How many weeks' wages is that Schwinn now?

Kerry Montgomery wrote:
Schwinn $354 (OK, in 1971 dollars)

I would venture that the Schwinn cost about two weeks' worth of an
average American wage packet back then. And you rode it in your
casuals.

I wonder how many weeks' average wage packets an equivalent bike, and
gear to ride it in, costs today.

Have bikes become, relatively speaking, more expensive? Less
expensive?

My own guess is that making the bicycle a "lifestyle statement" has
also made it more expensive, compared to 1971.

Andre Jute
I'm not a know-all. I don't need to be. I know who to ask.

http://www.velodramatic.com/thetab

In article
,
Andre Jute wrote:

Kerry Montgomery wrote:
Schwinn $354 (OK, in 1971 dollars)

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

$1790 in 2007 dollars

I would venture that the Schwinn cost about two weeks' worth of an
average American wage packet back then. And you rode it in your
casuals.

I wonder how many weeks' average wage packets an equivalent bike, and
gear to ride it in, costs today.

Have bikes become, relatively speaking, more expensive? Less
expensive?

My own guess is that making the bicycle a "lifestyle statement" has
also made it more expensive, compared to 1971.

Andre Jute
I'm not a know-all. I don't need to be. I know who to ask.

Median household income in the US is about $44,000. The proverbial $1800
bicycle is pretty close to two weeks' wages, before taxes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Househo..._United_States

These days, an $1800 bicycle is a pretty nice bike. You can pay five
times that for a bicycle, but as something to ride, a good $1800 bicycle
will be better than any bike you could get in 1971 for any price. And
the $7000 bicycles aren't that much more impressive.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

"Andre Jute" wrote in message
...
Kerry Montgomery wrote:
Schwinn $354 (OK, in 1971 dollars)

I would venture that the Schwinn cost about two weeks' worth of an
average American wage packet back then. And you rode it in your
casuals.

I wonder how many weeks' average wage packets an equivalent bike, and
gear to ride it in, costs today.

Have bikes become, relatively speaking, more expensive? Less
expensive?

My own guess is that making the bicycle a "lifestyle statement" has
also made it more expensive, compared to 1971.

Andre Jute
I'm not a know-all. I don't need to be. I know who to ask.

Don't know much about average wages, but an inflation calculator on the
web:
http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm
shows $354 in 1971 money to be equal to $1,870 in today's money. For $1,870
today one could buy a nice enough bike, one that probably does everything
better than the 1971 bike, but would be several thousand dollars short of a
ride with current top of the line components, as that Schwinn has/had.
Kerry

On Apr 3, 5:51*pm, Andre Jute wrote:
Kerry Montgomery wrote:
Schwinn $354 (OK, in 1971 dollars)

If you're going to quote someone, please leave it in the same thread
so we can see the context of the original statement.

I would venture that the Schwinn cost about two weeks' worth of an
average American wage packet back then. And you rode it in your
casuals.

1971 is about when I bought my first 'good' bike - a Schwinn Varsity
for a bit under $90, and thought that was a pretty high price at the
time. A $354 bike at that time would have been one considered rather
exotic and of interest either to those showing off their wealth or
seriously interested in the sport of cycling - i.e. not riding in
casuals.

I wonder how many weeks' average wage packets an equivalent bike, and
gear to ride it in, costs today.

Have bikes become, relatively speaking, more expensive? Less
expensive?

My own guess is that making the bicycle a "lifestyle statement" has
also made it more expensive, compared to 1971.

The range of prices has increased (on both ends), but I'd say that it
has become less expensive to get a bicycle that functions well and
would be suitable for long distance rides and tours. The $90 Varsity
of that period would equate to about $450 today and it's easy to find
far bikes in that price range that are far superior to my old Varsity.

On Fri, 3 Apr 2009 17:51:44 -0700 (PDT), Andre Jute
wrote:

Have bikes become, relatively speaking, more expensive? Less
expensive?

