If you don't mind the expense, you might want to consider an electric bike; I found them to be just as fun to ride as regular ones. You can set the e-assist level low enough to exert serious effort when you want to, or just turn off the engine entirely, and conversely set it high if you're tired or your knees hurt.

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[-]Robert Miles6y40

Sorry if you know this, but it may be helpful to others: If cycling gives you joint pains that's sometimes because the bike isn't set up right for you. There are obviously different sizes of bike and also a few different adjustments that can be made to fit your particular dimensions, and not all of them are obvious or easy to get right, so it might be worth taking the bike to a good shop and asking them to set it up to fit you.

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[-]waveman6y40

I rode to work (20km each way) for six years rain hail or shine.

Hurting knees can be due to riding in too high a gear. Or by riding too far, or not having rest days. Maybe start with Mon Wed Fri and then move to Mon Tue Thu Fri. If the distance is substantial, even MTTF may not be viable. A more efficient bike made a big difference to me (your bike looks quite inefficient, from a cursory glance - heavy, no clip-ons, etc).

One thing for men to watch out for is pressure on the groin area from a too-narrow seat. This can cause lasting damage to nerves and to the prostate.

I found bike lanes useless unless protected in some way (e.g. by raised dividers). Many car drivers bitterly resent bike riders, in part due to bad behaviour by some riders, so you are at risk from cars.

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[-]renato6y30

Hurting knees can be due to riding in too high a gear.

Another common mistake is having the saddle height too low, forcing you to bend the leg too much and putting more stress on the knees to move the pedals down. Even a few centimeters (~5cm) can make a big difference, but it will feel strange at the beginning and it take some rides to get completely accustomed to the different movement.

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[-]DanArmak6y20

I found a dropper post to be a great help with that. It's much easier to figure out the right height while riding and not having to dismount to adjust it. And anecdotally, it sometimes feels better to adjust it up or down by 5-10 millimeters, maybe due to different clothes or shoes or posture or surface grade.

Note: even the cheapest dropper posts costs around 100 euro (from a cursory Google search). People who aim for cheap bikes often don't consider them. If you can afford it, consider if it would be a small investment into your comfort and longer-term health.

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