Thanks! I'm a budget functional rider. Not because I am cheap but it makes sense IMO. If I build a wheel, I go with a $55 Deep V. Yes, I can get a DT Swiss rim (samething IMO) for $80. Why spend more when I know I can get 20,000 miles out of a wheel. Why pay $80 for high end fancy spokes when I can get proven DT Swiss spokes for $15? Will it improve my performance? Nope, not at my, and thousands of other riders I know, at my level !

Same with the bike. I can pay $3000 for a bike that "WILL" need new wheels someday, new shifters 3 or 4 years down the road (maybe, maybe not) when I can buy a bike for $1000 which will also one day be in need of replacements, at which point, I upgrade.

I actually don't buy a bike based on my budget or I'd have paid more for my bike. I spend my money on "I know what works". If I had to outsprint Eric Zabel by .0003 of a second, then yes, my needs would be different and so would my spending!...but that will never happen!

Currently, I know exactly what I want. I have exactly what I want.

When I was just starting out, I only thought I knew what I wanted.

I really wanted a Cervelo Soloist Team. This was a while ago before they had their carbon stuff. I think it was like $2500, and I could afford it but that seemed like a lot of money for a bike. So I was going to "earn" $1 for every mile I rode on my mountain bike until I "saved" enough to buy it. After about a month of that, I decided to jump right into getting a road bike, but still didn't want to spend that much, so I went cheap and got a Specialized Allez Sport. I think it was maybe $700 or $800. I rode that for a few months until I started breaking spokes on the wheels, and looked into buying some nice new Ksyrium SLs. The shop I went to for the wheels ended up selling me on a whole new Giant TCR C3 with the wheels for $2000. Having ridden for a few months I had a better idea of what I liked and didn't like in a bike, and was able to make a better decision on my second bike. It turned out much of what I thought I wanted was not really important when I really started using it.

If this thread was supposed to be about the guy who knows what he wants and not the beginning cyclist you didn't articulate that very well. Your initial post was a rant against the people who come onto the forums and say I want a bike for $x. The bottom line is that most of those threads are people who are beginners who don't really know what they want.

Edit: Wait, what part of "I see hundreds of posts asking for bike recommendations by people that are new to cycling that want a lot of bike for not a lot of $ dollars $" was supposed to indicate that you were talking about experienced cyclits?

So, people had to ignore this stuff?

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

So, some people are kind of stupid. This is not an earth shattering observation. (See post 10.)

You could have said "Unrealistic budgets are unrealistic" and saved a whole lot of time!

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

Yes.

So.. we have come full circle. Now it's just a criticism of what I should have entitled this thread?

The circle was completed long ago.

No. Though, that wasn't a great first step.

I didn't say anything about "experienced cyclists." I don't think you have to be experienced to know what you want. If you want to commute to work on a bicycle, there are many things you already know about what you do want and don't want. Same with any type of cycling - touring, cyclocross, road, race, mountain biking. If people are laying out criteria for a bike, they have done some research (they may not have much experience) but apparently not enough to identify an appropriate price point for their planned purchase. So, they think that people in the forum can advise them on a bike based on a fairly arbitrary and low budget.

And yes, there will be many suggestions and recommendations. Only for the OP or someone else to comment, but it's over $X amount. So it is frustrating when someone feels like (through their own experience) that they could suggest several bikes that would meet the criteria, but those bikes are over the $ budget $. And... most of the available bikes that meet the criteria are over $X amount. So... what do posters do? They suggest bikes that don't meet the specifications or criteria. And then the OP asking for the suggestions goes out and buys one of them. So in a case like that, it was the $'s driving the decision, and not really the goals and objectives that the rider started out with.

If this is that frustrating, you must get frustrated a lot. "Unreasonable budgets are unreasonable". See post 10.

The circle still turns....

Looks comfortable!

Just to add some more, i think you can basically get any style of bicycle you want for a reasonable price. It is a wise idea to start relativly small with your budget when buying a new type of bicycle. If you like the style of bicycle then you will know what you want when you upgrade, that sort of knowledge only comes from experience. Often people get too fixated on amortizing the use over 20 years... really 20 years in the future? Lets try inexperienced cyclist using that bicycle for 8 months.

You are making my head hurt.

Looks like I don't fit this description, more like my the price of my bikes, that I like to ride,(accessories included) are set too low for my budget.

I got my bike at cost. I'm starting to think I should have paid more.

I still just wanna see InTheRain's bike. With the $$$ he's willing to throw into a cycle, he's got to be rolling on some proper bike bling. Pics, please?

I call BS on that. You posted a pretty poorly-thought out initial post, got called on it and are now trying to weasel your way out of it. First, it was beginner riders. Then it was riders who know what they want. Now it is "people who are new but know exactly what they want."

So, if I get your point: there are some people who are new to cycling but know exactly what they want and also how much it costs, but set an unrealistically low budget - and this bothers you. Are there a lot of these people in your neck of the woods, cos this sort of goes against the typical beginner profile I encounter in other rides (and what I went through myself when I got back into cycling).

Even allowing that this disturbing trend is somehow more common that we think it is, sometimes a tight budget just forces people to look harder and/or re-evaluate what they want vs what they really need. You have a problem with that?

For example - I am sort of considering a full-suspension mountain bike b/c there are some really nice DH trails here in Oman, where I will be for the next 6 months. I can easily afford to spend $3500 on a Niner RIP9/XT bike and I know it will fit my requirements perfectly. But given that I normally prefer a hardtail for the type of off-road riding I do, and already have a pretty nice blinged-out Niner, I am trying to see if I can get a decent full-sus 29er for <$2000. And you know what - I am coming close. I can get one for $2300 and if I look a bit harder/get creative, I can probably get the bike I need for my target price, a price which most people will agree is "too low" for a high-quality full-suspension 29er. So what part of my process do you disagree with?

