!Jones' Sock Puppet wrote:
On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:00:42 -0800 (PST), in alt.war.vietnam
" wrote:

On Jan 15, 7:06 am, !Jones' Sock Puppet wrote:
In '70, one could buy a decent bicycle for $20 - $30 at a hardware
store. I paid $48.33 in '68 for my '66 Schwinn equipped with a Bendix
kickback and that was considered extravagant. In '70, I was in
Vietnam, so I didn't have a bicycle; however, in '72, I was driving a
cab and considered 40 bucks to be a decent night's book... I probably
averaged $30 to $35.

I was in Georgetown, DC in October doing a little urban hiking...
granted, that's a pricey neighborhood. We walked by a bike shop and
their window display bike had a $22K price tag!!! Sheeze! That's
more than I paid for my first *house*! It's even a fairly large part
of it when adjusted for inflation.

When you put multiple thousands of dollars into a bicycle, what you
have is a fetish, not transportation.

Jones
You can buy a $70 bike at walmart, target, kmart. they'll ride fine
and can be used to commute.

Oh, in today's market, methinks I'd budget about $500 or so for a
decent commuter. Then about half again for the racks, fenders, and
panniers... those accesories ain't cheap!

True, by the time they are marked up from the manufacturer, distributor,
and retailer, they aren't cheap. In reality, they are all extremely
inexpensive when included as part of the bicycle. A rack costs the
manufacturer under $2. As do fenders.