did anyone else read this blog post?

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/spoke-n-word-biking/2010/06/dirty-l...

Really? $800 for a decent bike? $500 in gear? I haven't spent $800 dollars total on all the bikes I have purchased in the last 10 years!

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael A on June 18, 2010 at 11:28am

I did not take it as an attack in any way. I am pretty sure he prequalified his post for me.

Joel said:

I don't think he took it as an attack so much as acknowledging that spending that much on a bike is nuts. Which really, it is. That doesn't mean it is bad -- hell, I'd spend that much if I could. I'd buy several $10,000 custom built bikes for commuting, racing, touring, etc. It is totally unrealistic at this point, but more power to the people that can do it.

Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:
Wait - what? I'm totally confused as to why you took Doug's post as a personal attack. He really was just saying that the blog post is wrong about having to spend a lot of money to commute via bike.

Michael A said:
Thank you for pre qualifying your comment... Anyone who would spend 12-15k on a bike is nuts....... so commit me already... the bike snob that I am. For my commuter bike I picked up an estate sale (craigslist) 25 yr old lugged steel frame bike and refurbed it, bike was $150, I put at about that into the refurb (sans my fizik saddle from another project) So for about 300-350 I have a solid commuter bike that will still get me to and from with the occasional blast of performance. As far as technical wear you can spend as much or as little as you care. I prefer wearing cycling specific clothing when I bike but carrying a complete change of clothes and arriving to a jobsite in spandex tends to get old. The bottom line for me is I still would rather drive my car to and from work, get home and THEN go for a bike ride.

notoriousDUG said:
OK let me qualify what I am about to say here first as to not offend:

I have no problem with expensive bikes or people spending a ton of money on sweet bike stuff. It's not for me but if you dig, can afford it and it makes you happy more power to you if you want a $12,000 bike.

Here are my two big problems with that blog and why it is sticking in my mind and I can't let it go:

1) I strongly disagree with the numbers she has up there and feel that big numbers like that put up with no explanation are the sort of thing that scares people off when it comes to commuting.

2) Inline with the above she pushes the concept that you need to have all this expensive and special stuff to bike commute and that is just not true.

I do not bike commute, it is not practical for me when it comes to my job. However I do not drive at all outside of to/from work and while working. I do everything by bike and I am committed to doing it as cheaply as possible with as little special equipment as possible. I have spent pretty much zero dollars on specialized biking gear and managed to ride year round for pretty much the last two years. Granted I have a job where I work outside a lot so I already own good cold weather gear but even with purchasing a little bit better cold weather gear then the average person owns you are still no where near the kind of financial numbers she is quoting. I am not even going to justify the food bill thing because I eat the same now as I did before I started riding.

By her estimate you are looking at $1,300 to start cycling to work and I can not see that, even for a novice and somebody unable to work on their own bike. If they do research and/or buy used from a reputable source they are going to do well. Here is my idea of a realistic price to commute for a person living in the city, working downtown and able to take P/T or a car to work if the weather is horrid.

I already found a new bike at $270 and have at Ciclo Urbano seen bikes with fenders and a rack already installed go for $300-350, and this is for a bike that has been refurbished so lets just call that $320 for the bike.

Now you need panniers which can range from $24-225 a pair with the $225 being for Ortlieb bags. figure $125 for a good middle of the road set. The rack for them is up at $170 if you get the fancy one from Rivendell but you can find front or rear racks that accept panniers for as low as 25 bucks! But Iu like nice stuff that lasts so lets call it $40.

This brings the total for a ready to commute bike with more bag space then needed by the average person for a total of $485, this is quite a bit less then the $800 from the article. Helmet and lock should run you under a hundred for the pair unless you really want to get fancy so your looking at $550-585 at the top for your mode of transportation.

Now, we need to equip the rider... Well lets skip the fancy shoes because where are not looking to win races or be the fastest or ride all day, we just want to make it 5 miles to the office and back. Flat peddles are just fine for this. Most of the year you are looking at being able to ride in regular clothes with the exception of some rainy days. Maybe you have a rain coat, maybe you don't but it's a good idea to own one even if you don't ride a bike... yeah, you can spend $100 plus on a nice one but I've been making do with cheapies or plastic ponchos (or even a garbage bag with holes for my head and arms, I have no shame!) and it's way under that but not everyone is as white trash as me so lets budget $125 for a nice rain coat (which will double as a shell for winter layering) and some light weight rain pants. Well that covers 75% of the year, if not more. Winter time buy a pair of decent water proof boots which will serve you well in other walks (see what I did there) of life, use your rain stuff as a shell when it is CRAZY cold and lets budget another $125 for nice warm long undies and some hats and gloves from the surplus store. With the waterproof insulated boots which can be had for a hundo or so at a good camping store you are looking at a total of $350 to equip yourself to ride all year round, a little less if you just hop the train when it's really, really shitty out so it's right around $935 to equip yourself to ride year round, $365 less then her estimate and, if you choose not to commute when it is supper shitty out you can do away with a lot of the inclement weather gear and get a less watertight pannier system or possibly even only one pannier and come out really ahead.

Even at the big number if you commute half of the workable days in a year (52x5=260/2=130) you have a cost of $7.19 for the first year and the bike is paid off as is all of your gear, most of which will last for years to come. Stretch it out over the minimum 3 years you should be able to get out of the bike and most of the gear you are at $2.39, about the cost of a gallon of gas and there is no way you are getting in and out of downtown from 5 miles out on a single gallon of gas, never mind the parking. Of course this does not take into account the fact that most of the gear you are going to buy to wear is going to be useful in other parts of your life. Not only that but the more you bike the more the cost is spread out...

