SENIORS: Can you still ride a BICYCLE? If You Haven't Ridden a Bike in 20+ Years You Must Watch!

Seniors, can you still ride a bike? What you need to know if you're getting back on a bike after years and years and years of not riding a bicycle.

Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I've nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry and today we're going to answer and talk about the question, seniors, can you still ride a bike? And what I've seen with a lot of riders over the age of 60, getting back on a bike for the first time, a lot of the issues, problems, and things that transpire after you get back on a bike, after not riding for many, many years.

Also, right here I've got a simple step-through e-bike with a very low step-through easy-to-mount and dismount frame, which is one of the trouble areas I see with many seniors over the age of 60 wanting to get into an e-bike.

They need a very low step through to mount dismount. All right, the question I posed is seniors, can you still ride a bike? Now we are located here in San Clemente. I've had retail stores for various parts of the existence of sixthreezero. For about 10 years, I had retail stores in the first half of our business. We went without retail stores for a while, and now we're bringing back some in-customer meetings as well. And we have some retail here in San Clemente, California. Now with that said, I get to interact and talk with a lot of customers and we do a lot of business with the senior demographic over the age of 60, and there's a lot of riders that haven't ridden bikes for sometimes 30, 40, 50 years.

Life gets a hold of us when we have families. Other things take precedence. And now with time freed up and ways to look for exercise, many seniors want to get back into riding. Now, I handle a lot of the customers that come in here because I like to see the interaction and I like to hear the experiences, the stories. I also like to see how it is for them to get back on a bike after being off for so many years. Now, I just did a couple of rides this week in particular with some riders over the age of 60, and I felt I had some good content to make this video because a lot of what I'm going to talk about today, I witnessed in that very experience. Now what I see is a lot of riders want to get into e-biking, in particular seniors because it's a great option.

And I think without a doubt, e-bikes have expanded the possibilities for so many people in general, and specifically the senior demographic over the age of 60. You can have the bike assist, you don't need as much leg strength as you do on a two-wheel bike to power yourself. So it's an incredible thing. But there are two things that I notice that occur when someone gets on a bike or an e-bike for the first time after not being on a two-wheel bike for many years. Number one is the fact that it does require leg strength to get the bike moving. And number two is the balance issue. Now, the beauty of an e-bike is if you have a throttle, you don't need to have your feet power it, but a lot of riders getting back into bicycling want to still pedal to get going because that's what they feel most comfortable with.

But I will say if you can get comfortable using the throttle, that can get you moving and actually can eliminate the need to have the leg strength to get the bike moving. But what I see is a lot of riders prefer to be pedaling and control, especially in the senior demographic because they want it to be a way to get exercise. And what I see is a lot of them try to get on a bike for the first time and they try to get this first pedal going and it's a combination of balance and power. So they come here and they push and they can't get the power needed to propel the bike to keep the two wheels balanced and going. And they get discouraged and a lot of times they leave and they say, "I need to build my leg strength in the gym."

Now, my one suggestion is if you get an e-bike and you get comfortable balancing, you can use the throttle and that's a way to work your legs. Or you can also get a tricycle. You can also go to the gym as well and ride a recumbent bike. Now, I will say the combination of the need to balance and the leg strength needed is a unique experience that you can't fully replicate on a recumbent bike in the gym or an exercise bike in the gym. Now, don't get me wrong, build that leg strength, do all that, but when you come back to the two-wheel standalone bike, there's still going to be the need to balance and keep the wheel or keep the handlebars straight and in line with where you need to turn. You don't have that need on a stationary bike, a recumbent bike.

So just keep in mind when you build your leg strength and come back to a bike, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be easy-peasy, a cakewalk. You're going to have to remember that the balance piece is included in that. So if in some way you can work on the balance piece while building your leg strength, really that's a good idea. And there are ways to do that where you just simply put your kickstand up and you can pedal like this back and forth. You can get your momentum going like this and just practice picking up your feet and balancing, picking up your feet and balancing. So the reason I bring this up is because so many people think it's just their leg strength. It's the combination of both of these elements working together. I've run a half-marathon before and I tend to do most of my training outdoors, which I think most runners do if they're running marathons or half-marathons.

