Originally Posted by
oldbear63
No, you are just more frustrated! Its all part of keeping up with the pack. Your "bad bike" is miles better than a good bike of 100 years ago.
I love my "good bike", but what keeps me putting in miles on it is that it makes me competitive with the rest of my friends. (OK, and it doesn't hurt my back or knees).
Whether it's a" better " workout depends what you are working out for. All things other than bike being equal, the good bike is likely to give you a more aerobic workout, meaning you can maintain the workout longer. You're probably going to need to apply more torque on the pedals on the bad bike to keep it moving, so it's better for leg muscle building, but probably worse for sustainable cardio.
There's an argument to be made for going back and forth between the two, but I would find that difficult to maintain psychologically.
Just in terms of performance, the riding characteristic of bikes with Claris or worse I find most frustrating is the really crappy shifting. I actually find riding a heavy bike kind of fun in a bizarre way, it really works my legs hard, and going up a hill on the good bike feels like flying in comparison. I just think if I regularly scheduled a day or so of riding on such a bike regularly, that day's riding would feel like a chore, and I never want my riding to turn into that. I'm a cyclist because it's fun, otherwise I would just stick to the gym.
I see people who have to ride because they have no car using the same Walmart bike for years,btw, so I'm really not a fan of the bso label.
Maybe a better thread might be people who have succeeded in getting decent department store bikes explaining what to look for. Might be a little more helpful than the usual "spend a bit more money than you have or look on Craigslist" advice that most people post here.