Agave

Begs the question: Whose one month salary do you choose?

BrainInAJar

Ride your bike until some part breaks or pisses you off, then replace it. Eventually you Ship of Theseus your bike, you put it back together again and sell the old one

Doohickie

I'm happy with the $50 road bike I have.

Doohickie

More expensive bikes are painted like clown cars.

twobadfish

I think after the $1500-$2000 mark the law of diminishing returns kicks in and after that you start paying for sexiness, personalization, superiority, and overall feel-goodness. Sure, riding a $1500 bike probably feels pretty nice. But riding a $5000 bike? If you don't envision yourself harboring those feelings then a $5000 bike probably isn't for you.

I personally enjoy the craft that comes along with owning a bike. I don't mind buying a "cheaper" bike and slowly upgrading it over time. That is where A LOT of my pleasure in owning a bike comes from.

holychipotle

simple rule _ nice stuff rides nice

gazelle5333

b/c you get a killer deal of 1300 off MSPR. Picked up a NOS 2009 Tarmac Expert for $2000 instead of $3300. Otherwise I'd be riding an $1800 2011 Tarmac Elite

wens

That's just pClown's bike.

caloso

I rode my $50 bike today so I wouldn't have to ride my $2000 bike in the rain.

ciocc_cat

Why buy a good steak from Ruth's Chris steakhouse when you can buy a cheap hamburger from McDonalds? Why buy an expensive anything?

Answer: You get what you pay for.

twobadfish

McDonalds doesn't sell steaks...

Steak != hamburger

rollin

In bikes, as with most things, there is a sweet spot beyond which you get diminishing returns for your $. Expensive bikes aren't all that.

I ride an expensive(ish) bike and frankly it's not about the bike.

If you're comfortable then ride away.

ciocc_cat

BZZZZZT! Hamburger = the ground-up portion that is left over after you've carved off the good cuts of meat

vinnarath75

Just like any thing else in life, its personnal preferrence. I will have to say you get what you pay for.

Pedal Plebe

This. Its why people by anything that is expensive. Expensive is also very relative...one mans trash is another mans treasure.

Soloist Assassin

Because cheap bikes are lame. I've gone from a free bike, to a several thousand dollar dream bike build, over the last 4 years. Informative first hand experience post below:

I started riding road on a 1986 Schwinn Traveler that was handed down to me from my dad. He decided he didn't like skinny tires after crashing in gravel. I on the other hand was riding a MTB on the road, and wanted to go faster, and get more out of my effort. The old road bike certainly achieved that. I soon got addicted. I started riding on a MUP allot, then came the hilly roads, then really hilly roads. Next I bought a 2001 Trek 5200 used off of ebay. It was a huge difference. A couple pounds lighter, much more responsive, stiffer, and allot better ride. I slowly upgraded it, and it got better. Rode my first race on it, and first 100miles in one day. Then I bought a Cervelo Soloist Carbon frame, after test riding one, and several other bikes, and talking myself in and out of the purchase for two years, all while still riding the Trek, still keeping the Schwinn as a backup. As I rode more and more, I made the purchase, and started building my dream bike. This was last winter. I now almost have it where I want it, and it is a phenomenal bicycle(it really doesn't need anything else I am just ditching more weight at this point). Best bike I've ever ridden. It's been built with Sram Red, and I have a few wheelsets for it, and soon I nearly quit riding all my other bikes. The Trek is still a good bike, but the Cervelo is lighter by far now 3-4lbs, stiffer, more responsive, more comfortable, faster, it just is a friggen awesome bike. I actually lent my Trek to a friend, who now loves riding it, and he is in the process of buying it off of me.

This winter I picked up a used Sram Force group, converted from my Schwinn from 27" to 700c wheels, upgraded it to a CF fork, and built it up for riding in bad weather, and on the trainer to keep wear and tear down on my Cervelo. On the trainer, it doesn't feel much different. The geometry is setup about the same, and with another Sram group, it shifts close to the same, Red shifters feel allot more positive. Outside on the road, it is a different story. The Schwinn, feels like a big noodly, heavy tank(it's only maybe 6-7lbs or so heavier). The responsiveness is crap, it's heavy, it's all around just nothing like the other two bikes, despite being upgraded to modern components. I can still go plenty fast on it, but it takes more effort, and doesn't respond as fast, or provide the same amount of confidence inspiring feedback. It's comfortable it just doesn't have the same speed, and response in any way, irregardless if it is fitted with better wheels off of the other bikes either. 20yrs of technology advancements does allot.

