wrote:
On Tuesday, June 30, 2020 at 2:31:23 PM UTC-5, sms wrote:
On 6/30/2020 10:00 AM, wrote:
On Monday, June 29, 2020 at 5:38:34 PM UTC-5, sms wrote:
On 6/29/2020 1:12 PM, wrote:

snip

I am in the middle of Iowa. I know the owner of the Trek bike shop
in town but have never talked to him about where his shop earns its
revenue. Expensive or cheap bikes, accessories, clothing, mechanical
service, etc. That would probably be a fun talk. I ride with a
group of adult bicyclists. Avid bicyclists I guess since we ride
once or twice a week in the good weather months. They all have
multiple bikes each. And NONE of them have $500 and under bikes.
$1000 is the very cheapest bike anyone rides. Of course I realize
the adult bicyclists I ride with may not represent adult bicyclists
very well. We are all probably money hungry grubbing elitists with
college degrees. The horror!!!!

You and your friends might be the typical customers at a Trek shop, but
you're not the typical customer at a bike shop not catering to pro
wannabees.

Maybe. But everyone I ride with is in his 50s, 60s, 70s. I doubt
there are too many of them or me with professional bicycling dreams.
None of them are poor. They all have sufficient money. And like to
ride bikes. So maybe not representative of adult bicyclists across the
country. Spending $1-2000 or more on a bicycle every few years is not a big deal.

I'm my next door neighbor's bicycle repair person and assembler. They
are not poor. So far, during the pandemic, they've bought two Linus
bicycles for the mom and teenage daughter, and I assembled them. The dad
has a Dahon. They are looking for a bicycle for their 12 year old son,
but due to the current bicycle shortage they have been unsuccessful, so
he rides the Dahon for now, and the dad rides some older hybrid. $600 is
about their limit for new bicycles. They are not going on 25 mile or
longer rides. They might do 15 miles.


We have different definitions of adult bicyclists. I know maybe
technically any adult who rides a bicycle meets the definition. But I
only consider people who ride frequently for 30-40-50-60 miles at a time
as bicyclists. Others may ride a bicycle, but riding once or twice a
year with the kids on the trails for an hour or two doesn't qualify for
me. So the low cost bikes you mention would be the appropriate tool for those tasks.

An analogy might be someone living in town planting a big garden. They
till the soil, plant the seeds, harvest the crops. So they can consider
themselves a farmer? Or I work on my own bikes and bikes for friends, so
I am a bike mechanic? Not that I could not be one if given a chance, but
I would not label myself as one at the moment.


The bicycle shops in this area usually have plenty of bicycle in the
$400-600 price range. Maybe not the pro-level shops, but the "regular
shops." Supposedly, bicycle shops are going to be restocked sometime in
July or August.


For me the way to quantify the cost of a bike is on a per kilometre basis.
A 200 dollar Walmart bike that’s ridden twice a year is more expensive than
a 6000 dollar road bike that’s ridden 10000 km a year.