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Introduction: Bicycle Design
Why Upright Bikes?
Why Recumbents Cost More
Types of Recumbents
Seat Height
Handlebars
How Much To Spend?
The Importance of Wheels
Types of Wheels
The Importance of Weight
Frame Materials
Frame Alignment
Parts, Derailleurs etc
Brakes
Suspension
Are Recumbents Invisible?
Acclimatizing to a Recumbent
Hills on a Recumbent
Clip-On Pedals
Racks & Mudguards
Bicycle Trailers
Trikes
How to Ride a Tandem
Credit Card Touring
Information Sources
Vancouver, British Columbia
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How Much Money Should You Spend on a Bicycle?

Single Bikes

If you are only going to ride your bike once a year you should buy a cheap department-store bike and put it away in a dark place because it will be more useful as a home to spiders than transportation for humans. If you have any ambition to use your bicycle for fun, transportation or fitness then you should avoid the cheap bikes because they are so poorly constructed and ill-equipped that they will make cycling an unappealing and lackluster prospect and they will fall apart and malfunction.

Adequate upright single bikes can be obtained for about $1000 and up, adequate single recumbents for $250-$400 more. Mass-manufactured production frames made on assembly lines are very inexpensive and differentiated in price by the type of steel tubing they are made of. Most of the price difference in production bicycles is determined by the quality of the components.

A reasonable and acceptable standard for serious and cost-effective components is often stated to be Shimano LX/105 and equivalent components made by other reputable manufacturers. Cheaper components may not be designed for adequate reliability and cost-effective life span. More expensive components may provide as many miles per dollar and/or lighter weight without decreased performance. At a certain point, very expensive components may provide diminishing returns. Some extremely expensive components are made in very short (and expensive) production runs and put light weight ahead of durability. Components that are so light they do not last, should be avoided.

Many people can easily justify spending $2000-3000 on a single bicycle that is used for commuting or touring because the bicycle must be reliable and durable with good performance characteristics.

Tandem Bikes

Purchasers also benefit from tandem manufacturing requirements because a single tandem builder in a tiny shop can build a tandem frame with the same (or smaller) overhead and labor costs than the largest mass-manufacturer in a sprawling factory. The tiny framebuilder also has the option to strictly adhere to the highest quality and design standards without having to answer to cost-cutting pressures from factory administrators.

Fortunately, the manufacture of quality upright tandems has remained almost exclusively in the hands of experts who specialize in tandem framebuilding and design. Tandem building is a specialized art that the large manufacturers of single bikes have not been successful at. Single bike design and manufacturing skills are not directly transferable to tandem manufacturing and design. A few single bike manufacturers have dabbled in tandem manufacture but the results have been generally inferior to the products offered by tandem specialists. Inferior tandems have consistently disappeared from the market as their manufacturers have retreated back to their main business of single bike manufacturing.

Because of the higher content of skilled labor required to manufacture a quality tandem frame, a good tandem will always be about the same cost of two similar quality single bikes, minus the redundant parts. In fact, many single bikes alone, with the same quality and endurance standards as a good tandem, are very close to the price of a tandem.

Tandems require some special heavy-duty parts to handle the extra weight and speed of a tandem and those special parts, such as heavy-duty hubs, simply cost more because you get more. Considering what you are getting, there is outstanding value for the money in many steel tandems priced between $3000 and $6000. Like any bike, the price will be largely determined by the quality of the parts, up to a certain point of diminishing returns.

There are some cheap tandems on the market available from some of the large manufacturers of single bikes. Those cheap tandems are generally only good value for the money if you do not intend on riding them very much. Some of them are only intended for a ride around the park with a picnic basket. Even the better-looking ones will generally not meet the performance standards required for serious cycling. They will become a nuisance when their cheap parts fail and they will end up being more expensive than a good tandem with tandem-duty parts. Their poor ride characteristics and cheap, poorly-operating parts will be an active disincentive to tandem riding. Even worse, a cheap frame designed and built by a non-tandem expert could fail, cause a speed wobble or handling problems under load.

Good tandems, like good single bikes, are not cheap. If you are buying a good tandem, you will be getting excellent value for your money and you can expect your tandem to last a lifetime with a minimum of parts replacement. The retail markup on bicycles is very low to begin with and you will not be paying for the large advertising budgets and profit margins that exist on other transportation products, such as automobiles.

A quality tandem can easily pay for itself, if you occasionally use it for transportation instead of an automobile. If you use the tandem for touring, it will pay for itself many times over. When considering the price of a tandem, compare it to the price of operating an automobile, motor home or a quality touring motorcycle.

There are also other dividends to tandem riding that cannot be offered by any other form of transportation. A tandem bicycle is a kind of communism on wheels. Two people on a tandem must cooperate with each other, even if they were not otherwise inclined to do so. Such cooperative forced labor provides the environment in which two people must reach a level of communication and mutual respect that does not exist in too many other situations. The experience can be music on wheels, sublime and synergistic.

Contrary to the views of a casual observer, both people on a tandem have nearly equal control. Steering on any bicycle is done with subtle shifts in weight more than by turning the handlebar. The stoker on the back of a tandem can steer as well as the driver. Both parties must also act together to cooperate beautifully on power output, gliding, braking and crossing of bumps.

The tandem bicycle will offer you speed, grace and exhilaration that no other transportation device can match. Tandems can reach tremendous speeds because of their low aerodynamic drag and doubled humanpower.

Everyone will love you when you are riding a tandem. Tandem bicycles have a cosmic appeal that no one can resist. Strangers will yell words of encouragement and some will not be able to resist (for some inane and universal reason) informing you that your stoker is not pedaling (whether that is true or not). Children will drop what they are doing when you ride by.

Of course there is also the tedious truism that cycling is such wonderful exercise. It is also true that if a form of exercise is fun you will be more anxious to do it. Tandeming is something that people can never get enough of. It really is a fun type of exercise.