But in the situation where you may have to jump on a treadmill, running on a treadmill is never going to be the equivalent of running outdoors. On a treadmill, you can control your terrain, you can control your incline. Outdoors, you cannot control any of those things. Now, you could run the same path every single day, but with that said, it's still not going to be perfect level ground with every step. The same is going to be true for a bicycle and a bicycle ride. Riding a recumbent, riding an exercise bike, it's going to be great, it's going to build that leg strength, it's not a direct correlation to getting you up and riding on a bicycle. Now, the reason I asked the question is, can you still ride a bike? I see a lot of seniors coming straight from having ridden a bike at all in the last 30 years to coming to us and wanting to jump onto an e-bike.

And it's happened to me several times where now I'm trying to instruct them, get them back up and riding. A lot of times I'm holding the seat for them to keep them balanced and I'm perfectly all good with that, doesn't bother me. I enjoy the experience firsthand to witness and be a part of that journey and get riders up and riding again. But I think it's an important question you pose to yourself if you are a senior over 60 because if you're serious about getting an e-bike, I think it's important that you get back on a bike in advance of going to a store. So you know when you go to that store, you can test ride that e-bike, give that e-bike a fair shot, get your balance back. If you come to that store, I've had several riders where they've come here and I've helped them and they've left not being able to ride an e-bike.

Now the good news is they got themselves an answer and they figured out that they do need to build their leg strength and get more comfortable. But with that said, if you have a regular bike at home or a friend has a regular bike, I suggest spending a week, two weeks, or whatever is necessary, getting yourself used to being back on two wheels in advance of jumping straight into going to a bike store or an e-bike store or buying online. So you can get your body used to it. You can get comfortable. So when you go out to test ride or you purchase and the bike comes to your house, you are ready to jump on and ride it. You don't have to waste your time then, you're prepped for it. So I think it's important to try to get back on a two-wheel bike, see where you're at.

Also, when you go out shopping, you can be realistic about the type of bike you need for your body. If you give yourself one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, and you're also building some leg strength with a recumbent, getting comfortable on a two-wheel, doing all those things, after four weeks, you're going to know, okay, here's where my body's at. Here's the kind of bike that I'll need. Maybe it's best for me to go with a three-wheel or a tricycle, and there are lots of great options for that. Or maybe you need something very low to the ground or maybe you're like, "You know what? I'm back. I'm ready. I can tackle any e-bike that's out there," and that's great. Just depends on who you are. So that's why I pose the question, can you still ride a bike? Because there are going to be a lot of riders out there who can't ride a two-wheel bike, but there are tricycle options, there are other options.

There are also things you can do with your body to prepare yourself to be able to ride a bike and be ready. So think about where you are, and if you're thinking about buying a new e-bike, ask yourselves that question so you can set yourself up physically to get the right bike or e-bike for you. Now, have any other questions about this topic or any thoughts, please shoot us an email at TheTeam@sixthreezero.com or call us at (310)-982-2877. In addition to that, if you are in the market for an electric bike, and don't know what you're looking for, go to our website, and take our proprietary body fit quiz. You're going to enter some information about your body and your life, and our algorithm will recommend the perfect e-bike bike or trike for you. In addition to that, we have a 30-day test ride of your bike, e-bike policy so you can test ride it at home, see if you like it, and if you don't after 30 days, send it back.

No money out of your pocket, no questions asked. We're also going to warranty everything for a year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, parts and labor, we'll take care of it. Lastly, we have a Facebook group called sixthreezero Pedalers. Thousands of members will jump in there, ask them questions, and see how they like their bikes, e-bikes, and trikes before you purchase. Then when you have yours, you can post in the group, and make friends. It's tons of fun. And then you can download our app and track your rides on the app and compete on the leaderboard. That is also a lot of fun. So thanks for sticking around. And don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.