Forum menu
I'm wondering what people would think of spending £1300 on a unicycle?
https://www.unicycle.uk.com/unicycle-parts/hubs-bearings/kris-holm-schlumpf-geared-unicycle-hub.html
...oops, you don't even get a complete unicycle for that!
Seems an awful lot of money to spend on a unicycle, but actually it's at a level most people can afford - I'm certainly no longer in the market for £9k bikes (if I ever was - though that's maybe down to bike inflation, my two most expensive were bought 10 and 20 years ago, and were close to the most expensive you could get at the time), but will probably get one of those at some point (for now I'm making do with an older model of that I paid £300 for, including the rest of the unicycle).
At risk of this descending to a dick swinging contest,
You know it's going to though 🙂
(FWIW your bike collection makes me fizz a bit. You can do it, why not!)
*chomps pizza toast*
*chomps burger toast*
*as it's all I can afford*
I work with quite a few folk that chuck 3-400 a month at a PCP car, another 7-800 in rent, and maybe 400 on nights out...And there ladies and gents we have a brand new £9k bike every year.
Sweet, so all we have to do is live in our parents shed, give up a social life and ride our £9k bike to work and back and we're even on the deal - very STW...
Don't let bitterness blind you, people spend money on the things they want to spend their money all, we're all just trying to be happy.
As with most expensive things I find it best to be ignorant of their cost, that way I never realise how stupid the people are that buy them.
That's just jealousy? If they can afford it, what's wrong with people spending that sort of money. What do you think is the reasonable limit/not stupid? £2K? £3K? Non bikers think £500 is ridiculous money on a bike. All relative isn't it....
There will always be pricks who want the best of everything. And a tiny handful of pro riders who need the best to earn their living.
For some people the bike may be the social life so they didn't even have to give up anything there.Sweet, so all we have to do is live in our parents shed, give up a social life and ride our £9k bike to work and back and we're even on the deal - very STW...
There will always be pricks who want the best of everything.
Looks like you've got the best chips.
On your shoulder.
[quote=wl ]There will always be pricks who want the best of everything.
...and pricks who resent other people spending their money however they want (despite an apparent lack of resentment at people spending similar sums in other ways).
There will always be pricks who want the best of everything. And a tiny handful of pro riders who need the best to earn their living.
Lol why does that make them pri*ks?
While I'm sure you are right for some of them, are you allowed to buy a £9K bike if you are not a pri*k? Again, sounds like jealousy.
£50k+ salary could justify a £9k bike
By that calculation I shouldn't be riding to work on a £400 Saracen. I get paid (I don't think I earn it) just about the national average but there's no way in a million years I could justify having even a £2k bike.
That said, if I was single, and lived my parents I'd probably have a £9k bike and a Range Rover to drive it to trail centres in.
Again, sounds like jealousy
Because I'm a prick, I'll point out that it's envy. jealousy is where you don't want other people to take what you have.
#simpsonsknowledge
Because I'm a prick, I'll point out that it's envy. jealousy is where you don't want other people to take what you have.
Actually, I think what we have now is paranoia :-). Neither of my posts quoted, or were aimed at you (tomhoward) in case you didn't notice.
I spent £4.5k on my last vehicle, and maybe £2.5k on my last new bike.
I'd never think to sneer at someone spending four times as much as me on their car, so why should it bother me with bikes?
[quote=tomhoward ]Because I'm a prick, I'll point out that it's envy. jealousy is where you don't want other people to take what you have.
Maybe wl already has a £9k bike and is worried about the riff-raff joining in?
As with most expensive things I find it best to be ignorant of their cost, that way I never realise how stupid the people are that buy them.
If they have worked out a way to afford expensive things then perhaps they aren't actually that stupid?
I get paid (I don't think I earn it) just about the national average but there's no way in a million years I could justify having even a £2k bike.
Yes there is, you just haven't worked it out yet.
Ha, to be fair, I have nice bikes. No jealousy (or envy). Perhaps I should have said pricks who want the most expensive of everything simply because it's expensive, not necessarily the best. Conspicuous consumers. Willy wagglers. Flashy bastards. It's less about the actual purchase and amount - more about the true motivation. The few people I know like this are generally pricks, and my friends and I tend to avoid them like the plague. Others may feel differently.
Look at how much we spend on a place to sleep in, watch garbage on the telly and burn some logs.
Now that's mental!
Yes there is, you just haven't worked it out yet.
Nah she'd have my balls, she's far smarter than me. Maybe when the mortgage is paid off. I'll probably need a full suss when I'm 70.
https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/11/03/guest-post-the-economic-sociology-of-triathlons/
Gads man! I love it when my prejudice (that triathletes are whoppers) comes true.
I suppose If you can't possibly lose anymore weight
Alternatively, buying a £9k bike means that yes, you can have that extra beer, or yes, take the last slice of pizza, because you have a bike which is just that tiny bit lighter or more aero.
Being fast and still being able to eat and drink what I want? That's got to be worth £9k.
Oh, I forgot about the folks that spend over a hundred a month on Sky as well....
Personally I wouldn't spend much on a bike else you'll always be stressed about scratching it - Bikes are for riding, not worrying about.
