I sort of envision a mountain/road hybrid with no shocks and semi-treaded tires for like $400-500. But I would never buy one of these, so I don't know which specific one from which store to buy.

I think Alex has the perfect algorithm down, however I prefer drop bars.
That makes it fairly simple to recommend the Bianchi Volpe or a crosscheck. Both can be found for under $1k, both are excellent inexpensive bikes.

(note: That being said, I am militantly opposed to getting a bike that is "good enough". If you are going to skimp, skimp on a car and buy a small used sub-compact... and dump the money on a bike. Or... sell the car, buy a used sub-compact car, and then buy a nice Ti/campy bike. You will ride more and save yourself gas money and contribute to a decrease in the sale of new cars. To me, bikes fall into the same category as Tools... the only thing that is reasonable is the absolute highest quality you can possibly afford at the best deal you can find.)

But the question we're really trying to answer is what is good for "everyone else", sort of. I'm sure lots of us are "the bike guy" at work or whatever, and I field a lot of questions from friends and co-workers. ... Used, shockless mountain bikes abound and .83 has an army of skilled-enough dudes to fix 'em up for friends.

i want to spend my evenings riding bikes with my friends and with the pointy3!

I want to spend my evenings masturbating to the TOS.

I think Alex has the perfect algorithm down, however I prefer drop bars.
That makes it fairly simple to recommend the Bianchi Volpe or a crosscheck. Both can be found for under $1k, both are excellent inexpensive bikes.

(note: That being said, I am militantly opposed to getting a bike that is "good enough". If you are going to skimp, skimp on a car and buy a small used sub-compact... and dump the money on a bike. Or... sell the car, buy a used sub-compact car, and then buy a nice Ti/campy bike. You will ride more and save yourself gas money and contribute to a decrease in the sale of new cars. To me, bikes fall into the same category as Tools... the only thing that is reasonable is the absolute highest quality you can possibly afford at the best deal you can find.)

I prefer drop bars too and don't own any bikes with flat bars. The last one that came with flat bars had them for 5 miles before drops went on.

Having said that I still recommend flat bar bikes to new riders. A lot of them find the bikes more approachable and the bike prices are also more reasonable.

For drop bar bikes right now it's hard to beat the Surly LHT. The Volpe was my old recommendation.

blah blah blah

I see your points Alex and I guess i concur, I just try to paradigm shift them to a drop bar bike asap, rather than having them go cycle through a bike.

As for the LHT vs. the Crosscheck or Volpe... that's my bias, I know people who are going to go racing cyclocross before they are going to do loaded touring... so... a certain amount of tayloring is needed. That such tayloring is needed in itself is a good support of the idea that a bike is a serious decision that requires more than a good enough philosophy.

I also think the Rodriguez bikes are good entry level... they are $2100 which is pretty cheap for what you get and they have a lot of sizes.

Obrien sells campy bikes without the filtered markup, so I would also say that his RNA's are resonable bikes if a bit into the "committed" pricerange. A record equipped bike is $100 more than a durace' equipped bike. Chorus and ultegra are priced the same.

With all due respect John ... you're a bafoon.

I also think the Rodriguez bikes are good entry level... they are $2100 which is pretty cheap for what you get and they have a lot of sizes.

But I see your point as I am posing a utopian solution to consumer culture.

buffoonery

ps - I am amazed that the spell check here knows buffoonery

I still think that the wise choice should be a full custom. Start with what is right, go from there.

garage sales and freecycle?

just out of curiosity. does anybody know the price point on the dutch bikes at that new place in ballard?

I think Alex's axiom is great, I think american made handbuilt frames are a worthwhile investment and robot built taiwan bikes are depressing mass marketing targeted at disposable consumer culture.

i'm hoping to get some american made handbuilt rims for my next bike. these machine-built ones just have such terrible tolerances!

I think Alex's axiom is great, I think american made handbuilt frames are a worthwhile investment and robot built taiwan bikes are depressing mass marketing targeted at disposable consumer culture.

Huh, it's a bummer that this went from Alex's really well thought out rules to "How little can you spend and still get a good bike"

My opinion... don't go in a look at price tags, go in and find what works.

I think that it is nearly impossible to buy the perfect bike the first time. This is true for most products. It takes some riding time to realize what your preferences are.