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How do you answer "How much did your bike cost??"

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How do you answer "How much did your bike cost??"

Old 06-13-07, 09:52 AM
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I used to have a hard time grasping the concept of paying so much for a bike. I had a Pacific hardtail that was about $150 at Target and I rode the heck out of it for years with no problems (kind of wish I hadn't sold it truthfully). Once I did finally go nuts and splurge on the Giant I was blown away by the difference! When people ask me about the price I'll usually be pretty honest about it and if they get into the "you're crazy" argument I just tell them I look at it as an investment in my health which is well worth the price IMO.

My parents started with that argument recently until I brought up the fact that all of my bikes combined cost about the same as what my brother just spent on a new TV. That pretty much ended that discussion
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Old 06-13-07, 10:54 AM
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I recall a co-worker being completely amazed that anyone would buy a bike priced in the thousands. I just challenged them to add up how much they blew on cigarettes over the course of a year. Their response was "good point."
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Old 06-13-07, 11:14 AM
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Originally Posted by rickyaustin
So how do you answer "How much did your bike cost?" from a stranger? Family member? Co-worker??


You look the guy square in the eye and say how much it cost you, a concrete number. Not "well, it's the bike plus mods."


During this time you think about your bike passion. Not whether this guy is going to rob you, or not whether he is going to laught at you. No insecurity.


Let him absorb.


Ask him how much your bike cost you? While looking square in his eye.



========================================


All your being nice, and not rude, well at least you think that you're nice and not rude, got you qualifying yourself to this guy. And thus you wondering how to respond, because you don't know.

Now, if you spoke with the guy from your heart, without your insecurities and fears interfering, you wouldn't worry about how to respond. When you worry about how to respond you fear his response to your reponse. As if he's going to get off his bike, and start rolling and laughting on the ground, or else get a gun out and rob you.

People don't do that.

Further, when you were talking to him, you were in his reality. You are not living in your own reality. He was your god, and you were seeking his approval, pleasing him, being NICE. Most people are nice, like that, and think that being nice is a nice thing. It is not.

You should live in your own reality. Where you go after things you like, and you love yourself, no acceptace from others is needed. (that does not mean be rude and neg on people if they dont' accept you, dig up my posts to observe my interaction, I live in my own reality, and I love it here).
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Old 06-13-07, 11:51 AM
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I give the price per km.



If the bike is new enough I have almost no kms on it, I answer in riddle.
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Old 06-13-07, 11:53 AM
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For most people I just tell them the price.

Every so often a very poor person from the countryside asks and I tell them that it was expensive, like several hundred euro expensive. I just don't have it in me to explain to them how I have a bike that cost more than they make in a year...
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Old 06-13-07, 11:54 AM
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It weighs less than a a misquito fart, and costs more than a divorce.
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Old 06-13-07, 12:47 PM
  #57  
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My answer is, I don't know. The parts came in at different times and I lost track.
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Old 06-13-07, 01:42 PM
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I tell them, "it cost me my left nut, want to see the scar on my sac?"
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Old 06-13-07, 02:30 PM
  #59  
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Originally Posted by djSlvt
You look the guy square in the eye and say how much it cost you, a concrete number. Not "well, it's the bike plus mods."


During this time you think about your bike passion. Not whether this guy is going to rob you, or not whether he is going to laught at you. No insecurity.


Let him absorb.


Ask him how much your bike cost you? While looking square in his eye.



========================================


All your being nice, and not rude, well at least you think that you're nice and not rude, got you qualifying yourself to this guy. And thus you wondering how to respond, because you don't know.

Now, if you spoke with the guy from your heart, without your insecurities and fears interfering, you wouldn't worry about how to respond. When you worry about how to respond you fear his response to your reponse. As if he's going to get off his bike, and start rolling and laughting on the ground, or else get a gun out and rob you.

People don't do that.

Further, when you were talking to him, you were in his reality. You are not living in your own reality. He was your god, and you were seeking his approval, pleasing him, being NICE. Most people are nice, like that, and think that being nice is a nice thing. It is not.

You should live in your own reality. Where you go after things you like, and you love yourself, no acceptace from others is needed. (that does not mean be rude and neg on people if they dont' accept you, dig up my posts to observe my interaction, I live in my own reality, and I love it here).
Huh?
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Old 06-13-07, 02:36 PM
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Originally Posted by MediaCreations
For me it depends on who's asking the question.

If I know someone well enough and I know that they're generally interested I'll tell them.

Often I'll just tell people that my bike's a mid range kind of bike. It's certainly not a top of the range bike but it's better than average. That's usually enough for most people.
+1

I guess the exception is when people who know LBS bike prices start to allude to the fact that my bike is high dollar. I usually tell them that i ride entry level stuff, because my bikes are all closer to that spectrum than the other. I don't like being viewed as a bike snob.
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Old 06-13-07, 03:16 PM
  #61  
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Originally Posted by Portis
I don't like being viewed as a bike snob.
Snobbery of any sort isn't a function of how many dollars, it's a function of why one spent those dollars.

Snobs will have purchased the most expensive simply because it was expensive and others can't afford it.

I'm saving my pennies for a custom-built Ti bike because I expect it to be the last bike I have to buy. If I get 20 years out of it (about the longest I can reasonably expect to last myself), it works out as pretty darned cheap.

Meanwhile, I ride a $100 Craigslist special that I completely rebuilt. When asked how much it cost, sometimes I answer a hundred, other times I include the new parts. Depends on who I'm talking with.

