IMO everyone that bikes should ride the way it pleases themselves. In so many of the threads, the "real" cyclist try to dictate how, what, where, what to wear, what saddle, and what bike is acceptable to ride. To begin with not everyone has $10,000 to spend on a bike, so price is the prime point of what one can ride. Then there road bikes, mountain bikes, fat bikes, fixies, bents, and trikes, and gravel bikes. Pick the type or types of biking you like and buy the bike that works best for that style of biking.

Then-------------- ride at the speed and cadence that feel right to you. If you want to train for and race that is fine too. Just remember if that is not your bag, as I say, ride to please yourself. Cycling should be fun first.

I disagree with the premise of this thread. Who advises anyone to spend $10,000 to get started? Almost nobody. And as for what to buy, what to wear, or how to train or ride, people give advise in response to questions from other people. It is sort of the point of forums like these. If the answer to every question is, ride what you like, spend whatever you feel you can afford, and wear whatever you feel like, it would make for very short discussion threads.

There are two things to think about when a beginner is choosing a bike.

1: Fit
2: Style

#1 can be commented on by us successfully. If you're 6' tall you won't be riding a 48 cm road bike. But #2 is mostly personal preference, which we all have opinions for. However, even some of that can be commented on by us. If you're going to be riding primarily on roads, why by a mountain bike?

So yes, a person SHOULD ride what they want, but they may get a lot more enjoyment out of the sport if they have a bike that is the right size for them and the right style for them.

And to the OP: No one on this site (other than perhaps the road racing forum) would suggest buying a $10,000 bike. For road bikes, we say the entry level is ~600-1000 dollars, and we're not wrong. Anything below that and you're getting a heavy(er) bike with components that are likely to wear out quickly. So by buying a more expensive bike, you'd be saving money in the long run and enjoying yourself more along the way.

For a mountain bike that's actually going to be ridden on trails? I'd say for a hardtail the minimum purchase for a decent bike is $1000. I bought an $800 bike and it's... ok, would have been much more happy if I bought the $1000 version. For a full suspension, you're getting up into the $1500-$2000 range for a decent one. (I know less about full suspension bikes.)

Now if you're a casual rider, you can easily buy a $300-$400 bike and be perfectly happy. Anything less and you're getting a wal-mart bike.

Probably a big waste of money to buy a cheapo bike-- like buying a cheap treadmill to use as a rack to hang your clothes on...

Generally I see people making the recommendation of buying the best bike one can afford but that's in the bottom end lower price points, which makes a lot of sense. In fact, I would say the most common group lever that's recommended is 105, a solid mid range group that comes on many bikes in the $1000-$1500 range. As far as gear, once again I see people recommending house brands such as Performance Bike and closeout sales for brand names from various vendors.

Sure these are price ranges that may be out of reach for some but there is going to be a vast majority of us who will eventually get to those prices ranges. And I feel many, also like me, spend money of those lower levels only to find I should have spent more once than working my way there in steps leaving a surplus of cheap items in my wake.

I think I know where the OP is coming from, and I also understand the use of hyperbole to make a point.

A year ago, I bought my Specialized Sirrus. It was and is a blast to ride. Never mind that when I posted a pic on FB, one of the first comments was "REAL bicycles have drop bars."

And I do see some of that on this forum, in the Road Bike section.

I chalk it up to mentality of Ford vs Chevy, NASCAR vs F1, OSU vs Michigan, etc. People have brand loyalty and sometimes allow that to overshadow their sense of politeness and decency.

To the OP, if this has been your experience here, please do not allow it to sour you. I'm new as well and have already learned a LOT of good things. This is a great community!

You ride a 'bent? WTF? How do you even go up hills? You need an old French bike like me!

Just kidding, of course! Agree 100% with what you said. I get a lot of good advice here, but most of it has to be filtered through how much it really applies to me and what I am doing. That is fine now that I know what I am doing and how things apply to me, not so much as a beginner.

