I stand corrected.  About the cost of bicycles, at least.

When I began this blog, I intended to write about inexpensive consumer products through the lens of a disposable razor that I intended to use as long as I could.  Among other topics, I wrote about the seeming expense of a new bike.  While many consumer products (watches, for example) offer superb quality at low cost, bikes still seem expensive.  In short, while a $5 digital watch keeps time as well as a $5,000 Rolex, the $149 bike you buy at Wal-Mart stinks.

Turns out that I was looking at the wrong end of the telescope.  Bikes have gotten a lot cheaper, just not in my lifetime.

According to economic inequality superstar Thomas Piketty, bikes cost one-fortieth of what they used to (see pages 88-89 of "Capital in the 21st Century").  In the 1880s, a new bike cost the equivalent of six month's of a typical worker's salary.  Today, it costs less than a week's wages.

I still hold out hope for some breakthrough material, design or process that cuts the cost of  a good bike.  I suspect that someone will find a replacement for the spoked wheel, which has a high labor cost.  Or, perhaps, someone will find a way to manufacture a frame in one piece.

Maybe Piketty's elites bought up the patents for these kinds of innovations to prevent the proletariat from pedaling to the barricades.

Cheap bike gear that fits like a glove

True Grip General Purpose Gloves: Cheap Biking Gloves

• Replaces: Traditional full-finger bike gloves such as these from Performance Bike.
• Cost differential: 2x-4x. 

• Available: I bought mine at Home Despot for $10.  They don't seem to appear on the website, however.
• Why I like it: When riding my bike in the city, I've always preferred full-finger bike gloves because you never know what you're going to have to grab or push yourself away from.  Usually buses, but sometimes...other things.
  
  Bike stores and websites such as Performance and Nashbar will happily sell you bike gloves with full fingers for $20 (at best) or more.  I've bought several pairs from them that range from good to lousy.  Since I almost always buy from catalogs, I never get a chance to try them on beforehand.
  
  I already stash a pair of mechanic's gloves in my camera bag to use in cold weather.  The ones I use have reinforced palms.  It occurred to me that someone must make something similar with padded palms, useful for absorbing handlebar shock.  Indeed, Home Depot had the True Grip brand and they fit the bill.  In addition to the cheap price, I appreciated the ability to try them on and find the right fit.
  
  Some tips:
  
• If you shop at Home Depot or Lowe's, look around.  While HD had name-brand Mechanix gloves front-and-center, I found these cheaper gloves in the locksmith department.
  
• In addition to padding on the palm, you probably also want padding on the thumb and some terrycloth on the back to wipe sweat away.
  
• I haven't used these in really hot weather yet, so I can't tell you whether the backs, which seem thicker than those on true cycling gloves, will be an issue.