I feel like a rubbernecker on this thread... morbid fascination keeps me coming back.

Perhaps starting with the $500 bike if you don't know what your needs are yet, but once you have that $500 bike, ridden the hell out of it, and now understand your needs better -- doing the jump right to that $1,500 bike if that's what you need.

Chances are, quite a few people will find that the $500 bike fits their needs, they end up not biking as much as they thought they would, and just keep on trucking and being happy with their bike.

Now, if you are someone that already has a clear idea of "I want to ride with the best, win races, have a super light/fast bike, and going to be getting hardcore into biking" --- then I'd agree that you are better off sinking the investment into the better bike right from the start.

But, within reason : you might have a bike that's $1,500 and $3,000 - both meet your needs / goals / etc, and probably the $3,000 is the better bike, but is the performance gains you'll gain out of it worth 2x the price? Some times having a budget in mind can help guide you to a reasonable choice for what you are actually wanting to do.

Or, maybe they can afford $1,500 now - and over the years, swap out / upgrade components on the bike as they get the money for it.

I asked earlier. He asked if I wanted to see dirty bikes. I would love to see them too.

So... you can afford $3500, you found what you want for $2300... but you won't buy it until you can get it for under $2000? Are you a cyclist, or a financial analyst? You're going to spend a lot of time looking "harder/being creative" for $300? Especially when you can afford way more? It sounds like you get more of a thrill out of shopping than you do riding the bike. I would have already payed the $2300 and would have been riding the bike. Hey, if it was exactly what I was looking for, I probably would have paid the $3500! Cycling is a hobby for me. It's not a profit oriented, money-making, money-saving activity.

I am just like everyone else. I'm not going to buy a bike that I cannot absolutely afford. But, you stated, that you can afford $3500 and it sounds like you know exactly what you want. It's just that your big sticking point is... that you want it for under $2000. You have a good time shopping and looking at Craigslist. I'll be out riding.

There is quite a difference in being "new to cycling" and a "beginner." I would consider myself to be "new to cycling" since I first started riding as a hobby a few years ago. However, I wouldn't have considered myself a "beginner." I had learned how to ride a bicycle 40+ years prior to the time I was "new to cycling."

So yes, even though I was "new to cycling" I knew what I wanted. At that time I wanted a bike with 700c wheels, drop bars, index shifting, and something that could carry a load for comfortably for commuting. The bikes that best fit that description were touring bikes, and they seemed to cost between $800 and $1300. Yes, I could have commuted on something cheaper by spending my time looking for a used touring bike, or downgrading the specifications that I initially set out... but, eventually I would have been right back to buying a touring bike that I set out to buy in the first place.

I would dare say that 99 percent of the people posting in these forums know how to ride a bike and have ridden bikes for years. They are not beginners. The ones that are "new to cycling" are the ones that have now decided to take it up as a hobby or are planning to use bicycles in a new way to them (commuting, fitness, racing, touring, etc.)

What we have here... is a failure to communicate.

The bikes he has (at least, the Sherpa), are pretty moderate.

What we have here is a dead horse being beaten with a one-sided failure to communicate.

????

Yeah, I meant on the OP's part...

As is the Cannondale Synapse SL2. These are not special or elite bikes. They are not at the top end of the price scale either for these types of bikes.

"Bling" for a high end touring bike is probably going to be north of $2000. "Bling" for a performance road bike is going to be north of $4000. My bikes aren't "Bling." And they aren't Walmart, K-Mart, or low-end BikesDirect either. When I have a camera handy, I can provide pictures... but you will find much nicer bikes and much nicer pictures throughout the forums.

I know that many of you just want the opportunity to say, "You paid $$$ for that! I could have bought it for $$ (but you didn't) without much of an idea of what you might be looking at." If that's what you are here for... go ahead. I've never been accused of being "coupon mom."

Here are the specs for the bikes from bikepedia:

Cannondale Synapse:

https://bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeS...pact&Type=bike

Rocky Mountain Sherpa 30:

https://bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeS...a+30&Type=bike

I'm oddly familiar with the cost of the Sherpa.

(The fenders aren't even a big deal.)

The $4000 number is a completely arbitrary and convenient (for you) number to pick.

The $3000 for the Synapse would be considered quite expensive by many people.

What you spent is only interesting in that the people you are frustrated by would likely see what you spent as a bit nutty.

I have a whole stable of bikes for what you wasted on one bike. I think in terms of enjoyment per dollar, I got you beat. Is your $5000 bike really 100 times better than this?



And why are you "frustrated" by other people's expendable income decisions anyway?

If you read my posts in the thread, then you wouldn't have jumped in and said that I wasted $5000 on a bike. I'll let you go back and try to figure that out.

You're bike is nice. I hope it serves it's purpose. That is how I buy my bicycles (purpose)... not necessarily based on price. You see, that Schwinn isn't much of a touring bike, it's not much of a race bike, and it's not much of a mountain bike. So if you bought it for those purposes... I'd say you wasted your money.

Anyway, you seem to be a good shopper. Maybe your post belongs in coupon mom forum or craigslist forum. I'm not really interested in how "good of a deal you got."

OK... $4000 is arbitrary and convenient. Now you pick a number... and I'll make the same comment back to you, OK?

$3000 for a synapse is expensive? If the MSRP is $3000 (check bikepedia link above), and the price tag says $3000... how is it expensive? (I paid $2400 - year end sale, OK? but with sales tax, lifetime service plan, a saddle change, rear cassette change, tire change, pedals and shoes... it still ended up at $3000)