<aside> ✍🏼 This chapter is authored by Manu Konchady
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Which bicycle is most appropriate for you? There is no single answer to this question and the best answer is that it depends. Some of the factors to consider when choosing a bicycle are - your budget, the purpose (commuting, touring, or racing), and the manufacturer.
Bicycles come in all budgets from the low priced one made up of commodity parts to the high end bicycle with light weight components and a customized frame. The more expensive bicycle can cost as much one hundred times the cost of the cheaper bicycle. A beginner bicyclist could start with a cheaper bicycle before buying a more expensive model.
Before you buy your bicycle, it is well worth the time to do a little research. Since bicycles come in a broad range of prices from the low cost sturdy roadster bicycle to the expensive light road bicycle, you would need to set a budget. This budget may depend on how you plan to use your bicycle. If you are going to ride 10 or more kilometers per day, then you would need a dependable bicycle. A bicycle with good components can last 10 years or more with minimal maintenance such as replacing tubes, tyres, or the chain.
A cheaper bicycle is more likely to have components that will fail sooner and you may need to spend more on maintenance. This a trade off that you need to make when evaluating bicycles. One case for a cheap bicycle is if you have to ride nearby where the risk of bicycle theft is high. Losing an expensive bicycle into which you have invested time and energy selecting good components is heart breaking. The loss of a cheap bicycle is less painful. Securely locking an expensive bicycle or using some kind of monitoring device is another option if you want to protect your investment.
How much should you spend on a bicycle? The idiom “you get what you pay for” is true for bicycles as it is for other goods. A bicycle is more complicated than it appears with more than a hundred components, small and large, that must be assembled correctly. Some of these components include the stem, handlebars, wheels, tyres, inner tubes, rim tapes, spokes, hubs, wheel rims, cables, shifters, brake levers, handle bar grips, headset, bottom bracket, pedals, cranks, chainset, sprockets, derailleurs, chain, brake arms, brake springs, brake pads, saddle, suspension, and seat post.
A bicycle does need most of the components mentioned in the list with the exception of gears, derailleurs, and suspension. The manufacturing cost of a bicycle is then the sum of the cost of these components, assembly, packaging, and shipping. A manufacturer can cut the cost of a bicycle by compromising on the cost of some components such as the saddle, pedals, grips, hubs, or quality of the frame.
Everyone loves a bargain. When a bicycle is sold at a price that seems to be really low, you maybe getting more than you bargained for. Bicycles sold in a large store are typically inexpensive to attract a larger audience. This is coincident with the department store strategy of selling a large number of low priced products. However a bicycle is a slightly different product from clothing or electronic goods.
When electronic goods are mass produced, the cost of these products can be lowered substantially, while still maintaining reliability. The same cannot be said about a bicycle that is still a mechanical device. The parts of a bicycle are made up of rubber, steel, or some other alloy. A cheap bicycle with knobby (mountain bicycle) tyres may appear rugged and reliable, but tyres are just one of the components of a bicycle. Some cheap bicycles even have suspensions. However, a good suspension is not cheap and will add to the cost of the bicycle. Therefore, most of the suspensions on cheap bicycles are not meant for riding on rough trails.
The cheap bicycle is also known as a “bicycle shaped object” (BSO) to imply that it only looks like a more expensive bicycle with components like gears and a suspension. However, BSOs are deceptive and give the impression of being similar to a bicycle that is used to ride down a rough trail. Using a BSO as it is implied is unsafe.
The main reason to be wary of a cheap bicycle is the risk of injury. If you ride an improperly assembled bicycle, you are more likely to fall or have an accident. Poor brakes or brakes that do not work mean that you will not be able to stop and risk a collision. While cyclists do get some sympathy in an accident, riding an unsafe bicycle will not shield you from blame. Other reasons to avoid a cheap bicycle include frequent trips to the bike shop to replace parts that break down often. To keep costs low, the quality of parts will be compromised and therefore more likely to break down sooner than later. Besides, riding on a cheap bicycle may not be fun and you maybe tempted to give up riding a bicycle, since it may appear to be a clunky and tedious affair.
Although BSOs are derided in the bicycling community, you can still ride a BSO provided it has been fully assembled and you ride on asphalt or concrete. If you are willing to make minor repairs from time to time and do not expect a smooth ride, a BSO can last for longer than you would expect.
Why are cheap bicycles being made? Given all the problems with a cheap bicycle, you would assume that the manufacturers of such bicycles would go out of business soon enough. Consumers would stop buying such products and the loss of business would convince bicycle makers to stick with reliable components to produce a bicycle at a reasonable, but not cheap cost.
Cheap bicycles still sell well because it is the most affordable bicycle for a sizeable segment of the population. Not all cheap bicycles are bad. You cannot comfortably ride these bicycles at any speed, but slow and steady. For buyers of these bicycles, the price is the main priority, while speed and comfort are not. Cyclists on cheap bicycles are not necessarily riding to reduce pollution, but rather to travel from one place to another at the lowest possible cost.
Unlike BSOs, these cheap bicycles do not have any derailleurs, gears, or suspensions. Although they are clunky and not a lot of fun to ride, they work efficiently to transport goods and people. The roadster is one such bicycle and costs much less than a typical mountain bicycle. In 2018, an Indian roadster bicycle was priced at about 5000 INR.Most of the 10 million bicycles sold in India are priced in this range [1]. A bicycle with gears may cost upwards of 8000 INR and the number of such bicycles sold is relatively small compared to the size of the market. Some fraction of the 10 million bicycles are give-aways by the government to students.