Once you have a half decent bike then unless you're pro level, then it counts for nothing. Back when I use to race I regularly beat old fat guys on 7k bikes, yet remember one time the whole field got our arses kicked by a guy in a yellow rain jacket and a £300 rigid bike with v brakes..
You're better off training and spending money on skills courses if you want to improve IMO..
one time the whole field got our arses kicked by a guy in a yellow rain jacket and a £300 rigid bike with v brakes..
Friend of mine used to do that.
He was a triathlete, funnily enough.
I once saw a triathlete on a sportive in an unzipped yellow jacket flapping in the wind. Whilst on the tri bars.
They love them yellow jackets alright.
OP: A lot of triathletes are time poor and cash rich. They'll blow wads on ways to knock a second off a time.*
*Or this was the given assumption when I worked in the trade. Triathletes were certainly targeted to buy the shinier end of the kit spectrum.
They love them yellow jackets alright.
To be fair, the guy who comprehensively beat me and the rest of the field wasn't wearing a normal cycling yellow jacket..
It was one of those fisherman style thick yellow raincoats!
That's more than all of my 5 bikes combined.
If I had unlimited disposable income I'd buy a 9k bike..
The justification that I don't need it is irrelevant.. I don't technically need anything more than a 1k bike given my skill/fitness level, yet I have bikes worth many times more than that.
How much of the stuff we take for granted now started on the top level bikes? How much trickle down tech would we be missing if companies didn't push the envelope on their most expensive bikes? Also most people wait till the year after and save three grand on the price.
£2k limit here, £3k if I had lots of money. I'd rather have a selection of £1 to £3k bikes that I could mess with and upgrade over time as opposed to a couple of really high priced ones.
Each to their own though and if somebody is happy to spend £9k fair play to them.
I wouldn't spend much on a bike else you'll always be stressed about scratching it - Bikes are for riding, not worrying about.
I've owned and still own a few "expensive" bikes and getting stressed about scratching them doesn't even register on my give a **** meter. Well apart from fork stanchions and shock shafts.
If I can afford it and want it it's got nothing to do with anyone else.
If I had unlimited disposable income I'd buy a 9k bike..
Don't set your sights that low. If you've got enough disposable income, 9k is scratching the surface 🙂
Ha, to be fair, I have nice bikes. No jealousy (or envy). Perhaps I should have said pricks who want the most expensive of everything simply because it's expensive, not necessarily the best. Conspicuous consumers. Willy wagglers. Flashy bastards. It's less about the actual purchase and amount - more about the true motivation. The few people I know like this are generally pricks, and my friends and I tend to avoid them like the plague. Others may feel differently.
I suspected that was what you were probably getting at, still a shame to tar all of them with the same brush though.
Lots of the guys I road bike with ride bikes around that money and some have much cheaper bikes. It's whatever they are happy with. I enjoy riding my cheap winter bike and expensive summer best best.
Although I do think that roadies spend more than MTBers on bikes.
Although it sounds (and is) a lot, the technology this is buying is at the pinnacle of development. Compare that with many other activities - cars for example. My road race bike is £4K, and to all intents, only a lighter groupset and wheels# away from being in the pro peleton - How much do you think you'd need to spend to get F1 advances in a car?
Bike technology is very accessible, and the trickle down effect makes it more so.
#I don't race electronic or Dura Ace, nor tubs.
Although I do think that roadies spend more than MTBers on bikes.
This. Heritage costs a lot, MTB brands haven't been around as long as roadie ones, to build it up.
This. Heritage costs a lot, MTB brands haven't been around as long as roadie ones, to build it up.
I dunno - there's some seriously expensive bikes out there: SC, Pivot, Niner etc. There are also brutally expensive bikes from the mainstream manufacturers.
In a lot of ways, there's a lot more bits on a FS MTB - front and rear shock, linkages, dropper seatposts etc. Also the groupsets have become way more exotic since the move to 1x (SRAM, I'm looking at your stupidly priced cassettes here). Even carbon wheels have become more common these days, especially in XC.
In fact, I think the only thing that has remained resolutely in the field of road would be electric shifting which hasn't really moved out of the "I get it for free from my sponsor" class of XC rider.
For all of these reasons, MTBs *should* be way more expensive than road bikes. For some bikes, they are, but these are the exception. I suspect some serious profit margins on the high end road bikes are involved here...
I'd buy a £9k bike only if I could afford to buy one for my cycling buddy too.
This. Heritage costs a lot,
Can you expand on this?
Pimpmaster Jazz - Member
OP: A lot of triathletes are time poor and cash rich. They'll blow wads on ways to knock a second off a time.**Or this was the given assumption when I worked in the trade. Triathletes were certainly targeted to buy the shinier end of the kit spectrum.
They're also REALLY serious, I mean, like way more serious than you. They RACE and are REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT IT! They want EVERYONE to know that they RACE and are REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT IT!
Especially when they come in to a shop the day before their REALLY IMPORTANT RACE and demand that everyone else's bikes get put to the back of the queue because the halfwitted dingbats don't know how to change a brake pad or something.