Maybe there is a cost savings to it, especially when you consider the cost to upkeep, insure and store an automobile compared to that of a bike.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jamais716 on June 18, 2010 at 12:12pm

What's wrong with a $300 new bike??? The first bike I bought for commuting was a $180 Giant comfort/hybrid bike. It was the previous year's model on sale at Kozy and it was a great new bike for somebody on a budget to start riding to work. It wasn't light, it wasn't sexy, but it had a really comfy seat and it got me from point A to B for 2 years with no problems before I bought a road bike and sold it to a friend.

T.C. O'Rourke said:

Two years ago, I bought a $100 hybridized mountain bike off of eBay, a Specialized Expedition. My intent was to sell it to a newbie commuter at cost... I used to buy up reasonably priced bikes, tune them (to the best of my ability) and pass them on to coworkers, non-biking friends(!), etc.

When I picked it up, the headset was loose. No biggie right? Wrong. Turns out the steerer tube is stripped. I can possibly fix this at my beloved LBS or find a replacement fork, but I haven't-- and I know precisely what is wrong and what needs doing.

Do you think some clueless (endearing, honestly) newbie cyclist knows what the hell a steerer tube is? They just spent $100 on a bike that immediately needs $50-$75 worth of work.

Point: it is easy to get burned buying a used bike, even if you think you know what your doing.

Furthermore, a $300 new bike is going to ride crappy and go out of adjustment quickly and wear out rapidly with any real use. Suffering such a machine is going to turn off a lot of people towards cycling. I wouldn't ride a crappy bike every day, so I wouldn't expect a new cyclist to do so.

Finally: after 10 years of winter riding, I had a frost bitten epiphany and immediately dropped $500 on winter gear. It was the best $ I ever spent.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Amber K on June 18, 2010 at 2:40pm

Who cares how much anyone spends on their bike!!! You can spend a little or a lot. I save a lot of money by commuting by bike, but that's not the most important thing to me. Yeah, having extra cash is nice, but I like being a little friendlier to the earth. There's only one, ya know.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on June 18, 2010 at 3:00pm

Amber K said:

Who cares how much anyone spends on their bike!!! You can spend a little or a lot. I save a lot of money by commuting by bike, but that's not the most important thing to me. Yeah, having extra cash is nice, but I like being a little friendlier to the earth. There's only one, ya know.

Bravo! Someone should repost that pic in the thread where people are bashing bus drivers. I mean, I know from personal experience that some bus drivers can be dangerous or annoying, but I'd rather deal with one of them than sixty (or whatever) cars!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Amber K on June 18, 2010 at 3:05pm

I do agree. Some bus drivers are very polite, unlike others who try and squash you. There are always good and bad in every crowd. What can you do?!

Tony Adams said:

Amber K said:
Who cares how much anyone spends on their bike!!! You can spend a little or a lot. I save a lot of money by commuting by bike, but that's not the most important thing to me. Yeah, having extra cash is nice, but I like being a little friendlier to the earth. There's only one, ya know.

Bravo! Someone should repost that pic in the thread where people are bashing bus drivers. I mean, I know from personal experience that some bus drivers can be dangerous or annoying, but I'd rather deal with one of them than sixty (or whatever) cars!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on June 18, 2010 at 3:07pm

here is a link from a blog with the poster.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by T.C. O'Rourke on June 18, 2010 at 4:06pm

How much was your road bike?

Jamais716 said:

...before I bought a road bike and sold it to a friend.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Carl on June 18, 2010 at 4:27pm

What a load of consumerist-mentality hype! She's totally not adding in costs of insurance, parking, stickers, tickets, maintenance, carwashes and a dozen other things.

And really leaning on the fear-mongering line. Hate to tell you Honey, but go check out the annual bike fatalities in Chicago - less than one a month. The number of car deaths? One a day.

But she is right, the gear-heads are nuts. I'm still waiting to spend more than $100 on a bike (including blinkies), and the only other special bike gear I own is a u-lock.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jamais716 on June 18, 2010 at 9:15pm

My first road bike was a $75 old Schwinn from Craigslist + cost of a new tube and seat. Also nothing fancy, but a reliable ride (it even found it's way home after being stolen!).

My tax refund was burning a hole in my pocket this year, so I bought a new Scott. It's light, it gets me where I'm going a little bit quicker, and it's really cool having shifters with the brakes! (didn't know that was even possible til last year - you can't miss what you don't know about) Trade off is that I'm a lot more paranoid about leaving it locked outside work. In that respect, it was better to commute on a cheap bike, but hey, I occasionally enjoy being consumerist if I can afford it.

T.C. O'Rourke said:

How much was your road bike?

Jamais716 said:
...before I bought a road bike and sold it to a friend.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jim Drummond on June 18, 2010 at 9:16pm

It would be nice if this "journalist" learned how to spell "definitely".

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lee Crandell on June 19, 2010 at 8:36am

Why didn't anyone reply on the blog website? She could probably use a little constructive feedback.

I seriously doubt most new commuters buy everything at once. Most probably don't even buy a bike -- they likely already have one sitting in the basement not getting used much. Or at least that was the case for me.