Cycling - An expensive hobby?

Z

zero_cool

Disciple
Hello all,

For the longest time, I've been inclined to purchase a bicycle and ride out under the morning sun. However, these days cycling seems to be a rich man's hobby with the majority of good bicycles costing upwards of Rs. 30,000.
Such exorbitant prices act as a strong deterrence from this wonderful activity.

I'm starting this thread on TE with the hope that the members here can offer some good ideas on how to enjoy this activity without burning a hole in the pocket.

Currently, I intend to purchase a good Hybrid/Road bike. Going by Keith Bontrager’s quote, “Strong, Light, Cheap. Pick two”, hope you can help me come to a conclusion on what would be a good bike.

Thanks,
 
As a kid I had a cycle on the 'MUST-HAVE' list... Not sure about the scenario now but I had bought a Hero Ranger Swing in 2000 for 4k and that was the most expensive cycle on sale then! :p

Glad I am not a kid who has a cycle on the 'MUST-HAVE' list now else I would have prolly had to do without one due to the current prices!

PayTm is ruining some 15% cashback (max cashback of 11,000) on cycles. Check it out.
 
Those 30k cycles with carbon and aluminium frames are for more serious people/athletes.

You can get a btwin rockrider for 10k in decathalon. They were selling for 8k recently in paytm. Its a good bike with 21 gears.
 
My first bike as a kid was an Atlas Red Devil for 1000 bucks and my second bike few years later (1995 to be exact) was a Hercules MTB that was around 1600 bucks. My dad used to say that the later was too damn costly. These days, bikes can go in excess of 2 lac and there's one that costs over 4 lac

Couple of years back, my sister bought a Raleigh bike in US that cost upwards of $600.
 
As someone already said, quality bikes are available for a lot less than 30K but you will get what you pay for. That is not to say that they are of bad quality but rather the 30K+ bikes are justified in a sense.

I'm glad you have already narrowed down your need to a hybrid or road bike instead of just blindly buying an MTB like most folks do. At the entry level, there is a BSA Mach City road bike while around the 16-17K mark, there is the Montra Trance Pro. I do not know of any other hybrid bike worth recommending in this price range. May be something from FF.

I too am not comfortable spending that kind of money (over 30K) on a bike even though I know it's worth it. I'd like to get more regular and passionate about it before putting down that much. As of now, been riding a single speed Btwin MyBike for a while and am happy with it. Thinking of an upgrade in the 15-18k range and in the absence of a quality hybrid, will have to settle for a Btwin or Montra MTB.
 
A friend of mine has a Firefox (cheapest one; 15k) and he goes cycling approximately 20km everyday with his firefox cycling group.

Another friend of mine has a hercules rodeo which cost him 7-8k and he also does the same distance though not on a daily basis.

Haven't heard them talk at all about maintenance costs at all.
 
why do you even need a 20k cycle when a 3-4 k cycle will be just as good. Those expensive geared ones make it easier to do long distances hence these sunday morning groups who hog the road and cause danger to themselves can boast they did 20 kms and what not. first tell your purpose of cycling ? just like one doesnt need nike mercurial vapour critiano edition to enjoy football or buy a kawasaki z800 costing 10 lakhs to enjoy motorcycling one doesnt need a 40K cycle to enjoy a hobby. one can upgrade of course but better spend 4-6k on a cycle first and see how much you really enjoy even after the first 3-5months of novelty time
 
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Neo-N said:
As a kid I had a cycle on the 'MUST-HAVE' list... Not sure about the scenario now but I had bought a Hero Ranger Swing in 2000 for 4k and that was the most expensive cycle on sale then! :p

Glad I am not a kid who has a cycle on the 'MUST-HAVE' list now else I would have prolly had to do without one due to the current prices!

