Some (me) are quite meh about Strava, but passionate about business strategy. Hence my interest.
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Thatās what I shouldāve said: the free part is whatās valuable to me. Thereās not $5 of value in the premium part now to me, but $5 isnāt a big ask. Iām just not lining up to pay.
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Personally Iām pretty meh about Strava or the strategy, but find the emotional responses in here fascinating.
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Something for everyone then. Even popcorn for some, apparently. Which I sorely lack - we have Covid-cancelled our Friday popcorn at the office.
Plus Iām not in the office either, so Iām really not getting popcorn.
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This also assumes most of the people complaining fall into this category rather than, like me, riding around on a 2nd hand bike they picked up at the local collective. Not everyone on here has that kind of dough to throw around, so ya, especially right now, putting stuff behind pay walls limits availability and pisses people off. Just sayin.
That being said, Strava made a reasonable business decision here by doing so. Whether the stuff now behind a pay wall is worth an extra $60/yr will depend on numerous factors specific to the individual. I have no beef with Strava on this one, just like I have no beef with anyone that thinks Strava is garbage or a gift from the gods. Itās nothing but a personal opinion either way.
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Then they can go somewhere else, nobody is forcing anybody to use their app. Save your $5 and go use something free and see if it works better or worse for you.
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Hey I hear ya, Iām on a 2017 Giant Contend that I got for $500 and itās a hunk of junk, but itās a bike to ride. Two pairs of Black Bibs and a few POC jerseys I got on super sale. My comment was more of just poking fun. I like Strava because I like the layout, the social factor, the segments, and I have never really had any qualms about the route builder and that is even getting better with the latest update. So for that, Iāll gladly spend $7 a month.
I just always am interested in seeing the publicās reaction when apps or services start charging / charging more. Itās all about value to you. If youāre serious about cycling or thatās where most of your enjoyment comes from, and you REALLY like strava, then go to one less dinner per month, get one less starbucks, do one less whatever you normally do to afford that $7, plain and simple. Itās all about perspective and realizing worth. People get so bent of shape having to pay a little extra money for something they might very well literally use every single day (not even saying strava specifically). I think itās absolutely hysterical the amount of arguing and whatnot Iāve seen on the internet over Strava this past week, just sitting back and taking it all in. If you like it, pay for it. If you donāt, then go somewhere else.
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Donāt you ride ENVE wheels?
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Sure, pass judgment and toss some stones my wayā¦
Yes I have a set of ENVE wheels and they are awesome. One wheel has been replaced 2 times under warranty. The back story is my mom gave me $$ after my dad died. Negotiated a fantastic deal and used those $$ on the wheels. Think of my dad every time I look at them. Lifetime warranty and no weight limit. Very happy with that purchase on many levels.
Is that good enough or do you want to see our personal balance sheet? Want me to discuss all the purchases we donāt make? How much we save? How we defer a lot of purchases until we get the best deal? Or do you just want to use one purchase in an attempt to discredit what I said?
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Very well said. And definitely agree. There is somewhat of an inclination for people to jump straight to outrage, and as this thread has shown emotions can often derail legitimate disagreements about how things āshouldā be and what is ārightā vs. āwrongā. At the end of the day, we are all in this together and petty arguments shouldnāt detract from the fact we are all chasing the best version of ourselves we can be. That getās lost in the BS a lot of the time.
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Sheesh. No need to get so damn defensive. Just thought your quote was a bit funny and ironic given that you have a set a wheels that cost more than a lot of peoples bikes. Go for a ride and relax dude.
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LOL, couldnāt help myself, just a little poke back.
And yes, I agree it does seem a bit ironic 
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The only thing I donāt like about this topic is certain people calling others cheapskates, freeloaders, freeriders, whatever. They are pejorative terms. Strava offered everybody a product. Strava agreed to sell our data and all that but they have obviously failed in their business initiatives.
Strava has often been buggy. They seem directionless as a company. The add premium features. They remove them with no notice. They change the plans offerings every year or two.
In any case people arenāt cheapskates if they donāt want to send donations to Strava for premium features they donāt need. So now that we have this change, people can decide if they want to do pay or not.
Supposedly Strava implemented something a month or two ago but I havenāt personally noticed evidence of it.
Bingo - all of the above.
No reason to go anywhere else until Strava folds. The basics are still offered for free.
Honestly Strava should just charge everybody $1/month. If 10M of their 50M users paid $1/month that would give them $120M per year in revenue. $1/mo. would make them super profitable.
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So i guess the answer here is āno oneā.
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Kudos for use of the phrase āpersonal balance sheetā, bbarrera - a quick search says itās the first time itās been used on this forum. 
Commonly, those who maintain a personal balance sheet tend to have a good relationship with money and their finances. All power to you. 
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NB Excellent thread!
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B-money wonāt $teer you wrong 
I use Strava way more than Netflix personally
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Actively or passively?
After watching GPlamas videoā¦ Strava really didnāt remove all that much for free usersā¦ seemed a lot worse at first. (this probably speaks to the need to dramatize things the by relevant media and us and/or bad communication on Stravas side)
The majority of things people use day to day still seem to be available for free 
(of course this might be different for everyone)
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He also addressed the āvalueā gripeā¦as you stated:
Some people may have business/commerce interests tied to their strava account so it makes sense to pony up the sub fee. Others, such as myself, used the platform in a very peripheral manner, making the fee unreasonable.
As GPLama summarized for the free sub;
- You canāt see anything more than Top 10 Overall and Top 10 Women segment times.
- You canāt see all of your previous Segment times/attempts.
This is the only thing I used strava for, so my āday to dayā usage is 100% effected. Not only that, but I had to self-police the segments regarding valid/invalid results. I was ok with this because the function was free. Crappy, but free. Now itās just crappy.
Again, comes down to personal valuation, which, it seems lies anywhere from -100 to +100.