Nice bicycles are stupid expensive.

[senseamp]

Don't see a problem in investing good money in a piece of equipment you are going to rely on for your safety, enjoyment, fitness, and for a lot of us bike nuts, keeping us sane.
No matter how crappy week you had, get on a nice mountain bike and ride some killer single track, and you will quickly realize what a bargain the money you spent on this hobby is.
Or get on a nice road bike and just go, nothing but you, the road, and mountains to climb. Stuff just stays in tune and works well, like a well designed instrument.
The only people I see regretting spending so much money on bikes are those who end up not riding them. Those who actually use their bikes are generally on the lookout for the next upgrade.

 

[Farang]

For new bikes, you can really notice a difference when you spend $800-$1200. Anything above that is mostly paying for reduced weight, which for most of us is not an important enough issue to pay thousands more for. Anything below that is really hit or miss Walmart type bikes, although I've seen some exceptions.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: Scouzer
I don't mean Walmart bikes. I mean if you want to get any sort of quality brand name, you're looking at the high hundreds or thousands of dollars.

This really struck me when I saw a classified ad for a bike that went along the lines "Bought new for $3000, selling for $1800. Will trade for a car or trailer"

...a bicycle... for a car. Crazy. What's there to a bike? Not much in terms of parts.

Glad I bought my bike used off a coworker for $25. The front wheel is bent to hell and rubs against the brakes, big deal.

I don't get it. These bikes must have markups that rival the fashion industry.

A good bike gives you better seals around the bearings. This is one obvious difference. Also, the bearing areas are replaceable instead of being part of the frame on your Wal-Mart bike. So when a good bike has bad bearings, you can actually fix it! But with the better seals, that isn't going to be an issue.

Also, good bikes weigh less and have many other advantages. As a mountain biker a lightweight front suspension bike is the way to go. Oh, you also get clipless peddles which makes things that much better

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: Scouzer
I don't mean Walmart bikes. I mean if you want to get any sort of quality brand name, you're looking at the high hundreds or thousands of dollars.

This really struck me when I saw a classified ad for a bike that went along the lines "Bought new for $3000, selling for $1800. Will trade for a car or trailer"

...a bicycle... for a car. Crazy. What's there to a bike? Not much in terms of parts.

Glad I bought my bike used off a coworker for $25. The front wheel is bent to hell and rubs against the brakes, big deal.

I don't get it. These bikes must have markups that rival the fashion industry.

A good bike gives you better seals around the bearings. This is one obvious difference. Also, the bearing areas are replaceable instead of being part of the frame on your Wal-Mart bike. So when a good bike has bad bearings, you can actually fix it! But with the better seals, that isn't going to be an issue.

Also, good bikes weigh less and have many other advantages. As a mountain biker a lightweight front suspension bike is the way to go. Oh, you also get clipless peddles which makes things that much better

Imagine riding a Wal-mart bike on single track. The front "shock" aka "spring" would give out after a few minutes, leaving you with a very dangerous rigid fork. The wheels would warp and crack. Try to jump it, and the bad welds would split the frame in half.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: Farang
For new bikes, you can really notice a difference when you spend $800-$1200. Anything above that is mostly paying for reduced weight, which for most of us is not an important enough issue to pay thousands more for. Anything below that is really hit or miss Walmart type bikes, although I've seen some exceptions.

WHat? Anything below $800 is Walmart type bikes? Anything above $1200 is just weight savings?

There is so much fud and misinformation in this thread it's ridiculous.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: Farang
For new bikes, you can really notice a difference when you spend $800-$1200. Anything above that is mostly paying for reduced weight, which for most of us is not an important enough issue to pay thousands more for. Anything below that is really hit or miss Walmart type bikes, although I've seen some exceptions.

WHat? Anything below $800 is Walmart type bikes? Anything above $1200 is just weight savings?

There is so much fud and misinformation in this thread it's ridiculous.

Word.

 

[GasX]

Here is a link to the bikes of the various Tour De france teams. I link directly to a bike with a price for your reference...

enjoy

 

[Safeway]

http://www.bicycling.com/tourdefrance/tourbikes/2.html

Bike pictured is $17,300.

 

[Homerboy]

http://www.thesupercars.org/to...top-10-list-2007-2008/
WTH? $1.7M!!! Cars have gotten so expensive!

 

[Mardeth]

Some dont flinch at spending $1000 for a watch. And there are alot more expesive watches than bikes...