My bike was stolen at the grocery store yesterday evening. I use my bike a LOT, as I don't have a car. I ride about 3000 km a year, every day of the year, through all kinds of weather. I live in the Netherlands, where biking is a lot more common than in other countries. Sadly, bike theft is also a relatively accepted part of life, although I've been pretty lucky so far. I owned the bike that was stolen last night for 10 years. I bought it when it was about 3 years old and always took good care of it. I was planning on replacing it with a new bike in 2020.
I've borrowed an old beater for the next couple of days so I don't have to make a big purchase in a hurry. I've been to a few shops this morning and looked around on the internet, but there's a dilemma now.
I was looking for a young, good quality second bike. This is what I used to have - a Gazelle Impala, bought when it was 3 years old. Something like this (
http://darlovelo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/gazelle1-e1318075387873.jpg but without the basket) . I really loved this bike, very good quality, super comfortable etc. It seems these kind of young, secondhand bikes are very hard to find these days. It used to be tax deductible to buy a new bike every 3 years to commute to work. This was ended years ago and ever since there has been a much smaller supply of good quality secondhand bikes. The demand is still big, so prices have gone up massively. If I were lucky enough to find such a bike, they go for 450-500 EUR.
The second option is buying brand new. I'd love to buy a brand new bike and I can afford it. I have always had secondhand bikes, I'd love to go to the store and choose a bike that's the most pretty and the most comfortable, not just whatever reasonably ok bike I could find. I have fallen in love with this bike (
http://kayabike.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BC100199_H_C.png ) but it's EUR 800. I can maybe get that down to 750 if I'm lucky. Full insurance would be 75/year, that's another dilemma. This bike is extremely comfortable and it meets every requirement I have. Plus it looks lovely.
Then there's my sensible voice that tells me to buy a beater at EUR 50-100. Something like this (
http://i66.tinypic.com/jgigs5.jpg ) . I had those kind of bikes for years. There's a lot of work in maintaining those bikes. I used to have several and would take the parts off one bike to the next. They work, and they can be made safe if you fix the lights, the brakes and the gears. The basic frame of a bike hasn't changed for the last half a century, but those old bikes are just never as comfortable as newer ones. But then again, cars with heated seats are more comfortable, but no one
needs that level of comfort.
I know what I want: I
want that super shiny red bike, and I can afford it. As long as it's not stolen, it would last for about 15 years. In that time, I expect to ride at least 40.000 km on it. I
deserve a good bike if I don't own a car. But I also don't want to be a consumer sucka. Old bikes are old and need maintenance, but they're cheap and they work. Most people ride around on bikes like that in my country.
So, MMM community: can I buy that shiny new bike? Or should I just suck it up and go with the old beater like everyone else?