. Traditionally with cruisers, you see a curve in the frame, dipping in the frame. On a mountain bike road, road bike, or hybrid bike, you tend to see a traditional triangle frame. Cruisers look different in that way with the curves, and the lines, in my opinion, they're aesthetically more pleasing and they just have a lot more going on with the frame that gives it just a different appearance. Whereas most other bikes are the traditional triangle frame.

Very simple, straightforward design, more for efficiency and performance than for the actual look. Now, in addition to the appearance of the frame, you're also going to have a certain riding position. Cruisers in general provide an ergonomic upright riding position, which tends to put the rider in a position where they don't have to lean forward. Other bike types like mountain bikes, and hybrid bikes, are again, geared more for performance. You're going to be leaning forward. It's going to put more strain on your back and your shoulders. A cruiser's going to keep you upright, keep you riding nicely with your head up, your shoulders up. In theory, should reduce the amount of pain you feel during and after a ride. Now, one other traditional sense of a cruiser has been coaster brakes. And what I mean by coaster brakes is you pedal backward to stop the bike. This is how cruisers developed, many years ago in the thirties, forties, and fifties.

Nowadays, cruisers have evolved to include all types of brakes, including hand brakes. Also, it could be a combination of a coaster brake and a hand brake. So if you're out there looking for a cruiser, just know it doesn't have to be a coaster brake. It could be hand brakes. Now that's the modern take on the cruiser, the evolution of the cruiser. But if you're looking for a traditional cruiser in that sense, then you could go with the coaster brake. In addition to that is the speed options. A lot of people when they think of cruisers and the traditional sense of a cruiser think of a single speed. Again, in this day and age, now cruisers are available in single three, seven, and 21-speed options. So if you're looking for the most traditional type of cruiser, you'd opt for something with balloon tires, swooping, handlebars, curved frame, and probably a single-speed coaster brake.

With the evolution of cruisers now, you still can get the swooping frame, the swooping handlebars, and the balloon tires. But if you want a seven-speed and you want hand brakes, those options do exist, and that's just going to expand the possibilities of a cruiser ride for you. You can go farther, and you can take on hills now, whereas back when cruisers were single-speed coaster brakes, it was a lot harder to use those to go on longer rides and tackle hills. Now, if you're out there shopping in the marketplace for cruisers, what do you need to know? Typically, cruisers now are ranging in price from 99 up to about... They could be up to $1000. But I think the sweet spot is somewhere in that two to $500 range. Really depends on what your needs are, how many speeds you're looking for, and what kind of performance you're looking to get out of it.

But you can get a really great cruiser for 300 to 400 bucks, even $200. Actually Sixthreezero, we have an amazing cruiser around the block. It's available in 10 different colors. You can get it in single-speed coaster brake. You can get it at three speeds with hand brakes, seven speeds with hand brakes, also 21 speeds. So we've evolved our cruisers so they can, like I said, do all types of riding. You don't just have to be limited to the flat ground by the beach type of riding. In addition, we have 10 colors and it covers the whole gamut of it. So, I believe that's everything you need to know about beach cruiser bikes. If you have any other additional questions, please comment below or email us at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us at (310) 982-2877. And also if you don't know what cruiser you're looking for, go to our website sixthreezero.com.

Take our proprietary body fit quiz. Answer a few questions about your body and your life. In like under two minutes, you'll have the perfect bike recommended for you. Also, we have a test ride your bike policy for 30 days. If you don't love your bike within 30 days, send it back. No money out of your pocket, no questions asked. And lastly, before you purchase, if you want to talk to other riders, join our Facebook Pedalers group and download our app. Two great places to talk to everyone about beach cruiser bikes, what beach cruiser bike they're riding, how they like it, and swap stories. And then after you purchase, post photos, join the group, and make friends, and you can start logging your rides on the app as well. It is a ton of fun. So thanks for sticking around. And don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.