Buyer's Guide: Best Bikes For City Riding & Losing Weight While You Ride

Losing weight takes devotion and focus, since it usually means increasing the number of calories you burn and reducing the number - or type - you consume, which can become tedious. The good news is that bicycling can offer a great cardio workout while keeping you engaged and having fun, and there are a variety of options for finding the best bike for city riding. Here is a look at some of the best types of weight-loss bikes for the city.

Road Bikes

Road bicycles are lightweight, fast, and designed for use on roads primarily, and some well-maintained trails. Their thin, high-pressure tires and aerodynamic design mean you can travel long distances with great speed, making them perfect for commuting or even traveling, and can help you burn 200 calories or more per hour. Naturally, they are at the top of the list of the best bikes for city riding. Check out the sixthreezero collection .

Mountain Bikes

Mountain bikes are bigger and heavier and come equipped with thick, durable tires to handle the demands of off-road challenges. Depending on how aggressively you take on the mountain trails, you certainly can burn a substantial number of calories on this type of bike. However, keep in mind that that same weight and durability could make road biking much more challenging, and if that causes you to leave your bike behind and drive in the city instead then it could backfire as a calorie-burning vehicle. Have a look at sixthreezero’s off-road bikes.

Hybrid City Bikes

These best-of-both-worlds bikes combine the durability of mountain bikes with the speed and nearly as lightweight design of road bikes, making them a great choice for nearly any terrain. On the road, you will find them light enough and fast enough to move you through traffic without burning you out. Their powerful design will keep you on the trails longer instead of encouraging you to quit halfway through because your delicate bike couldn’t handle it, allowing the rough terrain to beat you to a pulp. It’s that versatility that gives them the most upside since one of the greatest challenges of any weight-loss regimen is consistency. Take a tour of sixthreezero’s lineup of hybrids.

Best Bike for City Riding

Ultimately, only you can choose the best bike for city riding that will meet your particular goals and needs best. However, with all things being equal, a hybrid city bike gives you the greatest chance of any of the bicycle types listed above to bike on all terrains. For many, that means more time on their bike, and more calories burned.

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Here’s the honest truth after years of this: the best bike for staying active in the city isn’t the fastest one — it’s the one you’ll actually want to ride, day after day. Comfort and enjoyment keep you in the saddle, and consistency is what does the real work. So beyond road and hybrid bikes, it’s worth knowing your other options.

Comfort and cruiser bikes. If a hunched-over road-bike position is what’s kept you off a bike, an upright ride changes everything. A comfort bike or a beach cruiser puts you in a relaxed, sit-up position that’s easier on your back and wrists — the kind of ride that feels like a pleasure rather than a workout, which is exactly why people keep doing it.

Electric assist for real commutes. If your city has hills, distance, or you simply don’t want to show up to work drenched, an electric bike is the great equalizer. And here’s the part people miss: with pedal assist you’re still pedaling and still moving your body — the motor just smooths out the parts that would otherwise talk you out of the ride. For a lot of riders, an e-bike is the difference between riding twice a week and riding every day.

Two small things make a surprisingly big difference in whether a city bike gets used. First, easy on and off — a low step-through frame means you’re not swinging a leg over a high bar every time you stop at a light, which matters more than you’d think on a busy city route. Second, fit — a bike sized to you is one you’ll ride comfortably for miles instead of abandoning after a week.

Whichever direction you lean, the move is the same: pick the bike that makes riding feel good, because the bike you enjoy is the bike you’ll keep riding — and that’s the whole game. Every sixthreezero bike comes with a 30-day test ride, so you can find out on your actual streets whether it’s the one.