@#$!@$# the LBS.

spasticteapot

I really, really, really hate Budget Bikes.


I am not going to spend $500 on a Peugot that's older than I am, and nearly as heavy. I don't want their pitiful excuse for service (one free tune-up in the first, what, 90 days you own it?), and I don't want your insane prices.

For some strange reason (Budget Bikes certianly might not be helping), used bikes around here come in three flavors: lousy (sub-divided into "ancient" and "just plain cheap"), overpriced, and so far out of my price range that I can't afford them anyway.

I've been to some of the smaller bike shops in town, and while I intend to go to them for service, there's no way in hell I'm paying what they ask for a bicycle. $2,500 for something I use to pedal around town is simply too much.

I am not one of the snooty elitist asshole cyclists or "I make $150 an hour - just show me something expensive!" doctors who seem to make up half of the customers at my LBS, nor the "I want something with mad spinnerz, yo!" or "I'm too stupid to use a shift knob!" group that make up the other half. I don't want an all-carbon-fiber unobtanium-bearing magic-hamster frame, nor do I want the bicycle equivalent of, say, an AMC Gremlin.

gclark8

How about some Classic Aussie Steel, for just the price of the parts: http://www.cyclingforums.com/t403611.html

__________________
Cheers,
George.

Scotty_Dog

Sounds like you're in need of a bargain. If you have some knowledge base about bicycle quality, check Ebay for used bikes. For new, go here: http://www.bikesdirect.com/

__________________
"There is alot of blather here that does not float the hooey barge." boudreaux 11/22/2005

spasticteapot

Bikesdirect DOES look good - it's where I was hoping to order my bike from, actually. A bottom-of-the-line Trek road bike will run me $650 from the LBS, while a nearly identical Windsor Dover will run me $360. (Shipping is only $40, and I think I even get to dodge sales tax - which cuts another $35 off the cost of the Trek.)

Also, I personally would like to explain to Trek that their paint schemes are generally garish and stupid. I would like my frame in a nice red, orange, or black - I don't really feel like being a walking banner for the Discovery Channel.

bkaapcke

One of the interesting side effects of "offshoring" bike manufacturing is that a well engineered and made bike gets more expensive. The economies of scale just aren't there when you build for a limited market. And, unfortunately, the cost of 'real' stuff really is going up. C'est la vie. bk

spasticteapot

That's absolute BS. Offshoring manufacture does nothing for quality - or so says the plant manager for the GE Medical plant in China that makes MRI parts. There are millions of highly-skilled Chinese engineers every bit as good as those educated at many American schools, and tens of millions of highly-skilled workers performing tasks on production lines far more complex than assembling a simple bicycle.

Instead, it's demographics that killed high-quality bicycles. Due to the high cost of manufacturing in the US, making a low-quality bicycle was not much cheaper than a high-quality bicycle, so cheap bicycles simply were not availible. (Remember, once you factor for inflation, a $300 bike in 1980 would cost over $1,000 today.)

Once cheap bicycles became a possibility due to cheap Chinese manufacturing, the majority of the public - who do not appreciate the differences between a good bike and a bad one - bought them. Mountian bikes, which can be easily made out of great lumps of cheap steel, became popular, and as the demand for high-quality bicycles increased, so did the price.

Of course, the difference in price is not that big. Once you factor inflation, a bottom-rung road bike (not quite as nice as today's Schwinn Circuit) in 1992 costs about as much as a bottom-rung road bike today.

Finally, I'd like to comment on my bicycle - a Windsor Sora. It's not perfect, and I'm not entirely sure that the Schwinn might not have been the better choice. However, aside from some low-quality tires (big whoop) and a less-than-great crankset (for $360, what do you expect?), it's a pretty darn nice bike. Once I replace the crankset with something a bit nicer (likely a used Tiagra or Ultrega), it will be really very nearly as good as a $650 Trek - just at 2/3 the price.

bkaapcke

Sounds like you're not going to be happy at all. Bikes cost money. $500.00 is a small notch above entry level. You can do really well for $1,000.00, if you don't mind doing some upgrades down the road. It's just the way it is. If you like "sweet equipment", you have only a small financial problem. Get over it. Be glas you aren't talking about buying a boat. bk