From the mailbag (actually from the comments from the post):
Jacob Can you tell me what bike/price range you have? I'm buying a bike that I hope can be used for errands, at least 3 days a week. I'm a 45 year old woman in good health/well health and the dealers I talk to all of them recommend different brands. They didn't help. Thank you JL
Although I've given an answer, I've thought a little bit more about it, so this is an extended answer. It depends on a few things. For example, I ride a road bike and I like to walk fast. I actually think of my commute as a race (all of which are in the law of traffic – yes, I'll stand at 3am at 3am at waiting at red lights). When I parked at the intersection I raced the car to the other side (usually a victory), and when I met another biker I was thinking “he/she was my butt” instead of “Oh, that’s great, a biker enjoyed riding/cyclist/changing/fuel saving/………” . I also did interval training on the bike, and since I started, I increased my legs by an inch, reduced my 5 pounds and lowered my resting heart rate from 55 to 45.
I bought new money from my local bike shop and paid over $1300 tax. It took them 1 hour to install it on me to adjust the height, length and angle of the saddle. When I put a loose crank later, they tightened it for free.
Now, you might think it's the money for a bike, but how much did you spend? Considering that this is my main shipping, I think I can pay some extra for the quality. The advantage of bikes is that buying relatively high-end equipment is much easier
. So while I will never pay $25,000 for a midrange car because I won't get any fun from driving, I'll definitely pay $1,300 for a midrange bike.
There are several other areas where you can buy the best (or almost as it is) without being rich. You just need to change your goals. Instead of buying a high-end sports car, you buy a high-end “sports” bike. Instead of collecting rare paintings, you collect handmade custom knives. By the way, you don’t like buying Coca-Cola’s store soda, but buying Coca-Cola (Walmart brand) instead of Coca-Cola.
I bought my former commuter bike for $35. It was a $70 Walmart mountain bike that bought a used car from a professor who left campus. Is it a cheap or frugal purchase? Well, it's of course cheap and the bike sucks. The front brakes broke, so I ended up having to stop early as I had about 20 yards in brake length (my ride was mostly off-road and flat, so that wasn't a big danger). I got a 25°C gel washer on my yard sale. That saddle was stolen. I realized that I was surrounded by seemingly pointed young students (I am a well-known university known for its moral values) and I thought I could throw my bike away when the crank finally fails. Sure enough, less than a day later, someone stole it. Good barriers and problems solved. Is it frugal? Think about it. It took 30 minutes to walk and then the walk was my main mode of transportation. It took 10 minutes to ride a bike, but I could run in 15 minutes. Since the bike does not have mudguards, riding is an option for rain (which is often done). From this perspective, the bike is frugal and saves me 10-40 minutes a day, and the only purpose of the bike is off-road commuting, as drivers in the area obviously get points for hitting cyclists.
Therefore, choosing the right bike depends heavily on the conditions you want to use. Do you want to use it every day? Will there be exceptions such as rain or snow? Have you crossed the road? Do you need to carry something like clothes or groceries? How fast do you like? How far do you need to go? Are you planning to do other things with your bike?
Now I'm older, smarter, and well. Looks better, um. Will I buy another road bike? no. I would sacrifice a few pounds (my bike weighs 18-19 pounds, over $15,000 Tour de France bikes, cheap steel bikes, a cheap steel bike that could weigh 25-30 pounds), more barbecue, Fatter can be used Tires and take it away (my current bike has 16 first 24 first 24 first 24 first 24 reads, and can stand out. Today, I'll ride the bike because it's almost as fast as a road bike (for me), but it has the ability to carry cargo and adds elasticity (higher spoke counts, less gear, fewer gears and more bosses, more water bottles). It also works for my commutes and it'll be better for my long-distance events. I'm thinking similar to long-distance truck drivers (about $1,000 for cheap parts, I might upgrade them to at least 105 because Tiagra shifters just annoyed me), or Rivendell is Homer Hilsen (about $3,000).
Another thing you must consider when buying a bike is that riding may change you. On road bikes, untrained people can be very uncomfortable. The saddle is too hard and the handlebar is too far away, so the butt and neck will be injured, etc. In a few months, this will change. If you buy a more “comfortable” bike, unless you are a “comfortable” rider, slow, low-key (spinning) and lack of aerodynamics will start to bother you as you get healthier.
Maybe one idea is to check out the cars you like to drive. If you can drive anything you want (remember that the price is not an objection to the bike, but an objection to the car), what type would you drive? Sports car? SUV? jeep? Van? car? Consider the distance of commuting and multiply by 7. This is comfort. For example, if you have a 5-mile commute, imagine a 35-mile jeep with a knob wheel (mountain bike) and would that be fun? Unless you like jeeps, it may not be. To get the price level, divide it by the fictional car's price level by 25.
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