How durable are wooden bikes?
5 year warranty on bike frames is pretty standard. I've shopped around after my aluminium frame broke after 6 years and nearly all manufacturers offered 5 years.
Wooden bikes
41–50 of 238 posts
Re: Wooden bikes
#42Interesting idea. Unconscionable price. I don't think you could justify spending that amount of money on a bike unless it is one of your life's deepest passions. Which seems rare. Does the quality of bikes really change that much when you go up the price range, for amateur users?
€3000 is nowhere near the ceiling for expensive bikes, even for amateurs. I know plenty of people that have multiple bikes in that range and beyond.
If you want specific solutions things often get expensive. And yes there is a world of differens from a €1000 bike to one that costs €4000.
Re: Wooden bikes
#43Interesting idea. Unconscionable price. I don't think you could justify spending that amount of money on a bike unless it is one of your life's deepest passions. Which seems rare. Does the quality of bikes really change that much when you go up the price range, for amateur users?
Plenty of people spend a LOT more than that on bikes
Re: Wooden bikes
#44I don't understand the market for bicycles in the thousands of euro price range. Bikes get stolen often enough for me to never be relaxed leaving such a bike outside a shop or caffe or such. If you can't leave the bike anywhere, it's almost useless, except perhaps as a virtue signalling device.
I think it's quite reasonable. My bike is my only vehicle and I don't own a car. It's actually the fastest way to commute in my larger city in Germany.
On the other hand I find it incomprehensible how someone would spent more than 10K for a car that for me seems to offer only very marginal advantages day-to-day. For vacations cars are nice, but then I can just rent one or go by train/plane too.
Re: Wooden bikes
#45Interesting idea. Unconscionable price. I don't think you could justify spending that amount of money on a bike unless it is one of your life's deepest passions. Which seems rare. Does the quality of bikes really change that much when you go up the price range, for amateur users?
What's really making a difference is proper assembly and setup. Then, as long the bike's made out of halfway decent materials and is the right size for you it's going to be a pleasure to ride.
Re: Wooden bikes
#46I use a bike as my primary transportation (I live in a very, very bike friendly city) and I don't think I have ever seen a wooden bike.
Vibrations from the road is not something I've ever considered since it has not been a problem in any of the bikes that I've had.
My primary considerations when considering a bike would be: * Price * Durability * Cargo support (like basket and rear hub)
Re: Wooden bikes
#47I don't understand the market for bicycles in the thousands of euro price range. Bikes get stolen often enough for me to never be relaxed leaving such a bike outside a shop or caffe or such. If you can't leave the bike anywhere, it's almost useless, except perhaps as a virtue signalling device.
I largely agree - though my 'good bike' is currently worth around £1500 - though if I tried to sell it now it would be worth closer to £700.
Still, I either go on a 50 mile type ride where I'll not be stopping until I return to base, a local training ride (similar), a cafe tour - where I'll be able to sit either where I can see the bike or right next to it, or I just leave it at home and take my 'rough bike' (the comedy but that the rough bike is actually also worth a whack - but I've just made it look terrible).
Moving to riding a £1500 from a £200 is like night and day - the first time I rode a full carbon it was amazing, even though the gains were marginal, and comfort and ride were outstanding.
I'd not tried them, but seeing friends with £9k or more bikes, I can imagine that yes they do offer marginal gains, and other things that make the ride better - is it 'worth it? Who knows - but if you have the money and a passion for your hobby, then why not? I'm sure to my parents they couldn't understand why someone would want a £1k phone or ipad when theirs work perfectly for their needs.
Re: Wooden bikes
#48Ride comfort (on a rigid bike) is primarily a function of the tyres (size/inflation/construction). A bike with cheap 23c tyres at 150psi will rattle the fillings out of your teeth. The same bike with decent 25c or 28c tyres at e.g. 50-70psi (depending on rider weight) can float along with a magic carpet like ride.
Why call those 23c tyres "cheap"? Why mention price at all? Ride comfort is a function of tyre size, not tyre price. You can buy very "exclusive" expensive 23c tyres, pump them up to 7 atm. and have just as hard a ride as the person who just overtook you on his "cheap" 23c tyres.
That "magic carpet" ride does come at a price but it is not monetary: the softer the tyre, the more resistance and with that the slower the ride.
Re: Wooden bikes
#49Interesting idea. Unconscionable price. I don't think you could justify spending that amount of money on a bike unless it is one of your life's deepest passions. Which seems rare. Does the quality of bikes really change that much when you go up the price range, for amateur users?
It's expensive, but not unreasonable given the quality of the parts used. Their cheapest bike is 2500 euros, or 1600 on sale at the moment. If you were to buy all of parts separately, other than the frame and fork, it would be about 1000 euros.
Re: Wooden bikes
#50Interesting idea. Unconscionable price. I don't think you could justify spending that amount of money on a bike unless it is one of your life's deepest passions. Which seems rare. Does the quality of bikes really change that much when you go up the price range, for amateur users?
€3000 is nowhere near the ceiling for expensive bikes, even for amateurs. I know plenty of people that have multiple bikes in that range and beyond. If you want specific solutions things often get expensive. And yes there is a world of differens from a €1000 bike to one that costs €4000.
It's also easy to spend quite a bit extra on a bike once you have it. You almost always need to replace the saddle and pedals, so that's about $200. You get a bike fit and decide you want to change your handlebars and stem, so there's another $200. A year or two later, you want to upgrade to a set of lighter wheels, and that's $500 or more, easily.