The Critical Cycles Parker Step-Thru City Bike is going to be hard to say no to if you’re looking for something for a simple cruiser or retro Bike. NOTE: This is a women’s bike.

The value combined with the engineering make it an easy decision when looking for a bike in this range or style. Depending on discount, this could be as cheap as $69!!

The after sales support from the Critical Cycles team seems to be very good too with a customer help line. I love all the accessories that come with this bike too, it’s fully loaded and ready to go!

If you’re looking for a bike under $200 or even a bike under $100, the Critical Cycles Parker Step-Thru City Bike is the bike for you. Some retailers are selling this bike for only $69, possibly the color is the reason but I personally liked the white version of the bike that was selling for this cheaper price.

Latest link from Amazon below:

The Critical Cycles Parker Step-Thru City Bike components can be broken down into various areas that determine the quality. Each of these components can in isolation drop the overall rating for a bike review, simply because the weakest part may be the area which causes the bike overall to be lower quality, i.e. a low quality seat isn’t really an area for concern as opposed to low quality brakes or gears which make a bike unsafe or hard to use.

Frame: Light weight,  hand-built steel frame with fixed fork.

Seat: Comfortable padded seat with springs for shock absorption.

Pedals: Basic pedals.

Brakes: The braking is part of the pedal and drive train assembly, meaning if you need to brake, you reverse the pedal or push down in reverse on the pedals. This gets rid of the cables and pull system that you’d normally see on other bikes. Nice and simple, just be careful if you’re riding downhill to keep your speed under control as you won’t be able to stop in a hurry with this brake configuration as opposed to other bikes with disc brakes.

Gears: Single speed bike meaning you’re riding in more of a casual fashion, i.e. perhaps not designed for uphills.

Wheel set: Standard 700x32c size. The tires are Kenda Kwest Commuter brand so good quality. The wheel rims and spokes are nice looking without taking away from the overall look for the bike.

Weight: 36 pounds or 16.3 kilograms

If you use the bike a lot, you’re bound to need to do maintenance at some point. That might be as simple as fixing a flat tyre, adjusting the gears or changing brake pads.

The Critical Cycles Parker Step-Thru City Bike gets a good mark for ease and cost of maintenance. This is due to the fact that you’ll be able to do a lot of the work yourself. The wheels are able to be removed but only with a spanner so no changing without a toolkit if you’re out cycling. The seat can easily be adjusted too. Because there’s no gears or brake system other than the pedal brakes, there’s no maintenance required there either.

If any of the work is outside of your comfort zone, any bike shop will be able to do the maintenance for you due to the very common nature of the components and easy access to parts.

The bike gets a good rating for comfort. With the comfy spring loaded seat and nice upright position you should enjoy the ride.

One other factor to consider is the lack of fenders. If you bike to work in wet weather or on wet roads, you’re going to get a very wet backside. This is easily resolved with a low cost bike fender available from Amazon.