Marketing Madness

Summer vacation means skimming back issues of Bicycling Magazine for helpful tips on nutrition, training,  and gear. Some little tidbits are most helpful, like the suggestion to line up the tire logo with the valve stem, in order to make it easier to search for bits of glass or metal. (Why didn't I know that?) It's always gratifying to read a suggestion that you already follow, based on intuition, but there's always helpful knowledge to be gained, that will improve the quality of your riding.

Of course this glossy magazine couldn't exist without substantial advertising revenue, but the ads are the part that really gets me down. I paid $1500 for my bike, a generic, very comfortable carbon fiber road frame (made in Taiwan along with 90+% of all contemporary road bikes) equipped with ultegra components, FSA hollow carbon crank, and entry-level Mavic Aksium wheels. Sure, my ride isn't nearly as fancy as the majority of bikes that I see at the races, but aside from the wheels, it's certainly not slowing me down and I have no complaints whatsoever. If I wanted to substantially improve my bike, I would have to invest somewhere between $600 and $1600 on a new ultralight wheelset, and that pricetag doesn't include tires and a cassette. If you didn't do research and used Bicycling Magazine's reviews and ads exclusively to guide your purchasing decisions, you'd think that you'd need to spend 3 grand or more on a road bike or just deciding to buy much less bike. Sadly, I believe that many would-be cyclists are scared away by the daunting pricetag.

It seems as though the big bike manufacturers are determined to keep those of us with limited bank accounts just out of reach, but I guess someone has to subsidize those expensive glossy ads in Bicycling Magazine! First time buyers or those people looking for their first new bike in many years can be easily confused by their visits to local bike shops or researching online. The forums such as roadbikereview.com can be equal parts helpful and confusing, and if you're like me, parting with $1500 or more on a product sight unseen is a worrisome prospect. Fortunately those of us living in the Finger Lakes region have a shop like Swan's cyclery, where we can get a reality check and have access to much more reasonable options and some thoughtful advise from the most avid cyclists around. And if Swan's is too long of a trek for you, the best option is to seek out lots of advise from friends or folks who publish independent reviews online. I finally make my decision after a very helpful e-mail exchange with someone who bought the same bike that I was interested in. Knowing that my bike was all I was hoping it would be removed all stress except for the obvious concerns about damage during shipping.

So don't let the ads and reviews get you down—you CAN get lots of bike for under 2K. Just keep your head on straight, do good research, talk to your cycling fanatic friends and don't believe the hype.