Conference noted::bicycle

    
    Interesting to read your note bracketted by new entries on the
    Titanium front... :-)
    
    -john

That is why I got a part time job at a bike shop. The only problem is that now
I got the bikes, I don't have any time to ride.

Dave

    
    I relized I was lossing it when I paid more for pedals then some people
    pay for a bike!!!!
    
    Ron

    Biking is the *least* expensive of my three major hobbies ... the other
    two are skiing and yacht racing !!!
    
    ... Bob
    

    
    
    Well, I HAD to buy a computer for my new bike....good deal on an Avocet
    40...$38.95.
    
    Hmmmm.  That brings the total cost to:  $1,709.94 !!!!!!
    
    Oh my, hope my wife doesn't get into this notes file!  
    
    But figure for less than a Hyundai you can get pretty much the ultimate
    top-of-the-line in technology in cycling...certainly can't do that in a
    lot hobbies!!  Not to mention it does help keep those love handles from
    becoming shelving units!
    
    8^)

    
    
    Where did you buy the computer??? something I still need.. 
    
    Ron..
    

    Steve,
    
    Wait till ya want to buy a computer to use for keeping
    your training log up to date.  Then it's, hmmm,
    286? 386? 486? VAX? Alpha? ...
    
    ed

    
    It really is no more expensive than most other sports. It all depends
    on how much you want to get out of it. For starters, a good bike,
    shorts & helmet will get you started. The shoes etc.etc can be bought
    over time, although shoes are a great asset if you plan doing any sort
    of decent rides.
    
    The cost of joining a Golf Club, fees and golf equipment can often
    times work out to be much more than biking.
    
    Rgds,
    
    --John  ( who has still not progressed to the Campa. price bracket )

    
    
    
       I started cycling because I though it was gonna be a cheap sport. Ya
    right! I spend more on race entry fees in a year than some people spend
    on bikes. I tend to agree that it is an expensive sport when compared
    to running, most racket sports, basketball. baseball etc. On the other
    side however; we have waterskiing ($10K for a nice boat), skydiving ($100s
    for one jump), hanggliding ($1000s for a glider) etc.
      Like 2252.8 implies you dont have to have all the stuff right away.
    Get a good entry level bike, some decent shorts, gloves, shoes, helmut
    and off you go. Use all the other things you can buy as rewards.
    
      Set some goals for yourself and as you reach them buy yourself some
    of the other things that would be nice to have but you dont really
    need like some cool cycling glasses or whatever.
     
                                  OR 
    
      A technique that some cyclists use to jump start there interest after
    a long layoff or when they are down and out about cycling;
    is to buy themselves a little something thats nice to have but they
    dont really need - a perk to keep them going.
    
    
    I recommend spending lots a time making sure what are thinking about 
    buying is the right stuff for your needs; that way when you buy you
    wont feel as guilty, or as foolish, or as broke, or as ... Also shop
    around for the best price, cycling equipment is marked up a huge amount
    (in Canada anyways) leaving room for substantial price differences from
    one place to another.
    
    
                                                    /regards
                                                    Wayne V
    
    

    I have to kinda disagree.  I think cycling is a really cheap hobby, or
    perhaps that should read `can be' a really cheap hobby.
    
    I don't suppose that in the 5 years I have been cycling I have spend
    more that $2500 on kit. Furthermore excluding holidays (where a lot of the
    cost goes on getting there) the incremental costs are low.  I spent a very
    enjoyable day out cycling yesterday.  Two of us went cycling for 9 hours
    at a cost of about $12.
    
    However as ones disposable income goes up it is natural that one wants
    to spend more and more on one's hobby, and cycling is as good as any
    other in this respect (eg about � of the $2500 I note above has been in the
    past 2 years).  Indeed it appears that recent marketting trends are to 
    persuade us to part with our hard earned bucks for some gadget of dubious
    necessity.  
    
    I can not think of many hobbies outside hill-walking and perhaps
    train-spotting where you can get as much for so little.  Look around
    your friends and colleagues and see how much they spend of Skis+skiing,
    or on Cameras, or on PC's, or on sailing, or on a smarter than needed
    car and then compare with your expenses on bicycles.     
    
    Just my �1� worth.

    I would like to agree with Rod and Ed, and pretty much do.
    
    For years I spent next to nothing on my bike, clothing, accessories.
    Now I spend quite a lot more.  Part of that is "necessary" and
    part of that is "discretionary" - and a large part is in between -
    things I think I need for long distance, or higher efficiency, etc.
    
    The entry-price for getting into biking has certainly gone up.
    Let's say that the price of bikes themselves has risen with
    inflation.  The $155 Motob�cane Mirage (a decent bike) I bought
    in 1974 would be comparable to a $400-$500 bike now.  
    
