A $5000 Cervolo CF and a Target bike

This morning my son is riding with his cycle-enthusiast friend. My son
is using this kid's "old" Specialized road bike and his friend is going
out on his new $5000 Cervelo that his parents bought him yesterday.

I was talking to his friend's mom and she wanted to borrow one of our
bicycles to try because she doesn't have a bicycle at all. Then she said
that if she was okay riding after a lot of years that she would go to
Target and buy a bike. I wanted to scream.

On Monday, November 10, 2014 12:47:05 PM UTC-5, sms wrote:
This morning my son is riding with his cycle-enthusiast friend. My son
is using this kid's "old" Specialized road bike and his friend is going
out on his new $5000 Cervelo that his parents bought him yesterday.

I was talking to his friend's mom and she wanted to borrow one of our
bicycles to try because she doesn't have a bicycle at all. Then she said
that if she was okay riding after a lot of years that she would go to
Target and buy a bike. I wanted to scream.

Why? The important thing is that she rides a bicycle not the cost of it. If she enjoys a Target bike then that's what counts.

Cheers

ELITIST PIG maybe they cannah afford a second Cervalo this week

bummer eh ?

On Monday, November 10, 2014 6:43:44 PM UTC-5, wrote:
ELITIST PIG maybe they cannah afford a second Cervalo this week

bummer eh ?

nnnnnnnn

yeah go over n send her to REI or Jacobowsky or...get her to buy a Cliff Bar...slip a her some red wine and valiums with 3-4k bills n tell her to relax and enjoy the trip.

and watch out for McClearly...

Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Monday, November 10, 2014 12:47:05 PM UTC-5, sms wrote:
This morning my son is riding with his cycle-enthusiast friend. My
son is using this kid's "old" Specialized road bike and his friend
is going out on his new $5000 Cervelo that his parents bought him
yesterday.

I was talking to his friend's mom and she wanted to borrow one of
our bicycles to try because she doesn't have a bicycle at all. Then
she said that if she was okay riding after a lot of years that she
would go to Target and buy a bike. I wanted to scream.

Why? The important thing is that she rides a bicycle not the cost of
it. If she enjoys a Target bike then that's what counts.


Exactly.

Department store bikes are not as bad as some elitists say they are. I
used such bikes exclusively when at university because my budget and the
high theft rate did not allow anything else. Bought them used for around
$20-30, wore them down in 6-12 months, then bought the next one. Later I
bought a nice full-custom road bike and earlier this year a $2k MTB. The
wear and tear and cost per mile (without amortization of the purchase
price) isn't any less than with my old department store bikes. In fact,
it's higher because everything costs more on those. Ok, the expensive
bikes provide a smoother ride but there's nothing wrong with starting
out on a Target bike.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 11/13/2014 3:37 PM, Joerg wrote:


Department store bikes are not as bad as some elitists say they are. I
used such bikes exclusively when at university because my budget and the
high theft rate did not allow anything else. Bought them used for around
$20-30, wore them down in 6-12 months, then bought the next one. Later I
bought a nice full-custom road bike and earlier this year a $2k MTB. The
wear and tear and cost per mile (without amortization of the purchase
price) isn't any less than with my old department store bikes. In fact,
it's higher because everything costs more on those. Ok, the expensive
bikes provide a smoother ride but there's nothing wrong with starting
out on a Target bike.

Well, people are free to buy what they want. But there certainly are
problems in starting out with a Target bike - or a Toys-R-Us bike, the
last bike I fixed for someone. The front hub locked up almost
completely, and the front fork was installed backwards. I've seen brake
levers installed upside down (on a drop bar bike!), derailleurs that
wouldn't shift more than two rear cogs, brakes that couldn't be applied,
and more.

The big problem is that American garages are filled with these things,
sitting and collecting dust. The owners probably have many reasons (or
excuses) for not riding, but one is certainly that their bikes barely
work.

A few years ago, I told about helping a young guy I passed on a country
road. He was walking his bike home from work because his tire pressure
was too low, so I stopped to pump his tires for him. He told me he
never shifts gears because on every bike he's had, if he shifted the
bike "broke." And he said he'd bike commuted for years, but had to buy
a new bike every year (at Wal-Mart) because they just don't last. He
was flabbergasted when I told him the bike I was riding was about 25
years old, had made the trip coast to coast, and was still perfect.

