Germany_chris

But I don’t want to ride a $200 bike, I didn’t want a $200 bike 20 years ago

Thomas15

Same here.

shelbyfv

Yes. Fortunate enough to not have to ride "adequate" either.

rsbob 

You get what you pay for. If your expectations are low you won’t be disappointed. Drive a Yugo and then a Mercedes, suddenly the Yugo is not the end all be all, unless you are just after very basic transportation.

As a a kid I rode a single speed, coaster braked Goliath of a bike with a paper rack since that was my job. It was fine then but I coveted my dads Raleigh 3 speed. Riding that was like night and day. Getting a Schwinn Varsity compared to the Raleigh was like night and... Moving to a Bianchi Racing bike in 1987 compared to my Schwinn was again..... Yeah, you see where this going and that’s why I don’t ride a Goliath single speed.

taco2ewsday

If you get something like that let a proper bike mechanic give it a tune up or if you have the skills do it yourself. the teenager at Wally world did not give it much love

DrIsotope

The fundamental tenet of Bike Forums: for every person who is willing to tell how much they spent on something, there is a person willing to tell how little they spent on something.

Both viewpoints are equally fallacious. It makes no difference what a bike cost if that bike is never ridden. Twenty years on a set of tires? I'm halfway through a set of tires I mounted in July, and I split miles between three bikes.

But I'll play along. I'm not in the market for a $200 bike, because it would feel weird to pedal said bike with shoes that cost more than the bike.

hsuBM

“What?” indeed.

Milk costs nearly double what what it cost twenty years ago.

A hair over 20 years ago my dad ordered a fully loaded GMC Yukon for under $30K.

Certainly, the diplomatic drop in regulations regarding importing goods made in Pacific Labor Colonies has kept clothing prices on a less steep incline, but even shirts and shoes at Walmart still cost at least 50% more now than they did two decades ago.

I vividly remember Snickers bar was $0.47 after tax at any Nice N Easy in 2000. $1.25 is the typical price at a gas station now- and that’s with forced slave labor in harvesting all of the raw materials!

———

If someone is asking about a bike for mountain biking- in 2000 that was $500 base to get on something which the recommender wouldn’t feel guilty about misleading someone about. Yeah, it’s darned close to $1K now.

If someone is asking about a brand new bike for grocery getting and cruising around a gentle park- in 2000, $200 would do it before racks, bags, fenders, and lights. Here in 2020 you’re looking at $400 for a totally base machine which an established bike shop would sell with confidence that it won’t be coming back with any user-found defects.

———

congratulations on having shrewdly purchased the wrong bike for the job. In 2000 you could’ve gotten a 1960s-80s Schwinn 3 speed with a rack already on it and some spanking new wide pavement tires for $70 total and it would’ve served your needs perfectly.

Reflector Guy

Where do you live where tires don't get dry rot?

sloppy12

To be fair most department store bikes are just 20 year old bikes. its all old tech 3x7, 26" tires, Freewheels. The schwinns at walmart for slightly more than 200 actually are not that far off from more modern entry level "name brand" bikes.

unterhausen

They can't make any money if they do a decent job building it up. And would get fired for being too slow anyway. It's no wonder they can't get anyone that knows what they are doing. A proper bike mechanic would probably charge most of what that bike costs to get it in good shape, why should they subsidize someone's bad choices? If someone has the skills and wants to fix it themselves, that's fine. But I think most people that have skills would buy a much better used bike to fix up, at least I hope they would.

I don't like to waste money, but on my new bike, the wheels are going to cost $1000. I feel like that's worth it. And they aren't going to last 20 years, if all goes well. Because I'm going to ride them a lot. No 20 year old tires, that's for sure.

Reflector Guy

At Walmart, though, it is tough to generalize regarding prices. A few years ago, I needed to buy an iron... The kind you iron clothes with. I was amazed when I found Walmart had irons for just nine dollars. They probably cost more than that 20-30 years ago! Crazy. Walmart is well known for setting a price point that it thinks it can sell an item in vast numbers for, and then aggressively hounding their suppliers to meet that price point. Items are built to satisfy a price point set by someone at Walmart.

Lemond1985

I saw an old Dragnet episode from the 1960's recently. They were showing prices of household items like blenders and vacuum cleaners. These were quality made in USA products, but the blender sold for $40 back then, and the vacuum cleaner was $120 or so. That's more than we pay now for these items. Of course the quality was better, and all the money and jobs stayed here, but still. People had to be much more frugal back then.

shelbyfv

You need to improve your job skills/education so you can get a better job. Or, since you have extra time, a second job.

Reflector Guy

Exactly. According to their website, blenders start at $20 at Walmart, other than some miniature ones that are cheaper.

In the spirit of this thread, you could probably use that blender sparingly (IE, not very often) and it will still work perfectly in twenty years.

MntnMan62

I hate to say it but even 20 years ago, $200 didn't buy much bike. About 20 years ago my wife and I bought his and hers mountain bikes. As I understood it, they were bottom of the line bikes. Schwinn Mesa GSX. Cost $450 each. I realize now that they were decent in that they were upgradeable. My wife didn't ride much so it stayed in it's original condition. I began riding and really took to it riding local trails. And I upgraded it slowly over several years after buying it, easily spending as much on upgrades as I had spent on the bike itself, if not more. I do believe the quality of the bike can play a part in how much a person rides their bike. If the bike doesn't operate very well or is very heavy, then the person may not ride it much. But if it is enjoyable to ride, the person will ride it much more often. Since there is no way to know whether a noob will take to biking, I think the only real rule of thumb to use is to buy as much bike as you can afford without spending tons of money on that initial bike. I'm glad we spent what we spent initially because it is quite possible that if we had purchased garbage Walmart bikes, I probably would not have ridden much and I wouldn't have gotten into it like I did.

70sSanO

This is more true than most believe or remember. In 2000, $200 for a new bike from an LBS, didn’t buy much. Not some great used deal, but a legitimate new $200 bike from a real shop.

To take a low number even in 2000 and then transfer it to 2020 is a pretty ridiculous discussion.

John

hsuBM

Thank God for Uighurs.

Thomas15

I spend quite a bit of time on a well traveled MUP that draws a lot of out of towners. On a weekend I will see 100s of beginner riders, easy to identify due to the lack of confidence and situational awareness. I will see a bunch of WalMart bikes attached to these riders and for the most part they all look showroom new. I hardly never see one that looks like it actually gets used.

I will at least slow down and usually stop when I see someone broken down on the trail. I would say it's 50/50 and brand new big box store bike that is literally broken vs. a flat tire or slipped chain on something a little higher up the food chain.

Of course the final proof that money buys quality, there are a number of bike rental outfitters and and they don't use $200 WalMart bikes, rather Treks, Jamis and Specialized.

BlazingPedals

Obviously you don't ride much, so a $200 bike will do fine for you.

CheGiantForLife

Good to see there are still $300 to $400 cheap options for regular people
https://www.popularmechanics.com/adv...untain-bikes/?

CheGiantForLife

Great to see the $299 price point still alive
https://www.amazon.com/Mongoose-Stat...dp/B01MYGPIEQ/

shelbyfv

Yes! Bottom feeders rule!

indyfabz

atnyc

Actually, some of those $300 bikes are keeping bike shops going by their constant need of adjustments and repairs, replacement parts too.

indyfabz

There’s a new sherif in town!