PayTm is ruining some 15% cashback (max cashback of 11,000) on cycles. Check it out.
Click to expand...
lol ,it was my dream cycle too at that age , unfortunately never got to own one as my dad told me to get 90%+ and i only got 80 around in 5th. If you had that geared red cycle you were truly "cool" that time :p i remember watching jo jeeta woh sikaander and fantasizing of a geared cycle when i was a kid
 
Neo-N said:
Hero Ranger Swing in 2000 for 4k and that was the most expensive cycle on sale then!
Click to expand...

Swing came into the market much later, Hercules Top Gear was the sh*t when I was in school, picked it up in the first month after launch, still remember how happy I was while that mechanic was assembling it at the shop.
Another bike I really liked was the Trailblazer, was super light and easy to pop wheelies along with the mongoose.
Oh and that piece of shit heavy Cannon Barrel, you could build quads like Usain Bolt on that.
 
I had bought the Schwinn Sporterra Hybrid bike when it was selling at a discount for around 21k. I only bought it because it had a second tier gear system at a price point where all other bikes were only offering first tier systems. I was lucky to have found the BSA shop in Lajpat Rai, Delhi and they had it available on discount.
Despite Chandigarh having super smooth roads, a hybrid is very painful to ride on. So I would suggest you first take a test ride before committing to a hybrid or road bike.
The only good thing about an expensive bike is that they are really light and have a very smooth gear system. I can very easily do 50kms of riding on mine even after months of inactivity, but that just might be me as I have been doing long distance riding for a long time now.
 
Depends on the kind of cycling you wanna do. For speeds of more than 45 km/s on flat stretches a good cycle helps a lot. My cycle is a hybrid as I do offroad as well as on road cycling on weekends. It was a entry level cycle but still cost me quite a bit. As mentioned before if you plan to ride long and fast on cycles upwards of 50km a good cycle helps a lot. But buy what is affordable and does the job and there are a good amount of local brands which work very well.

My cycle.
http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_int/bikes/cross/cross/2014/crossway-20-md-408.html

For road cycling it can be very expensive if go for full carbon frame, expensive groupset like Shimano Ultegra, clipless pedals, shoes etc. It wont be 30k for sure. Would be upward of a few multiples of that.
 
I own a Btwin Rockrider 5.0 bought @~10k

I'm really satisfied with it...

Weighs only 15kgs and has 3x7 gears for comfortable riding...

I use it to commute to work frequently (4km both ways)

Like every vehicle, it also needs maintenance in the form of cleaning, greasing and gear alignments.

Got a full service done for 1k at a good cycle repair shop locally... But it can also be done on your own, just need time to learn the proper methods....

Hope this helps!! [emoji2]

Happy riding [emoji1509]
 
There are many choices which will run you less than 15k as well. Cycles are just like cars, there are ones that cost 1 lakh and ones that cost 4 crores. It for you to decide what you need. BTwin is a great brand with cheap and good hybrid and mountain bikes both.
 
It all depends on what you value and what compromises you make. From my experience if you want to enjoy cycling with nil or low nagging problems then you need to invest a bit. This investment brings with you better components, better design and better aesthetics. So you need to place yourself in the value chain and pick the one that best suits you.

I possess an hybrid as well as an MTB and each of them has their pros and cons. Road bikes and MTB bikes are two ends of a continuum.
Roadbikes are meant for speed and speed only. It needs a good tarred road. Has the a stylish look but bad in controlling road shocks, are expensive and are likely to skid and puncture easily. But it does its speeding job pretty well.

MTB is meant for rough terrain, has those bad ass looking tyres and are designed to climb mountains with ease. It provides much better comfort against road shocks. Needless to say the tyres provide a better road grip at the cost of speed.

Hybrid is midway between these two extremes - best of both the worlds as well as some amount of negatives of each . These may be used to cover most of the tarred Indians roads even with potholes. I use my hybrid when I want to exercise and my route mostly covers paved roads. When I need to cover the the rural areas or want to really enjoy my cycling with 'count the butterflies' attitude I usually prefer the MTB.

