According to Dan Empfield this is where the newbie is supposed to ask where’s the good (used?) affordable stuff is.
Bike, peddles, helmet, good sun glasses, all of the bike stuff. Any suggestion would be appreciated.
I"ve got gear for sale cheap if you want.
Felt B2 frame size 50. With carbon aerobars. $400
spend some/a lot of time on the ST Classifieds
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It’s tough to say without knowing your definition of “good” and “affordable”…
there’s a saying that of good, fast, and cheap, you can have any two.
So if you want something that’s good and also inexpensive, you can’t expect to get it quickly - i.e. you need to have patience and comb the ST classifieds, local bike club classifieds, eBay if you’re into that, Craigslist, etc.
if you want something fast and cheap, you’ll have to accept a little less “oooh and aaah” with your new stuff (i.e. it won’t be “good”). In this case you’ll want to look at the big national bike discounters, like bike nashbar and performance bike. There are others, but those two are the ones that probably have the generally lowest prices on the broadest categories of stuff (i.e. there are cheaper places to buy tires, cheaper places to buy pedals, etc. but not really any one place to buy all of the kit you want cheaper than one of those two - at least, that I’m aware of)
Finally, if you want good stuff fast, then hopefully you have a great local bike shop who can guide a new person through the process without taking advantage of you or being too snobbish. In this case it may or may not be “cheap”, but creating a long-term relationship with a local bike shop often pays back the added expense of doing business with them over time.
That’s my two cents, anyway. I’m sure other people will have other opinions as well.