    But in addition, at the time, I didn't know enough about biking to
    require the following items a beginner today should definitely go for:
    
       - a helmet        $40
       - cycling shorts  $24
       - cycling shoes   $50
    
    I used running shorts and running shoes, and helmets were almost
    unknown.  (So were biking shorts and biking shoes, in my circle,
    namely, throughout most of the US.)
    
    So those three items add $114, if you believe my prices.  Not a
    great deal in these times.  What terribly essential items am I
    leaving out?
    
    -john

    The running costs are pretty high too. I rode 87 miles yesterday and I
    spent money on the following:
    
    2 x Pint Old Fart's XXX bitter	3.20
    1 x beefburger			1.40
    1 x toasted ham and cheese s'wich	1.50
    2 x Mars bar			0.48
    					----
    					6.38
    
    which works out at 13.6 pence/mile! 
    That's 1.7 times the Digital (UK) mileage rate.
    
    Richard.
    

    Hey Everybody, 
    I have do disagree with inexpensive (but who am I).
    I started riding 3 years ago.  My brother loaned me his old Myata(sp),
    which I rode for 1 year and I fell in love bicycling.  I now own a
    Trek 2100 (which broke and Trek sent me a 1992 2300), and an Alpinestar
    MTB.  Over the past 2 years I have invested around (heck I can not
    count that high) ~$4000 into the sport.  Excluding  race fees,
    USCF, license, and NORBA license.  That includes the bikes.  I guess an
    addiction is an addiction.  
                              Keep Pedallin'
                                   Bob_who_needs_some_more_money

    
    
    RE: .6
    
    Gee Haggetts in Manchester had all the Avocets on sale over the
    weekend...sorry I didn't get in to reply before the sale was over...my
    wife decided to have our second child friday night THREE MONTHS TOO
    SOON!!  This was not a good weekend.
    
    RE: .7
    
    Funny you should say that Ed...before my weekend disaster I WAS looking
    at thos laptops that employee purchase had on sale!  Then I'd only need
    the fancy heart monitor...and...and...
    
    -Steve who's shuttling between two hospitals 90 miles apart...

     Expensive - Inexpensive... It's very relative. The point about
    what it is you're after out of the sport is really the key (as
    someone mentioned).
    
     If you have the the very best (and every piece of exotic technology
    that comes out every year) then it's really more of an addiction than
    a hobby. BTW, I don't know anyone like this personally.
    
     If you view and treat it as a physical fitness, recreational, and
    entertainment, then ($'s to hours) it's extremely inexpensive (as
    someone else has pointed out).
    
     It's impossible to just generalize on this one...
    
    
         Chip_who_needs_his_job_here_to_support_his_addiction

Steve,

  Hows the Wife and Son????

    Yes, it CAN get expensive if you let it. However, at the level which I
    think a lot of us race (ie. citizen) the most important item is the
    motor (ie. your quads). I bought a Fuji Royale, CroMo frame, Suntour
    components, new in 1981 for $300. It's still my only bike. Last year 
    I dragged myself partway into the 20th century by buying clipless pedals 
    (used one season, excellent shape (Mavics) for $40) and shoes, lace-type 
    for $50. That was the first upgrade of any type, excluding tires and
    seats, I'd ever done in 10 years. And this year I went all-out and had
    a Shimano 105 drivetrain put on. Cost me $200. It's still a great bike
    and with the clipless pedals and index shifting I'm pretty much up to
    date.
    I don't ride my bike as much as a lot of folks in here but I probably
    do 500 miles a season or so which has obviously added a lot to the
    bike's lifespan. And I do ok in my citizens races although Greg LeMond 
    probably doesn't lose any sleep over me.
    So, it all depends on what you want to do.
    But, like other replies have stated, it's a relatively cheap and
    excellent way of staying healthy. People spend a heck of a lot more
    sitting in a bar somewhere sucking on cigarettes and gulping down beer
    (mind you, I'm certainly not AGAINST gulping down beer! :^).
    
    RE: .15. 
    >>>   If you have the the very best (and every piece of exotic technology
    >>>   that comes out every year) then it's really more of an addiction
    >>>   than a hobby. BTW, I don't know anyone like this personally.
    
    	Gee Chip, I don't anyone like that either. AHEM!  :^)

    I suppose I could save a lot of money if I rode less...
    
    Nah...

