Firmstrong Urban Man Beach Cruiser Bike for Men - Comfortable Single Speed Bicycle with Classic Design - Perfect for Beach Rides, City Commuting & Leisure Cycling

Perfect for a big guy. I'm 6' tall and 290 pounds, I'm 40 years old. I Have been wanting to get physically active, outdoors and I love bicycling. Problem is, most bicycles are not made for a big guy. This bike is rated for 300 pounds. I have searched for YEARS to find a bike that could carry me with out bowing the frame, bending the rims after a short ride or popping the chain. This is MY bike.Let me tell you the pros-1. Coaster brake means fewer cables and less adjusting, honking, squeaking and just general BS associated with bikes.2. 36 spoke rims, front and back, heavy gauge steel great for carting 300 pounds of Me with out a lot of maintenance.3. NEXUS 3 Speed Internal gear hub- this means I get some gear reduction for mechanical advantage on the hills and a nice 'around town' gear for when I need power. This is WAAAAY better than a single speed bike (unless you are a teenager or live on flat ground, skip the single speed) and unlike derailleur style bikes, the chain is fixed on 1 front sprocket and 1 real. The chain does not change gears, the hub does and all your troubles go away (unless you are a serious mountain climber and need all those gears)4. Surprisingly, this bike is light. It's just about 38 pounds, fully assembled.5. The beach cruiser style is a nice upright position with plenty of knee room, no knocking the handle bars or odd body position.6. The seat is serious comfort, 2 springs, nice and wide and the Firmstrong logo in white looks classy as hell.check out the pics I have added.7. The detail in the hand grips is beautiful. Nice simple leather wrap with baseball glove stitching over foam. See the pics.8. It's just a damn good looking bike. Retro classic style, with just 1 cable for the rear hub, the lines are clean and maintenance is near nothing.I have a 31 inch inseam. The bike I bought has a 17 inch frame. I was a little sketchy on the size, at first, but standing flat footed and straddling the bar, it's a comfortable height. I raised the seat up high and the handle bars, too. When the pedal is down, my leg is fully extended so I'm getting the most out of every crank, no short changing.Update 1:10 days in...I have been riding an average of 15 miles per day, I have ridden every day since I got it Aug 1, 2016.I started out in a beach town, all flat riding. I use it for commuting around town and for playing Pokemon go so there is a lot of on and off, sudden stops, close quarters turning, speed up and slow down. Pokemon go beats the hell out of a bike and this bike can take it (so far).The seat remains comfortable for hours of riding and my body is okay because the body position is nice and natural.I have been back home in suburban New Jersey for 3 days and have used it to commute to work. Lots of hills, bridges, steep inclines that take 1 to 3 minutes to ascend in the easier gears. I'm VERY glad for the 3 speed over the single. Potholes are rough, the frame is stiff with no shock absorption. Because I'm big, I go on and off curbs where there is a curb cut or access ramp. Otherwise I get off the bike and pick it up. I do not want to wreck that back rim.On my suburban terrain, I'm not struggling to keep an 11 mph pace and it's plenty fun and comfortable for my 4 mile each way commute to work and home, plus a lot of time in the parks, bike paths and paved trails where we ride with the kids for leisure.10 days in and I'm pleasantly surprised, I'll keep you posted.UPDATE 2:35 daysI changed the tires to Orange Kenda (the same it came with, just orange instead of white wall and added Slime Nail Proof tubes), For commuting to work, I added an Ibera Pak Rak Commuter Bag and some safety lights.I have ridden this bike, now over 500 miles, the wheels are solid, the spokes are good and tight. The frame is holding up nicely and the seat remains comfortable. Nothing appears to be deteriorating.Here is the Amazon link to the RakPak https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LBHDP9O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1Update 3: a little over 1,000 miles, now, about 50 days in.I have done 50+ mile riding days and routinely commute to work on this bicycle. I have gone to New York City and tested this bike in traffic, up hills that I would rather forget, down steep hills and busy sidewalks.1 flaw I'm starting to find, now, is the rear wheel. The spokes are starting to break. I went to the bike shop to have 2 spokes changed and broke another one on the way home. All on the rear, where the weight is.The repair is about 35 dollars at my shop, that included 2 spokes that were 2.00 each so the cost is in the labor.If I'm goi g to be commuting year round I can see I will need to get into a serious bike upwards of 1,000 dollars but if you are going to the park or riding around down the shore, leisure, and not doing 500+ miles a month commutes, this nBike is tremendous fun and a great value.I purchased the 3-speed cruiser in orange, and I think this is a great bike. I find the design and coloring pleasing to look at. When I ride it, it seems like other people are looking and appreciate it too. Maybe they just enjoy me enjoying it.I had a little problem because I ordered the fenders too and came up missing a nut (don't laugh). Firmstrong sent a set of replacement nuts and bolts as soon as they could, so I absolutely recommend the company and commend the service. Assembly is relatively straightforward but might be a challenge if you aren't familiar with the tools you might need. I had to flatten the rear tire to allow the wrench enough room to tighten a fender bolt. The directions indicate removal of the tire might be necessary, but I thought that might lead to a whole bunch of complications considering the gearing. The fenders by themselves are a little delicate and the paint scratched easily. I recommend binding your wrench handles with electrical tape (if they aren't already rubber coated) and using a cloth barrier to protect surfaces near the nuts as you work (if you can).The ride was a little stiff on the first go on the street. However, I adjusted the air pressure in the tires, and it smoothed out some. I'm currently deciding whether to mess with the seat springs or if it's worth