You don't need an expensive bike for fitness
I see it all the time and perhaps you have too. Someone decides they are going to get into cycling and they immediately run out and get quite an expensive bike, probably buy the riding gear and all the accessories and this is before they even go on a single ride. This equipment normally ends up in the back of a garage or a bedroom not too long in the future.
Hey! It's your money and you can do what you want with it. I'm just here to tell you that you don't really need that stuff.
source
If you go into a bike shop with more money than sense, the sales rep is going to be able to talk you into an expensive bike because of course they know considerably more about it than you do. Cycling is incredible and of course the more expensive gear is better, but if you are brand new you do not need these things (yet) here are some tips for a bicycle that can change your life in a fitness capacity.
- Know your budget before you ever walk in the door - you'd be surprised what you can get for $300 or even $200
- online forums / 2nd hand bikes are likely better options than new, especially if it was looked after by someone who has many bikes
- Forget carbon-fiber, it is ludicrously expensive and come on! you aren't going to enter the Tour on your first go
This is my bike and with all the accessories (including the super-sexy plastic dog-basket on the back) it cost me less than $250. I ride it everywhere and I never have any issue with it other than obvious things like occasionally getting a flat tire.
It is steel, so that means it is heavy. Obviously getting a higher quality frame like aluminum would have been much lighter. but this would have also doubled the price. Since it was my first foray into the sport, i didn't feel confident enough to go for even mid-range. So steel it was.
Here is one benefit of a heavier frame: You will get stronger because you are basically carrying double the weight anywhere you go. Imagine how awesome it is going to feel once you upgrade later? You are going to kill it! Also, heavier normally equals stronger and this is the case with steel.
I also avoided brand names when I was shopping. There is no doubt in my mind that Giant, Trek, GT, Gary Fischer, etc... all make quality products but you have to be foolish to not realize that you are definitely paying a premium because of the name on the bike. I sometimes wonder if these bikes are all made at the same Chinese factory and then a company simply paints their own logo on the frame and pretends it is different. Marketing budgets are expensive in this, and any other industry. They have to make that money back somehow!
source
Whatever you do, don't buy all the pro-gear on the first day. You look like a dick-hole and you are not going to be going fast enough / far enough to justify the purchase of this expensive stuff. For example: A pair of normal shorts or swim trunks are like 200Baht in Thailand. I looked at some of the super aerodynamic biking shorts with the padded butts and they were over 2000 Baht. It was an easy decision to make.
Bro, you're right about the top brands. I always HAD to buy a Specialized mountainbike. Just because the champions rode those and ofcourse there is some beauty and proffesionallity in the looks of em. Frames also had a reputation of being the best. Then i saw the light. Because i was already passed the rookie level and going towards more mid class biker i wanted the hardware to be shimano XT at least and the derailleurs and breaks at least XTR. The fork should preferably a FOX and those on a Specialized frame. That price is going crazy high do fast. A specialized with all XT parts is already crazy expensive, let go with some XTR and a hood Fork. I know some people riding CUBE bikes, ordered online and delivered from Germany to the Netherlands. It has some kind of pricefighter reputation, but i took a look and, wow all the great parts i wanted on their frames, for half the price of a specialized. Say 1000 euro's and you get yourself a great bike to even take the rougher terrain trails with ease. I was interested. But then a Dutch bycicle factory came for the first time ever with decent mountain bikes. I ordered me a Gazelle W8, just because it was a lot of bike for the bucks, the color was cool, and after a first tour on it i knew for sure, this bike felt like an extention of my body, so perfectly did that geometry fit my body. And a light frame, great hardware, great bike overall. For me the best i ever owned, but at a well damn lower pricetag then a specialized.
Now I realize that buying a specialized would eventually be nothing more then a materialistic showoff of what i could spend on s bike. Just that. And i am so against that behavior so im glad i woke up in time.
Unfortunately my precious bike got stolen without it being insured at that moment.
But as we speak i am on the search for one on the second hand market. They are 7 years old do if i find one, it should be cheap as a MF.
your great story has such a tragic ending. :(
You are clearly know much more than I do but you bring up a very good point. Essentially the derailleur and everything involved with it is the most important part of the bike. Sometimes people don't even pay attention to this, just the name on the frame.
At $250 I can admit that my gear setup is less than perfect and wish it was a bit nicer, however, since i don't ride competitively and i am 95% on road, it works just fine for me.
I don't think i will upgrade my bike until a good deal comes up on a second hand sale for now.
Oh, also the lower shimano parts are great. It completely depends how hard you will let the bike work for you. If you use it mostly on the road, they will be great. Although i would choose either a real race bike or would go for a single speed, that saves you a lot of money for one of the most important and expensive parts. No more derrailleurs. Maybe just keep the front one and thats not the expensive one.
I thought i needed the XTR stuff, because i was going to take it to the beach and the woods. Rough terrain. Well XT would be good enough,and i think even cheaper ones would survive me.
Its mostly marketing what we fall for
I've been real happy with my hybrid tires although a vast majority of my riding is on-road. I just need to find some tougher inner-tubes though. I think having a single speed would drive me a bit nuts as I actually enjoy hitting the high speeds but yes... this would dramatically lower the price of the bike as I am quite certain the ONLY piece of semi-expensive equipment on my rig is the derailleur :)
You are spot on as how many people use it once or twice and just give up anyway. It helps if you can find a decent second hand bike to start with and go from there. Changing the tires to slicks would also help as I found out the hard way. I entered a race with the bottom of the range and the bike slowed down on a downhill. I wasn't expecting that but the treads were not good for the road and speed. The best place to buy a bike was at the finish line with all the failed cyclists with their $1000 dollar bikes.
ha! I never thought about that strategy of getting a new bike at say, a triathlon where people are angry at their equipment. I think I'll try that!
I could have bought so many bikes the last time and it was actually quite funny seeing these out of shape guys with these expensive bikes totally upset and crying. I think you would be doing them a huge favor as they have more money than sense.
The things are like: times of price give you fractions of seconds at the finish. So if you are not serious competitional athlet, you ain't need no superoptimised posh gear.
Posted using Partiko Android
totally agree. The guy I know that has a $1200 bike goes riding with me from time to time. He is more fit than I am and his super-bike does not outperform my $250 steel no-name bike (and $1200 is not really even that expensive when we are talking about the truly world-class gear)
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.
I think my friend has a Giant bike and he loves it. My wife and I have some old Diamond Backs that we got from my mom and dad. They are pretty uncomfortable, but they work. We used to take them camping with us, but we usually find ourselves just walking when we need to go somewhere now. We have a couple of bike shops around where I live and I know what you mean about them wanting to sell you as much as possible. I took our old bikes in to get them checked over and of course they wanted to sell me new ones! There is a big bike race North of where I live and I always laugh at the guys in all their gear hauling their bike up the elevator to their room because they don't want someone stealing it.