Andre Jute wrote:
On Jan 27, 3:30 pm, Peter Cole wrote:

I think this accessories rant is much ado about nothing. My wife
commutes. I built up her bike with a discarded frame, inexpensive MTB
components (V-brakes, trigger shifters, triple chainring), inexpensive
accessories (fenders, mudflaps, rear rack & pannier, front bag, lights,
lock with frame bracket, fat slicks, flip-flop pedals) and she added
rain cape, SPD sandals, helmet cover, rain/wind pants, rain/wind jacket,
gloves and glasses.

The whole setup was very inexpensive and didn't require a great deal of
cleverness. It has proved to be a reliable and convenient commuting and
errand running solution for a few years now.

I suppose a purist would want skirt/coat guards, chainguard, generator
lights and a gearhub. She hasn't found those things to be all that
necessary, but they'd be easy enough to add.

This is one long admission that *your better half* agrees with Lou and
me, and with other sensible RBTers like Jay B from Chicago. She just
hasn't gone all the way, presumably because you've taken a patriarchal
attitude and failed to inform her of all the available options.

She knows about all those options, she has ridden may bikes for many
years, some of which had all those features.


That all these comforts that extend the utility of the bike cost very
little is a point Stephen Scharf has made several times, even putting
a stunningly low figure on what fenders, lights, rack etc would cost
the OEM.

By contrast, it is not difficult to run up a couple of grand in quite
common parts in the aftermarket, as I discovered when recently I
looked into building up a bike on a bought-in frame. I priced the
components on my Gazelle and just the components at retail would have
come to half as much again as the manufacturer's suggested retail
selling price, with a reasonable allowance for the frame to double.

That hasn't been my experience, I've found the additional expenses quite
modest, even for those items those not selected for utility reasons.