[Closed] Money no object?

Some people just dont get it...?

You telling me that an alfa is the same as a kia,

TBH I thought the point being made was that a great bike is a great bike, regardless of whether it's made by Trek, Specialized, or a "boutique" brand such as Transition or Tomac and to believe anything else is swallowing the marketing of the whole "soul" and "passion" thing.

I don't think that the point being made was that all Kia's are as good as all Alfa's but if Kia made a car which was every bit as good as an Alfa, are you saying that someone would choose the Alfa because it's made with more "passion" ?

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£2,800 frame only. Seven Cycles Sola 29 S. Ti handmade in the USA

Heres mine, very simiar to the one above but

Cotic Hemlock - Cane Creek Double Barrel shock, Ti spring (all gold plated)
Fox Vanilla 36 RC2 FIT forks 1 1/8" steerer- custom Titanium spring (gold plated)
DT Swiss EXC400 (yes 400g, carbon, wide rims) built with Chris King Hubs (gold plated)
XTR - Cassette, shifters, derailleurs, chain (gold plated)
XTR cranks but with outer ring replaced with Saint M800 bash ring (gold plated)
Brakes - Formula R1 200mm front, 160mm rear (gold plated)
Thompson Stem and seatpost (gold plated)
Specialized Alias saddle (gold plated)
Oury lock on Grips (gold plated)
Wide low rise bars - TBC (gold plated)
Cane Creek headset (gold plated)
Shimano Deore(yes really)rear QR skewer (gold plated)

I'd be known as the 'king of bling' and Id probably spend loads of money on things like go kart race tracks in my back garden. I'd carry on where Michael Carroll left off and become the Daily Mails most hated man

Incidentally, I would suggest that Fiat and Kia are poor examples as the statement being made was that it was sad that people would be choosing "mainstream" bikes as their "money no object bikes".

Kia aren't exactly mainstream, and Alfa are owned by Fiat - one of the largest car companies in the world. Perhaps a better comparison would be Ford and Mercedes against Morgan or Bristol?

One of these
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Or these
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Start htting the options list hard - ( ti frame on the davinci etc) and you can get to over £10 000 on each of these

yeti guy
i currently ride a yeti asr sl with a nice spec cos it floats my boat in many ways however a trek 9.8 remains one of the most entertaining bikes i ever owned.
as you say you need to actually ride a bike to know.
dont reckon you have ridden that trek up there have you?

59 times the pain - Why didn't I think of that?

Am I allowed to change my request to as above but all platinum plated? 😉

Damn it, I'm late...

Tootin, do you mean like this one:

[img] http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=11c2bt&outx=800&quality=70 [/img]

Dunno what I'd have to be honest, without wanting to sound like a total cock I can pretty much have whatever I want for an MTB, maybe get some Innolite/Tune wheels for the Fuel.

So I'd probably say a Pinarello Prince with Di2 and some pimpy carbon wheels, FFWD F4R 190s or something.

Indy Fab.

[i]The difference of 'soul' you are talking about is really just branding, and you have bought it![/i]

SSSSH!!! He might start thinking his mac is just an expensive PC if you keep that up!!

For me I'd buy a crossbike like this.
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And a roadbike like this
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Ibis Mojo SL, surely? And a whole bunch of lessons to actually get the best out of it...

Incidentally, I would suggest that Fiat and Kia are poor examples as the statement being made was that it was sad that people would be choosing "mainstream" bikes as their "money no object bikes".

Totally agree - where's the originality in a load of Treks or Giants? If you're talking cars - that Seven is the Saleen S55 of the bike world.

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thread ruined 😆

If money were no object...
After visiting our council refuse yard at the weekend I'd start a charity, collecting old bikes, repairing as necessary & shipping to where they'd make a difference. I'm sure there are organisations out there doing this already, but another one wouldn't hurt. There were dozens, & I mean dozens, of perfectly serviceable looking bikes slung in a skip pending Xmas replacements. A shame they couldn't be put to use rather than melting down to make more cheap bikes.

