From the post bag (actually from the post comments):
Jacob Can you tell me what kind of bike you have/price range? I am buying a bike that I hope to use for scouting and at least 3 days/week for work. I am a 45 year old female and in good/healthy condition. The sellers I spoke to all recommend different brands. They were useless. thank you JL
Although I already gave an answer, I thought about it a bit, so here is an expanded answer. It depends on several factors. For example, I ride a road bike and I like to go fast. I treat my commute to work like a race (all within the traffic rules – yes, I’m the kind of guy who will wait at a red light at 3am when no one is around). When I stop at intersections, I chase cars across (and usually win) and when I see another cyclist, I think “his ass is mine” rather than “Aw, that’s cool, bike buddy. I enjoyed the ride/ saving passenger fuel/…” . I also do interval training on the bike and since I started I’ve added an inch to my legs, lost 5 pounds, and lowered my resting heart rate from 55 to 45. My bike has no racks and no braze-ons for racks. .
I bought it new at a local bike shop and paid $1300+ taxes. They spent 1 hour measuring it for me adjusting the height, length and angle of the seat, handlebars. When I found a loose crank later on, they tightened it for free.
Now, you might think this is a lot of money for a bike, but how much did you spend on your car? Considering this is my main transport I thought I would pay a little for quality. The good thing about bicycles is that it is very easy to buy high-quality equipment
. So while I wouldn’t pay $25,000 for a mid-range car since I don’t get any joy out of driving it, I would certainly pay $1,300 for a mid-range bike.
There are few other places, where it is possible to buy the best (or almost so) without getting incredibly rich. You have to change your intention a little. Instead of buying high-end sports cars, you buy high-end “sport” bikes. Instead of collecting rare designs, he collects custom made handmade knives. Instead of buying store brand soda, you buy Coca Cola, luckily, I choose Sam’s Cola (Walmart brand) over Coca Cola.
I got my previous commuting bike for $35. That was a $70 Walmart mountain bike bought used from a professor who was leaving campus. Was that a bargain or a no-brainer? Yes, it was really cheap, and the bike sucked. The front brake broke so in the end I had to stop early as my brake length was about 20 yards (my ride was off road and flat so it wasn’t much of a risk). I got a gel seat for 25c at a sale. That saddle was stolen. Realizing that I was surrounded by seemingly elite young students (I was at a university known for its ethical standards), I realized that I could leave the bike parked unlocked when the crank finally failed. Sure enough, within a day someone stole it. Good riddance and problem solved. Was it economical? Think about this. It took 30 minutes to walk and walking used to be my main mode of transportation. The bike ride took 10 minutes, but I was able to run the distance in 15 minutes. Since the bike had no bars, riding was not an option when it rained (which it always did). From that point of view the bike was economical and saved me 10-40 minutes a day at times and the only way the bike was used was commuting as the drivers in that area were apparently getting hit points for the cyclists.
So choosing the right bike depends a lot on the conditions for which you will use it. Will you use it every day? Will there be exceptions like rain or snow? Do you ever go off road? Do you need to carry anything like clothes or groceries? How fast do you like to go? How far do you need to go? And do you ever plan to do anything else with the bike?
Now that I’m older, wiser, and also.. better looking, eh.. can I buy a road bike again? No. I would sacrifice a few pounds (my bike weighs 18-19lbs, just a few pounds over $15,000 Tour de France bikes, a cheap steel bike probably weighs 25-30lbs) for more braze-ons, the ability to use oil they are oily. tires and take it off the road (my current bike has a 16 front 24 read.. if I hit a big rock or drive off a curb, the tire can come out of alignment). Today I would get a touring bike because it is as fast as a road bike (for me), but comes with the ability to mount cargo and add durability (higher spoke counts, lower gears, and extra holders for more water bottles). It would also work for my commute and better for my long distance events. I’m thinking something like a Surly Long Haul Trucker (about $1000 with cheap features, I would upgrade to at least 105, because the Tiagra shifters just annoy me) or a Rivendell A Homer Hilsen (about $3000).
Another thing to consider when buying a bike is that the ride is likely to change. An untrained person will feel uncomfortable riding a road bike. The saddle is too tight, the handlebars are too far down so the back and neck hurt, etc. After a few months, this will change. If you buy a “relaxed” bike, then unless you are a “relaxed” rider, the slowness, spin-outs, and lack of aerodynamics will start to annoy you as you get more fit.
Perhaps one idea is to look at what kind of car you like to drive. If you could drive anything you wanted (remember price isn’t so much a bike’s objection as it is a car), what kind of car would you be driving? A sports car? An SUV? A Jeep? A van? A sedan? Consider the distance of your commute and multiply by 7. This is the comfort level. For example, if your commute is 5 miles, imagine driving 35 miles on a Jeep with knobby tires (a mountain bike), would that be fun? Probably not, unless you like Jeeps. To find the price level, take the price level of your car you are considering and divide by 25. That would be a lot to spend on a bike of the same size, probably.
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