The Fred Syndrom
 

The Fred Syndrome.

I just happened to have bought an expensive bike, so readers are free to think I write this not to feel bad about it and justify the outlay.

FACT: I feel very good about my new bike, in fact ecstatic.

A few days ago while my mechanic was building the bike I came across this 37 minute video:

Bicycle Truth: Weight Scam - True cost of riding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF4MIEkIBZs

I don't mean to be nasty but I could not finish watching it, the speaker's tone is truly an anesthetic, nothing to do with the content.

But it is the content that I am pissed about.

His point is that non-competitive riders, which includes me, have no business spending thousands and thousands on upscale bikes, because apparently a bike well under a thousand will do just as well. The comment section shows how many people out there agree (shakes head ruefully).

To prove the point he compares an expensive Trek with some no-name $300 bike he uses, on which he does thousands of miles and is most happy about it, apparently.

I've answered a few posts here from people with a similar position. Here is what I think:

It really boils down to envy and ignorance - can't afford the best bikes, never rode one.

People often say similar things about Maserati, Ferrari and Porsche drivers, and for similar reasons.

The argument they use to cover their coveting and jealousy is completely hollow.

I have cheap bikes and they are jolly good, but don't you tell me that my no-name 25-pound cycle rides or feels anywhere near a top Dogma or a Madone.

The same occurs in other spheres and hobbies. Fotographers and cameras, musicians and guitars, etc.

For some people the camera, guitar, or bike is just a tool and a means to an end. Hendrix famously did not care much about the guitar itself but the music he coaxed from it. Then there are people at the other extreme. I know a guy who buys really expensive guitars and he can't play. I don't know anyone yet, who buys expensive bikes and does not ride them. Then there are the people in-between, who love both the tool and the product.

Why rail against anyone in any of these groups? What is the point? If someone rides a bike to commute to work and is not "into" bikes, so be it.

If a guy only rides flat trails with a Parlee Z1, so what? If he blew the mortgage money to buy it, it's his foreclosure and nobody else's.

Also, not only rich people buy expensive bikes. If that is your hobby, you may save for years to buy a dream bike one day.

Another fact is that if you are into bikes, we live in a golden age of exotic materials, electronic shifting, 3D-printing (saddles), and the result is that the cycling state of the art offers fantastic rewards to those who are passionate about bikes, and appreciate a ride that's as good as it gets.

Some myth.

I can't get the video, but I think I have seen it before. I didn't like it either. As I recall, he is making the point that a $400 bike is as good as a more expensive bike, and says the only change he made was to spend a couple hundred dollars on a better wheelset. So the point he is really making is - riding a cheap bike is fine, as long as you don't mind spending 50% of the bike's worth on upgrades. Lame.

FWIW - I ride cheap to somewhat expensive bikes, although none of my bikes are less than 10 years old.

What does any of this have to do with Fred? And don't let the video bother you so much.

My feeling is, if you care more about what other people think about what your bike is worth and whether or not you are worthy of riding it, than about how you feel when riding it, then the opinion expressed in the video has validity. If, OTOH, you don't give a crap what judgments other people make about you and your bike, as opposed to how riding your bike makes you feel, then the video is irrelevant and who cares about it?

If you buy an inexpensive bike from China do you have a Fred China Syndrom [sic]?

Get over it.

There are certainly marginal returns to scale, and the truth is that most folks will enjoy road riding whether it's with a $900 bike or a $9,000 bike. There is a bigger difference between the $150 WalMart bike and the $900 entry level road bike than there is between the entry level and the $10K dream machine. So what?

Ride more and worry less.

Not if it comes from Taiwan.

That guy's funny... by which I mean odd. If you ride as much as he claims to and can't tell the difference between a very low end BD bike and even a modest Trespecialidale then I don't know what to say. He even admits that the wheels on his bike failed right away and he installed a new crank before pedaling one mile. Why does he think the rest of the bike is any better? That's just missing the forest for the trees.

In every single hobby I've ever had, the real value is usually to be found in the middle of the lineup or buying lightly used gear. Low priced gear makes compromises to get the price down, and high priced gear usually has small, incremental improvements that cost a ton.

I tell you what, if some new rider follows his shabby advice and buys a windsor wellington 2.0, has the crank fail, the wheels fail and the handlebars are the wrong size for the frame - guess what, that guy will never become a seasoned rider.

37 minutes long... I wonder if anybody has made it to the end.

Yeah, what he said. I have cheap bikes and an expensive bike and I love them all for different reasons. I am unquestionably faster on my expensive bike than on my cheap KHS, but I don't have any illusions about being a racer or anything. I enjoy a nice carbon bike and I can afford it and I'm too old to care what somebody else thinks about it.

If you enjoy it, well that is all that matters.