    I like to compare the cost of my biking to my winter hobby: downhill
    skiing.  Every time Mark and I want to go downhill skiing, we have
    to spend a bundle:

	2 lift tickets:	~80
	bag lunch:	  8
	hand warmers:	  2
	gas to/from:	 10
	dinner:		 20
	apres ski:	 10 (what's a day of skiing w/out a coupla drinks?)
		      -------
		       $130


	And that's just for one day of skiing!  That doesn't count if you
	want to stay overnight and pay for a hotel room.   It also doesn't
	count the cost of equipment and clothes.  Granted, I spend a lot
	more on my bike equipment than my ski equipment, but that's because
	I'm more "into" biking, and not as into skiing.  On the other hand,
	a nice ski outfit can cost at least $300.  You can get a lot of
	nice biking clothes for that.

	Sue

    Yup ... it's all relative.  $4,000 is a lot of money to spend on a
    recreation over two years.  Last year I spent about that much for 
    boat payments as a part owner of a 36-foot sailboat ... not to
    mention $2,500 for my share of new sails, $500 in racing fees, and
    another $3,000 to fix the boat after I ran it onto a rock that was at
    about 4" less depth than the bottom of my keel.
    
    I could buy an awful lot of bicycles with that kinda money ...
    
    ... Bob
    

    .20 makes me look like a miser.
    
    :-)
    
    ed

    
    And at the other end of the spectrum are people using Shoe-Goo to 
    extend the life of treadbare bike tires... :-)
    
    -john

    
    
    Back again.  I figure three bikes over 20 years isn't bad.  
    
    The wife is doing fine.  My daughter is holding her own...she's
    breathing on her own now...and constantly moving...she'll make a good
    cyclist some day!  We're not out of the woods yet...but every hour she
    hangs in there improves her chances!  Thanks for asking!  Hmmm, this
    sounds like it should be in the PARENTING notes file...but then I don't
    follow that one.  I'm planning on stationing the wife up there next
    week...less driving and more riding for Dad that way.  So Ed and Sue
    the "Green Machine" will be back!!!
    
    Steve

    	Expensive Hobby?  If you start racing you make some if not all the
    money you put into it. I broke even last year. That inculdes:
    
    	Entry fees
    	Travel to races and lodging
    	tires and tune up
    	new equipment
    About $3,000 dollars spent last year. I made $3,000 dollars last year
    racing. So a expensive hobby turns into a hobby of no cost.
    
    Mike

    
    RE: .-1
    
    Break even on the cost vs. monetary return ... PLUS you got the
    trophies, jerseys, and adoring fans, right?
    
    -john

    Racing bikes is like racing horses, for every ONE who breaks even
    or comes out ahead, there are a million of us "pack fodder"
    
    Congrats Mike.
    
    ed

    Wow ... you mean you guys actually get *money* for winning a race?  In
    yacht racing all you get is a stupid pewter cup or teak plaque or
    something equally useless.
    
    I mean, look at the America's Cup ... the cheapest of those boats
    cost $15 million !!!  And all the winner gets is a cup you can't even
    drink beer out of ... and he doesn't even get to keep it ... ;^)
    
    ... Bob
    

    Yeah, next thing ya know they'll form a union and go on strike unless
    they get better pay, more benefits, summer vacations, ...
    
    ed

  (Adopt stereotyped Scottish voice)

	Whit! Spend money on a bike! You must be joking!

	Those cane rims that my Great, Great Grandad Kilpatrick bought in 1870
  and have been passed from generation to generation have got miles left in
  them. Much better than those modern ones where you've got keep replacing the
  rubber every year. Do you know how much those things cost! Kids these days
  have no respect for money! But I'll tell you something, it'll take more than
  that to make me open my sporran.


	Seriously, this money bit is totally up to yourself. Work out what you
  need to enjoy cycling and then work out how much you've actually spent on the
  equipment that you've got. Guranateed there'll be a big difference.

	But if you want to spend a pile of money on Ti stuff (who mentioned
  names?), then do it. If you get pleasure from it, then what's the harm? It's
  when you spend thousands every year and keep complaining that cycling is too
  expensive that you've got a problem. And before I get hate mail from everyone,
  I'd like to say that I don't think anyone in this conference comes under that
  description. Maybe it's just the Scottishness coming out on my local riders...

  Graham.

    YEP, it's all YOUR recreation.  If you enjoy riding 21st century stuff
    then prepare to part with the greenbacks.  If you're happy on a Huffy
    -- all you wanted was exercise, right? -- then buy a Huffy.
    
    ed
    
    Btw, why does a new bike get dusty -- when you use it?  Damn, looks like
    it's been sitting in the basement.

    
    Mine does, too, Ed.  But *your* the one who opted for black,
    just for the sake of Dura Ace.  :-)
    
    My green De Rosa has been great for the green pollen around
    here lately. :-)
    
    -john