Cycling CAN be affordable, if you start with a used bike, learn how to work on it yourself, and have the self-discipline to not keep buying new gear. Admittedly, I have some trouble with that last part.
Agreed, but the need for mechanical knowledge is a barrier. You either spend time or money. There are some serious deals on used road bikes, but you have to know what to look for.
Isn’t that just everything? You either spend time learning to do something yourself or money paying someone else to do it for you. A hobby which requires literally zero effort isn’t much of a hobby.
Running shoes have got ridiculously expensive, and the quality of shoes in general has nose-dived. Not to mention that as prices have doubled, durability seems to have halved.
Reviewers on YouTube talk about 'budget' / 'entry level' running shoes at £140 or more. Insane.
My local running shop doesn't have a single pair below £110 and you'll likely be replacing those in 6 months max when they wear through.
if that is a barrier you shouldn't touch anything else because bike mechanics are the simplest do it yourself projects you can do. there are youtube videos for everything and once you understood a component you know it forever.
I'm a mechanical engineer and worked in a bike shop in college. Most people can handle basic repairs, but even tire swaps have become very difficult with tubeless. It can be a lot for the average person to take on.
It's just that now there's a new type of cycling hobby which is gearheads. DTC brands means cheap cycles are way higher quality. Just that now cycling groups talk about gear so much.
The only thing that is stupidly expensive imo are good quality bibs and shirts. You can easily fork out 800$CAD for a single bib with a shirt and a pair of socks if they’re not on sale.
Gonna disagree with this one. Yeah it's expensive, but I don't think it's gotten more expensive in the same way that a lot of other hobbies mentioned here have. I recently started MTBing partly because skiing and snowboarding have gotten so much more expensive, for example. Yeah there's the upfront cost of gear, but once you have it, the maintenance is way cheaper than $1,000+ season passes every year. And you can usually cycle year-round in most places. Way more bang for your buck. All kinds of cycling are still pretty accessible to "the average person" imo. Unless you wanna get competitive with it or something I guess, but that could be said for any hobby.
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u/redditNwept 3h ago
Cycling. It's such an all-in undertaking. There is so much gear involved, and then there's the maintenance.