Bike Utah Valley

In the spirit of my first post about what kind of bike you should buy, hopefully I can help clear the air of any concerns you may have about the price of a bicycle.

I’ll start with a non-cycling example from my life. I recently went golfing with a group from work. The problem: I’m no golfer. I don’t even have my own clubs. In fact, I played so poorly in our scramble game, that my team only kept one of my shots. To illustrate: out of about 60 of my shots, my team deemed only one of them good enough to keep. I should probably buy my own set of clubs and practice more. The problem is, I’m a terrible golfer. I don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on new clubs unless I have some kind of guarantee that I’ll play better because of them.

I imagine some of you feel the same way about buying a bike. Will you use it enough to justify its cost? Or, will it just sit in your garage and gather dust until you bring it out once or twice every year? Do you know enough about the different parts? Would you feel comfortable talking to a salesman about the bike you want? Did you have a bad experience the last time you biked and, like me, you’re just wondering if it’s even worth it to try again?

When I buy my first set of clubs, I don’t plan on buying expensive ones. I’ll shop around, look for a bargain, and possibly (gasp!) buy a used pair. I’m going to suggest that any first-time cyclists or bike commuters take the same approach.

Here’s another example that shows how this can be done. A co-worker recently started coming to work by bike every day. He already had a bike, but it was slightly out of repair. He found it at a garage sale. Since he’s handy with tools, he had it fixed up in no time and at a fairly minimal cost. His wife also found her bike at a garage sale. They own a bike trailer that they found on CraigsList. They have already started to Go By Bike to a few of the places in their weekly routine. In another month or so, the money he’s saved on gas alone will cover the cost of his equipment. What kind of bike does he ride? A Schwinn that the original owner probably bought at Wal-Mart.

I may take some heat from “purists” who insist on high end equipment and gear, but I submit that you don’t need to spend hundreds to turn a bicycle into an alternative to your car or the bus. You may also notice that I’m not listing any hard figures about the cost of cycling and its payback period. The benefits of cycling can be measured qualitatively, as well as quantitatively.

So to answer my original question: How Much Should I Spend On a New Bike? The answer: maybe not as much as you think. You don’t need anything too fancy. Like my golf example, start with something you can afford. Time and experience will eventually justify additional expenditures on equipment.