2021 Beach Cruiser Bicycle Buying Guide | Beach Cruiser Questions

Hey, guys. Dustin here, CEO of SixThreeZero and welcome to the 2021 Beach Cruiser Bicycle Buying Guide. Stick around as we jump into it.

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All right so 2021 Beach Cruiser Buying Guide. Summer is upon us. We are almost into June and the weather's getting warmer. Bike riding weather is upon us so let's talk about buying a guide for Beach Cruisers. Now Beach Cruisers are a beloved type of bicycle in America, dating back into the forties, fifties when they really blew up in popularity. Nowadays you see them all over the country but specifically by beaches, by lakes, or in neighborhoods around town. Really great for the casual riding, family riding, recreational comfort riding, cruisers are a staple. Must have, even if you have a mountain or road bike in your garage, it's great to have a cruiser for those family kid rides that you're doing.

Let's talk about buying guide, how to choose a cruiser. What are you looking for? First, when we talk about Beach Cruisers, we talk about a typical type of frame, which is a swooping frame, a curved frame. You sometimes see two different types of frames, usually a high bar, top tube curve, or a low step-through curve.

Traditionally, that's how you distinguish gender, men's and women's but in this day and age, any frame can be used for any type of rider and if you can find your color preference in a step-through or a top tube, it really doesn't matter so long as the fit and the sizing is correct for you. That's my number one buying guide tip. Don't be deterred by a gender specification on any cruiser bike you see, it really doesn't matter. I prefer a low bar step over myself. Just look for sizing information on what bike's going to work for you.

Now, the other thing to keep in mind when searching for a cruiser is generally cruisers, which is unlike other bikes, are sized by the wheel size. And for adults, you really only see two sizes, 26 inches or 24 inches. In other categories of bikes, specifically road or mountain bikes, you're going to see different frame sizes going up in increments. You're going to see, and they do it by centimeters for road bikes. Whether it be 46 centimeters, 48 centimeter. In cruisers, it's more of a one size fits all approach, like I said, with two different sizes. 24-inch bikes on cruisers are typically good for riders, 4'11" to five foot two, depending on your inseam. If you have a larger inseam, but your five-foot, you might be okay on a 26 inch. We have some other videos going into the sizing elements if that's something you're interested in, so you can check those out on our channel. But just know that 26 inches, 24 inch. If you're an adult 5'2" and above, most likely you're going to be fitting onto a 26-inch wheel.

With that said, a 26-inch wheel on a cruiser bike could have various frames. You might find different frame sizes. There's forward pedaling designs, there's step through or there's the normal top tube high curve on the top tube bar. Do you really have to think about what are you looking for? What's most important to you? It's possible you're not going to find everything in one bike. After you find your size, let's say you're a 26 inch, then you're going to think about, do I want a step-through? Do I want to be normal? How difficult is it for me to get on and off the bike? And that's really up to you. Tons of different bike models out there, tons of different frame designs, looks, feel things like that. But from a functional standpoint, think about the mounting and the dismounting of the bike and what's important to you. If you want to easily mount and dismount, look for a step-through. If that's not a big deal to you or you're taller, look for the high-top tube, which will be great for you.

Now moving into the functionality and the use and where you're going to ride, really thinking about, are you going to be on flat ground? Hills? And what kind of terrain you're going to be riding on? That's really important. Now, the other thing with Beach Cruisers, and when you're looking to buy a Beach Cruiser, I think there's been a stigma around that cruisers are only good for flat land by the beach riding. And a lot of people associate single speeds with Beach Cruisers. The reality though is that cruisers nowadays have multiple speed options including single, three, seven, 21 speed. If you're looking to buy a Beach Cruiser, don't think you're limited to a single speed. The speed options are actually great because now with a Beach Cruiser you can get more variance in the type of rides you do. You could ride 5, 10, 20 miles on a cruiser, and with the extra speeds on a seven-speed or 21 speed, it's going to make that ride a lot easier, especially going up and down hills. Just remember, like SixThreeZero, we have our cruisers at every speed. Single, three, seven, and 21 speeds are available.

If you're looking to get exercise on your Beach Cruiser or even commute, ride long distances, run errands, you probably want to look at at least a seven or a 21 speed. The other thing too is the braking system. I think people also traditionally associate coaster brakes with cruisers but nowadays cruisers actually can come with full handbrakes with calipers.

