So what happened with this thread? I've always believed that bikes are so over-engineered that a reasonable person can make any bike work for him. Is the OP around to say whether or not he was happy with his purchase?

First post for me but I've been lurking for a while now, reading as much as I can. I was in a similar situation and after doing what I thought was a fair amount of research, I bought a retrospec. I was looking for an inexpensive fixie and it was one of the few in my price range that had flashy deep v wheels. Unfortunately, I found this forum a little too late and after reading some of the feedback, I was literally ashamed to admit which bike I purchased for fear of being flamed. Ultimately, I returned the Retrospec very easily since I purchased it on Amazon. I realized I wanted something much nicer and upgrades here and there just wasn't going to get me there. It is SO true that tastes change & that's great insight. The deep V wheels that lured me in are not as appealing as some of the classy setups I've seen here.

Then I set my sights on a Kilo as it is a very nice bike & highly recommended. I read both Kilo pictures threads multiple times. Unfortunately, it's a bike that's impossible to get and it is very possible we may lose the summer before they are available again

I also considered a Scrambler as it is cromo, inexpensive and available. I may still go that route but also considering Pake and anything else that is semi affordable

Anyhoo, I realize this is an old thread but just wanted to chime in, introduce myself and let u guys know that the advice given here is not pointless & I'm sure there are a handful of newbs that are chased away because they are labeled as hipsters cause they want a cool bike and a bit of advice. I've seen so many bikes here that are praised yet look exactly like a Big Shot bike

KILO /thread

Wait what

wat

Yeah, because they're not.

I heard they're pretty nice. Until they stopped sponsoring the forums, anyway.

Wonder if they stopped sponsoring because of us.

I wouldnt doubt it

Nice.

Understood. THE OP was flamed for wanting a certain "look" a look that is very popular

The thing is, some folks just want to ride a bike. They don't care about the best parts, the lightest frames or any of that stuff that others go crazy over. They just want the bike to go. If it goes, and if they're happy with it, why criticize them for wanting a cheap bike with a pretty paint scheme?

I own five bikes. Total cost for all five combined: under $1000. Do I care that they have crappy components? Not for a second. They get me where I need to go and I like their colors. That's all I really care about. They all weigh over 30lbs, and if I cared about weight, I'd drop some of the extra 40lbs I've accumulated around my middle in the past 30 years before I spent $500 shaving 5-10lbs off a bike.

Ok.

If that was the case, everyone who bought a Big Shot bike should have bought a Thruster instead. Since they're basically the same bike and all.

Truth is, the majority of people who buy Big Shot bikes do so either because a) they look "cool", b) the person buying them thinks the brand has some sort of cachet, considering how heavily they advertise, and/or c) they think that because of the price, combined with the heavy marketing, that the bike must be of a quality comparable to other $500 completes.

So people get taken in by marketing. That's hardly a revelation. And what's wrong with buying a bike that looks cool. As for a Thruster, Thrusters don't look cool. They look like a $100 piece of crap, which is what they are - and they're not color-customizable. Big Shot bikes look cool and you can have a range of colors for the parts.

I'm having a hard time seeing what people's beef is. I mean the guy wanted to buy a Big Shot bike. What's the fricken big deal. Let the fella have his bike - he's not hurting anyone.

Snobbery does not look cool.

could you please just satisfy my own curiosity as to why you want to own 5, according to your own description, very low-end bikes instead of fewer, or more logically for that amount of money you have invested, 1 decent bike?

I like low end bikes. They have no pretensions to be more than what they are - a mode of transport. The idea that they are not 'decent' is a good example of the problem with some people when it comes to perfectly good bikes that don't cost a lot yet last decades. My Raleighs are all nearly 40 years old and still going strong with their original parts.

this answer does not jibe with your earlier post or with the real discussion of this thread.

are 40 yr old raleighs low-end bikes or cheaply bought c&v bikes?

why do you need 5 of them if you just want transportation?

would not 1 of those bikes do the job?

Have you never heard of N+1?

More importantly, why do you care?

I have no problem with a guy wanting a bike that he thinks looks cool. I have a problem with a company selling crap products at ridiculous markup to people who want a "cool" bike. It was wrong 30+ years ago when the bike boom first occurred in the US, and it's wrong now.

was just curious...

so tell us, how bout you, would you rather have 5 crappy bikes or 1 or 2 nice bikes?

5 really nice bikes

+1

It's not a binary choice. How shocking.

I just saw a big shot bikes ad at the bottom. Google-random though.

It doesn't have to. People are more complex than can be encompassed by a single argument on an internet thread.

Both. The Raleigh Grand Prix was the lowest-end Raleigh made at the time.

I don't just want transportation. Like I say, motivations are more complex than one discussion might suggest. I said that low-end bikes have no pretensions to be more than a mode of transportation and that I liked them for that aspect. But I never said that I only wanted bikes as a mode of transportation.

One of them, the Jamis, is for hauling and touring. One of them is a runabout. Two of them were only $50 each and bought because I like old 'bike boom' bikes and I wanted to restore them to their original condition (which I did because any bike deserves more than to be left to rust) - I keep them because I need a couple of extra working bikes for when family visits. The other one was in very poor condition, so I stripped it down and it's sitting in pieces in my workshop because I'm rebuilding it to make it look like a 1930s Path Racer.