u/Acklza

Almost exactly 2 years ago I had a massive disc herniation on l5-S1, and lumbar microdiscectomy, laminectomy. The recovery was slow and painful, and never went back to 100% normalcy. However, I now do a lot of stretching and core strengthening exercises which have helped a lot, and I take care of my back a lot. I am trying to get into biking again, but the bike that I have gave me a lot of pain in my lower back and could have been one of the culprits of my hernia. It is a mountain bike with a kind of leaning forward seating position with a seat tube angle of 75 degrees. I want to buy a new bike and was wondering what is the best seating position for people who have gone through lumbar microdiscectomy. I was looking into buying a beach cruiser type of bike with an upright seating position. There are also the recumbent bikes, but don't know if these would do any good. Any advice from people who have gone back to riding bikes after lumbar microdiscectomy?

I have a bike that I cannot longer use because of the seating position, which has given me a lot of lower back problems.

I would like to buy a comfort XXL bike that has an upright seating position and I can use mainly to go to Key Biscayne from Brickell.

Main things that I am looking for are:

1. Comfort
2. Quality
3. A bike that is not too slow.

I am 6'6" and weigh about 262 lbs. My arms are very long and need a big bike! I've narrowed it down to these bikes:

1. Specialized Roll 3.0: Upright seating position geometry and size looks good, but do not like the fact that it does not have a suspension system.
2. Giant Cypress 2: Has 9 speeds, large wheels, and suspension both in the front, and in the back seat. However upright seating position geometry does not look as good as the Roll, nor the adventure. The frame is also a bit smaller, even in XL.
3. Cannondale Adventure. Have not studied this one yet, but looks like a good option.
4. Trek Verve gen 2 or gen3? Same as the Roll, it does not have shock absorbers.

Can anybody recommend any of these bikes? Any tall cyclists with any of these bikes?

Thank you!

Looking for advice on a high quality wheeled cooler for the beach. I need the wheels to work on sand, and must have a capacity greater than 30qt and smaller than 50qt. Would prefer to spend less than $400. I have heard good things about yeti coolers, but came across this Grizzly brand wich is made in the USA and looks pretty good! I am not sure where the other two are manufactured.

Thanks!