I've even seen disc brakes on cruisers or other brakes called roller brakes to exist as well. The coaster brakes, obviously for flat ground, regular riding are great. You can break easily. They're simple, don't require much maintenance but if you're adding gears to a cruiser, three, seven, or 21 speed and you're going fast or coming down hills, you're going to want caliper brakes to have more stopping power

At SixThreeZero, we actually have our single speeds are the only, well I take that back. Our single and three speeds have a coaster brake. Our three speeds also have a front brake. If you're looking for a Beach Cruiser and you're going to do rides where you're going to go downhill on big hills or you're going to be trying to reach top speeds, 10 miles an hour or more, you probably want to look at the front and rear handbrakes with calipers. And at SixThreeZero, we have single speeds with coaster. As I said, our three speeds have a coaster brake and a front caliber handbrake. And our seven and 21s have front and rear caliber handbrakes. Something to consider, very important when looking for a Beach Cruiser.

Now the other thing, typically on a Beach Cruiser, you're going to find tires to be about 2.125 inches. Now, something that's become popular in recent years is fat tire cruisers with three-inch or four-inch tires. Typically though, to consider it a cruiser, you wouldn't see less than a two-inch tire. You are seeing some maybe with a 1.95 inch but anything less than that, I would say gets more into the hybrid category. Traditional cruiser really has the balloon tire look. Now in looking at a 2.125-inch tire versus a three-inch or four-inch tire, really think about where you're going to be riding your cruiser. Are you really going to just go very casual, flat land by the beach, maybe two miles or less?

If that's the case, I would say take a look at the three-inch or four-inch tires or if you're also going to do off-roading or terrain or trails, the three and four-inch might be good for you but keep in mind with that thick of a tire you're going to have a lot of drag when you ride and it's going to be more difficult to pedal. If you're trying to go longer distances and you're concerned with the roll of the wheel, the thinner of the cruiser tire, which is 2.125 inches is going to be better for you.

Now that's the benefit of a 2.125 inch is you're already going to get that cushy, shock absorption out of the tire. Going three, four-inch tire, it's good. That's going to absorb even more bumps and it's going to be a very soft ride but again, it's going to make the pedaling a bit harder with three and four-inch tires. If you're going to be on pavement but you still want a cruiser, the 2.125 in my mind is really the way to go.

And keep in mind, traditional cruisers aren't really capable of riding on the beach necessarily. On very hard to pack sand, you can definitely ride a traditional cruiser with a 2.125-inch tire. If you're looking to do a lot of beach riding and it's a harder soft packed sand and that's something you want to do more frequently, then take a look at the three-inch or four-inch cruisers. Now with that said though, on any kind of soft packed sand, riding a bike is going to be very difficult because it's going to be challenging to pedal but if that's something you're going to do and you're up to the challenge, look at a three-inch or four-inch tire.

With that said, we've talked about the tires, we've talked about step through, we've talked about the brakes. The other thing to consider is the colors, the designs, the aesthetics, things like that. That's a personal preference. At SixThreeZero, we have lots of different colors, options by gender, by frame style. We also have different rims. You can customize, add fenders, accessories, things like that. That's really up to you to shop around. Some local bike shops may not carry cruisers because for a lot of shops primarily it's road or mountain bikes are their number one sellers. Your best option may be actually looking online like at SixThreeZero. And the beauty of buying a Beach Cruiser is the assembly is traditionally very simple, especially compared to road and mountain bikes, which require more specific tweaking, adjusting, and installation like that. On a cruiser, it's a much more simple, easy installation. Our bikes come 85% assembled so it's very quick and easy to put it together.

And I stand by that even though I'm an expert in assembly, I think for most people they'll find it doable themselves. Especially with a single-speed or a three-speed. The gears can be a little bit more challenging but not too bad. But I would say if you're looking for that right color, don't shy away from buying online versus buying in-store, especially when looking at a cruiser bike.

That's my summary. My 2021 Buying Guide for Beach Cruisers. If you have any other specific questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at, theteam@sixthreezero.com or you can call us, (310) 982-2877. You can also comment below, any questions you have put them below. We're happy to answer. You can also join our Facebook Pedalers group. It's called SixThreeZero Pedalers. There's a lots of members in there. You can ask questions. They'll help you choose the right bike, the right Beach Cruiser. And don't forget, check out the selection of our bikes on our website, sixthreezero.com. You can customize it and get fitted to your body.

That's another thing, take the body fit quiz on our website. It's going to ask you some questions about your life, your body, and our proprietary algorithm will recommend the perfect bike for you and then from there, you can customize it how you want it. Add baskets, add accessories, add locks, change tires, change rims. It's up to you. It's a really fun process so go check it out. And we also have a 365-day test drive policy. If you don't love your bike within 365 days, send it back, no questions asked and no money out of your pocket. And lastly, download our app. You can be a part of our weekly challenges where we do giveaways for accessories, t-shirts, and bikes. The app is SixThreeZero Peddling so downloaded it, be a part of our community. All right, thanks for sticking around. And don't forget, it's your journey, your experience, enjoy the ride.