What is the difference between a cheap bike and an amazing bike? Not much...

A lot of my non-cyclist friends and family members are amazed that I have spent over $1000 on a bike. Conversely, a lot of my cycling friends would question the quality of a bike that costs less than 1000 quid.

Who is right? And what exactly do I get for my $1000 Specialized Allez Sport that I don't get with my $100 Happy*Mart bike? Sadly, not much, but also A TON! Let me explain.

If you go down to Happy*Mart and buy a $100 bike, you will have a terrible experience if you ride the bike more than 2 or 3 times a week or for more than 200 miles a year. The brakes will fail, the shifters will stop working and then brake, the handle bars will soon be twisted and so on. But it is not because the bike is a lower quality than the $1000 bike shop bike.

What is the difference? When you buy the $1000 bike shop bike you get a free tune-up after everything settles in. You see, shifter cables and brake cables stretch over time on any bike (unless the bike shop pre-stretches them for you). This means the shifting and braking becomes imprecise and the bike doesn't work correctly.

If you bought the $1000 bike, you have a free-tune up. At that tune up, the bike shop tells you that you will need to learn to do this yourself or to return every 6 months to a year. Because you spent $1000 on the bike, you will probably acquiesce. By contrast, the thought of paying $120 for a full service tune up on the $100 Happy*Mart bike seems terrible.

Here's the biggest irony: The $100 was not built correctly in the first place. When I am in a

Me with a completely overhauled department store bike

department store (or mass merchandiser or *gasp* grocery store) just looking at the bikes I can name 3 problems with the way they were built. Do you know why? It is because the employee that does not know which isle dog food is on exactly or how to ring up produce is the same person that built the bike (I know because I worked at one of these places in my dark past). It sounds like I am being facetious but I am not. The "bike builder" is just an employee taken from some department or other job to help put bikes together when they arrive (they do not come assembled in shipping).

What I am saying is that when you buy a bike from a department store, you should add $100-200 onto the price and take it to a qualified mechanic afterwards to rebuild it the right way, then get a 6 month tune up. If not, the bike will not make it past 250 miles or so.

Now, enter the person who says, "Wait a minute! That is not the ONLY difference between department store bikes and bike shop bikes!" Correct. It isn't. However, the other differences are minor unless you are going to be racing. I know because I have taken VERY cheap bikes, re-lubed the bearings in the bottom bracket, the pedals, the headset and the wheel hubs, put decent tires on and bar ends for a more aerodynamic option and tested the difference between those bikes and my $1000+ bikes. The difference is less than HALF a mph (for equivalent tires [road vs. mtn] and aerodynamic setups [any kind of aerodynamic option like bar ends vs. flat bar]).

So what are the differences between the $100 department store bike and the $1000 shop bike? Roughly speaking, the $100 bike uses technology from before the 1980s. Companies in Taiwan and China make tons of cheap parts using this old technology and those are the parts that are used on the $100 bike: The one piece crank, the threaded headset, older derailleur and shifter styles, 6 speed setups vs 11 speed setups and so on. The parts are often heavier as well: steel vs. carbon fiber for example. So the typical $100 bike weighs about 30# compared to 20# and has really old (annoying) technology that most works great as long as you do regular maintenance on the bike. You may need to invest in specialized tools (like brake wrenches) that are no longer common use on more modern parts. That is the great thing about more modern parts: you can buy a set of allen wrenches (hex keys) to complement the wrenches and screwdrivers already in your tool box and mostly be on your way except for some of the more advanced repairs (crankset, bottom bracket, hubs...).

So am I saying you might as well go to the bike store and pay $300 for their entry level bike? Not necessarily. I am saying to steer clear of the department store bike unless you have a friend that is a wrench turner. I have had people bring me their department store bikes and within an hour I have them in a condition that I would be happy to ride them in. If you are going to have to pay to get the department store bike in that kind of shape, then, yes, you may as well pay $300-400 for a bike that is put together correctly and will do a free 6 month tune-up.

If you know someone that is good at fixing up bikes, have them do a full overhaul on your department store bike, especially adjusting the hubs and any other turning points, and notice the difference!

Either way, you will have to plan on paying for regular tune-ups or learn to do them yourself (nothing a few hours on YouTube with the Bike Man can't fix).

If you learn to do basic maintenance on your bike, you can save $100-200 per year and have a bike than keeps running great for a long time. 

Another good option is to buy a shop-quality bike from a garage sale or online site. The same goes for this option though: you will still need to tune it up regularly.

So, a bike is kind of like a car in that the purchase price is the least of your worries. If you think you are really buying a bike for $100 you are wrong. You are committing to regular $100 tune-ups every 6 months to a year or learning how to do them yourself or the bike will eventually shut down (even if it makes it 2-3 years, it will eventually quit on you).

If you decide to pay $100 for a department store bike, add $100-200 to the price that you will need to pay a qualified mechanic to rebuild and inspect the bike, then decide if it is still worth it. 

So buy what you want. I have a department store bike that I overhauled for commuting (the frame makes it look cheap and less desirable for theft), a 1991 steel mountain bike that I overhauled and converted to drop bar for similar commuting purposes and a couple of nicer bike shop bikes. None is really faster than the others as long as they are set up with slick (road) tires and at least a semi-aerodynamic hand position. I do love working on the bike shop bikes more because the newer parts are a little easier to work with. The bike shop bikes are a little easier to heft (lighter weight) and require maintenance less often (derailleurs need tuned every year vs. every 6 months for example), but other than that, I wouldn't notice a difference in my speed unless I were to climb a 12% grade for 50 miles. My dad used to go on group rides with very fit road cyclists. He was on a department store Huffy mountain bike. He made some adjustments to the bike and kept up with everyone else on all the rides.

So, a department store bike is old technology, a little heavy and poorly built more than it is a "bad" bike. Rebuilding the bike can make it almost as good as anything out there, but to make sure it is up to par, you will have to spend $100-200 with a qualified mechanic. That is why it is hard to argue that the department store bike is really worth the cost savings unless a friend will do the overhaul and inspection for free...But, to each their own!

*A final warning (and not a minor one): I have noticed that department store bike parts are more likely to be defective (slightly crooked, bent, prone to cracking)--this further justifies the need to take a department store bike to a mechanic to make sure it is safe. However, department store bikes are not built to handle extreme riding or weight. If you will be doing extreme riding, or are a heavier rider DISREGARD EVERYTHING IN THIS POST AND BUY A REAL BIKE! Always consult the bike manufacturer with questions about the conditions a specific bike can handle!