Originally Posted by
IAmSam
I never got this constantly repeated refrain of "Save up to buy a better first bike" to new riders with limited means from some of the more vocal members here...
A new, inexperienced rider can't tell if what they are riding on is a slightly better, or worse bike - why should they spend more money on something they may not even get into and that will end up sitting unused in a corner? If they do happen to catch the bicycling bug - they have plenty of time to blow their money on higher end/better equipment later. I know (and occasionally ride with) lots of people in my area who are riding crappy Pure Fix/Critical Cycles type bikes quite happily, in some cases for quite a few years. My own kid started out on a cheap bike. When he stuck with it - we built him a nicer one.
OP - buy whatever you can afford and get to riding now. Hope you enjoy it and stick with it, and then spend your life "upgrading" your bike ****...
there’s no right or wrong answer, so why you’re getting offended by the advice is beyond me. I gave advice under the assumption that the OP would most likely get more into cycling and want something better. That’s pretty typical is it not? So my advice was intended to save the OP time, hassle and money down the road. If the OP is less likely to get more seriously into cycling, then maybe a cheaper bike would be better. None the less, the cheaper you go, the more likely you are going to run into issues with your equipment. Issues that could push you to give up on cycling, that may not have been a problem had you spent a little more money. It’s jist a difference of opinion on how to approach things. What the OP Ultimately does is up to them. At the end of the day, the advice on watching zach’s YouTube videos is solid. Cheers.