Terry Ahern of Terry’s Byke Haus presents 4 Part Series on How to Purchase a Bike - Part 1 of 4

April 4, 2011 - PRLog -- As a long time cyclist I often have people asking about buying bikes. It can be very confusing if you don’t have much experience with bikes, and sometimes even for those who do. If you are buying a bike for the first time, or thinking of upgrading from an old bike, hopefully this information will help you out.

How much should I Pay for a Bike?

When I first wrote this I had this section at the end, I later changed my mind though and decided that this really was a very important consideration for people. The answer to this question depends on a lot of things. Simply though with bikes it is the same as with many things is life - you get what you pay for. I have met plenty of people who say to me “I am thinking about getting a bike, what can you tell me?” My first question to them is usually, how much they want to spend, and regularly they say “Around $100 or $200.” I think people who give this answer can probably be put into two groups, those who really only want to spend a minimum on a bike, and those who really don’t know a lot about how much bikes cost. If you are a person who only wants to spend a small amount on a bike then go ahead and buy a $100 bike. If you want to get a bike that is good quality though, then spending more is essential, and it can be quite a lot more unfortunately, I don’t want to turn people off cycling, but that is the reality of the situation.

Good bikes are not cheap things, although they are a lot cheaper than your average car, up front and in the long run. The fact of the matter is a good quality bike, depending on brand, will cost around $1000. You can probably get good bikes second hand or on sale for around $800, or perhaps cheaper. If you shop around you might get lucky and find a nice bike on sale. If you want a good bike though this is what you need to spend. If you think this sounds like a lot keep in mind that the bikes you see in the Tour de France, or guys doing Mountain bike tricks on, can cost many thousands of dollars. I recently had a look at a $5000 bike at my local bike shop. A cheap student car might cost around $1000, but then you need to consider that you then have to pay for licensing, fuel, and all the things that break down on a car like that. I should know, I’ve owned one. So when a good quality bikes cost $1000 you can see that a bike starts to make more sense.

$1000 might be out of your price range for instance if you are visiting from overseas for only a short period of time, or if you want a bike to ride only one or two kilometers then spending $1000 is probably not sensible. Although I would like to say that even if you are only planning on riding a short distance, if you buy a good bike you might be tempted to start using your bike for other things. Anyway, under these circumstances you might be able to spend $100 or $200 on a bike and get away with it. If you decide this is want you want to do then check our bike maintenance section on how to take care of a bike. You might be surprised what a little bit of love and care can do for an old bike. Remember though, it might cost more to replace parts of a bike as they break down than you paid for it in the first place. Buying a cheap bike can be a disaster. When I just started university, and had less experience with bikes, I bought a cheaper mountain bike (it was a $500 1998 Apollo) to ride to university. The gears kept playing up, the brakes kept breaking (ironically), and other parts wore out after a very short time. I learned my lesson though.  If you want a bike that will last, or if you are going to be riding a long way, then you should think about saving some money.