Mountain Biking is booming right now and that's awesome, but something else is happening too. Everything is becoming crazy expensive. Yes, the fact that I am broke factors in, but I have always been broke, what with the beer habit, teaching, the kid and ya-de-ya-ya. Seriously though, there is a strange disconnect developing. Entry level stuff for entry level riding is reasonable, but good stuff for us middle of the road riders seems to be, sell my car and starve my kid, expensive.
I did the math in my head while riding my beat-up singlespeed Redline with bike swap wheels, and an antiquated fork and even if I gave up beer for an entire year, I would still only have about $780. That is the price of A solid wheel set or A solid Fork. Despite the fact that this made me feel much better, knowing that I could keep my beer, it still leaves a lot of folks with a dilemma.
I had an expensive bike once and I am past the better bike, better rider stage. I have all the bikes I need, but for the sake of writing something on this blog, I thought this was a worthy topic.
Is it my imagination? Should tires be $80 each, bikes $5K, chain lube $20, Cassette $150-$300, decent shorts $100? My former teacher self would argue market forces dictate prices and the easy answer to my own question is, "Yes they should or they wouldn't be." Or am I experiencing the "Community Bike Shop versus Boutique Bike Shop" culture clash?
Whatever the case, if you read this post, you are likely thinking about its content or more likely thinking you just wasted five minutes of your life. I am thinking its time to go have a beer and cannibalize some stuff in my garage so I can have the "new and different" feeling on my old bikes without spending beer money.
Oh and for the record, yes I am having a beer on a Monday night. Its the end of my weekend. As my friend G Scott once said, "Don't judge me bro".
Happy Trails.
