Case 1: “Used and cheap”
$400 internet bike. Doesn’t fit, isn’t comfortable, doesn’t
work
$300
repairs (still doesn’t fit, or work
right)
Shipping
(both ways) $200
Sold
in six months
Sell for $300
Cost = $600
Replaced with…
$600 used bike (local
purchase) Doesn’t fit, isn’t
comfortable, needs work and tires.
$150
repairs (Still doesn’t fit, and the shifting is never right)
After
five months has major mechanical
$300
repairs
Sold
in one year
Sell
for $500
Cost = $550
Replaced with…
$2000 used bike (local
purchase. “Bike was $5000 new, but
I got a deal because this racing team
was replacing their bikes.”)
Doesn’t fit, and the shifting isn’t right.
$400
in repairs (still doesn’t fit, and feels funny when ridden)
After
three months rear wheel goes out of violently out of true.
$800
for new wheelset
Two
weeks later the rear derailler jumps into the new rear wheel and destroys
it. Bad crash ensues.
$1500
Med bills
$450
wheel
$150
derailler
Sell
for $1200
Quit
riding
Cost = $4100
Total cost of not becoming a rider = $5250!!!!
Case 2: The “Work your way
up” plan
$450 hybrid.
Inadequate to purpose in 6 months.
$100
in repairs (necessitated by using the bike in ways for which it was never intended!)
$200
in “upgrades”
Brings
$250 as a trade in on the next bike.
Cost
= $400
Replaced with…
$700 entry level road bike. ($450 after trade-in.)
“Outgrown” in one year. Components worn, tires shot.
$150
in repairs
$300
in “upgrades
Brings $350 as a trade in.
Cost = $600
Replaced with…
$1000 low mid-level road bike
Outgrown
in one year. Components worn,
tires worn.
$150
in repairs
$200
in “upgrades
Brings
$550 as a trade in.
Cost
= $450
Replaced with…
$1500 mid level road bike. Happy riding for the next three years.
$300
Maintenance
Cost
= $1250
Total cost of riding for five and a half years = $2700
Case 3: “Get it right the first time” plan
$1500 mid-level road bike. Happy riding for six years.
$520
maintenance
Total cost of riding for Six
Years = $2020
The moral here is obvious. Buy the right bike. Buy enough
bike. There are no “short cuts.”
I know I know. You know about some guy who was related
to the sister of someone your wife used to work with; who bought a perfect $8000 bike; online; only paying
$17.92 for it; and the seller paid the packing and shipping; and the local shop
unpacked it, re-assembled it, and tuned it for only $2.16; and it’s always
worked perfectly; and he’s had it for
just years. I believe it. I do. I also
believe in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.
The whole “used bike gold strike” thing is something I treat
with a lot of skepticism. I will
grant that it can happen, but I tend
to play the actual odds. Hey! We all know someone who goes to Vegas
to gamble a couple of times a year.
I know one of these guys.
He never boasts about “breaking the bank.” But, to hear him
talk, every time he goes, he wins enough money to pay for the entire trip,
airfare included and to put an extra $5,000.00 in the bank when he gets back.
Okay, it’s just barely
possible that someone could do that.
Once. It’s not likely. The people who run the casinos are not in the business of handing out large
amounts of cash to random strangers.
They stay in business by taking
cash, in large amounts from everyone who goes there. Fine mathematicians have calculated the
odds of pulling off a “streak” like the one my acquaintance boasts of. Those odds are something like 1/300,000,000. Since more than three hundred million
people have gone to Las Vegas, it’s close to a certainty that at least one of them has had a run like that.
But my acquaintance goes twice a year, on average. And, according to him, the same thing
has happened every time he’s been
there. The odds of this happening twice to the same person are 9,000 trillion to one. Since fewer than 12 billion humans have
ever lived on the planet, and most of them have not been to Las Vegas, this is extremely unlikely.
Look! I got taken in by a used bike once. A “deal too good to be true.” For the full story on that, please see
this coming Friday’s post.
Buy new especially carbon. Used bikes are fine to buy if its from a trusted mechanic and shop that's checked it out and its on consignment. Get the bike that fits u properly and pay for a pro fitting
ReplyDelete