You really don't need expensive gear. My first long distance hike was 150km through scotland (West Highland Way) and I spent about 80€ for a pair of used hiking boots. The rest was borrowed from friends and I've used my family's old camping tent. Sure, I could have saved about 3kg if I had bought newer, lighter gear. Maybe I would have made fewer stops, maybe I would have been a day faster or even two. But why, the sole idea behind the trip was to walk outside.

On my first day I met another solo hiker and he was kind of a gearhead - or showboat - because most of the time he talked about how light his gear is and what functions it has and apparently it was most important to him that I know how expensive it all was.

Same with bikes: if your goal is to ride a bike almost every bike that fits to the person riding it and us technically in good condition works.