sixthreezero Women's Around the Block Women vs Body Ease | Comparing Bike Models

Hey guys, Dustin here, CEO of sixthreezero. Today, I'm joined with Peter, our head of quality control and customer experience. Today, we are going to compare the Around the Block to the Body Ease, the similarities, and differences and what each of them is good for. So stick with us.

All right. I am joined with Peter. Peter has over 20 years of experience in the bike industry, all the way from a bike mechanic, up to a store manager, to a sales rep, to here with us now as head of quality control and customer experience. Peter is going to give us his expertise on the differences and nuances that make these bikes similar and also different. We've got the Body Ease Women's and the Around the Block Women's. I think looking at it, you can tell already there are some definite differences going on here. I'll start us off just with some high-level stuff, and then I'll kick it over to Pete here and he can fill in the rest of it. Just high-level, this is a cruiser, the Around the Block is a cruiser. Cruisers are for casual rides, neighborhood rides, around block rides. Not to say you couldn't use it for longer rides, but typically that's designed for that type of ride.

The Body Ease is what we call a comfort bike, and a comfort bike fits into the category of hybrid. So let's refer to it as a comfort hybrid bike, if you will. Typically, hybrid bikes are more versatile. They can ride faster, they can go on different terrains and they can steer better. They're going to give you a little bit more versatility in the performance versus a cruiser. The high-level, riding position on these is going to be very similar, although your arm positioning is going to be different. On the Body Ease, you are going to have to lean forward just a hair, whereas the Around the Block, you're going to be in an upright, ergonomic riding position. Now, the advantage to that on the Body Ease, though, is you're still going to keep your body in a nice, relaxed position, hence the name Body Ease.

There's a lot of other elements from this bike that are going to help support the lack of tension and vibration throughout the body that we can get into, like the suspension fork, suspension seat post. But riding position-wise, you're going to lean forward just a little bit. The reason for that, it's going to give you more control over the bike, versatility, things like that. Now, there's a lot of adjustments you can make to the Body Ease to still keep you in a very ergonomic position. With that said, Around the Block has these sweeping handlebars that come into your body, that keep you relaxed. So a little bit more relaxed is the Around the Block. Little more casual, the Body Ease. You're going to lean forward just a little bit, but it's going to give you the versatility and the ability to do more with this bike. So, Pete, I'll kick it off to you, if you want to dive into some things, some differences, and other elements.

Yeah. This is a fun one because these bikes are very different. I don't know how different they look to someone who's just encountering bikes and just thinking about it. But to someone who's in the bike world, these bikes are very far apart in the way that they can be used and how they're designed. As Dustin mentioned, this is the traditional cruiser bike, beach cruiser bike that has been around for a very long time and it has the wide tires and then, the traditional frame. For the women's frame, it comes down a little bit, but it's still fairly high. That's one of the main things I like to point out about the Body Ease, is the step-through height and I'll get to that in just a moment. But this bike is really interesting, because with a hybrid, what you do is, you take parts of different styles of bikes and you take the advantages of those types to create or craft a bike that is good for specific uses.

In this case, we have a bike that is a pretty high-speed, high-performance bike and yet also gives you a lot of ergonomic advantages. So you got the speed and the agility, but you also have the comfort. And then, it's also really good for folks, if they have knee problems or some joint problems getting onto the bike. You don't have to lift your foot very high to get through it or to get onto it, to board. You don't have to throw your leg over the saddle. This has a very low step-through area right here. It's also very wide and that's one reason why the down tube right here is very wide. It's because there's no other support except for this one right down here. But that's a major feature of the Body Ease, that it's just easy to board this bike.

Also, we can compare the wheels. The Body Ease has road bike style wheels and tires, which is going to make it higher performance and faster compared to the beach cruiser style, also a higher pressure tire, so it is a quick bike. This is a quick bike. This will be a great bike for fitness, but for someone who doesn't want to be in that or someone who wants a performance bike, but doesn't want to be in that performance position. So you're still going to be sitting mostly, primarily upright, but you're going to have the advantages of the faster tires. Also, you have more control of the bike, like Dustin had mentioned because you have the straight handlebars instead of the cruiser suite and a more relaxed feel. For more comfort elements, the Body Ease does also have suspension forks, which means that they can go up and down and take out some of the absorptions of bumps on the road or if you take it a little bit off-road.

The same thing, there's also a suspension seat back here, seat post right here. This is the highest trim level of this particular bike. On this one, you can lock out the forks, so they can be rigid if you don't want to, and that a smooth road that gives you more efficiency. Yeah, these are very, very different bikes. This one has a lot of neat features that I don't think you'd find in any other bikes that I know of.

Yeah. I mean, the advantage to the Body Ease is, if you are someone that still wants to ride a decent distance, get a little bit of speed or get some exercise, but you're concerned about pain in your body or joints and things like that, Body Ease is great for that. If you're just looking for something casual, that will be easy on your body, the Around the Block is probably a better choice. So we're trying to blend here, comfort elements with performance elements while still focusing on your body.

