my mate has just bought a full carbon ribble joby,
his old bike was a second hand steel thing that was prob £200 new, spokes missing etc.
we done one of our usual routes the other night, it was his third fastest time!

The guy at the repair shop did say that it should last me through the winter but then the cost of replacement parts (chain, cassette, chainrings, bottom bracket etc) that are all getting to the end of their life wouldn’t be worth the outlay so time to start putting some money to one side for a new one for next spring….

I am in the same boat, an have been hacking around on my alu Bianchi for 6 years now (its had a few choice upgrades over the time) and recently looked into a new bike.

Set a budget, and had a few test rides and although nice none of them gave that spark I was looking for (£2.5k carbon scott and a £4.5k Kinesis Ti) until in the local bike shop I started to look at their Storcks in stock…..

One test ride later, I am eyeing up a bike that cost more than any of my 5 cars cost me.

Do I really need it? no
will it make me a better rider? no, might be slightly faster, but time will tell and it won’t be by much
Is it good value for money? probably not, but the frame will last

But its one hell of a bike and has been the first bike to put such a big smile on my face since my mates 92 Kona Kiluea. It just felt so right

Oh and you get a free coffee with it too, so has to be alright!!!

Think that’s me sold

The cost of a drivetrain and bb won’t buy you a new bike – that’s just the shop trying to make an advanced sale :-). They’re consumables on any bike, but you typically get a lot of miles out of them on the road so they’re good value. Nothing wrong with upgrading your old one really, but if you’ve got the itch you’ll probably scratch it! Best investment is decent tyres, decent shorts and decent bar tape.

No it isn’t the shop trying to sell me a new bike – they are a touring specialist and quite clearly none of their bikes would be a suitable replacement for mine – I honestly think he was giving a true opinion and I can see his point – why spend £200 on replacement parts for a bike that cost me £200 ten years ago…

Well that’s a turn of events – I noticed a crack in the steerer tube when I was checking it over today and Specialized Concept Strore said I really shouldn’t ride it as it could snap at any moment. So no beating the flash guys on my old cheapo bike – I’m now riding on my brothers Giant Carbon expensive flash thing :-/

Anyway – I stayed with the split in the fast group despite riding a bike that was too big for me 🙂 Great fun.