So basically I went from a free bike, to a several thousand dollar bike(that I got used for $1200), to a bike I built to my liking for even more money. The more you spend the better it gets. My Trek retailed for slightly under 3k new. My Cervelo frame was that much(but I got it on close-out for $2100). It's only 100g lighter than the Trek frame, but a different animal in every way. If your just tooling around getting fit not caring about speed, any of them will do just fine. Myself I've become an addict, and I slowly started getting into racing as I got faster, and now even winning races. This year I will race a full season. There is no comparison my Cervelo is an excellent racing bike, and faster than anything else I've ridden. When I test rode bikes, I did ride bikes that cost double the price of the Soloist Carbon I rode as well. If you get to that level, definitely test ride allot of bikes, and find what you like the best. When you are at 4k+ everything is good, but all are different in their own way. Again, if you aren't competitive, a cheaper bike may work just fine, it's all in what you want out of it. Had I stayed a recreational rider, the Trek, or even my Schwinn in it's new form, would of fit all my needs, as I got faster I wanted more. I had to have the advantages I felt in that test ride two years prior. I am sure I could win on the Trek too, and perhaps even the Schwinn, but my dream build Cervelo, is a faster, and better bike in every way. I hope you've found this informative and helpful.

Drew Eckhardt 

Unlike the $1500 complete bikes on the east side of town, the $2200 litespeed (about $3000 adjusted for inflation) I had built from a frameset on the west side of town came with

- My favorite saddle
- The right length stem
- My favorite bar width, depth (deep, with the stem a bit higher), and shape
- My favorite crankset and cassette combination (50-40-30 x 13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21 at the time; at the same weight I'd probably do 46-36x12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23-25 today)
- Campagnolo (five to eight cogs smaller and three larger with one lever press) not Shimano
- Hand built wheels which wouldn't have gone out of true until crashed if the allegedly reputable wheel builders did their job right
- 32 spoke wheels which often remain ridable with an open brake Q/R after a slight bend.
- Hubs upgraded to Chorus with grease ports so they didn't need to be disassembled every 2500km for lubrication
- Front brake on the right
- Tires which didn't suck
- No paint to chip, so after 14-15 years it looks better than my previous steel frame did after 7
- My favorite bar tape

I didn't need to buy all new parts and sell off new take-offs at the annual veloswap (ebay.com didn't exist) to get there - it was perfect when I got it.

I ride it in the rain and rode it in the snow (with 28mm Vitoria cyclocross tires on spare wheels) when I lived in Colorado. Neither rain nor snow really hurt anything and I only managed cosmetic damage on ice.

Weight and speed needn't have anything to do with it.

I can't legally drive my German sports sedan to the office any faster than my
wife's 1996 Honda, but the seats is more comfortable, it's quieter, climate control means it's at the right temperature once it warms up and heated seats make it more pleasant until that happens, steering/brakes/shifting all feel better, and it's generally nicer. Both beat the 1970 Landcruiser I bought as my first car for $2000 with bench seats, three speed transmission with unsynchronized first gear, and no air conditioning.

The bike works the same way - it's nicer than less expensive ones and suits my tastes better.

chicagogal

To the OP:
When I first started riding, I thought that $500 was a ridiculous amount of $ to spend on a bike, but I did it because I wanted to purchase from the LBS and that is just what stuff cost. I loved my bike, and I loved riding, and I logged thousands of miles on that bike. Then I "outgrew" it and converted it into my commuter/trail bike. I wanted to do more club rides and wanted something better suited for that.

I spent $1500 on my next bike, and swore I would NEVER spend more than that (and swore I would never race). Even after I started racing, I still didn't see why I would need/want a more expensive bike. But the more racing I did, and the more time I spent at the LBS, and the more I got to test ride stuff (carbon wheels, carbon frames, etc) I started to feel, accurately or not, that I NEEDED to upgrade my equipment.

So fast forward half a season, and I am riding a sweet carbon bike with full dura-ace and carbon wheels (all gotten for the small sum of only $3200). . . . and really, I'm not kidding about it being a small sum. For what I got, this was pretty much a steal - just a lot more money than I spent on the first two bikes combined. The point is that I knew when it was time to upgrade. I didn't just jump in and start out with my current rig, because I wouldn't have appreciated it, and probably would have resented it for how much it cost. Now that I know it is what I want, I actually appreciate how inexpensive it was :-)

But I still look back onto the beginning of my first racing season and think about some great races and some great results, and see that all those memories were made on my heavy $1500 aluminum bike. So, in the end, what we all know continues to hold true - it is all about the rider, not the bike. Yes, we actually can buy (some) speed, but the best way to achieve great results is train hard and race like you mean it!

twobadfish

chicagogal, add to that if you jumped right to your current rig you would have done so without really knowing what felt best. Starting out "cheap" IMO is best because it allows you to - as you said - grow into upgraded equipment.