I'm just going to run through some high-level differences. In terms of the speeds, the Body Ease is available in three, seven, and 21. The Around the Block is also available at a single speed. So if you are looking for a single-speed, the around the block has that. In terms of the brakes, the Body Ease, I believe, on the three, seven, and 21 has front and rear hand brakes, whereas the ATB on the single and three has a front hand brake, rear coaster brake and then, front and rear handbrakes on the seven and 21 speeds.

Just to run through, thicker tires, you can also add fenders aftermarket to the Around the Block. The Body Ease, I think you actually could, but currently, it's not something we offer. But you could find a thin enough fender that would work for it. And then, one thing Pete mentioned that I want to touch on too is, with the fatter tire, you're going to get, you're going to get... The tires are going to absorb the vibration of the road a little better, which is going to make it nicer on your body to an extent. You don't have that on the Body Ease, but where you make that up is in the suspension fork and the suspension seat post.

If you engage that fork, meaning allowing it to move up and down as you go over bumps and curves, things like that, the fork will absorb that, your body won't. Same with the seat post. So those are two huge advantages and the advantage to putting that in the fork is that you can decide if you want to use it or not use it. If you want to roll faster, lock it out, meaning the fork won't go up and down, you're going to roll way faster, way smoother. Again, just another performance element within the Body Ease. Seats are a little bit different. On the Body Ease, we have a slightly narrower cut, more of a flat sitting saddle versus this is sort of a saddle that needs to be tilted, because it cups the rear, whereas this one, you're sitting straight on top of it, both comfortable saddles. Body Ease a little bit more performance-oriented, but still super comfortable.

You can see the shape of it is a comfort-oriented shape. Again, little narrower, better for performance, less weight to carry around, more efficiency. In terms of the rims, the rims are a little bit different. Is there any quality element? Now again, as Peter touched on it, we do have some trim levels. This is the highest trim level for Body Ease. For the ATB also, the highest trim level. We don't want to get too much into the details of it, but the rims on the Body Ease on these two models are higher-end. If you're looking for a higher-end bike, actually the Body Ease is a more well-specced bike than the ATB, as they're available. So this model is higher quality in terms of the specs and the components than the ATB, from the rims, the tires, the brakes, things of that nature.

Back racks are the same. We have a three-piece crank. Again, that's more of a spectrum-level aspect. Handlebars. Oh, the one thing I was going to mention too is rider heights. Again, we have a body fit quiz on our website. You can take that quiz and it will suggest a model based on your height. But the Body Ease, actually because of this suspension seat post, you can replace the seat post, that's important to remember. But with a suspension seat post, the minimum height of the seat has to be about four inches up from the seat cuff. That means that you have to be about five foot four or taller to ride the Body Ease unless you change the seat post, which is a really easy switch. We could provide you with a seat post if that's something you'd like. If you like this bike, but you're concerned about the height, we'll mail it to you free, no questions asked, no charge. If you were to do it at your local bike shop, a seat post maybe 15 bucks-

Yeah, something like that.

... or 10 bucks maybe, it depends on the shop. But if you could change the seat post, that bike would accommodate someone about five foot or five one, depending on your inseam and things like that. But the ATB, straight out of the box, can usually work for women about five foot, five one, and up to about six foot, six one, depending again on the inseam of the five foot rider. But again, take the body fit quiz and if you have any fit questions or any questions at all, you can reach out to us or comment below. We're happy to answer those. But that is an important thing to think about. If you are a taller woman too, I think the Body Ease would be a better option for you, for the ATB, because you can get the seat up a little higher. It's got the straight bar handlebars. It's just going to give you more...

You can get your arms extended a little bit more too, it's totally... Again, in the Body Ease, you're going to be riding like this, with your hands like this. On the Around the Block, you're going to be riding like this. So this position, a little more relaxed, you can let your shoulders sink into it. In this forward position, it is going to require a little bit more tension on the arms. But again, with the right adjustments, still can be easy on your body. I think that sums it up.

I think we summed it up. Yeah. Two very different bikes. But again, this one would be for very casual riding, just out for having fun. This one would be better if you really want to get out there and get some fitness going on or travel some distance, but if you want it more comfortable than what you might find in an ordinary performance bike.

I think that sums it up. So again, if you have any questions at all, please comment below. We're happy to answer. You can always reach out to us by email, theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us, (310) 982-2877. I said it before, I'll say it again. Don't forget. Take the body fit quiz on our website. Our proprietary algorithm will take your answers, telling us about your lifestyle and your body, and suggest a bike that's specific for you. The best part, we have a 365-day return policy. So if you don't love your bike for any reason, within 365 days, you can send it back. No questions asked, no money out of your product. Thanks for sticking with us. Don't forget. It's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.

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