So my wife said ‘what do you want for your birthday? A new bike?’ So answers on a postcard please… What should I choose?

Whatever you pick, make sure you do it. It was my 50th 6 weeks ago, I had the green light to go mad, now other things seem to have cropped up and its all been put on the back boiler 🙁

This was my 50th present to myself last year:

…and this is where I took it for a ride this year (racing for 38.5hrs in the Arctic):

YES!
It’s a prerequisite

You will be going through a midlife crises, so go for a gnarpoon, then ride canal towpaths!

Budget?

Trip not bike.
How long could you get away for?
I’m planning to ride France, N-S.
APF

I was 50 last month and got a new Defy Advanced Pro 2 🙂

Had to buy it myself mind you !

I’m 60 in 61 weeks,1 day and 3 hours, I’d better start planning. 😀

I would and did in fact buy myself a new bike for my 50th. A Whyte T-130 Works which I’m loving. HTH

If you can, do a trip. Memories last forever but a new bike will soon become old and you’ll long for something else.

teamslug
No budget mentioned. But slightly concerned as if I say ‘oh I’d like an xyz bike please’ she will then actually realise how much bikes cost!

I’m 50 in Jan next year but got my present already . Orbea Occam Tr Ltd 29er and my riding mate (daznal) is 50 tomorrow, got himself a Whyte T129c. Both really nice but different tools and both expensive. But we’re worth it!! And my biggest fear is that when I die my wife will sell my bikes for what I told her they cost.

I just did a week’s cycling in Mallorca with some friends. I’ve got enough bikes, it’s that kind of thing I need more of.

EDIT: mind you, the Di2 equipped bike I rented was pretty amazing.

I’m 60 in 61 weeks,1 day and 3 hours, I’d better start planning.

A Whyte perhaps? 😉

I got an Orange Pro 5 for my sixtieth 9 years ago. Today I rode a 29er HT on the Garburn Pass circuit (AC). Would have been more comfortable on the FS.

http://www.shandcycles.com

As somebody says ^^ do a trip, its memory will be more than “just another bike”. I had a weeks trail riding in Southern France for mine 😀

I would need a new bike to do a week’s trail riding.

Win win!

I was 50 at the beginning of last year and decided to buy a new bike.

My wife said she’d pay as I’d be paying for her 50th in a few years time – she knows how much stuff costs.

I tested a few bikes and couldn’t decide what I wanted, as in did I want a trail bike, and endure bike etc.

In the end I bought a s/h 140mm carbon FS for less than £1k, with 26″ wheels (as all my other stuff will still fit). I’ve bent the pivot on this one now so am looking again. Still can’t decide what I want…

If you don’t even know what you want then why bother?

Nice trip +1

I’d think clearly about where you ride, what conditions and how you like riding.

Too many variables will confuse matters.

Road = easy choice, choose something for the place you’ll ride most.
MTB = little trickier, choose something for the place you’ll want to ride most.

Trips IMO are fine, but you can do that easily enough with a small amount of planning, it’s the bike you take with you that makes all the difference.

Example: I’ve got an R5ca kitted out with Red, it’s been everywhere with me, road, cobbles, mountains. Each time I look down on the top tube and stem I think of all that road I’ve covered on it, and the memories come flooding back.

Bespoke route will cloud judgement unless you go in having covered off your main criteria, the builder will only build what you want and you don’t want to get that wrong.

What should I choose?

After all these years,you still can’t make a decision on your own,are you Kryton? 😛

I like that snowbike doverider