OiS

Generally, you get what you pay for. Ride quality and feel of a top end bike is fantastic. I bought a nice Trek Madone 6.9 Livestrong with Shimano Di-2 and love it. I bought the bike to get fit and healthy, and eventually race. Having such a sweet ride also makes me enjoy getting on it all that much more. If I had a cheap bike, I might not enjoy it so much, and would therefore probably ride less.

Also, I am a speed freak, so, the faster the better!

mustang1

That's me right there.I gain pleasure from owning the cheapest bike I can be happy with, and that's what I own now. I'd still like to own a blingier bike, and my dream bike would be something like an S-Works level bike, but it'll remain just that, a dream.

After reading soloist carbon's post (#41), I'd also like to point out the following:
when I see a flash car, I figure anyone could drive it on the street, whether they're good or not, and I'd give them the thumbs up. But with a flash bike, I would only admire someone who was fit enough to ride the performance of such a bike. I'd feel bad if I had a flash bike and wasn't fit enough to explore what it could do. If I ever get fitter (I'm a fat git) and can sustain that fitness level, I too may look into getting a nice bike like yours. Good write up

Ps: darn this thread, it's got me thinking about flash bikes again.... and losing more weight.

bonz50

I agree with this... felt the same way about my guitar, had an el cheapo pawn shop Squire Strat I paid 75 bucks for, it worked well enough to get started then I finally found "the one" and dropped a cool G on it used (for those that care, an 04 50th Anniv strat) and I play it MUCH more than I ever did the squire, it plays better and smoother, sounds better even unplugged and gives me tingles when I get it right on a nice blues riff where the squire didn't...

find "the one" and do what you have to do to own it... it will become part of your soul and you will never regret buying it...

hhnngg1

Wry comments aside, the point you bring up is true.

Intro-level road bikes that sell for $700 are 98%, if not 99% as fast as $4k road bikes. You're paying a HUGE premium for name, looks, materials, and miniscule performance gains.

I own both a 2009 Giant intro-level road bike and a hi-end 2008 Cervelo P2C time-trial roadbike. The Cervelo costs 4x as much as the Giant. (It also looks 4x as hot!) Both bikes are all-stock with no upgrades - Giant with Sora / Shimano 2200 (lowest end) shifters, and Cervelo with Dura-Ace (the groupset alone costs nearly 2x as much as the entire Giant bike.)

Guess what - if I'm off the aerobars, I'm the nearly the same speed on both bikes. In fact, I'm sometimes faster on the Giant even without the aerobars. Unless I'm going all-out in a TT race, my mood or the weather or other factors make far more of a difference than the <1% speed difference between the two bikes.

Not once have I thought, "dang, I wish I was on my Cervelo because it would be faster or feel better!" In fact, the Giant feels SMOOTHER than the Cervelo (Cervelo is well known for their super-stiff frames, so no surprise there.)

The next question you'd ask is, well than, why not go to even cheaper bikes? Wallyworld bikes? Simply put, there is a BIG dropoff in bike quality from an LBS-intro level road bike to anything lower ($700 LBS price point). You lose the drop-bars, you go from a 21lbs complete bike (my Giant) to 27-30lbs (very noticeable!) and you start getting questionable quality components that aren't well backed by LBS support since they're so inferior to begin with. I test rode a few of these, intending to save as much money as I could on my road bike, and the difference was enormous once you went <$700. (My Sora has been shockingly outstanding, BTW.)

Give me my Giant or any $700 well-fitting road bike though, and I'll take on all comers gladly with no bike excuses.

Last note - keep in mind that spending $700 on a bike might not be as great a deal as it seems. Pedals, kit, repairs, tools, etc. will quickly add up to nearly that much over 1-2 years. You may regret spending as little as you did on your bike compared to the accessories. Then again, you might be like me, and already have most of that stuff, and happily ride away with a fast bike!

PS - I'm not a super-fast rider by any means, but I'm definitely not just a recreational rider, and I train with racing competitive roadies who are pretty fast.

Garfield Cat

The more you ride, the more you can tell the difference between bikes and even the same bike with different setups. Little adjustments here and there make a difference. This is not to say it makes a difference only in speed. It could be subtle differences in handling, in ascents, descents. Also spending on wheelsets make a difference for the same reasons.

Another thing is also covered in what I call "meaning". To me bike riding is more than just the ride. It encompasses a lifestyle. Do you know what it means when health experts say people need to make lifestyle changes to maintain their health and thus a quality of life? Bike riding, whether you call it a sport, a recreational thing, a hobby, or whatever is a type of a lifestyle.

Nachoman

Why buy an expensive bike?

You can say that about anything.
For me, I ask that same question about tequila. It all tastes like battery acid.