I gave one guy on a Ti bike the $100 figure and he accused me of buying a stolen bike!
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Old 06-13-07, 03:28 PM
  #62  
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i just tell them " none of your damn business"
 
Old 06-13-07, 04:09 PM
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I usually just tell the price if asked. I always tell kids when asked, because I remember hating it as a kid when adults would hide money matters from me. So I am always up front with the kids, whereas I might hedge with an adult. But anyone who is genuinely curious, I just tell 'em.

My theory is that knowing the price gives people without bike knowledge a way to categorize in their brain what it is that they are looking at. For example, I may not understand why my friend's canoe is so very expensive, but when he tells me the cost I can at least appreciate that I'm looking at something truly special. And I can file away the canoe's characteristics in my brain so that after looking at a number of such examples, I begin to get an idea of what a quality canoe should be.

I deal with the "shock factor" of bike prices by pointing out how enthusiasts often spend tons of money on whatever they are enthused about. Canoeists spend thousands on kevlar canoes. Hunters buy expensive rifles. Bird-watchers buy expensive binoculars. Fishermen buy expensive poles. Bicyclists buy expensive bikes. People "get it" pretty quick when put in that light. That's not to say they'll suddenly understand just what about my bike is special ondwhy, but they do at least "get" why I would spend so much.

BTW, the first ride after getting home from the bike shop on the new Enduro SL Expert that I bought just a few weeks ago went to the 10-year-old kid from across the street. It is, after all, just a bike .
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Old 06-13-07, 04:15 PM
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That's a good point. I guess if I put it in the context of what my coworker's new Ping irons cost him, he'd get it.
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Old 06-13-07, 04:51 PM
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Originally Posted by caloso
That's a good point. I guess if I put it in the context of what my coworker's new Ping irons cost him, he'd get it.
Actually, the cost of bicycles and golf clubs are nearly identical. You can buy a bike or a set of golf clubs for around $300.00. If you want the good stuff, however, you'd better be prepared to pay a lot more.
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Old 06-13-07, 05:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Retro Grouch
Actually, the cost of bicycles and golf clubs are nearly identical. You can buy a bike or a set of golf clubs for around $300.00. If you want the good stuff, however, you'd better be prepared to pay a lot more.
I got my golf clubs for $50 at a yard sale. Last time we went out on an office round, I beat him by a stroke. I think that might be the golf equivalent of dropping the Madone rider on your old Schwinn Varsity.
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Old 06-13-07, 05:51 PM
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All your being nice, and not rude, well at least you think that you're nice and not rude, got you qualifying yourself to this guy. And thus you wondering how to respond, because you don't know.

Now, if you spoke with the guy from your heart, without your insecurities and fears interfering, you wouldn't worry about how to respond. When you worry about how to respond you fear his response to your reponse. As if he's going to get off his bike, and start rolling and laughting on the ground, or else get a gun out and rob you.

People don't do that.

Further, when you were talking to him, you were in his reality. You are not living in your own reality. He was your god, and you were seeking his approval, pleasing him, being NICE. Most people are nice, like that, and think that being nice is a nice thing. It is not.

You should live in your own reality. Where you go after things you like, and you love yourself, no acceptace from others is needed. (that does not mean be rude and neg on people if they dont' accept you, dig up my posts to observe my interaction, I live in my own reality, and I love it here).[/QUOTE]

Right on! but it takes a degree of personal development to do that... am wrangling with the issue in life in general....
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Old 06-13-07, 06:37 PM
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More than I ever dreamed of paying for a bike, and worth every cent of it. One day I'm going to buy a bike for twice the price, and that will be worth every cent of it as well.
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Old 06-13-07, 06:54 PM
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It's interesting. When I tell people that my guitars were over $1k each, they really don't bat an eye. Maybe it's because there's a glamour thing associated with guitars and not everybody can play one. But I think that since bikes seem like such a simple thing, why would quality ones cost so much? I mean, the average person got by fine as a kid on a huffy, right?

On the flip side, I'm guilty of being one of the ones that got shell shocked at the money my buddy was dropping on his bikes. I did't care about some testicular cancer guy winning the tour de who gives a crap and I was definitely turned off by the John Tesh music. But now that I'm getting educated about cycling, I'd never ask the question because I don't think it's important now. So I think more exposure of cycling and the price of quality to the general public will cut down on the sticker shock of the un-initiated. How to do that, I don't know. Just sayin.
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Old 06-13-07, 07:02 PM
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I would say, "which one?" unless it was obvious which bike they were referencing.
I don't really understand the point of lying about this...I can't say I care if someone doesn't understand why I feel compelled to spend stupid amounts of money on multiple bikes.
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Old 06-13-07, 08:05 PM
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It rubs me the same way as asking, how much do you make, there is always a judgmental reaction, what ever it may be, right after you answer.
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Old 06-13-07, 08:16 PM
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Originally Posted by AllenG
It rubs me the same way as asking, how much do you make, there is always a judgmental reaction, what ever it may be, right after you answer.
+1

I don't like being asked how much anything cost me, or how much I make, or any financial-type questions. I felt similarly uncomfortable when a coworker suddenly demanded to know what bank I used.
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Old 06-13-07, 08:42 PM
  #73  
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I tell them the truth. It's a gmc denali from walmart, got it for 147 bucks and put about 50-70 in stuff on or into it. Works great you should go get one.
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Old 06-13-07, 09:31 PM
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Sure, aboot three-hunner'd.
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Old 06-13-07, 09:43 PM
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Originally Posted by CdCf
Huh?
Didn't you read that dude's other posts? By far the most entertaining thing that appeared around the BF in a while.
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