I feel sorry for anyone buying crap, save and invest! Use the money to help yourself in the long run!

To proj: a lot of a bike’s weight depends upon the design. For example, a mountain bike will typically weigh more than a road bike. Perhaps you are thinking of some of the so-called cruiser or “comfort” bikes that are now being hawked — most of these are tanks that blatantly contradict their monikers. As Dan points out, good values can be had in used bikes: check the bike shops *this month*, because many students will be graduating and selling off their old bikes, so selection is good and prices generally low.

Indeed, as Vicki mentions, vintage bikes are popular, and for good reason: many were hung up for storage in garages as soon as they got their first flat tire, so there are some excellent values out there. There are also good websites out there with tips on refurbing older bikes; see, e.g., http://www.sheldonbrown.com/upgrade.html/.

But the best deal in bikes is to buy used. Many people with too much money buy fancy bikes, ride them for a season, let them collect dust for a decade, and then get rid of them. Find a bike salvage shop.

Perhaps people are feeling their stimulus checks. As MrTitanium, I had an unusually profitable weekend; nine orders in 2 days. If I were to keep earning at that rate, MrT’s Schedule C could exceed the poverty line this year.

I’ve generally been appalled at this “stimulus” since I first heard of it. Think of what capital projects could have been built for the money (about $100,000,000,000)! That’s the cost of a couple of dozen new (safer) nuclear power plants, including delays and legal skirmishes, from deciding where to put it through fully fueled and operational. This could have meant new jobs for thousands of people.

Or put it to planting wind power. Texas has enough available wind land to power itself and a dozen other states without using either nuclear or coal. It mainly needs the initial capital investment!

Think of what could have been built for just the cost of distributing the money (official est. $200,000,000)! That’s a new interstate from St. Louis to Des Moines (halfway to Minneapolis). Better yet, a high speed rail line all the way up.

BTW, what an incredibly wretched name for that transfer of money. It would be more accurate to call those transfers the “Greedy and ignorant politicians shoving the country further in debt payments” or maybe the “Let’s pretend that the U.S. can simply print wealth payments.”

These payments are immoral because they heave a huge new dose of debt on the next generation. These payments are monuments to our refusal to take real steps to do something positive and meaningful for the financial health of our country. They are further evidence that we are living in the post-fact era. Even though I am an agnostic, I’m sometimes tempted to say “God save us.”

Back to bicycles. You raise an excellent suggestion for how to invest money. Bicycling is a win-win-win-win for many people. Many of us at DI chimed in on various aspects of bicycling at an earlier post called “Make money by commuting on your bicycle.”