You should do more research on cycles and cycling. A good place to start browsing
 
A colleague of mine is an enthusiast & an impulsive cyclist & just started cycling 2 years back, he now owns a PINARELLO DOGMA, costing around 2 lakhs & his weekly practice is around 200kms minimum, sometimes 250kms. He has a group who rides from Mumbai - Pune - Mumbai 2-3 times a month & Mumbai - Lonavala - Mumbai once a week. An average cyclist has to have an speed of 35-40 kmph for a 75 kms race which is very difficult to achieve in Mumbai, traffic & weather to be blamed for & when 99% of the population are mad for cricket then cycling is the most neglected side of sports, even when a race is held they have to bribe from top to bottom to use the roads & that to early morning when the traffic is at minimum & on weekends. We are few people in the office who support him (Morally of-course), I personally have piloted him for few races held in Mumbai, he hasn't won any but since finishing was more important when others leave the race in between. His dream is for Yellow Jersey in TOUR-DE-FRANCE for which we tell him that its impossible so that he can push himself more.

One has to have a BODY & MIND coordination & a practice of 600 hours out of 8760 hours a year for the Muscle to get memorized.

Now these are meant for serious racers but as far as cycling is concerned, buying an expensive cycle does not makes any sense as long as one is buying it to stay fit & not to race, racers buy carbon fiber for a reason to stay light & race in packs to avoid exertion & conserve energy upto 40% where the air impact is less compared to an individual who is riding alone who is likely to leave the race after just 10-15 kms, but other than that buying a 30k cycle just to stay fit means that person is having more money than sense.
 
malhotraraul said:
A colleague of mine is an enthusiast & an impulsive cyclist & just started cycling 2 years back, he now owns a PINARELLO DOGMA, costing around 2 lakhs & his weekly practice is around 200kms minimum, sometimes 250kms. He has a group who rides from Mumbai - Pune - Mumbai 2-3 times a month & Mumbai - Lonavala - Mumbai once a week. An average cyclist has to have an speed of 35-40 kmph for a 75 kms race which is very difficult to achieve in Mumbai, traffic & weather to be blamed for & when 99% of the population are mad for cricket then cycling is the most neglected side of sports, even when a race is held they have to bribe from top to bottom to use the roads & that to early morning when the traffic is at minimum & on weekends. We are few people in the office who support him (Morally of-course), I personally have piloted him for few races held in Mumbai, he hasn't won any but since finishing was more important when others leave the race in between. His dream is for Yellow Jersey in TOUR-DE-FRANCE for which we tell him that its impossible so that he can push himself more.

One has to have a BODY & MIND coordination & a practice of 600 hours out of 8760 hours a year for the Muscle to get memorized.

Now these are meant for serious racers but as far as cycling is concerned, buying an expensive cycle does not makes any sense as long as one is buying it to stay fit & not to race, racers buy carbon fiber for a reason to stay light & race in packs to avoid exertion & conserve energy upto 40% where the air impact is less compared to an individual who is riding alone who is likely to leave the race after just 10-15 kms, but other than that buying a 30k cycle just to stay fit means that person is having more money than sense.
Click to expand...
Bhabhi-300x194.jpg
 
OT - Anyone using or used a cycling home trainer before. I don't wanna sell my Schwinn but the roads over here are not even fit for cars, so cycling on them is out of question. I was considering investing in an Elliptical trainer but the Decathlon cycle trainer costs just 1/5th and will put my Schwinn to use as well. I will ask Decathlon people for a demo before purchase though as online reviews seem to state that such trainers are not everyone's cup of tea.
 
@zero_cool
Using this for more than a year.
http://schnellbikes.com/products/bike/hybrid-bike/sierra
cost me 15k. good for 100-150kms drives.
If you find your self making good use of it then you can think of upgrading. But take my word this is very well worth the price.
which city are you from. Here in Pune we can rent bikes also. And they are good bikes costing north of 35k. so use them for a while and then make a decision if possible.
Many times ppl just make impulsive purchases and then it only acts like a show piece in their house :)
 
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