There are millions like him, who think there's no such thing as a decent
bicycle. Because, you see, Wal-Mart doesn't sell one.

--
- Frank Krygowski

'There are millions like him,'

who are retarded or mechanically indisposed.

Walmart bikes are everywhere around here. In variable states of disrepair when finding a disrepaired Cervalo or Bianchi not likely.

You see the distinction ?

On Thu, 13 Nov 2014 22:27:24 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 11/13/2014 3:37 PM, Joerg wrote:


Department store bikes are not as bad as some elitists say they are. I
used such bikes exclusively when at university because my budget and the
high theft rate did not allow anything else. Bought them used for around
$20-30, wore them down in 6-12 months, then bought the next one. Later I
bought a nice full-custom road bike and earlier this year a $2k MTB. The
wear and tear and cost per mile (without amortization of the purchase
price) isn't any less than with my old department store bikes. In fact,
it's higher because everything costs more on those. Ok, the expensive
bikes provide a smoother ride but there's nothing wrong with starting
out on a Target bike.

Well, people are free to buy what they want. But there certainly are
problems in starting out with a Target bike - or a Toys-R-Us bike, the
last bike I fixed for someone. The front hub locked up almost
completely, and the front fork was installed backwards. I've seen brake
levers installed upside down (on a drop bar bike!), derailleurs that
wouldn't shift more than two rear cogs, brakes that couldn't be applied,
and more.

The big problem is that American garages are filled with these things,
sitting and collecting dust. The owners probably have many reasons (or
excuses) for not riding, but one is certainly that their bikes barely
work.

A few years ago, I told about helping a young guy I passed on a country
road. He was walking his bike home from work because his tire pressure
was too low, so I stopped to pump his tires for him. He told me he
never shifts gears because on every bike he's had, if he shifted the
bike "broke." And he said he'd bike commuted for years, but had to buy
a new bike every year (at Wal-Mart) because they just don't last. He
was flabbergasted when I told him the bike I was riding was about 25
years old, had made the trip coast to coast, and was still perfect.

There are millions like him, who think there's no such thing as a decent
bicycle. Because, you see, Wal-Mart doesn't sell one.

But, on the other hand, when you go down to the Bicycle Store, the
bike sitting right in front of the front door is a Trek Custom Emonda
SLR for a paltry $11,917.99.

Actually I'm exaggerating a bit. My LBS has the poor boy Madone 7.7
for a paltry $7,239.99 in front of their door, and the $4,,199.99
Madone frame set in the window.

Sure makes a once a year Wal-Mart bike look pretty good :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Thursday, November 13, 2014 10:27:37 PM UTC-5, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/13/2014 3:37 PM, Joerg wrote:


Department store bikes are not as bad as some elitists say they are. I
used such bikes exclusively when at university because my budget and the
high theft rate did not allow anything else. Bought them used for around
$20-30, wore them down in 6-12 months, then bought the next one. Later I
bought a nice full-custom road bike and earlier this year a $2k MTB. The
wear and tear and cost per mile (without amortization of the purchase
price) isn't any less than with my old department store bikes. In fact,
it's higher because everything costs more on those. Ok, the expensive
bikes provide a smoother ride but there's nothing wrong with starting
out on a Target bike.

Well, people are free to buy what they want. But there certainly are
problems in starting out with a Target bike - or a Toys-R-Us bike, the
last bike I fixed for someone. The front hub locked up almost
completely, and the front fork was installed backwards. I've seen brake
levers installed upside down (on a drop bar bike!), derailleurs that
wouldn't shift more than two rear cogs, brakes that couldn't be applied,
and more.

The big problem is that American garages are filled with these things,
sitting and collecting dust. The owners probably have many reasons (or
excuses) for not riding, but one is certainly that their bikes barely
work.

A few years ago, I told about helping a young guy I passed on a country
road. He was walking his bike home from work because his tire pressure
was too low, so I stopped to pump his tires for him. He told me he
never shifts gears because on every bike he's had, if he shifted the
bike "broke." And he said he'd bike commuted for years, but had to buy
a new bike every year (at Wal-Mart) because they just don't last. He
was flabbergasted when I told him the bike I was riding was about 25
years old, had made the trip coast to coast, and was still perfect.

