Would you expect it to give you something back other than pride of ownership?

I'd cheerfully (If I had it ) drop a large amount of cash on a top end road bike (would be a custom build though). I would expect it to be everything that I wanted but I wouldn't expect it to make me better, faster or stronger.

In fact my reason for training this year came form a similar sort of feeling to you oldgit.
This year I'm going to train properly and enter races (may even get a BC licence!) just to see if I can actually get to a point where I can justify what I have (which is a couple of nice frames and some mid range kit hanging on them).

Hah! That's exactly the reason I haven't splurged the cash on a Yeti ARC X build. I feel the only way I could justify owning it would be to actually compete with it.

Duc
If this season goes well I'll re invest. Now with a local cross league to keep me racing right up to winter I'm hoping it will. Though the only thing I really want is some high end shoes.

For me a large part of my interest in bikes is a real love of the engineering, there really isnt anything made by humans as elegant as a top end road bike. For the last 15 years or so I've scrimped and saved and had a series of pro level and team issue bikes, and despite me being a bit s**t, have been fast enough, at least on training runs, to kind of get away with it..
The last year or so though work has made me as unfit as I've ever been, and I kind of feel really embarrassed to take my current 812 gram framed bike out in public, lest I bump into some of the folk i used to train with.
MTBs? I'm not too bothered, as my bikes a bit retro, and MTBers are all fat and lazy (like me, now) 😳

oldgit – Member
Duc
If this season goes well I'll re invest. Now with a local cross league to keep me racing right up to winter I'm hoping it will. Though the only thing I really want is some high end shoes

??

"Cross" is also on the cards for later this year !
Having owned a cross bike for a year and not got it muddy yet. It is however the least shiny of all with an odd mix of Sora, Deore and other 8 speed bits on it so I feel less guilty about not using it (now that is the eact opposite isn't it!)

I feel guilty about the shiny ones because I'm not good enough for them and not guilty about the one with the shagged groupset.

Sod it I'll just have to ride a single speed !
😆

I was waiting for that. Thursday night Tranny night then?

Top end road bikes are indeed far prettier than top end mountain bikes – thats partly why I can:
a) never considere buying and off the peg high end mountain bike – I just can't find one I like

b) can mentally reconcile a road bike costing something starting with a 5 (storck, calfee etc etc)

Cross racing isn't that precious, I only noticed the guy that lapped me had 7 speed sora when we chatted afterwards.

Shoes wise – Rocket 7 without a shadow of a doubt – the disco slipper equivalent of a Colnago Master

Shoes worth more than the bike is weird concept.

It's not just about speed and 'beating' people. I regard my built-up bikes as art forms and on occasions I can really enjoy riding them at almost walking speed. It's about being an mtb flaneur rather than resolving some deepfelt insecurity by comparing yourself to someone else. I see a well built and well fitted bike as being like an extension to your body with which you can go out and explore wonderful places and challenges, I couldn't give a flying f about what anyone else is doing or owning.

Beddy byes time now long ride in the am night night.

I don't really have that problem 🙂

But to be fair to see them in the flesh you can actually see the difference between them and other shoes. There is just nothing on them that is not functional and what is there is engineered to do what it needs and no more.

I don't own a pair though, they are my "guilty pleasure if I ever manage to a decent level (2 Cat) road racing

Everyone loves a laugh at a shit rider on a high end bike, but who cares. There will always be someone faster than you on a shitter bike.

What makes me LOL is folk who come out with "I only ride Chris King components" etc.

Say for example you had a nice road bike but decided to buy something right at the top end of the scale. Would you expect it to give you something back other than pride of ownership? And if then you honestly thought it was no better than the bike it replaced would your feelings toward the bike go sour?

Isn't that what test rides are for?

Just enjoy the ownership oldgit, and post some pics

Say for example you had a nice road bike but decided to buy something right at the top end of the scale. Would you expect it to give you something back other than pride of ownership? And if then you honestly thought it was no better than the bike it replaced would your feelings toward the bike go sour?

Nope. You've worked hard and made your choice. A bike is (IMO) an emotional purchase, like some would see a car or gadget (we frequently buy things that are specified way beyond our needs). Its partly the performance aspect and partly the enjoyment and thrill of using and owning something which means more to us than a bunch of metal tubes welded together. Many of us (me included) are still just boys who love kit. It's part of the enjoyment of having a hobby.

cynic-al – Member

Everyone loves a laugh at a shit rider on a high end bike

Can you tell everyone when you're next riding so they can all have a laugh?

😉

Too many snobs, inverted snobs, gear freaks and f*cked-up oddballs with points to prove. Just ride whatever you enjoy riding the most, assuming you can afford it.

Too many snobs, inverted snobs, gear freaks and f*cked-up oddballs with points to prove

is anyone else left ?

Oldgit I hear you but WHO CARES (not aimed at you).

People drive very fancy cars and probably dont have half the understanding of the cars full capabilities. We dont castigate them- we admire or envy them.

Same with bikes, why not? As long as you can physically feel the difference from a £1k bike to a 4k bike then IMO you are getting value for your money. Its your hard earned cash thats been spent- no one elses. 😀

Can you tell everyone when you're next riding so they can all have a laugh?

CBA with false modesty, I'm an OK rider on OK bikes…

We dont castigate them- we admire or envy them.

I do – I'd never admire or envy some for having a car!

As long as you can physically feel the difference from a £1k bike to a 4k bike then IMO you are getting value for your money

I can't and £300 is about my level 🙂

Its your hard earned cash

wrong again – my job is dead easy and they pay too much :o)

Spent a short time looking at some high end frames and TBH it's either because there's so much good stuff out there or because it all 'looks' the same nothing is taking my fancy.
Hate to say it but for ride quality I like the Madones and new generation Giants.

That point about test rides doesn't really cut it for me. If you could keep a test road bike for a week and be allowed to tweek bits here and there then maybe I could get a feel for it, but to take it for a ride from the shop and expecting it to be bob on for you is a big ask.
I rather sadly keep a diary full of comments and measurements of bikes, frames and kit that I've used to work out what will fit and work for me.

SFB, you tight northern overpaid and underworked git. 😉

I have 5 bikes with a new one on the way soon. They are a mix of road and mtb bikes with a total value of about £18k. They all exceed my level of fitness and ability but I enjoy owning them and I appreciate the design and engineering gone into building them.

I don't care what other people think because I have the pleasure of riding and owning them and more importantly I can afford them!

I agree what a previous poster said and it's all about someones attitude, people who lack the ability acting like they are a top level pro, idiots!

after reading so many views it seems there is no right answer.we,re all entitled to do what we like as long as it doesnt affect anyone else .we all have hates but thats human,mine personally is not about value but the silly f*ckers on single speed "look at me i,m purist and can do it" yeah right mate we can all f*cking do it we just dont want too!!!see my point?

SFB, you tight northern overpaid and underworked git.

"northern" is funny as I'm from South Wales and have a BBC type accent! "Aspiring northerner" might be nearer to the truth 🙂 And it's not so much tightness as that I believe in democratisation of the pastime, so riding a bike that most could afford seems appropriate, particularly as I have just as much fun on it as an overpriced bling-object-of-desire 🙂

yeah right mate we can all f*cking do it we just dont want too!!!

What is it that you "can do" but "don't want to"?

as long as you're riding the bike not leaving it to gather dust then that's what counts. If nobody bought top-end kit the tech would never filter down to lower-end models, had a fiesta hire car at the w/e with cruise control ffs, who had thought that 20 years ago.