Originally Posted by JeffS
Not to pick on you, but this is a perfect example of our common contradiction.
Teenagers get USED cars. We're not standing around asking for more $7000 Daewoo/Yugo/etc cars so teenagers can drive.
I have been surprised, especially in this forum, that more new riders aren't directed towards used bikes more. Yes, they don't want to spend a lot of money, and yes, they don't know what they want/need, but that's the whole point. Most of the time, a $150 used bike will be a vastly superior product to the $150 new bike.
If we really wanted bicycles to be considered a viable form of transportation we would treat them as commodities instead of disposable toys. This cannot be done by the majority of bike retailers who make their money off of new bike sales. It's like expecting the makers of the "ab blaster" to care whether you use it or not.
And as a general rule the average American doesn't want used the want brand new. Those of us that haven't bought into that particular load of crap make out like a bandit at thrift shops, yard sales and flea markets
My LBS quite often will have a pretty decent fleet of used/trade ins to sell. If one that is in my size sits too long I will get a call from them asking if I am looking for anything
I have bought several that way.
Aaron
