JamesNoBrakes

Well, it's cheaper than skiing, and it's hard to put a price on being healthy and having healthy hobbies/activities/sports. LX and SLX work just fine too. The thing about skiing is not the $800 skis, $600 boots, $400 bindings, $150 poles and all of the other accessories (clothing, etc). It's that it costs 70-100 for a lift ticket, you spend a crapload of gas getting up there, maybe have lunch on the mountain, and at the end of the day every single trip costs a pretty decent chunk, vs. just gabbing my mtn bike and it's accessories and essentially "riding for free", usually the trails are closer (to me) and I'm more inclined to have some cheaper (than ski resorts!) food with me. Get a $1000 29 hardtail and you can be having tons of fun and riding just about any type of trail...I do like skiing though and I do it, just logistically and financially more difficult.

uvuflier

While on the subject, has anyone traveled with their bike as a non-rev?

Joachim

I have, but I had to have my wheels trued at the destination. My bike got pretty dinged up too.

mustache ride

I agree with Copperhed. Biking is a great sport, I love the freedom and camaraderie, but it can and does get expensive...and addictive. As far as picking out a new bike, check out bicycling.com's gear finder They did some good reviews this year and you can get a feel for pricing. I prefer a custom build from a frame that I like, but most stock bikes would work just fine if you're just getting into the sport. Just be aware that the gearing on a stock bike isn't very aggressive. There are usually compromises in quality on stock bikes also, to keep the price point down. You have to carefully look at what components the bike is built with. A salesperson might tell you it's a full shimano 105 bike, but that's usually not true. Bike manufacturers usually mix and match SRAM, FSA, Shimano, etc to make everyone happy and, like I said, keep the price down.

As far as material goes, you can become a gram freak if you get into too much carbon Like, how many grams does this bottle cage weigh vs. another. But the lighter the bike, the less you have to carry with you. You'll find different "rated" carbons, ie...this bike has 36, 40, 60 ton carbon. This is referring to the tensile strength of the material. You can think of tensile strength as pulling on both ends of a rubber band. And I think (but I'm not sure) that the number is referring to how much tensile force can be placed on a square millimeter of carbon before the material fails. I seem to remember reading that somewhere. Depending on the material, you can fit something like 25 strands of carbon fiber to equal the circumference of 1 human hair. Anyhow, what it means to the consumer, is that the higher the ton rating, the lighter the bike will be because less material is required to make the bike strong enough for whatever the manufacturer is going for. This also increases the $$$. But, a lot of stock, lower end bikes are cast from the same mold as a higher end model, just made of different grades of carbon. Another cool thing manufacturers do with carbon is build different parts of the bike, like the chain stays, asymmetrically. Since the gearing is on your right side, they basically beef up that side of the bike so that more of the force from your legs is driven into your drive train and wheels and not lost in the flexing of the frame. Pretty cool concept, I think.

My personal favorites this year are the Cannondale Super Six (especially the Evo model - which I think is the lightest frame you can buy right now). Also liked the Cervelo R3, Colnago M10, Pinarello FP Quattro. These are pretty expensive bikes though, but very awesome. I'm also going through the process of buying a new bike this year. It helps to make a wish list of what you'd like, i.e. what level of components, material, consider your riding goals (crit..centuries..all of the above?)...check out what's available in your area in the shops and do some research. There is no one size fits all with bikes...find something you love and stick with it.

Copperhed51

After the initial buy-in of a bike and all your gear, maybe it gets cheaper than skiing. If you're like me and race almost every weekend, you're looking at a bunch of gas money plus $30ish in entry fees and a few bucks here and there for race nutrition. It's definitely an ongoing expense for me, but I do win my money back sometimes. I don't know how I'd do it without the various sponsorships my team has. Getting everything at cost+10% at the local bike shop is pretty awesome.

JamesNoBrakes

Yeah, never much cared about racing. Done more than a few, done more than well, but I just don't really care how I stack up against others in that way. The challenge is always against myself, and I can do that anywhere, but getting out into the more "wild" and new-to-me places is what it's about for me, as well as riding with friends and doing every type of "mountain" riding. Racing fees are pretty crazy these days. You are lucky it's only 30 bucks for you, in many places it's up around 70-120 for individual races. I'd guess it's the same thing (lots more expensive) when you ski or snowboard race. I used to do the ski-racing thing a long time ago and I know how much more expensive that can be than just skiing.

frmrdashtrash

Funny I saw this thread. I put my old 10 speed back together this weekend. I got it in about '85-'86 or so and rode it through college. It still has the bike permit on it but hadn't seen a road in 12 years until last night.

New tires and a little grease I rode maybe 7 miles last night, but we're in a very hilly area. It was a noticeable how bad I've let myself go. Hills that wouldn't have made be break a sweat 15 years ago kicked my tail hard this time. I have some lung issues to go along with pre-hypertension, and that added to the stress. Between the spin classes I started a few weeks ago (hate it...) and riding that old beater I hope to have my fat rear in shape ASAP.

Airfix

Anybody had any luck with:

1) renting a reasonable road bike cheaply on an overnight
2) buying a cheap road bike and keeping it at a frequently visited overnight
3) contacting local cycling clubs on overnights and seeing if you can borrow & blag your way into a loaner.

I don't run due to ankle surgery but I bike a lot and I'm jonesing to make it work on these awesome summer overnights. Just yesterday I looked up the local bike club on the overnight but never called. I just wondered if anybody has made anything like this work.

Pilotpip

Steel is real.

Been riding since highschool. Worked at a shop through high school and college. Still more fun than any flying job I've ever had and prior to third year pay, paid more than any flying job.

One of the perks of finally being a line holder again has been riding more. I'll go mountain biking or grab the road bike to break up running on overnights. I've gotten my girlfriend into it as well and the two of us will go ride local paths/trails and are regularly doing 20+ miles together.

60 pounds lost and blood pressure way down because I have found better things to do than post here. I'm finally getting to the point where I'm looking at upgrading from my 10+ year old bikes. They still work great but I really want a new 29" hardtail.

JamesNoBrakes

Wow, that was super helpful, thanks.

Back on topic, I've never actually traveled with my mountain bike, IDK why, but I've always done road-trips to places I want to ride, but everyone I know that does travel with them always does so with a hard case. It's worth it, but a little pricy.