The Forever Bike

As a person who sells bikes and bike parts in the other parts of his life, I am very likely arguing against my best interests here, but we’re friends, you and I, and I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I was urging to blow all your hard-earned money all the time on things that don’t last. Trust is important, in any relationship.

And so, here I am recommending you not buy a new bike, or at least not any new bike, despite saying, just a few months back that now is a really good time to buy a bike. In retrospect, I ought to have been more measured in my exhortations toward raw consumerism. What I could have said is: You should buy a new bike right now, if you can find a bike of real value, a forever bike, if you will.

But what does that mean?

I only want to buy bikes that I think I’ll be riding a decade from now. OK, a decade is not forever, but it’s a significant portion of a human lifetime. A decade is the minimum. If I don’t foresee riding it long enough to have to replace a drivetrain or two, a wheelset, then what am I doing? A bike ought not be disposable, even with the rationalization that I can sell it online and use that money to buy a newer, better thing.

There are more criteria though.

It’s gotta fit perfectly, but also have some flexibility so that the fit can be modified as my back grows stiff and my shoulders weaken. This is non-negotiable. I heard someone tell me once that they bought a bike that was a size too large, because it was 50% off. A bike that doesn’t fit cannot possibly be a bargain.

It’s also gotta handle well. There is a whole explanation here about fork rake and trail and having your body centered over the bike with enough, but not too much, weight in the bars, but you don’t have to have a PhD in bike geometry (not a thing). You know how a bike feels when it feels right. Again, a bike that doesn’t handle well cannot be a good deal, no matter the discount.

It’s gotta be built to last. Consider materials and the quality of those materials. Do you believe it’ll survive a crash, because the strong likelihood is that if you ride it enough, you’re gonna crash it eventually. There is a sub-argument against feather-weight bikes here, because the lighter a bike gets, the less durable it becomes. This is an immutable law of nature. A broken bike isn’t a forever bike.

Is a custom bike the fastest route to a forever bike? Maybe. Sometimes. Are forever bikes usually more expensive than their more ephemeral kin? Yes, but not always. Here again though, when I buy a “cheap” bike, I’m still looking for something that fits and handles well and offers a level of utility and versatility that I know I will need for a long time. “Cheap” steel bikes are, by and large, built with heavy gauge tubing to avoid corrosion over a reasonable period of time. They’re “heavy,” but still really good to ride.

I sold custom bikes for most of a decade (and still do occasionally), and what I told people who were thinking of dipping their toes in that pond, is that they should not just consider the bike they want right now, but also the bike they think they’ll want in 10 years. A bike like that doesn’t need to be a luxury or an extravagance if it’s designed thoughtfully and with one eye on the future.

The same is true for any bike I bring into my home (TBF: I have failed in this intention a few times). It needs to meet the basic criteria of a forever bike, no matter what I spend.

Now is a good time to buy a bike still. Very nearly everything is on sale. It’s an accident of supply chain inefficiencies and tragically optimistic forecasting. But the wrong bike is never a good deal. I believe there are plenty of forever bikes out there at really good prices. If you’re shopping, I hope you find one.