For the same funcationality, in currency adjusted for inflation, less
expensive.

On Apr 4, 3:03*am, Peter Rathmann wrote:
On Apr 3, 5:51*pm, Andre Jute wrote:

Kerry Montgomery wrote:
Schwinn $354 (OK, in 1971 dollars)

If you're going to quote someone, please leave it in the same thread
so we can see the context of the original statement.

Thanks for you enlightening contribution to the thread, Peter. I
quoted Kerry merely as a courtesy for raising the question with me;
the original context (a little joke in the thread 'Got my LHT') is
totally irrelevant to the discussion here. I'll post a summary of
viewpoints later. -- AJ

I would venture that the Schwinn cost about two weeks' worth of an
average American wage packet back then. And you rode it in your
casuals.

1971 is about when I bought my first 'good' bike - a Schwinn Varsity
for a bit under $90, and thought that was a pretty high price at the
time. *A $354 bike at that time would have been one considered rather
exotic and of interest either to those showing off their wealth or
seriously interested in the sport of cycling - i.e. not riding in
casuals.



I wonder how many weeks' average wage packets an equivalent bike, and
gear to ride it in, costs today.

Have bikes become, relatively speaking, more expensive? Less
expensive?

My own guess is that making the bicycle a "lifestyle statement" has
also made it more expensive, compared to 1971.

The range of prices has increased (on both ends), but I'd say that it
has become less expensive to get a bicycle that functions well and
would be suitable for long distance rides and tours. *The $90 Varsity
of that period would equate to about $450 today and it's easy to find
far bikes in that price range that are far superior to my old Varsity.

On Apr 4, 1:51*am, Andre Jute wrote:
Kerry Montgomery wrote:
Schwinn $354 (OK, in 1971 dollars)

What we've discovered from the top level responses in this thread is
that in or about 1971 you could get a really good bike for about the
equivalent of two weeks' median wages ($354 is about $1800 today).
Today an $1800 bike is still a very good bike (but not quite at the
top level, see below). You could also get a satisfying bike like the
Schwinn Varsity for a quarter that much, $90, say half a week's median
wage, today worth $450. You can also today get a perfectly functional
bike for $450. Things in the middle are thus not all that much
different forty years later.

It is at either end that matters are quite different. You can get a
good bike much cheaper than $450 today, the equivalent of $90 back
then. And the "two weeks' wages worth" of bike in 1971 came with the
best of everything, which will not be quite true of the $1800 bike
today; you have to pay more than two weeks' wages to get the best of
everything today. Whether the bikes which today go up to many
thousands of dollars are worth several multiples of the perfectly good
$1800 bike is a matter of opinion.

This is a summary of what people have told me. We didn't gather enough
information to make a comparison about the relative cost of bicycling
clothing back then and now. We did learn, in a non-comparative manner,
that a bike like the top of the range Schwinn even back then wasn't
ridden in one's casuals, and that today the Ferrari class of cyclist
can easily invest 40K plus in bikes and clothes to wear on them. Ouch.

As I say, this isn't my work. Enabled by the internet, I just asked
(my questions are below my sig), received, and summarized the answers.
Thanks to all who contributed.

****

The assumption behind the "$1800 bike" often held up as a sort of
moral model is that two weeks' wages is a fair price for a workman to
pay for a top-class bicycle he can race at club level. The assumption
comes from the days when cycling was almost exclusively a working
class sport. That does raise the question of who your average cyclist
is today in the advanced countries.

Andre Jute
I'm not a know-all. I don't need to be. I know who to ask.

I would venture that the Schwinn cost about two weeks' worth of an
average American wage packet back then. And you rode it in your
casuals.

I wonder how many weeks' average wage packets an equivalent bike, and
gear to ride it in, costs today.

Have bikes become, relatively speaking, more expensive? Less
expensive?

My own guess is that making the bicycle a "lifestyle statement" has
also made it more expensive, compared to 1971.

Andre Jute
I'm not a know-all. I don't need to be. I know who to ask.