it. I really want to use it on the beach. I think that is where it will be most comfortable.This review is for two FirmStrong bikes purchased at the same time. One Bella Fashionista Woman's and one Urban Men's. I will post the same review for both. My wife and I decided we wanted another form of exercise besides running. We rode around to the local bike shops and test drove a few bikes and decided a cruiser style was most comfortable and since we weren't commuting or planning on doing a tri anytime soon, we'd go with that style. The LBS cruisers ranged between $500 to $1200 depending on how they were equipped. That seemed a bit steep to me for a hobby I'm not sure I'm even going to stick with so I started my usual internet search.After reading countless reviews and stumbling through just as many websites, I decided to go with a FirmStrong bike. It seemed that for the money, overall it was the best deal. We like not having gears to shift and cables running all over the place so we decided to go with a single speed with coaster breaks. We found MUCH better availability of colors with the single speeds than we did the 3 and 7 speeds. To make it a little more useable, I purchased SRAM Automatix 2 speed hubs that I'll have the LBS lace into the rims (not done yet). With these we'll get the advantage of an extra gear while keeping the ascetics of the bike in tact.The bikes came from two separate suppliers with two different shippers. Usually Amazon Prime orders go really smoothly but lately many of my orders have been coming USPS instead of UPS or Fedex. I worked from home on the delivery day and around noon I got notification that USPS had tried to deliver my bike and nobody was home. Clearly that was a mistake as I hadn't left the house and there was no "We missed you" sticker on my door. After running around to two different post offices, and dealing with surly, unhelpful government employees, it turned out that my mail lady and her supervisor arbitrarily decided not to even load it on the truck! She was just going to come by and stick the notice on my door without even trying to deliver it! So much for home delivery! PATHETIC USPS SERVICE! Once I found where it was and convinced them to allow me to pick it up at their "no public service" facility, I had to load it up and take it home myself. Good thing I drive a truck and not some little car. In sharp contrast, the other bike came FedEx. It showed up exactly on time and the driver carried it into my garage and was friendly and cheerful. I wish I could click to decide which carrier delivered my prime deliveries. I'd pay more for that service just to avoid USPS at all costs.The bikes were packed well although the Urban was packed significantly better. Neither had any damage. Assembly was simple and straight forward apart from a missing fender screw on the Fashionista. I got it done in about a half hour for both bikes with a crescent wrench, a philips screwdriver and a 6mm hex key. No instructions, but if you've ever done anything with a bike, these are as basic as it comes.As for quality, that's another area I'll have to ding these bikes a bit. Here's the run down on the areas it looks like they shaved a little cost off compared to an Electra or other LBS bike. Cranks - They are forged steel one piece cranks and are functionally fine, but the forging is rough. It's not so rough it would snag on your pants, but it's close. They paint them so its not really obvious and they work fine, it's just cheap. The paint - The matte black was smooth but very, very thin. When I say thin I mean one coat sprayed on thin. If you look at it sideways, it's going to scratch to bare metal. I got the Urban in Emerald Green and from a distance it looks great. But when you get up to it, it’s a different story. It has a bit of metal flake to the finish and it leaves a rough to the touch texture on it. I quick buff with some polishing compound and the roughness is gone. The grips are foam garbage, be ready to replace them immediately. Lastly is the construction. I found loose bolts, over tightened bolts, missing screws, and little to no grease in the bottom bracket. All easily correctable, but it’s still more time you need to invest.I did have one big problem with the Fashionista. When my wife took it for it’s first ride down the street she commented that it didn’t pedal very smoothly. I figured the bottom bracket bearings were dry. When I took it apart to grease them, I found that the right side bearing was bent and missing two of the bearings. They weren’t rolling around in the bottom bracket so that means that it was installed that way! No harm done and $2.16 invested at the bike shop for a new bearing and a liberal application of grease and it’s smooth as butter.I guess the moral of the story is and has always been, you get what you pay for. If you buy a bike from the LBS, you will get all the same components and basically the exact same bike for twice the cost. BUT, you will also get a competent bike mechanic to put it together and test it before you pick it up. You will get someone local who will stand behind their work and none of these nagging little issues will become your issue to fix.All that said, I am satisfied with these bikes. For what we want them for, they are fine and look good. I’m pretty handy and these bikes are pretty basic so getting them up and running correctly and maintaining them will be no issue. Even with the little bit of aggravation and unexpected surprises, I still have an extra $600 in my pocket from what I was going to spend at the LBS and frankly, my bikes look better and now ride just as well. So, if you are handy and mechanically inclined, go for it. If you want something that you can take out of the box and just ride, do yourself a favor and give the LBS some business.Es una bici muy cómoda y simple, no tiene equipo, ni cambios, ni cables de nada ni nada, es solo una bici muy cómoda y fácil de conducir, es de buenos materiales, se ve muy bien hecha, pero solo la recomiendo para personas que la quieren para pasear tranquilo en lugares planos.Seat impossible to tighten!!! Frustrating! Didn’t put it together within 7 days so I do t image we can get any support!Esta increible, me llegó en menos de una semana. Yo nunca había armado una bicicleta y fue muy sencillo hacerlo. La recomiendo muchoExcelente calidad