Bad advice is harmful. When I started getting back into biking, I was told nothing short of a full carbon 105 equipped bike would suit my needs, at $1500-2000. I'd have been fine spending $500 on something used, but no LBS where I lived at the time wanted to take that price range into consideration, and eventually gave up. Kept riding my old MTB-turned-commuter on the rail trails that summer, and had the girl I met that summer not liked biking enough, I may well have given it up completely.

IMO, its not just this site. In fact this site is probably more lax than most bikers are. But the biking culture in general are snobby competitions. Its like everything has to be a competition from what bike, to what wheels to what clothes to how fast ....... I just want t o ride. Not everybody and like I said here is even more lax than what I see on the streets.

That said I see it n the kayak fishing industry also.

Seems like everyone is missing the point of the thread. No one is saying to buy a bike that doesn't fit. What he's saying is that some here and in real life, judge what others ride, wear, spend and look like based on their own needs and wants and not the needs and wants of the other rider.

What I always say is that you can't buy a bad bike (even a Walmart special has its applications) but you can buy the wrong bike (a Walmart special is the wrong bike for fast group rides).

Well, BUYCYCLING Magazine would have you believe you need a fancy, fairly-expensive bike. Otherwise... ride what you like (or can afford) and nobody else cares.

Ummmmm....

What if what pleases themselves is to be considered serious cyclists™?

+1. And I have to wonder if the OP can think of a better that cycling to please himself.

Well .... how can we Possibly take advice on cycling from a guy in a Recumbent?

The funniest part is that in another thread a week ago we were discussing an old article from The Guardian or somewhere about how cycling had been taken over by middle-aged buys in spandex with fat bellies and fat wallets, hyper-competing everywhere because they were unwilling to accept mid-life crises?

General consensus was: it hadn't.

And we held up as an example: Mr. Rydabent.





(yeah, we all get it.. but if you didn't think this as going to start and argument ... you wouldn't have posted. You're a veteran here. (You could post "I like cycling" and get a fight on these boards.)) heck yeah ... i'd throw the first punch just see the hilarity unfold for 17 pages.

+1. Riding a recumbent is not real cycling.

Couldn't disagree more-- you can make anything do (and it doesn't take much to get from an apartment to a beach bar with a coconut full of margarita or backpacking from the frat house to Biology 101), but... a real love of bikes and cycling comes from an appreciation and fascination with what seems to me to be an ingenious and continually evolving (even if only incrementally) way to translate the relatively small amount of horsepower a human is capable of generating into mph and miles/day on a modern road bike or jeeping it in the outback or off-road trail that may go back hundreds of years-- e.g., to the time of Father Serra on a day's hike between missions.

This reminds me of a conversation I had this past weekend. I had my bike on the back of my car and was parked in front of a Micro Brew. People were on the porch and my car and bike were visible from the porch. This big biker sees my bike and says, "You need GUMWALLS on that! I said I like the white tires. "No no no!", he says. He literally started arguing with me about my bike...


I looked at him and a bunch of people were watching the scene he started and they all looked shocked! I smile and just walked away...

That's cool, but when someone new comes along, it shouldn't be portrayed to them that if they aren't looking to be a "serious cyclist" then they are doing it wrong, or they "need" "serious cyclist" gear or they will have no fun!

Well is a Forum where views and ideas are discussed. Wouldn't be any fun if we all had the same view. Doesn't mean you cant do whatever pleases yourself.

Sure, just as long as "a vast majority of us" remains the exclusive enclave of "serious cyclists" who buy from specialty dealers (AKA LBS type outlets) and exclude the majority of the population in the U.S. that chooses to buy their bicycles from mass merchants (Walmart, Target, etc.) and chain sporting goods stores.

Bicycles average retail price in the United States in 2012 and 2014, by point of purchase (in U.S. dollars):

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...price-bicycle/

I'm going to start something like this guy is doing and opening a bike popcorn stand. This is going to be entertaining!

By the way, I agree with the OP, just go riding!

The OP is anything but "new".
But then neither am I.

Does anyone seriously and truly rides a bike with the intent to please anyone else but himself or herself?

Come on now!

And if they do, they won't for long.