E: Let’s all talk about what bikes should or shoudn’t cost
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I refuse to believe hobbyists are spending $10K on bikes, or commuters are spending $1K.
I can barely accept that the going rate for used bikes is over $200.
Even lower-midrange level road bikes are now at least $1k. Its a ridiculous market.
If you want an electric bike, the price goes up fast.
If you want one with a belt so that it won’t take crazy maintenance not to degrade over the winter, it goes up faster still.
If you want storage for your purse and whatnot, a bit more expensive still. A good large basket is more expensive than you’d think.
I can easily believe a commuter ebike hits a grand.
I just never assume anything with a motor when I encounter the word “bicycle”.
I mean i got a metal-mesh basket for the back for 20€ and its longer than wide so i can still park my bike in tight spaces. Idk what you mean by “good large basket” but mine is good and large enough
Over here the only one I could find that would allow me to lug around my purse and a little bit of extra cargo if needed was this one. It doesn’t even mount on my bike so the people at the bike shop had to improvise with zip ties and the like.
It took a while to find, because I couldn’t trust steel not to start getting rust stains on all my stuff, and my previous one pretty much instantly broke the very first time my bike fell, so I couldn’t trust just any kind of plastic.
I had the employees of no less than 5 bike shops try to recommend me something with little success before finally finding something. Most shops seem to carry 0~1 models of bike basket period, and not to have much more that they can order from their distributors.
I think North American shops are just confused at the idea of a bike for anything but leisure overall. Which is understandable considering how goddamn dangerous our awful car-centric cities can be.
I love my big basket, but man was it not easy to find
My first thought on that second link was: Id never buy such a thing made of plastic?!
In Switzerland you can get normal Baskets for CHF 15.- to 100.- (around 1:1 to USD). https://www.veloplus.ch/shop/ausruestung/koerbe/gepaecktraegerkoerbe You see them all the time, they are so common that the images often don’t even feature a size comparison or use demonstration like in your first link, because everyone knows them 😅.
10-20 years ago it was considered a woman or gay thing to have them but apparently they are convenient enough to have overcome that stigma.
The one you got is a bit heftier and looks pretty heavy tbh
Oh yeah they look pretty handy, and affordable. Only thing I’d be worried about is that they look like steel. I don’t know how well they react to water, snow and salt.
But you definitely look like you have a lot more options than we do.
The plastic basket was the best the bike shop where I bought mine could find. Most people here use satchels on the sides of the wheel, but 1. That precludes the use of a trailer for groceries, 2. I don’t see what’s so convenient about them unless you’re a camper.
There’s also just having no storage and using a backpack for everything. A popular option, but backpacks are hot. Not a fan.
The basket I ended up with is certainly big, but its aluminium construction reduces the weight, and above all, it’s handled a few falls just fine so far.
And well, on an e-bike, weight is much less critical. I paid a fortune for this bike; might as well enjoy the perks.
As someone that has a $11k bike I can clarify some things.
I have a Wilier Granturismo SLR. About ~90% of the components are carbon fiber. Carbon Fiber, especially high end carbon fiber isn’t cheap. Besides the bike; my wheels, pedals, parts of the cranks, handlebars, saddle, saddle post, and probably some other things are carbon fiber.
I always hear people talk about getting carbon fiber components for cheaper because you have a shit tin of Chinese companies come in and steal these bike companies IP and make shit frames. Look at Chinorellos, shit ton of Chinese companies steal frame designs and re-make them with shit metal and the bike falls apart after a year.
Another thing…why does any give a fuck how much my bike costs? My dad is an audiophile guy and my bike costs as much as 1 (not a pair) of his speakers, and he has a mid-range system. Cycling is something that I love, I ride almost everyday and will spend hours and hours on the bike. I’d gladly pay less than $11k on my next bike but when you get into the higher end market you’re going to pay more, that’s true across almost ALL sports or hobby activities
I’m living in Denmark. When You walk out the door, you have to watch Your step, not to trip on a bike. When it’s windy, the bikes roll around the streets like tumbleweed.
