After reading this forum for a few months and seeing a lot of the typical "Drop 500$ on x hybrid and spend 300$ on lights, racks, panniers, fenders, shorts etc." I sometimes wonder if we over complicate things.

My introduction to bike commuting was on a 40$ mountain bike from a garage sale and using my old high school backpack.

I had fun, I was comfortable, I never got hit or hit anyone, and I got to experience all of the pleasures of bike commuting with an entry barrier of 45$ (5$ on a lock).

Sometimes I get the impression folks here think that's impossible. That any used bike is going to need a tune-up, new tires, tubes, replace all the cables so on and so forth.

Want to know what maintenance I did to that bike? I pumped up the tires until they looked about right, didn't even measure the PSI. Aside from not being able to shift into the smallest chain ring, and the shifting feeling a bit clunky in general, it rode just fine. Rode dirt trails, did muddy off roading, got on the road, crushed limestone paths etc. All after it sat in a garage for an unknown number of years.

My current bike is definitely nicer, faster. Not using a backpack makes me more comfortable. Having lights is safer. But if someone told me to spend 800$ to bike commute I would of lost all interest.

What do you think?