So in other words

do u think the rider makes the ride
or the bike makes the ride

as in if someone to race or do serious recreation rides

does having a 4000 buck bike make a difference to a 500 one.

this is considering if the bike is proper fit.

What answers to you all have

If you're racing at a high level it obviously makes enough difference for the teams to justify spending the big bucks. If you're an average rider like me then it probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference.

The better the bike- the better it will ride. As to whether the rider can use it is another matter.

When you start riding the bike is unimportant-providing it is respectable and in good condition. It is the fitness of the rider that will matter. But as fitness comes up- the quality of the bike will start playing a part. 5 years ago I went road after 16 years of MTB's. Had a lot of fitness but no road skills. I got an OCR3- basic bike with a respectable name and everything I needed. Wasn't long before I found I needed a few upgrades. Then I went on holiday to France and climbed Mont Ventoux. Did it and it confirmed one thing to me- I was now a roadie and the OCR was not up to my standard. Got back home and 2 weeks later Walked out of the LBS with a 15lbs Race geometry bike that made the hills feel like slopes.

So in my opinion-Better bikes do work- but only if you are good enough to use them. Till you are- You might as well stay with a $500 bike as opposed to a $5000 one. The lower quality bike will not slow you down.

Right on, Stapfam. If you find your $500 bike is holding you back, then yes indeed you will notice a difference going to a better one. Been there, done that.

Bollocks. (Nice, the filter didn't take this one out )

What do you want your bike for? In other words; is a Ferrari better than Land Rover? Tell you what; you pick the car and I'll pick the course

Your use will determine the kind of tool you need.

For the average person, a $5000 bike isn't much better than a $1000 one at least. The biggest bump you get is going from a big box store bike to a bike shop bike. In this case, brand doesn't really matter. A Globe or Townie at a bike shop is better than something at a Walmart, a bike shop Schwinn is not the same as a big box Schwinn.

At the bike shop, as you go up in price you start getting upgraded components, carbon fork until you get all the way up to a full carbon bike with top end components. Is a full carbon bike the best you can get? Not necessarily. You wouldn't want one for touring for example, you want something that can handle weight. Good ol steel being the best.

The bike is important but at the top end, it's diminishing returns for the average person. For me, I don't see myself spending more than $1500 for a bike, but the $500 bikes don't work for me anymore either.

What objective characteristics make the better bike better; weight, handling, ride quality? Consider the effect of those on your riding. They're probably very small unless you are already contesting finishes.

The more substantive effective may be subjective; if the "better bike" just makes you want to ride more and/or harder. I recently got a new "better-bike" and find I like riding it so much it makes me do both.

getting started racing or serious recreational use, probably not. For the most part those getting started need an engine upgrade first before a bike upgrade is really worthwhile. Not to say that a $4k racing bike will not help the introductory racer, but they would be paying top dollar for limited returns.

worldtraveler, I like questions like this because it shows some thought about the sport, rather than just lemming up with the crowd. No doubt that any $4K bike would be a wonderful machine, it is however essentially window dressing for most non A group recreational riders.

A $500 bike can also have many forms. My bikes are now all old, well equipped, probably worth $500 ish, but they still suit my needs. My touring bike is worth about $250, yet with it's recent rebuild I have easily twice that invested in it. It's value to me a far above the rebuild cost.

If your bike isn't worth rebuilding, has become unreliable, is restraining you in any way and you have the cash, buy the bike of your dreams.

Brad

One other comment I'd throw out which is tweaked from advice I give to people looking for a camera and asking what the $4000 camera gives them that the $1500 camera doesn't.

As a general rule I reckon if you don't know what the extra money buys you, or you don't know why you might need what the extra money buys you, then you don't need it. So if you're in that kind of situation get the cheaper option and enjoy it. When/if it breaks you'll hopefully have learned something about what you want, you'll have given yourself chance to find out more about how you want to use it and so on, so your next purchase can be made with more information.

If you buy a $500 mountain bike and by the time you've worn it out you realise how much you love the trails then you know it's worth spending $1500 on a better mountain bike. If by then you realise you like to go offroad but won't ever put it through anything demanding you might decide to spend $1500 on a hybrid/touring/cyclocross bike. If you realise that you only ever ride on tarmac and want speed you might spend $1500 on a road bike. It's just a shame when people spend $1500 on their first bike only to realise within a couple of months that it doesn't do what they wanted.

My LBS gets a customer every once in a while who drops four figures on a road bike and then complains that such an expensive bike doesn't work on rutted gravel tracks - in their mind an expensive bike should be able to do anything. Personally I'd really struggle not to suggest to such a customer that they try taking a Lamborghini round a rally circuit.

Bingo. Ultimately, no matter how self-contained or non-conformist you think you are, nobody likes to suffer by comparison. You'll be embarrassed to ride a rusty, cheap old beater but you'll feel much better about being out/seen on a higher quality ride so you'll spend more time on it. Applies to anything and any one. Of course there's a line to be crossed... that's why we insult feeble wanna-be's on $7,000 bikes and call them "Freds".

First you have to define what makes one bike “better” than the other. Is it something tangible; is it the price, the material, a combination of both? Maybe it is just perception.
The bike and the rider is a symbiotic pairing. Ideally, the rider drives the bike forward and the bike should be efficient enough to propel the rider at the rate he is capable of going. End of story. This efficiency and its concurrent cost is the point of contention.
All these other rationalizations about cost and such and such is just what it is…a rationalization…by regular people not getting paid to ride bikes and the amount of money they spent on their toys. It may be a shame for someone to spend a large amount of money on a hobby that they end up not liking. But you have to ask...a shame for whom? More than likely it is a shame for the person looking at the expense because he or she is not willing to spend that much or perhaps, they wish they could spend that much on their toy.
Better bikes (whatever that maybe) do matter ONLY to the person’s perception and the one making the rationalization.
Now put the seller and peer pressure into that equation and you have a different ballgame. Perceptions can be influenced.

It matters more when aerodynamics and resistance are coming into play. Once you have a road or TT bike that is light and aerodynamic, the extra gains from further weight savings (carbon, etc) is only going to make a very minor difference. But that difference is worth it to pros who race for a living.

" Bike" is a sum of the parts attached to the frame

I have a new found fondness for the Precision and convenience,
of the German made Rohloff Internal Gear hub,
those are not cheap ..
but amortized over decades of riding , not bad,
as just 1 sprocket and a chain to replace as wear occurs.
and an oil change in the hub every year or 2

But in the bike shop you can ride away on a decent bike for 4~500 bucks.