Video Transcription:

Jim Dodson: Hey, it's Jim Dodson, the Florida Bike Guy. Have you fallen victim to some of the more common cycling myths? You may be surprised at what you're gonna hear today. We have our friend, Larry Black, who is the owner of Mt. Airy Bikes up in Mount Airy, Maryland. Larry's also part-time resident up in The Villages where we met. Larry's been in the bike business for 40 years. He's a former racer. He's sold 80,000 bikes in his career. He's got a few thoughts. I think you'll find them provocative. Larry's an energetic, high-energy guy, and we're gonna talk about some of the most common bike myths that are out there. Morning, Larry.

Larry Black: Hi, Jim, good morning. How are things in Florida? We've got snow on the ground here.

Jim Dodson: Yeah, I know, we don't.

Larry Black: I'll be there in five days.

Jim Dodson: I’ll look for you. So, Larry, let's get right into some of the most common bike myths. I know one of the things you and I've talked to in the past was about, judging, well let's start off with carbon frames. Everybody believes that carbon frame is the lightest and the fastest. What's your view on that?

Larry Black: Well, when I hear the word everybody, I kind of take a step backward and I say, that's called a universal. A guy named Peter Lowe came up with this thing called universal. The first thing you say when somebody comes in, everyone tells me I should get a carbon bike, and I take a step back and I say everyone? And then all of a sudden, it's like a good attorney, they break that down. It's not everyone, and more importantly than the material of the bicycle frame, and there are everything from wood, carbon fiber, bamboo, aluminum, magnesium, plastic, steel, there have been everything out there. 15 different frame materials that people have experimented with. I think they even make them out of straw somewhere, who knows? The geometry of the bicycle, how it fits you, how it's set up, and tire pressure can make more difference in the ride of a bicycle than the material of which the frame was made. If you talk to 10 men, you're probably gonna get 15 opinions on that. And a 10,000-dollar carbon fiber bike with half the air pressure it should have doesn't ride as efficiently as my 1975 Schwinn steel bike with good tires and wheels on it. The wheels and the tires are one of the hearts of the bicycle. That's the moving material, it's not the stem.

Jim Dodson: So the lesson is you don't have to have carbon to have an efficient ride. I mean it's a wonderful material but you don't have to fall victim to the idea that I can't ride anything that's not a carbon bike.

Larry Black: Oh, heavens, no, because two carbon fiber bikes can be as different from each other than carbon versus steel versus wood. We have steel bikes that are lighter than carbon fiber bikes. We have people that want traditional bikes. They don't want a bike that looks too modern. People that's what they call throwback. Looking at The Villages, they have car shows every month, and people drive 60, 70-year-old cars and they're having a great time with them. What you need to have on a bike is a good time, not carbon.

Jim Dodson: All right. Talk to me about pedals. Talk to me about pedals. I know you have an idea about flat pedals versus clips.

Larry Black: Two years ago, I found myself in Corsica, Italy, which was very hilly. I forgot my bike shoes. What did I do? I had my Rockports or whatever I was wearing at the time. I put a set of flat pedals on. This one is from Pedaling Innovations. And this is an Innovation. It's light, it's low, it's long, and it's grippy. With this pedal, I put them on my bike and I haven't smiled as much since. I haven't gone back to toe clips or clip-less pedals, and I've been using those since 1961. And when you said I've been in the business 40 years, it actually goes back '61. Thanks for making me feel young. That's when I worked for other people in bike shops as a little kid, taking things apart and hopefully, somebody could get them back together, but we've had our own shop here 40. So this is something that's been around for over a hundred years. A light, low, grippy pedal. I can put my foot anywhere I want on this pedal, and I do change often. I can pedal my heel, my arch, the ball of my foot, and for years, I would not let people out of my sight without recommending that they use either a toe clip or a clip-less stepping pedal, which I still use in certain situations, a spin class or a bicycle velodrome or something like that, but I have been known to go hundreds of miles on this pedal.

Jim Dodson: So what do you say to the people who, particularly, the hard-driving cyclist who say you gotta pull as well as push and you have to have clips?

Larry Black: I was that way, too. I've been teaching a bicycle class for about 40 years now, ever since I started this store. And I would tell people you nee