The 11 Best Beach Cruiser Bikes

Frame: Beach-cruiser bike frames are typically made from either steel or aluminum, the latter being lighter and more durable, albeit pricier. The difference between the two is weight, says Lee Oldak, owner of Amagansett Beach and Bicycle Company, and the fact that aluminum won’t rust quite as quickly. Whatever they’re made from, the best cruiser bikes have a stretched-out, step-through geometry that allows the rider to assume an upright position, or even lean back as they pedal. “Which is a lot more comfortable for your knees, and also allows you to touch the ground more easily,” says Chelsea Kulp of Long Beach Island’s Shore Brake Cyclery. She adds that riders who haven’t been on a bike for a long time will feel more confident on cruisers.

A poorly designed cruiser bike will have a cramped frame and cheap parts that rust and rattle. For that reason, our experts suggested avoiding mass-produced cruisers from brands like Huffy, which Kulp says have a smaller frame that will provide a less relaxed ride. They’re also somewhat disposable, being only “meant to last 30 or 40 miles in their entire lifespan.” Rockaway Beach Cycles co-owner Marjorie Grassini agrees: “Those are the ones people end up putting the most money into. They could have had a beautiful, brand-new bike for the same price.”

Gears: Classic beach cruisers are single-speed. While this might mean some occasional huffing and puffing, the trade-off is basically never having to service the bike or think much while riding it. Even so, most manufacturers will now allow you to upgrade their cruisers to either three-speed or seven-speed gear systems. Several of our experts suggested that a few gears are worth the investment if you don’t live in a totally flat area. “People are not keen on going for a single speed unless they’re really quite young,” says Rocky Wood of Bike Palm Springs. “Three to seven gears go a long way, there’s less resistance, and you can cover more ground. It’s a nice plus.” What you choose will ultimately depend on your lifestyle and budget.

Brakes: Another trademark of beach cruisers is coaster brakes, which require pedaling backwards to stop. Whether or not you’re down to coast is “definitely a generational thing,” according to Wood. “It comes down to how you learned to ride a bike and whether you grew up with a coaster brake — those people tend to stick to that style.” He personally finds it much safer to have two hand brakes on his cruisers, and most of the cruiser bikes recommended here do offer coaster brakes as standard, with hand brakes available as an upgrade. If you’re looking for anything more advanced, a cruiser might not be for you. And keep in mind that the more moving parts a bike has, the more maintenance and know-how is required — which doesn’t necessarily fit into the beach-bum lifestyle. “Some hybrid bikes will have hydraulic brakes, but typically not cruisers, which are oriented towards people not maintaining them,” Kulp explains.

Best overall

Electra Townie Original 7D

From
$630

Aluminum frame | Seven-speed | Hand brakes

Californian brand Electra kicked off a beach-cruiser movement in the late 1990s when it started manufacturing fat-tire bikes that resembled vintage Schwinns. “They came out with these beautiful bikes, beautifully engineered and painted really nice,” recalls Brad K. Evans, founder of Bike City Mag and the weekly bar-crawl ride Denver Cruisers, who became a “cruiser guy” during this era. Oldak explains that the Townie is beloved for its clever “foot-forward” design that’s easily spotted all over the Hamptons. “Typically on a bike you’d have the seat up far enough that there’s only a slight bend in your legs, and you can’t quite touch the ground,” he says. “On the Townie, the seat is positioned behind the pedals so when you’re resting, your feet are flat on the ground.” More of a contemporary cruiser, Townies come with seven-speed Shimano shift gears, as well as pull brakes on both handlebars. Comfortable to ride and cute to look at, these quintessentially SoCal bikes are our best overall pick for anyone serious about adopting the (extremely unserious) beach-cruiser lifestyle. (Which might explain why they’re the No. 1 selling cruisers at Amagansett Beach and Bicycle and available to guests at both the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach and Hyatt Regency Newport Beach.)

From
$630

at Mike’s Bikes

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$630

at Trek Bikes

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