the price of a used bike - NYTIMES

Bicycle Inflation in Paradise?
By Robin Goldstein

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.co...n-in-paradise/

Portland, Oregon, the current darling of America’s food and environmental writers, is arguably the county’s most bicycle-obsessed city. Bike use was up 28 percent in Portland between 2007 and 2008, and on the Hawthorne Bridge, a main thoroughfare, bikes now make up 20 percent of all vehicles. The New York Times estimated in 2007 that there were 125 bike-related businesses in Portland employing 600 to 800 people. There’s even a store in the city that sells only tricycles.

When I arrived in Portland last month, the first thing I wanted to do was buy a bike and get around the way the locals do. Since I wouldn’t be in town for too long, and it wasn’t clear that I’d be able to take the bike with me when I left, I wanted something extremely cheap.

There were bike shops on every other corner in Southeast Portland, the sort of Brooklyn-ish neighborhood where I was staying. I walked into what looked like the grungiest of them — a store that sold mostly used bikes. There was one employee, and he was heavily tattooed and seemed pretty cool. I completely leveled with him: I didn’t know anything about bikes, really; I could barely change a tire; I was only going to be in town for a little while; and I wondered if he had something cheap that I could use for puttering around town.

I know this is sort of quaint, but the last time I bought a bike, I think I spent $35 and it wasn’t hot. It was a road bike; it had 18 speeds, I think; it squeaked; and it served my needs (biking from my house to school every day) perfectly well. (The bike later died a peaceful death at Burning Man, but that was due to maltreatment, not poor quality.) I was looking for something like that.

(snip)
http://www.nytimes.com/images/blogs/...posts/bike.jpg

:lol: OJ up my nose sure hurts... :eek::eek:

So she wanted something cheaper than $250.00 or there abouts? I think this demonstrates the total disconnect between average person on the road who do not ride a bicycle and those who ride. No wonder you can get a brand spanking new bike at a big box store for $350.00 and people think that's really expensive?

Someone in the comments made a really good point. If you want to ride a bike in Portland for a few months - buy a used one off craigslist or at a shop and spend more than you want to. Then, when it's time to leave, sell it for almost as much as you paid for it. Seriously. Easily done in a market such as this.

I bought a mixte frame when we moved here. I put new tires, a basket and fenders on it and rode it to work when my commute was 1.5 miles for a few months. When we moved further out, I sold it for $75 more than I paid for it and it *almost* covered the costs of my 'upgrades'. I basically paid about $25 to ride that bike for 3 months. :D

She missed a few key points... that big box store bike, though new, is likely to be unfixable or rather expensive to fix if broken - many of those bikes have really cheap one piece stamped crank sets and other obstacles to maintenance. They also weigh a ton (Costco's commuter weighs 40! lbs) and come in a very, very limited range of sizes - usually 2. That is why they are cheap.....

And about not being able to afford a $400 bike.....There are those who can't afford a car, but so many people, even poor ones do have one. .... hmmmm if you give up your car.... no gas, no maintenance, no insurance.....