PEDAL POWER: DIFFERENT BIKES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES

With the return of daylight-saving time and warmer weather, more people -- young and old -- are taking to the roads on bicycles.

But Bob O'Grady rides his bicycle year-round in almost all kinds of weather, ice and snow being the exceptions.

O'Grady is a chemist with Golden Cat Corp.'s research center near Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport.

Each morning, rain or shine, hot or cold, O'Grady gets on his mountain bike at his home at 2026 Robin Hood Circle and heads for work. He bikes down Perryville Road, cuts over to Caruthers, then out William to South Kingshighway, and south on Interstate 55 to the Nash Road-Airport Road. O'Grady said the trip takes about 30 minutes.

O'Grady is not alone in his love of pedal power. During the past 20 years bicycle riding has become extremely popular. A renewed concern for good health and physical fitness, coupled with the pleasure of riding, has been the main force behind the growth, says Eric Gooden, owner of Cape Bicycle Cycling and Fitness in Cape Girardeau.

A native of New York, O'Grady has been riding a bicycle most of his life. He moved to Cape Girardeau a year and a half ago after serving in the Army as an armor officer in Germany. There, he rode a bicycle on business and for recreation and fitness. O'Grady, who was a colonel, once toured the post on a tandem bicycle while conducting an inspection of the post.

While in Germany O'Grady had a 21-gear, tandem, mountain bicycle custom-made for him in California and shipped to Germany. In July 1992, O'Grady and his wife, Kathleen, rode the bike from Germany to the port of Le Harve on the English Channel coast. From there they rode the ferry to Rosslare on the southeast coast of southern Ireland, where they toured 700 miles in 10 days.

"It was a blast," said O'Grady, whose family came from Ireland. He can speak when he wants to with an authentic Irish brogue. "A tandem bike is an automatic conversation starter, so we had no trouble meeting people over there," he said.

Biking runs in the O'Grady family. His 16-year-old son, Brendan, and 8-year-old daughter, Katie, both enjoy riding. Katie particularly likes to ride the tandem bike with her father.

Bicycles have been around since about 1790, when the first bicycle, a wooden scooter-like vehicle called a celerifere, was invented in France. But it has only been since the mid-1970s that bicycles and cycling have become a nationwide recreational and health-fitness activity.

The first bicycle was powered by the rider, on a seat, "walking" the bike with his feet. The first pedal-powered bicycle was invented in 1866, and the first bicycle akin to today's bikes -- both wheels being of equal diameter -- was invented in 1885.

By the late 1800s about four million Americans were riding bicycles. The only other source of transportation at that time was walking or riding horseback. The automobile was around, but in small numbers. Shortly after the 1900s, with the growth of the automobile industry, the number of bicyclists in the United States plunged.

In Europe and other parts of the world, where gasoline remained scarce and expensive, bicycles continued to be a chief and cheap source of transportation for millions of people, as they still are today.

Americans rediscovered bicycles and cycling in the mid-1970s, at about the time of the Arab oil embargo, when the price of gasoline went through the ceiling. Until then bicycles had been mainly for children and teenagers.

Today, there are designated bikeways in parks and along city streets. In many university towns -- Carbondale, Ill., is one of them -- bicycle lanes line one side of the traffic lane.

There are five basic types of bicycles manufactured today.

The middleweight bike hasn't changed much in 30-40 years. It has large, low-pressure balloon tires with Bendix coaster brakes and no gears. It weighs about 30-45 pounds.

The BMX is so named because it's used in bicycle motocross racing and is popular among teens and children.

The high-riser, or banana bike, with its high-rise handle bars and banana-shaped seat, is also a popular bike for kids who like to do wheelies.

For the serious bike rider, young and old, there is the light-weight bicycle with thin, high-pressure tires, turned down handle bars, and three or more gears. These bikes are sometimes referred to as English racing bikes.

A more recent development has been the all-terrain bicycle, or mountain bike as it is sometimes called. The ATB is distinguished by its horizontal handle bars, large tires that can be inflated to high pressure for on-the-road travel or deflated to lower pressure for off-road use. The ATB has 15-21 gears, which make it ideal for use in hilly terrain.

Speciality bikes include the tandem bikes that carry two or even three people.

Gooden says the ATB has become the best seller in most stores. "Mountain bikes are a lot more comfortable, a lot more stable," he said. "They are more enjoyable to ride because of their lower gear ratios. It's not the number of gears that makes the difference; it's low gear ratio that makes it easier to ride up steep hills in this area."

Who rides bicycles? "It's a full cross-section of our society, starting with the 4- or 5-year-old on a bike with training wheels to young people, adults and senior citizens, who continue to ride for fitness, pleasure, and even for daily transportation," he said.

Gooden said biking is much easier on the body than running, and is more convenient than swimming. "So many people who run eventually develop problems in their knees, ankles and feet," he said. "Just about every month somebody comes in to buy a bicycle who is crossing over to cycling because their orthopedic doctor sent them in."

Of teenagers, Gooden said: "When they get their driver's license we loose them for a few years. But when they start college and have to watch their money, a lot of them come back to bicycles as a cheap and alternate form of transportation on or off campus."

Gooden said the price of a bike depends on its type, the workmanship and the quality of materials used. "It's like buying a stereo: You pay for what you get," he said.

Gooden said bicycles today range from about $70 for a child's bike to $100 to $160 for an ATB in a department or discount store. The more expensive bicycles, which can cost as much as $2,500, can only be purchased from bicycle dealers. They are usually the lightweight bicycles such as those used in the Tour de France bike races.

"The higher quality bike comes in different frame sizes to fit each individuals's height," Gooden explained.