GONE WITH THE SCHWINN OLD-SCHOOL WHEELS ARE OUT - AND NEW TECHNOLOGY IS IN - AS BIKES PEAK.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

Remember that first shiny 10-speed you rode as a kid? It would be a museum piece now. Kind of like your first computer - a product made obsolete by improved technology.

OK, maybe ``obsolete'' is too strong a word. If you rode it today, that steady Schwinn still might take you where you want to go, and as fast as your legs are able to pedal it. However, you would likely find yourself being left in the dust by bikers with greatly advanced equipment. And the person riding that new equipment - whether he was sitting hunched over a custom-built road bike or slouched, armchair-like, in a high-tech recumbent - wouldn't necessarily be some Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong wanna-be. With today's bikes, she wouldn't need to be.

From stem to their multispoked sterns, today's bicycles are lighter, more compact and a heck of a lot more comfortable than their ancestors, say bike shop owners, sport advocates and longtime riders. Chalk up the improvements to better technology, but also to manufacturers responding to a competitive marketplace. As with a computer, your money simply buys more now, whether you're shopping for a new ride or upgrading your existing one.

As a result, people are going into bike shops and asking to be fitted for a ``comfort bike,'' a genre that grew out of the road and mountain bike hybrid. On a comfort bike, the seats are softer, the tires will be wider, you'll probably get a newfangled suspension system (front and back), and the handlebars will be positioned for minimum backache potential.

Sound kind of like your favorite armchair? All the better to accommodate the scads of exercise seekers who are trading in their running shoes for plastic helmets and garish clothes (which are also getting more comfortable.) Data compiled by the League of American Bicyclists, an advocacy group and membership organization, indicates a surge in the number of riders over age 50.

``The overall participation in cycling declined slightly last year from the year before, but we seem to be finding a lot more older people, above age 50, getting into cycling,'' says Patrick McCormick, the league's communications director. ``A lot of people who have been physically active for much of their lives are finding that running is a little too hard, that they're getting knee or back problems. So they're switching and getting into cycling.''

That's not necessarily a trend noticed by Valley biking enthusiasts, although most agree the bikes themselves have come a long way. Better bikes will mean more riders of every age, they say.

``There's a lot of custom building. You're getting a lot more for your money. The technology is more affordable, and it's being mass produced. You can buy a very good bike for a lot less than what you would have had to pay five to 10 years ago,'' says Norm Avraham, owner of Cycology in Sherman Oaks. ``I just think bikes are getting interesting and very sophisticated.''

``A lot of older people are taking up biking; younger people too,'' said Maria Lewis, membership vice president of the nearly 400-member San Fernando Valley Bicycle Club, which has seen its membership increase by nearly a third in the past year. ``Biking is easier on the body for people who can't go out running or play tennis. Bicycling is really easy on the legs and the rest of the body.''

Well, maybe not the entire body. As anyone who has pedaled a few miles will know, human beings possess a certain lower region which - despite a cushion of built-in padding - will get sore after continuous riding. Of course, just as designers have tinkered with every other part of the basic bike, they've revamped the seat. Gel-filled cushions and cutout wedged saddles - like the one manufactured by Body Geometry - are designed to ease numbness in both the rear end and the genital areas.

``It's no longer like sitting on a two-by-four,'' says Bob Winning, secretary of the SFVBC and author of ``Short Bike Rides - Los Angeles.'' ``Of course, when you go out and come back from a 75-mile ride, your butt's going to hurt.''

Softer seats are perhaps the most notable improvement, but they're only the beginning. Improved suspension systems, with the addition of carbon fiber parts, are giving mountain bike enthusiasts reason to spend more time bouncing along even rougher terrain. You can improve your cushion capability in the bike's front fork and in the seat post, both of which now have accordion-like shock absorbers.

``That's the biggest technology jump for mountain bikes in the past 10 years,'' says Erik Wochna, who works at Cycle World in Reseda. ``The early forks had very little travel and spring rate. Now you're getting more travel as the weight has come down.''

The new material means that an advanced suspension system won't add a lot of excess weight to your bike. If not quite as light as the sleekest road bike, mountain bikes are certainly less weighty than they were in the past. In fact, the only addition likely to make a bicycle more cumbersome is also designed to make riding easier for the cyclist who balks at hills - a rechargeable electric motor.

But don't expect to see too many motorized bikes in the bike club ranks. Most riders would rather go for the comfort of a light and compact bike than be loaded down with equipment they won't use.

``They weigh as much as five to six bicycles,'' Wochna says of the motorized bikes. ``It's a big compromise, especially if you have to pedal it.''

The construction and positioning of handlebars has also been a much- welcomed modification in the past 10 years. Gone are the bars wrapped with electrical tape, replaced by cushioned bars with cork lining. Strap on a pair of gel-like gloves and your hands won't tingle or get numb. And with wrist-flick gears placed on the handlebars, you no longer have to take your hands off the bars to switch gears. According to Winning, road bikes will have the comfort advantage over mountain bikes in the hand arena since they have multiple positions for the hands while mountains bikes have only one.

``It hasn't been an overnight thing,'' says Winning. ``Carbon fiber bikes were introduced, gradually progressed to gel gloves, to better padding for the shorts, jersey fabric and padding on the handlebars. The mountain bike suspension has literally been perfected in the past year or two.''

Woody Beck, co-owner of the Bike Wrench in Canoga Park, says the next innovations may come with the electric bicycles. The manufacturers have a whole new set of designs on the drawing board, from three-wheeled bicycles, to bikes that can be fold-ups, to bikes that are almost automobile-like, coming soon to a roadway near you.

``A lot of people are interested in those,'' says Beck. ``It's great, actually.''

Local bike clubs:

San Fernando Valley Bicycle Club, [phone]; www.sfvbc.org

Conejo Valley Cyclists/Conejo Velo Club, [phone]; www.cvcbike.org

Oxnard-Ventura Bicycle Club, [phone]; www.ncplus.com/ovbc

Los Angeles Wheelmen Bicycle Club, [phone]; http//lawheelmen.org.

CAPTION(S):

13 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 6 -- cover -- color) Today's bikes are more comfortable than your trusty old 10-speed.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(7 -- color) Members of the San Fernando Valley Bike Club follow their Woodland Hills meeting with a ride to Westlake Village.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer

(8 -- color) Improved suspension, sleaker design and lighter materials makes even mountain bikes more comfortable to ride.

(9 -- color) Comfort is the issue in the design of new bicycle seats, which feature gel-filled cushions and cutout wedged saddles.

(10 -- color) Suspension systems help cushion the blow to riders who veer off road.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(11 -- color) The concept of ergonomics was not a major concern in the design of early bicycles, like this 1892 Victor high-wheeler, or ``penny-farthing,'' which sold for $130.

(12 -- color) This Shire Boneshaker from the late 1870s was welcomed by older riders, who found the balanced wheel sizes and low saddle easier to manage.

(13 -- color) This 1890 Fowler by the Hill & Moffat firm of Chicago shows that bicycle design was becoming more modern by the turn of the century.

Box: Local bike clubs (see text)