So I have “new” bike (subjectively) about 9 months. And I spent about 2000 € on it (bike, and some accessories - rack, bags…) and I can tell that it is lot of bike for not that much money.
So now when I look back I can’t see it as “expensive” bike, just as reasonably priced for its purpose. I use it every day to commute and as bikepacking/touring bike so now it has ~6000 km.
So how much are you willing to spend on bike?
Edit: So I read your comments and I probably need to clarify little bit.
- I use the bike for everything instead of car so even nicer more expensive bike for me is justifiable.
- I also think that the bike industry is bonkers right now about shiny new expensive things.
- For me there is few types of riders and all parties try to upsell them some shit, there aren’t any 500€ bike with flat bars and rigid fork where I am. All of the bikes at this price point have shitty suntour fork, bad saddle, useless pedals and shitty tires. From my perspective they are expensive on the parts that don’t matter and cheap out on stuff that matters. If someone sell something like that (flat bar gravel with quality parts where it matters) it would be gamechanger.
- I had to build my bike, nothing like that (full steel gravel/bikepacking/do it all bike) wasn’t on the market/second hand market. It add to the price a bit. And it was about month before the prices get down to reasonable levels after pandemic.
I don’t have a car and biking is my main form of travel so, like you, I decided to treat myself to something nice, as in new and not second hand.
190€.
In two years I changed a wheel and two tires: 45€.
Also, if you are into environmental impact, please avoid Aluminium: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/02/can-we-make-bicycles-sustainable-again/
Like 190€ new? I see the garbage that is sold at this price new and don’t see any point in these bikes.
On the other hand second hand bikes at this price point are pretty solid (if you know where to look for them).
Edit: like sold here
Yep 190€ new and surprisingly I never show up late bespite how garbage it clearly is.
I absolutely think that it is possible to build solid bike at that price point. Unfortunately all I see here are bikes that use really cheap parts so anything usable starts at 500€.
I can get really nice second hand bike from bike shop near me at this price you can get usable bike under 100€ maybe even 50€. He goes through everything, repairs it and sell them.
I forgot another key factor: the ease of mind and flexibility of parking it anywhere without the looming fear that it will be stolen.
If they steal it it’s not the end of the world AND they don’t want it anyway because it’s cheap.
Yeah I have an option to park it inside my workplace. So it is big plus that I don’t have to worry about it most of the time.
Yeah, let’s not hyperanalyze bike sustainability. If you are riding a bike for commuting, you are drastically more sustainable than if you chose to drive. There isn’t any strong reason to try to muddy the victory.
Sure, some people are just into min-maxing stuff like this. I think the more interesting information is about the impact of bikesharing and how an electic bike can be more sustainable than a traditional one.