Originally Posted by
Blue Denali
Having affordable bikes like this can help people that have families get into cycling.. and may even
help out the local bike shops. when you get ready for an up grade or need parts and maintenance.
If you think that the only way to get a road bike is to buy used or spend $1000.00 per bike. Then a lot of people won't even try. As a result they would be missing out on all the benefits of cycling.
Originally Posted by
squirtdad
Not trashing the bike....but Cigtech had the knowledge and skill to make sure it was rideable and safe (ie aligned break pads and adjusted shifting). There is no guarantee that a person buying the bike from the typical places that sell this bike will get a correctly put together and adjusted bike. Then if the bike doesn't work or doesn't work well or becomes misadjusted and the buy doesn't have the knowledge to maintainthe bike or there are no free adjustments from the place of purchase the bike rapidly becomes not used and then trash.
paying for adjustments and fixes can rapidly increase the cost of ownership
Originally Posted by
CigTech
squirtdad: I see where your coming from. But the people that don't know how to maintain any bikes will just take the bike to a local bike shop for maintenance. Just like most people do not know how to fix a Car, so they take the bike into a mechanic. The same goes for bicycles. I know a few people they don't even know I do fix a flat on a bicycle. So they take the bike to the local bike shop and have it Fixed.
The overall point I was trying to make is that affordability is not just the purchase price.....if a bike like the Denail ,which by cigtechs account can be a reasonable bike, but takes a little tweaking is purchased by someone who can't do the maintenance, either the affordability of the initial purchase price is soon gone in paying someone to do the work or the bike is not used.
On my soapbox: What people want (ie $150 MTB with shocks) vs what works and lasts are 2 different things. If we want people to have the benefits of cycling at affordable prices, we need to find ways to either make simpler more bombproof bikes (single speed coaster or english 3 spd) more cool (acceptable) or help with things like bike co-ops or working to ensure bikes are sold with simple how to maintain manuals