And then I'd get an Ibis Tranny. 🙂

I don't really get the whole 'why would you buy a mainstream bike' argument. Ok, it's not exclusive, but who really cares? Is that just elite brand snobbery?

Having had a really nice bling Titus, and had a lot of problems with it, compounded by pretty disastrous customer service I would think long and hard before buying from a niche manufacturer.

With Spesh S-Works Stumpys/Epics costing £5500 it's not really a cost thing, you could build up a very nice Mojo or whatever for a fair bit less, so what is the relationship? Car analogies are redundant because of this, if people were saying an Apollo Letdown or whatever, then you could compare to a Kia/Fiat/Heaposhit, but when the mainstream bikes are often lighter, perform better and are better specced than something more 'rare' who cares?

And I'm not just saying that because I have a Trek 🙂

As an aside, for anyone who thinks Seven are a good idea, read Daftpunk's thread on Bike Magic!

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I think the analogy might work better if you said 'would you prefer an Audi or a Morgan?'

Having ridden a lot of boutique bikes, 9 times out of 10 I'd prefer a non boutique one, especially when it comes to suspension bikes.

ok, i seem to be on my own here .......

but so was the first guy that said the world was round!

wrong analogy re: cars, yada yada yada. Who cares?

The fantastic thing is we all have our opinions, and in mine, if i won the lottery i wouldnt buy a trek.! 😀

I don't get the "niche/boutique = better" argument either.
Going back a few years to when I first started working in a bike shop, Cannondale were still a fairly boutique brand trading heavily on their "Handmade in America" tag and a fair chunk more expensive than the other brands (Specialized, Trek, Kona, Ridgeback) that we sold.
Far and away the most problems with warranty, returns, failures etc was Cannondale, in fact we had more failures with them than all the other brands we sold put together.

I know that things have moved on but those early days put me off Cannondale for life, I would never ever buy one.

A lottery win would see me paying a visit to one of the Specialized Concept stores for one of these:

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But I'd custom build any MTB that I bought, I'd have to think about that one for a while.

The fantastic thing is we all have our opinions, and in mine, if i won the lottery i wouldnt buy a trek!

Good for you. What do you mean you seem to be on your own though, it seems there are tonnes of people who wouldn't buy a top end bike from a mainstream manufacturer, I'm just intrigued as to why. Is it the perceived exclusivity? Can't be quality related, as my experience and crazy-legs has told, that's a non-starter!

Similarly, I'd far sooner have an Audi R8 than a Koenigsegg, for example. Nothing to do with who they're made by, just what I think is the better car.

Money no object.

I would buy myself time. Not a Time. Just some time. And I'd ride what I have in places I'd never been to.

I might do a bit of test piloting ton/hora style, but on the whole it would be about the experince of riding in lots of places and without time pressure than it would be just owning stuff.

Though I would still have a C50 with Super Record. Obviously.

Strangely enough I shall be in the "fortunate position" you have posed early in the new year if the relevant people get their shit together...
What do I want? New brakes for the Dialled PA, new forks for the Cannondale,new tyres for everything (5 or them) and thats about it.....

Assuming you mean that money truly will be no object then that's even weirder than avoiding mainstream brands on principle.

How can you not have multiple sets of tyres anyway!?

Holy Shiz njee, that must have cost a bomb

Kent Eriksen with the AS-R rear.

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FS ti bikes... why?

They're usually heavier than the alu counterparts, not to mention more expensive. IMO a classic case of boutique not being better. Just get the ASR-SLc.

Tootin: £5500 retail, but I got it heavily subsidised, and sold my old one to cover it, and swapped a few bits so not very much at all! Need to put some ZTR Podium wheels on it and a few other changes, should see it at 20lbs with some summery tyres on it. It goes very very fast.

