Poor Cyclist

[RolliePollie]

For cycling clothes, gloves, saddle, pedals, etc., I've had great luck with shopping online. Ebay, Sierra Trading Post (my favorite!), and Campmor are great. REI has an online outlet that's pretty good too (and shipping is free is you have it sent to your closest REI store). Also, check out the sales right here on TE. I bought my bike new from my LBS, but I did see some pretty nice used bikes on Craigslist too.

I paid $42.99 for a new Terry Butterfly saddle and $19.99 for a new pair of Pearl Izumi Attack Shorts on ebay. And I picked up some Canari jerseys from Campmor for $19.99. I basically refuse to pay full price for anything if at all possible. Even my cycling shoes...I went out and tried on a bunch of brands and sizes, then checked around online and got a pair of $95 Pearl Izumi's for $24.

You can do it on a budget! Good luck and happy shopping!

[enzed]

Getting back on the bike didn't cost me that much.

After a couple of years walking alot & using public transport, my elderly neighbour offered me a old mountain bike. I had been doing some errands for him & he said I could keep it.

It came with a helmet & a safety vest. I brought a cable lock, a pump & a patch kit - not much $$. I had this bike for 9 months, before I retired it. Though it wasn't flash, it got me back into cycling & gave me alot of freedom.

My next (& current) bike was a Trek 7100fx. In July 2005 I was at my LBS, getting my mountain bike gears adjusted.
I eyed a sleek silver bike in the back & it caught my eye. It was a lightly used bike somebody had traded in, but it hadn't yet been priced for sale.
$220 later, it was mine. I reckon it was fate - we were meant to ride together
My old mountain bike was traded in for a good set of bike lights, and has since been serviced and resold to a good home.
The good thing about buying from a LBS, is that the bikes have been serviced & they offer a waranty (in my case it was for 3 months).


My first pair of bike shorts were actually shy shorts brought from my local charity shop but for a few months I rode in normal shorts without too many problems.
I used to ride in normal teeshirts all the time, until I saw a bike top on sale at my LBS. Most of my bike tops were brought for 1/2 price, just like all my bike shorts. I can usually get a good pair of bike shorts for less than $50.

Good luck, the bargains are out there.

[RoadRaven]

Alot of our bike parts... frames, wheels, bars, aeros, pdeals, cleats etc we have bought from the NZ equivilent of EBay... TradeMe.

We have also picked up a few excellent quality bikes at half to two-thirds of the price they would be new.

A great way to save a few bucks

Happy shopping

[Torrilin]

You don't need a ton of specialized gear to enjoy your bike. And you certainly don't need to buy every bit right away.

Make sure you focus on the safety equipment and the maintenance equipment first. A bike shop will charge a fair bit for repairs, and often it will be cheaper to buy the tools and do it yourself. Then the next time it comes up, you have the tools. If you're not sure how to do the repair, check your local library. Ours has a good half dozen books on bike repair on the shelves at any given time. And well, safety equipment is there to prevent expensive medical bills. A bike light or a helmet is a lot cheaper than a hospital stay. Note that a water bottle is safety equipment. Dehydration is dangerous.

If most of your rides are under 10 miles, regular pants or shorts will be fine. I have yet to go farther than that, but it seems like a fair number of people can handle even longer distances in regular clothes.

Oh, and tailor the special equipment to what *you* are doing. If you're in the upper midwest, and the nearest mountains are hundreds of miles away, mountain biking isn't realistic. If you're in Pennsylvania and every trip you take features at least one mountain and normal Pennsylvania roads, racing isn't realistic. Special "sports bars" and "sports drinks" can be useful... if you're doing things like a century race on a regular basis. If you're not, people ate regular foods for millenia. Most people still do. Regular food still works when you bike .

[margo49]

The first thing to remember is that whatever road or distance you ride on your bike has already been ridden by a woman on a Raleigh Sports with 3-speed Sturmey-Archer gearing in the 1930's. If she could do it, so can we. There is also a story here on the boards somewhere of a TE girl riding up a steep hill in Pennsylvania being overtaken by a traditionally-dressed Amish lass on a Dutch bike!
I agree that gloves and helmet are essential. Shorts you can wait till you are uncomfortable . I did all my youthful long-distance touring and messengering in regular Cut-offs. You do not say your age but my experience is that the Female Nether Regions are Never Quite The Same Again after the children, so if you are a mother you might need them straight away.
In our intimate relationships (of whatever combination of ages and genders), most of us started out with not very much "stuff" and gradually put together a Good Home; and even looking back remember how happy we were with so little.
Same with biking (another Intimate Relationship if ever there was one!!). You do need a bike, but it doesn't have to be the latest or fanciest. You will always love your first bike the most anyway, whatever you end up riding!

Stick around, nobody here ever puts anybody down because of their equipment, accessories or lack of them. The Women here have so much experience and knowledge and stories to share. We don't have time to engage in negative comparisons (in between biking, the rest of our lives and the TE forums!)

[rij73]

nashbar.com and performancebike.com are both really good places if you are on a budget. I never buy anything unless it's at least 50% off...

[Trek420]

but if you need bike socks, and these are in your size, right now www.Steepandcheap.com has Sock Guy bikes socks at 72% off.

woops, now they are gone but don't forget the TE closeout pricing, some great deals here.

For example, NOW they have my favorite jacket at 50% off

www.teamestrogen.com/products.asp?pID=17474

[fikustree]

Thank you so much everyone! When I posted yesterday I was just feeling so overwhelmed. I got a bike on Craig's list for really cheap but all the other stuff seemed a lot harder to find. I really want the shorts for my ride to work because it is really hot and the next day after riding I feel almost too sore to ride again, but I do.

Do you get a bum callus after awhile?

I was a little hesitant about buying used shorts because of the eww factor but now I see that that is an option. Thanks for all the links, time to go shopping

[Xrayted]

The first thing to remember is that whatever road or distance you ride on your bike has already been ridden by a woman on a Raleigh Sports with 3-speed Sturmey-Archer gearing in the 1930's. If she could do it, so can we. There is also a story here on the boards somewhere of a TE girl riding up a steep hill in Pennsylvania being overtaken by a traditionally-dressed Amish lass on a Dutch bike!

Heh. That was me in Strasburg, PA on my new-to-me road bike and she blew my doors in like I was sitting still. She had a rusted out little single speed bike that was probably handed down across generations. I know it had to weigh more than 35 lbs or so but there she went, right up that hill and I was struggling to catch my breath. It just made me more determined to get out and ride. I bought my bike from a doctor I worked with when I was an xray student last year. It was a fantastic bargain compared to new and she had only taken it out a few times before she got bored. (she is easily bored so many of us students got great stuff from her) My helmet I got on Ebay as well as my shoes. All of my shorts/shirts/gear are from there or various sales at local/online stores. I hate paying full price.

The question was raised above... where do you live? We have TE ladies from all over who could give you specific places to check in your area. Craig's list is a great resource as well as your local re-use-it or pawn shop. As for the shorts and jerseys, clipless pedals, computers... those can wait if you are doing shorter rides. The safety gear can't. Get a spare tube, a pump that mounts on the bike, small tool kit, a water bottle, helmet and gloves and some blinky lights so you will be seen. Also, wear the brightest colors you can. And the most overlooked safety precaution is to check your local bike traffic laws to make sure you are riding in a proper/safe/legal manner before you get out there.

Good luck and let us know how you make out. If you need anything, the TE ladies are here for you.

~X.