I compare it to a motorcycle rider who buys a Ducati 1299 Panigale S for $25,000 and will use it only to cruise around town, weave in and out of traffic on the highway and show it off in a parking lot at bike night, and will never sniff a track. If he did take it to the track he would get blown away by chicks on 10 year old GSXR600's because he doesn't have any real skills. Is it a waste of money? Yep. Is he a poser? Sort of. But whatever makes you happy is all that matters in the end.

Maybe the only point is that non-competitive riders, or those who don't actually race, don't need fancy high dollar bikes to have fun... or even to "keep up", speed wise. If so, I agree. Doesn't mean there can't be other reasons for spending a lot on a bike.

That's kinda what I got from this video. I didn't get the sense that the guy is trashing people who buy expensive ultra light bikes. It seems he's more concerned that manufacturers are pushing the idea that riders NEED them, and that new riders are being misled in this way.

And he's right in saying that Nobody NEEDS a $3000 racing bike for recreational riding. But if you WANT one, go for it. At that price you're getting one heck of a nice ride, so if you've got the scratch why not?

Haha, I love that guy's reasoning. If I'm going to spend hours a day on a machine that is going to bring me pleasure and keep my body in great shape, I feel justified in spending one month's wages on it. An average month's wage in 'Murica is $5000.

I'd like to see that guy's car. If he doesn't drive an inexpensive car, but instead spent tens of thousands on a mere mode of transportation, we know he doesn't take his own advice.

I personally drive a 1998 Saturn SL with 135K miles that has a value of around $700. My bikes are worth a bit more than the car.

That's the way it's supposed to be. Right??

Given how often this video (and topic) come up on BF and other cycling-related forums, I'd say this guy was extremely successful in his mission of ruffling people's tail feathers and then talking about HIS video.

I just tried and the link works for me. Hmmmm.

I am a jazz guitarist and and repair guitars, do set ups on all guitars. At about $800 I can have a guitar do all I need right? Well my handmade Campellone guitar is maybe $6000. I think I would rather play it no contest.

Few people care not at all about what other people think. Those who do wear sackcloth and plastic sandals.

I think the video is wrong any way you look at it because it ignores first, that much as you can't buy love, nice things make life nice, and secondly, riding a bike is a sensorial experience, and anything that enhances it is worth paying for to those who value that experience highly.

He apparently rides a 10 yr old Ninja 250, so he applies the same flawed reasoning to his motorized transportation. The flawed logic present at the start of his video continues... I mean there MUST be more R+D spent on a 250cc motorcycle because it's an engine, right? Why would you need to spend any R+D money on a carbon fiber bike frame, and support pro tour teams to develop that frame. That's free, right? It's just comedy. And apparently everything is mass produced in China for $2.00 a day per worker.

Exactly. My car is 13 years old and has 150k on it. I'd rather buy another bike for more than $600. :D

That should have been "syndrome," sorry. You can't edit the title.

Is it ok to worry and ride at the same time?

Another slogan is: ride more, spend less time on forums.

The question is, do you care about what people whom you don't know from Adam on the internet think. Not whether you care about what people who you know, and respect, and interact with on a regular basis think. Those are two very different things.

Hang on. When does NEED come into it? Most of us have cars here, I assume, and for exercise we could be running. So need is quite irrelevant. WANT is more like it. And if you want something who has any authority to say what you should want? Or how much it shold cost? The whole position is lame.

Also, what is the evidence that anyone is being mislead to buy light expensive bikes. Is Weight Weenies dictated by bicycle manufacturers? Bikes are no different that other products in a capitalistic society. Manufacturers make claims aimed at increasing sales, without making illegal false claims. Buyers can always check out those claims. Today is a cinch to get reviews on anything, sitting at home. So where is the misleading?

Uspcale bikes LEAD, not mislead, to the evident truth: get a good fit, good geometry and components, and see how you pass younger and thinner guys far easier than with a $300 tank.

Ultimately, if you care much about what the video says, you're probably a Fred.

Aren't you complaining about a video that says people don't need expensive bikes, because cheaper ones can also go from Point A to Point B?

Hello guitar brother,

I am a blues player, and most of my idols of old played just one kind of guitar. Some had trouble affording it too, at first, and later were too settled to change. The three kings, and many other blues pioneers, were one-p-i-s-t-o-l pistoleros.

I have lots of guitars, waiting on a custom Collings I-35LC at the moment. But after playing any for a while, no matter how good and tuneful, I want to play a different one. And as you say, any basic axe will fill the need, a Jimmy Vaugh Strat or a Robert Cray Strat, at a cost of $600, is all you need to play and sound good. So what? The pleasure of playing a Giffin or a Collings or a masterbuilt Strat is something else, and very like the pleasure of riding a top bike.

I don't make that distinction. Normally, one cares about what others think, depending on who those others are and what they mean, but in general one tends to care regardless, otherwise I would be writing this without any care for clarity, grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and I don't even know who is going to read it.

You're more likely to be writing this, using proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation because you have a sense of pride of self, not because you care what we think.

That's the crux of my complaint, there is no "needing" bikes, for most people who can watch YouTube.