Mint Honda SP2 with twin Akrapovic's...oops wrong sort of two wheels!

Make mine a De Kerf Ti-Implant and a Santa Cruz Heckler with all the associated bling!

Mint Honda SP2 with twin Akrapovic's

RC30 surely?

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Ah Steve, you've got me now!

I can just hear Joey on the V4 coming down from the Creg....

Roll on June 2010.

I'd pay Mike@DB to make me a Titanium Alpine (or maybe to put it into production myself if I had THAT much).

I'd also have a full suss trail bike (Turner 5 spot?) but most importantly I'd move somewhere like this;

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I'd probably get a custom Thorn galaxy tourer, so that I can use it for ferrying the kids about and get my Inbred SS back.

and a Ventana Tandem
and a custom touring tandem
and a custom Ti HT
and a custom 953 HT
and a big bouncy bike including all body armour & big balls to go with it
and a spanky carbon road bike
and a spanky carbon tri bike

and some new forks for my dialled PA

but I probably wouldn't have time ride them all, so just my SS back would be nice

FS ti bikes... why?

...because you can! 🙂 I'd take that over the (lighter) SL-C any day.

All day rideability for an ageing back (FS) and welds and craftsmanship that just make me drool (Ti). "Money no-object" isn't just about ultimate performance.

I dunno. A bike is a tool and as such 'form follows function'. To me Ti just seems like the wrong material to make an FS bike. Hydroformed and cold forged aluminium FS bikes look and work way better.

I don't really get the point of boutique bikes these days. A few years ago you could only get good bits if you bought expensive American stuff. Now most of the best bikes come from the major few companies. I'd have a Spec or Trek over most of the more expensive boutique brands any day. All just my opinion obv...

If money was no object I'd just have more bikes.

jimmy - Member

I'd pay Mike@DB to make me a Titanium Alpine (or maybe to put it into production myself if I had THAT much).

I'd also have a full suss trail bike (Turner 5 spot?) but most importantly I'd move somewhere like this;

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I'd have one of these, don't ride DH but the engineering is ace

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That is seriously cool 8)

If money was no object, I'd buy each and every one of you all, the bike of your dreams.

Well it is Christmas innit 😀

That's very nice of you

Then I'd pay for a STW meet in Moab.

Except Ton.

Probably something like:
Ibis Mojo SL (with lopes link), though having less aluminium inserts than the standard mojo would get me worried. Maybe swap the shock for a PUSHed Fox RP23 High Volume
CK Aheadset
Salsa seat QR
A RS RVL Team (Blackbox) Air U-turn, 120-150mm and a Fox 36 Van RC2 FIT for alpine playing
Easton EC90 seatpost and a KS i950R seatpost
Specialized Rival Saddle or a Gobi if it were comfortable
CK Hollowtech BB (plus the grease tool)
Shimano XTR cranks/rings, shifters, F/R mechs, chain, casette
Those £676 Edge Carbon rims
CK Hubs or DT 190s (or 240s) if CKs can't be adapted for a 10mm rear DT RWS thru-bolt?
Some kind of tubeless kit
A set of pretty much every vaguely applicable tyre from every manufacturer
Magura Marta SL 210mm F/R and maybe a set of Avid Codes for Alps
Bontrager Race X Lite 17deg stem
Easton Monkeylite DH 711mm Carbon bar
ODI Rogue Grips
Shimano XTR SPD pedals

I had my money no object bike;
Brooklyn Machine Works Racelink, Avalanche Racing forks with custom carbon guards, Magura Gustavs, King Steelset, Thomson, LOTS of titanium, probably £6k ish.....

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..........then, bang, the bottom fell out of me & my wifes world, I sold the Brooklyn without having ridden it-but not because of financial reasons. A very sad moment packing into its new owners flight case to goto Norway. 🙁

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Im now back on my old Chameleon hackbike (shortly to be replaced by a Bluepig).

No more expensive bikes-there are other priorities in life.

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