E: Let’s all talk about what bikes should or shoudn’t cost
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Funny story, a few years ago, I did an 85-mile ride organized by a local club. I rode my commuter, a.k.a. my only bike. It was a city bike (IGH, dynamo hub, etc.) with a list price of about $1,200. To me, it was a pretty expensive ride, but wow, did I catch a lot of attention for doing a long ride on such an inexpensive bicycle. Maybe it was also the regular clothes? The other riders had $3-4,000 bikes, padded shorts, Lycra jerseys, the whole kit.
It wasn’t even that taxing of a ride, on a rail-to-trail with basically no grade, done in about 7 hours!
Pro-tip: buy a £350 bike every 3 years, if you live in the city.
Cons:
- slightly ratchet
Pros:
- can leave it anywhere and it won’t get stolen
- can treat it like shit and it will still keep going
- still beat more than half the spandex babies commuting because they’re afraid to accelerate in case it stretches their chain.
- no stress when it eventually falls apart
Pro-tip: buy a bike once. It’s not as if they expire or something! There is no good reason a bike shouldn’t last decades and decades, as long as you keep it maintained. My utility bike was manufactured circa 1990, and it works just fine.
(Well, unless it has an aluminum frame, anyway – those really do wear out eventually because aluminum has no fatigue limit.)
That’s the thing, a back frame bent even just by 3 degrees becomes unsalvageable, and if you’re riding a bike such that you’re not testing the frame to some degree then I’d argue that you’re not riding at all :-P
Steel is real.
I have two bent steel frames from beautiful French bikes that I had to sadly say bye bye to
Every Dutch person in this thread: what the fuck is testing your frame?
going off the road, popping wheelies, carrying heavy parts, cornering at extreme angles with a heavy load, that kind of thing
Bent in which way?
Rear triangle on a steel bike can be straightened out if you are careful.
Front triangle shouldn’t have issues unless it’s bad from the start. (that requires a table and skill)
Only bike I have straightened was a steel huffy (not worth working on)
It had a head tube that was twisted so wasn’t fixable… Rear was easy enough to align though.
Front triangle I just swap out the stem, but back triangle there’s nothing I can do to fix that without weakening the frame even more
They don’t expire, but they do get stolen. Especially if you’re using it to commute.
Depends on what kind of storage infrastructure is available to you. When commuting, I can lock my bike inside a bike room at both ends, which requires a badge to open. The chance of my bike getting stolen on a commute is very slim.
My approach to laptop computers
My approach to phones too
can leave it anywhere and it won’t get stolen
Sadly a £350 bike will also get stolen. Happend to me twice for bikes worth even less 😢
See, your mistake was treating your bike well. The secret is to cover it in grime and piss to the point that even you’re not sure if you want to ride it
Most cities I’ve lived in any bike not locked up will be stolen pretty quickly.
oh no, I mean definitely lock it up. Just expect a lock to do nothing on an expensive bike. A cheap bike? Someone’s coming back for it, it’s not up for grabs, but maybe it’s not worth grabbing
People buy bikes and don’t just repair old abandoned ones?
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’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.
I just wish I could bike to work. Not really feasible for me to bike 50km each way. Can’t afford to move closer either
Have you considered starting your morning routine 6-7 hours earlier?
nah, that’s only ~2hrs each way
I dropped 10k building out my forever touring/commuter bike, but only 1600 of it was the frame. The rest was all higher end components.
Then it got folded around the front end of a car, along with myself. Now it’s over 12k since I had to replace the frame and few other bits and bobs. Thankfully I had good insurance, otherwise after the hospital stay and recovery it’d be closer to $500,000 because America.
But fast it aint. Pretty though.
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!
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)
Bandwagoning for my little community for cyclists https://feddit.uk/c/casual_cycle_uk
Awesome, subscribed! (It’s easier if you link it as [email protected])
Thankyou
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.
This is more a problem of where you live.
Damn. I have been spending so much effort trying to convince myself NOT to buy a new bike. Then this guy comes along.
I somehow managed to end up buying two used bikes from 1988 and 1990, and after upgrading them with microshift components, I’ve spent only about $400 total.
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.
why am I still faster than u
I dunno, mostly strength, endurance, lung capacity, heart strength, blood pressure, weight, general outlook on life…
I love general outlook on life. Mine always peaks at about the fourth mile on a bike, and hits the lowest valley at the fourtieth mile in a car (though in a car worse means faster.)
You pay 1k euros for a 1k bike. I use my tax money to ride a 10k bike to work.
We’re not the same
