Originally Posted by
americandream
The bike shops treat you that way because you go in there not willing to spend any money. They're going to show you the door pretty fast. You have to know what you need to pay for a quality bicycle. You want quality too. The car comparison really doesn't work. However, it wouldn't be smart to buy a car that wasn't safe to ride. It wouildn't be smart to buy a new one that wasn't put together properly or would likely have big problems after just 100 miles and begin to need to replace parts on it. You'll end up spending a lot more on the car then it's worth.
Buy the quality bike and your bike shop will back it. If you only ride casually then you won't need to worry about much maintenance, just make sure you keep air in the tires.
The bike shop can't pull things out of your head and they can't sell you a bike for as cheap as Walmart. So if you go in not knowing anything and setting a price-point below what they sell for then there's nothing they can do for you. You can't get a bike there or at any other shop for that money. They're offering you good prices.
I would definitely shop around and find a good reputable bike shop though. You're going to need to spend the money if you want the bike, and it will be much better in the long run.
This really doesn't equate to what I ran into. Theres a big difference between what you are stating and my walking into a shop and an owner only pointing me to bikes in the 1k range stating I will hate the bike and hate riding unless I spend that kind of money. I understand the concept of "top-down selling" I guess you could call it, but in this case there was no moving down. It was that level of bikes or nothing. The shop I ended up at was much more laid back and willing to find a bike that would suit me at a decent price. As others had said and as I have found out, $400-$500 can buy a nice bike that does what I need it to do. While I was hopeful that I would have been able to get something sub $300, I never gave any of the LBS's the impression I wasn't willing to spend more.
For those that commented on the saddle, thanks for the feedback. I figured that it would be worthwhile giving it a good 2-4 weeks to settle in. I need to look into new shorts as well, as the ones I have only have a single, small back pocket with no zipper or other means to keep contents secure.
My wife and I went back to the local shop last night. She had rode our neighbors bike - one that was purchased from Target. I figured it would be a good comparison to see if she felt it was worthwhile to purchase something more robust. She said she was able to feel the difference immediately. While I was trying to get her to look at bikes that are more functional, she wanted something that looked "pretty" too. She settled on an Electra Townie. The owner of course didn't think it was as nice as the Trek's or Jamis that were available, but that it should suit her needs. Hopefully it will turn out to be a good choice.