Bike Forums - View Single Post - Why no sub $1000 bikes

05-27-05 | 06:01 PM

#10

Brian Ratliff

Senior Member

Joined: May 2002

Posts: 10,123

Likes: 4

From: Near Portland, OR

Bikes: Three road bikes. Two track bikes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffbeerman2

I have been shopping for a new commuter / weekend road bike and cannot believe the prices.

I currently ride an older trek 1200 to work every day and have been looking at new bikes because
1 My bike cant wear 28c tires without rubbing
2 I would like fenders *and* 28s to fit
3 I would like a wider gear selection
4 newer sti setups are more ergonomic than my down tube setup
5 I cant put racks on my bike (no 'braze ons')

I have decided on either touring or cross bikes.

I want a bike that is road fast but allows me to install racks, fenders, and has newer technologies like sti

If a person is looking at strictly road bikes, he could pick up a decent ride like the trek 1000 for under $600. The cheapest cross bikes areTWICE that.

I looked at the Cannondale cross bike. Only available in one configuration and the only Cannondale dealer within 200 miles is asking $1350.

The Trek cross bike is around $100 cheaper but no one stocks it around here, special order only. Bike shops cant understand why I hesitate to order a bike I have never actually ridden. Wierd.

Surley web site goes on and on about how cheap the cross check is. I just left the only surley dealer in wichita: $1500. On what planet is $1500 a cheap bicycle?!?!

The only thing close I have read about under $1000 is the Bianchi Volpe. There is a bike shop only 6 blocks from my house which will order one for me. Next closest Bianchi dealer is 150 miles away. Sigh. $850 is getting reasonable, but what if I ride it and decide I'd rather just pay $500 more and get the cannondale. F@#$ing bike dealers. I dont want to get a bike based solely on what I read online. Is it too much to ask that I take the bike for a test ride?

I ride about 100 miles per week. If one more person justifies the price of a $1500 bike by telling me how much gas I'm saving I'm going to kill them. I don't cycle to save gas. I cycle because I enjoy cycling! It only takes about $6 worth of gas for me to drive the 100 miles I put on my bike weekly.

Am I crazy? Is $1500 what I should expect to pay for a bike? Is $1500 really reasonable to everyone here? Why is there no bike like the Trek 1000 with just a bit more tire clearance in the $600 - $700 range? Specialized has the Sirrus but it isnt available with drops.

Thank you for reading my rant. I'll go back to sanity now

Now you know why most commuters have tricked out custom rigs

. You can very easily get a road bike for $600-$800 and fit it for commuting. I have two bikes like this, one of which is a commuter. Cross bikes are more expensive because they are user specific and the market for cross bikes is smaller.

My advice is to pick up a road bike, put full fenders and a rack on it, and forget about a commuter specific bike. There is, as of yet, no such beast. Another piece of advice is to go for lesser known names in the bike world. Bianchi is known to be a bit spendy.

BR

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Cat 2 Track, Cat 3 Road.
"If you’re new enough [to racing] that you would ask such question, then i would hazard a guess that if you just made up a workout that sounded hard to do, and did it, you’d probably get faster." --the tiniest sprinter

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