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Both camps are right!
Cheap bikes just don't ride nowhere as nicely nor do they last as expensive bikes do.
BUT! The worst thing about owning an expensive bike is owning an expensive bike.
It's a thief magnet and source of envy of other riders.
You really need to find a sweet spot between a quality bike and being able to leave it locked in the city without having pangs of anxiety of it being stolen.
Bike recycling is probably the answer. Cheaper, worse looking, but you can often find high quality parts and frames and repair it yourself
I think you're both idiots wasting money when you can get a perfectly good bike for like $200?
If you are doing any serious distance and/or are older there is a noticeable difference in comfort and efficiency over $1k. I rode shitty bikes my entire life. When I hopped on a $1500 bike I couldn't believe how much faster I could go and how comfortable it was. The transfer of energy into forward motion was wild. That being said I bought my bike for $100 off of Craigslist 10 years ago.
10k? 1k? What??? 😂
When I arrived in that country, I bought a 2nd hand bike, for daily commute. I overpaid. A lot.
That bike cost me 300 😅
I refuse to believe hobbyists are spending $10K on bikes, or commuters are spending $1K.
I can barely accept that the going rate for used bikes is over $200.
I couldn't believe it either, so I went to the Trek.com site.
I hate this decade.
1k for a new high quality bike has been normal for 10-15 years. Anything beyond that has hugely diminishing returns.
If you want everything for a full shimano 105 set, that alone will cost you like 600$ or more. Then you still need a frame and wheels and saddle etc
Buying used is really the best play with bikes.
If you want an electric bike, the price goes up fast.
If you want one with a belt so that it won't take crazy maintenance not to degrade over the winter, it goes up faster still.
If you want storage for your purse and whatnot, a bit more expensive still. A good large basket is more expensive than you'd think.
As someone who repairs bikes for a hobby this all sounds insane. I paid like $10 for my back rack with folding baskets
I can easily believe a commuter ebike hits a grand.
I just never assume anything with a motor when I encounter the word "bicycle".
The bikes I am looking to buy for the purpose of commuting over mixed terrain is in the $800-$1,400 price range (as of last year before tariff stuff). I don't currently own a bike but I have owned and ridden a number of bikes in the past. The couple of hundred dollar bikes from like Walmart are just trash that don't hold up. They fall apart pretty quickly under heavy riding.
All of this assumes one is buying new. If we are talking used then all of the above is somewhat a moot point.
Even within new the kind of riding matters a lot. If I know for a fact that I would only ever be riding on smooth paved roads then an old fixed frame street bike with skinny tires and very basic brakes and gears would make a lot of sense. There is zero chance that bike is going to be switching between road, grass, gravel, mud, and some of the other terrain I would be commuting across though.
Even lower-midrange level road bikes are now at least $1k. Its a ridiculous market.
I actually think throwing a lot of money into a bike isn’t a bad idea. They easily last a life time; and if having a really nice bike incentives one to use it more; it’s totally worth it. Whatever it takes to keep you out of a car is good in my eyes
The only problem preventing it lasting a life time is that they easily get stolen.
Damn. I have been spending so much effort trying to convince myself NOT to buy a new bike. Then this guy comes along.
I think a bike should cost $100
Mine cost like $200
Fixed speed, it's ok i guess
What is the advantage of fixed speed over variable?
Not much at all, in general they are harder to ride. Especially in hilly places.
There are less gears so that aspect is maybe easier to fix. Slightly lighter due to less gears, but it is only slightly. Maybe other things?
It's a bit like iPhones of old, crossfit, and veganism. You won't ask about them but the people who use them will tell you about it anyways.
How do you know someone isn’t vegan?
Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.
Theyre a lot of fun to ride if you're not going ip and down alot. The pedals are fixed to the gear so it keeps 'pushing' your feet around if you try to stop pedaling without enough resistance, which takes some getting used to, but in general it feels like you have alot more control of the movement of the bike, especially at lower speeds, and since each pedal is always a constant amount of movement forward, it can lead to a very fine feeling of movement and control. Any of those bike dancing videos are done with fixies, as are bike polo games usually. And yeah, theyre significantly easier to maintain and fix.
I think of it more like vinyl. It doesn’t actually sound better, but it’s fun.
Bike moves in concert with you— legs go forward, bike goes forward. Legs go back, bike goes back. Simplifies everything, it feels more like an extension of yourself.
It's perfect if you hate yourself.
I knew I'd be a summer casual rider so bought a 2nd hand road bike for €300 18yrs back.
Still have it, can't justify getting a new one as it just.. works
Kinda sad that e-scooters (as of like 1-3 years ago), are now cheaper than a decent bike for the same price.
Are more portable tbh. (Especially on the train)
As someone that has a $11k bike I can clarify some things.
I have a Wilier Granturismo SLR. About ~90% of the components are carbon fiber. Carbon Fiber, especially high end carbon fiber isn’t cheap. Besides the bike; my wheels, pedals, parts of the cranks, handlebars, saddle, saddle post, and probably some other things are carbon fiber.
I always hear people talk about getting carbon fiber components for cheaper because you have a shit tin of Chinese companies come in and steal these bike companies IP and make shit frames. Look at Chinorellos, shit ton of Chinese companies steal frame designs and re-make them with shit metal and the bike falls apart after a year.
Another thing…why does any give a fuck how much my bike costs? My dad is an audiophile guy and my bike costs as much as 1 (not a pair) of his speakers, and he has a mid-range system. Cycling is something that I love, I ride almost everyday and will spend hours and hours on the bike. I’d gladly pay less than $11k on my next bike but when you get into the higher end market you’re going to pay more, that’s true across almost ALL sports or hobby activities
You and your dad have extravagant hobbies and live in a world most people cannot relate to. The vast majority of people on earth will never enjoy spending so much money and free time on their hobbies.
Yeah, it's just a silly meme. I would spend a lot of money on a bike if it was my hobby. But here I am getting shamed for spending as much as 1k for a bike, which I thought was the bare minimum for a daily driver.
I'm living in Denmark. When You walk out the door, you have to watch Your step, not to trip on a bike. When it's windy, the bikes roll around the streets like tumbleweed.
either of those cost more than my motorcycle.
why the fuck are you guys paying so much for pedal bikes.
My bike was like 50 bucks. It’s shitty but it gets me there. And no one tries to steal it.
It’s definitely not as fast as a fancy road bike though lol.
Mine was $20 from a thrift store, plus maybe $40 in parts. Also a pos, but it's a pos that will get me there
I have a fixed gear from state that cost a bit over $500 3 years ago.
It's my beer and dinner fetching machine. I ride it everyday (the longway) to my local store for ingredients for dinner
3 years and 3000 miles later
I have had to replace 2 chains, 3 rear hubs (my own mistakes... check your lockring or blow up a hub), saddle, grips, cog, lockring, Pedals (went from flats to cages and am now on SPD), replaced original brakes with Shimano brakes and have gone through A LOT of tires.
I think I am in it at like $1500... Tools I don't want to calculate but building and truing wheels is a very relaxing thing to do
Here's a picture of it loaded up. I think that I was getting ready for a party
Its pretty anti-fixie
I bought my bike for $800 in 2008 and it has followed me around the country. I'm hoping to add some power to it this summer, lots of life left in her!
My gravel bike and all the safety gear totaled $600, it is my primary transport across my mountain town. We are not the same.
