The Best Place to Buy a Cheap Bike in NYC
Is one of the events coming up this May. Details, plus a paid subscriber exclusive, are below!
Leg Day is a newsletter about the pursuit of joy as a city cyclist. May is National Bike Month! Here, a preview of some events you can attend to celebrate.
April showers passed a bit earlier than usual this year, bringing May flowers well before the month ended. The tulips in our community garden have been absolutely bursting with joy. This particular period of transition also just so happens to be the part of the year where everyone becomes a little bike curious. It makes sense—once you’ve experienced your first blistering hot subway platform, you start to get desperate for another way to get around.
Luckily for you, this month’s roundup of upcoming New York City cycling events features a marketplace that I am convinced is your best place to buy a cheap, starter bike in town. Details about where to find it, plus a bunch of things you should do with your new wheels (including a friends and family event I’m opening to PAID SUBSCRIBERS) are down below!
Have any events you want me to include in the June preview? Reply to this email with details!
The Five Borough Bike Tour, Sunday May 5
The annual 40-mile ride that loops through all five New York City boroughs is happening this Sunday, May 5th. After learning that many devoted city cyclists HATE it, I made it one of my goals to ride it.
It’s not that people don’t think it should exist—it’s clearly good that there’s a major event that allows relatively green bikers the opportunity to ride in a way that makes them feel safe! It’s more that more experienced cyclists find it easy to get stuck behind a big group of people that don’t do much biking—you can only politely ask people to move out of your way so many times before you start to feel like a prick. I ended up getting a media pass, which would allow me to ride from the front of the event where I wouldn’t have this issue. But I think I’m actually going to ride in the bunch with the rest of my friends that registered. So, if you see me in wave 4, say hi!
The Brooklyn Bike Jumble, Saturday May 10
Two times a year, a massive catalog of vendors from across the city and region descend on Park Slope’s Stone Park to sell a bunch of new and used bikes and cycling accessories. If you are in the market for a cheap bike, this is the only place I can think of where you’ll be able to try a bunch of options from a bunch of different vendors on the same day. It’s also a great place to go to buy gently used bike components—I’ll be on the hunt for some potential new handlebars and brakes for my Schwinn. Last September, I bought a pretty sick t-shirt.
By nature of being a flea market, the Jumble vibe can be a bit overwhelming. My advice, go in with a good idea of the type of riding you ACTUALLY see yourself doing in the next few years. (Do you want to do super long rides with lots and lots of hills? Or do you just want something comfortable to ride around the city?) Try as many bikes as you can before making a purchase—if you feel at all uncertain about something, just leave it behind. And, make sure to bring the following three things.
CASH Vendors will likely accept Venmo or other digital forms of payment, but you can probably get a better price if you’re willing to pay cash.
AN ID Which you can hand to a seller to hold while you try out one of their bikes. In a pinch, a friend or romantic partner can also serve as collateral.
A HELMET So that once you buy your new bike, you can ride away from the Jumble on it without worrying about ripping down the 5th avenue bike lane for the first time.
Let's Get Ready to JUMBLE
Leg Day is a newsletter about pursuing joy as a city cyclist. If you don’t already know, we’re TWO DAYS OUT from the Leg Day launch party. Eagle-eyed observers might have noticed that, since I announ…
To learn more about the history of the Jumble, I spoke to its founder Harry Schwarzman last fall. You can read that story here!
Bike2Hike x For the Gurlz, May 3rd
Gabby’s bike to hike series has gone off with a bang. For the May edition, she’s partnering with For the Gurlz, another local organization empowering women to move, play and explore the outdoors, to put together a bike and hike for women-identifying people. Expect a chill ride from McCarren to Forest Park, a loop through the park, plus a guided meditation. If you don’t want to do the ride, you’re welcome to just meet them at the start of the hike! Here’s the RSVP link.
30 Years, 30 Miles (Daniel’s birthday ride)
It is my 30th birthday and I'm honestly excited about it! To celebrate, I'll be doing a chill bike ride through a lot of my favorite Brooklyn parks. The route will be about 30-35 miles, which I hope to do at “slightly souped up jalopy pace.” (A speed you should be able to maintain on a pretty cooked bike with just a little bit of effort and attention.) Details and an RSVP link behind the paywall!