There are millions like him, who think there's no such thing as a decent
bicycle. Because, you see, Wal-Mart doesn't sell one.

--
- Frank Krygowski

So, someone buys a chap bike and gets you to coreect any setup errors. Thus tthey've save about $100.00 or more. People who are intending to be just casual riders don't need to be buying high end stuff unless they want it.

There are many videos and or books available to anyone to look at to be sure ttheir bike is set up properly. Taking a bike to or buying a bike from a bike shop does NOT FUARANTEE that tthe setup will be right. I had a shop install tires, tubes and fenders on a bike for me. I got home and the tire pressure was low. I pumped the tires to 60psi (40-90 psi on the sidewall) and a few minutes later tthe front tire blew off the rim. If it had done that on the ride home it would most likely have dumped me into heavy traffic. A shop installed a chain and the chain was too short. It jammed as I was about to ride across a highway. Fortunately I was not clipped in because that chain jammed and caused the bike to fall over.

Most department store bikes are okay but it's the setup not the parts that's the proble. If I or my friends buy a bike from any store/bike shop I then go over it looking for potential problems. I find them on both types.

Cheers

On Friday, November 14, 2014 8:46:36 AM UTC-5, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, November 13, 2014 10:27:37 PM UTC-5, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/13/2014 3:37 PM, Joerg wrote:


Department store bikes are not as bad as some elitists say they are. I
used such bikes exclusively when at university because my budget and the
high theft rate did not allow anything else. Bought them used for around
$20-30, wore them down in 6-12 months, then bought the next one. Later I
bought a nice full-custom road bike and earlier this year a $2k MTB. The
wear and tear and cost per mile (without amortization of the purchase
price) isn't any less than with my old department store bikes. In fact,
it's higher because everything costs more on those. Ok, the expensive
bikes provide a smoother ride but there's nothing wrong with starting
out on a Target bike.

Well, people are free to buy what they want. But there certainly are
problems in starting out with a Target bike - or a Toys-R-Us bike, the
last bike I fixed for someone. The front hub locked up almost
completely, and the front fork was installed backwards. I've seen brake
levers installed upside down (on a drop bar bike!), derailleurs that
wouldn't shift more than two rear cogs, brakes that couldn't be applied,
and more.

The big problem is that American garages are filled with these things,
sitting and collecting dust. The owners probably have many reasons (or
excuses) for not riding, but one is certainly that their bikes barely
work.

A few years ago, I told about helping a young guy I passed on a country
road. He was walking his bike home from work because his tire pressure
was too low, so I stopped to pump his tires for him. He told me he
never shifts gears because on every bike he's had, if he shifted the
bike "broke." And he said he'd bike commuted for years, but had to buy
a new bike every year (at Wal-Mart) because they just don't last. He
was flabbergasted when I told him the bike I was riding was about 25
years old, had made the trip coast to coast, and was still perfect.

There are millions like him, who think there's no such thing as a decent
bicycle. Because, you see, Wal-Mart doesn't sell one.

--
- Frank Krygowski

So, someone buys a chap bike and gets you to coreect any setup errors. Thus tthey've save about $100.00 or more. People who are intending to be just casual riders don't need to be buying high end stuff unless they want it.

There are many videos and or books available to anyone to look at to be sure ttheir bike is set up properly. Taking a bike to or buying a bike from a bike shop does NOT FUARANTEE that tthe setup will be right. I had a shop install tires, tubes and fenders on a bike for me. I got home and the tire pressure was low. I pumped the tires to 60psi (40-90 psi on the sidewall) and a few minutes later tthe front tire blew off the rim. If it had done that on the ride home it would most likely have dumped me into heavy traffic. A shop installed a chain and the chain was too short. It jammed as I was about to ride across a highway. Fortunately I was not clipped in because that chain jammed and caused the bike to fall over.

Most department store bikes are okay but it's the setup not the parts that's the proble. If I or my friends buy a bike from any store/bike shop I then go over it looking for potential problems. I find them on both types.

Cheers

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

what we need here is a downward facing triangle..

you miss the point point point point

buyers with disposable incomes for a $700 and up bike are more intelligent than buyers with $100 for a bike purchase. Doahn argue abt kids sales....

intelligent buyers are more likely (doahn hold your breath, hold ur nose )

to inspect, maintain and repair. Not much more but there's a gross effect.

eg, who rides rusty chains ?