Originally Posted by jasandalb

Not true....I happen to not be a dr, lawyer, "wealthy" man.....my wife and I dont drive luxury cars, and are just hanging on...Ohh, and we have a 4 1/2 yr old son. Spending $50 on gear is a big deal for us...so you can imagine when I said that I would be investing $300 to get into cycling. When I wanted to get into biking I saved for a while and found a good deal on a used bike on cragislist.

I went to 3 different LBS's and got three different answers. 1 high end, cozy store said I would be dropping $700 to get involved and that I couldnt find anything "respectable" for my price range. 1 shop tried to sell me a steel rust bucket....both these shops spent all of 5 minutes with me before moving on...the last shop I went to the guy took my info and spent about an hour just getting a feel for me and what I wanted to do....told me to try cragislist and that he would ask around too. I found a 00 cannondale r300, with clips, shoes, pump, computer and bag for $300. I go to my friend at the last shop for everything...tune up, or just advice.

So biking is not for just the rich and white.....its for everybody.....but not everyone can be an "elitist" as some people push themselves off to be on this site...or on the road for that matter. We can still keep up and can lead the pack for awhile on our downtube shifters that we cant fling around with our pinky fingers. We are the ones who have to be concerned with prices and need to save every extra penny for bike gear.