A bicycle or a lawn tractor?

[Ford850]

You'll find that good bike shops have employees who love to ride, and want to help others enjoy their sport/hobby too. They will be active in the community, involved in bike clubs and trail maintenance. Good shops are very helpful and offer assistance well beyond buying a bike.

 

[newbury]

After reading all this, I kind of miss my old Schwinn.......Unicycle....

Yeah, I had a Continental. From about 1964? till about 1990, over 30lbs without grease. Then I got (and still have) a Trek Multitrack. Similar to Dodge Man I paid a pittance compared to the same quality in today's bike.

I paid $357 for mine 18 years ago

I think I paid over $200 (and complained).

I'd advise Coaster to carefully analyze probable use.

I'll say that we'll basically be riding on bike trails - like old canal paths around our area (and in others), so it'll basically be flat and smooth, I think.

If that's his usage it seems a good brand could be found on Craigs List for a few hundred each. Then if he needs something different he could buy based on experience.

 

[Chagit]

Nothing wrong with the prices, you should compare it with this bike

...When I walked into one and started looking at prices, it was a rude awakening. I saw prices ranging from $1K to $5K and above. Seemed to me you could easily spend more on biking equipment than a law tractor; another one of those things that make you go hmmm...

What makes bicycles so expensive?...

 

[coaster]

Nothing wrong with the prices, you should compare it with this bike

View attachment 708469

I don't even want to know the cost of that. I guess if I were rich, I wouldn't be asking why they are so expensive. I think you're right about capitalism though.

 

[dodge man]

A zombie thread but I’ll post an update on my biking situation. My wife and I bought e bikes about a year and a half ago. I’ve put 3600 miles on mine and the wife 800 miles. They are Trek Verve +3 bikes and were $3200 each. I wish I’d spent more on mine and less for the wife’s.

With my e bike there is no throttle you have to pedal to go anywhere. You can vary the assist level. The best way to describe the assist is it feels like you are going downhill when you are not. The best way to describe an e bike is you will ride further, faster and more often. That’s true with me. My rides are 15 to 20 miles where they used to be less than 10 miles and usually 4 to 6 miles. I fixed my pedal aTrek bike up last summer with new tubes and tires. I rode it once and didn’t like it. I sold it last week for $75. A recent picture of my e bike.

 

[kenmbz]

My son still rides my old trek 750 and it takes more and more time to maintain it.
Bought it in the early 90's.
The electrics look nice, someday.

 

[sd455dan]

I was hipped on "Related Topics" recently - LOL. So I thought I'd throw out a question here. As empty nesters now, the wife and I were thinking about getting into biking and other types of exercise activities. I still play other sports, but I'm looking for something that she can do with me. So I thought biking might be good. It was recommended that I go to a bike shop versus the "big-box" stores. When I walked into one and started looking at prices, it was a rude awakening. I saw prices ranging from $1K to $5K and above. Seemed to me you could easily spend more on biking equipment than a law tractor; another one of those things that make you go hmmm...

What makes bicycles so expensive? They're not even powered by gasoline engines. Whatever the case, I guess it works because I see plenty of people buying them complete with the uniforms that make them look like tour de france racers.

I think Some get really serious about riding. They just ran a charity ride close to us. All were wearing uniforms and riding hard.
Each their own. Some people buy Guns, some high performance cars, boats, tractors, tools.

Variety is the Spice of Life

That pedaling stuff is to much work for me, If I want to ride will jump on the motorcycle.

Plenty of other ways to exercise but more power to them if that makes em Happy.

 

[ArlyA]

If we keep our cardiovascular system pumped up now and then, we're living longer and happier while here. More independently as well. To each his own.

 

[dmccarty]

The problem with riding a bike is where to ride. People ride on our rural roads which is a death wish as far as I am concerned. In the NL, they have side walks for people, roads for vehicles and paths for bikes. It really makes it easy and safe to ride a bike, and they do ride bikes over there. There really are no hills, just ramps going over rivers and canals but they do have wind. It can be bit confusing if one is on a bike path or sidewalk but there are signs and they use different pavers to distinguish between bike and people traffic.

Bikes and people have the right of way over vehicles. While the Dutch drive on the correct side of the road, watching for people is easy, but the bikes can really surprise you and takes some getting used too.

 

[dodge man]

I ride on the rural roads near my house. Low volume of traffic, I use lights on the back and wear high visibility clothing but still a risk.