This is not going to be popular with many cyclists, but here goes. I think we've been duped into thinking we NEED to get equipment that we really don't. Yep, I know - ground breaking info. LOL Lately, I've been looking at purchasing a new road bike. I want a bike I can ride and race on - criteriums, road races, centuries, and just riding most of our local roads. Looking at photos of some of our NCNCA races, I see every rider on the same type of bike - carbon, aero, deep dish wheels, disc brakes, carbon everything.....and in most cases, ultra expensive. Looking at some of the bicycle companies' websites, I see some of these bikes sell for as much as $13,000 or more. Heck, a "basic" model of these bikes comes in around $6,000. The one model of bicycle I really liked was $3,000. Even at that price, I almost lost my breath. It was very basic - Shimano 105, no deep dish wheels, yes it was carbon, but it was a bit heavier and not quite as nice as some of the ...