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So anyway, I have spend not a small amount of money recently in building up a Santa Cruz as the object of my desire and I have had increasing amounts of frustration in getting everything to work just right. Aside from listing the various issues it struck me that my old Raleigh Lizzard never seemed to have these difficulties. OK it was never going to win the lightest bike of the century, but that said it never broke! So, why do we seek perfection and ultimately end up in being disappointed? Do we think that cost equals quality? Why can I not be happy riding a bog standard bike and not worry about brands or uniformity? Fundamentally I have decided that the greater the expenditure, the greater the inevitable disappointment when eventually it goes wrong! That said I very much doubt I will be able to live by this as I find great l delight in all things bike related.
So, is it worth it? Have you found high end product/s to be justifiably good value, or should we all be riding Halford's specials?
"So, why do we seek perfection and ultimately end up in being disappointed?"
None of my bikes have been disappointing. Even the ones that I didn't keep brought something interesting. Getting things to work just right just doesn't seem to be a problem tbh. Good parts choice and good spannering seems to be all it takes.
I think you have an element of it in individual ability. Still the principle applies to many things. Whilst I am very happy with my current bike, it seems to be a challenge to get it set up and running without any foibles. A bit like buying a TVR, great fun but bring some superglue!
Law of diminishing returns. We're all on the same curve. Decide what part of the curve you can afford to be on.
Time is also a factor as well as branding. For example 10 years ago XT kit was beyond my price range, however today it is not. Before I made do with whatever I could get hold of and was perfectly happy. Now I have XT and seem to have had real difficulty in getting my drive train to work. It seems that the more high end products have greater intolerances to subtle differences. Chains; HG93 link pins as a case in point...
I am happy with what i have built and the value of it is great. Sram helps!
It's not that I'm not happy with what I have got, more that it seems increasingly difficult to get everything right, and especially long term. Maybe it's just me who has a black cloud over my head !?! 🙂