Save for your dream bike, or buy cheaper bikes often?

Building up a parts bin special for my nephew made me realise that I would have been more than happy with the result myself little more than ten years made me stop and think…

I tend to work out what about the dream bike makes it dreamy, then buy something from a year or two ago that has the same features…….. usually saves me a fortune.

I think there is an issue with changing standards too, whilst you may still love riding the bike you have, they are just bikes at the end of the day, if you had bought a £6000.00 26″ wheeled bike 3 years ago, it is now a lot less desirable purely because of fashions in the industry. It is a lot of money to invest for something that may depreciate so fast, that is fine if it truly is going to be used for the next 10 years, but i tend to find that those that pay top-end for bikes, are often also the ones that follow fashions most closely.

I tend to like to have a mix of bikes instead of one really expensive one, i’ve a Salsa Beargrease fat bike which is built all with Hope parts and the like, but all second hand and is ace for the great beaches near me, that then has 29+ wheels for something different, i’ve a Stooge 29er SS, a Salsa Fargo for bikepacking trips, a SS CX bike for winter road riding and escaping down bridleways when mood takes me and a road bike, so every base covered and all were built using second hand frames and most parts except for the grinduro CX bike.

It means i can ride a different bike depending on mood, where i want to ride and who i am riding with, i find that more fun than one “super- bike” where i will cry a little inside each time the paint scratched!

cheaper bikes often

This as I don’t like to have anything that I can’t replace immediately if I break it. So for me, it’s a mix of 2nd hand bits, along with some good quality new consumable parts. It all works fine and I don’t fret about getting it scuffed up.

I recently built up my ‘dream bike’ a carbon knolly warden, pretty well kitted out (saint, hope, fox x2 shock etc)
It was then stolen, and I bought a reduced Trek Fuel Ex 7, still a nice bike but no where near as expensive…… and I’m finding its quicker almost everywhere and the cheaper brakes/gears/wheels etc all seem to work as well as the expensive stuff I had before. (I do still lust after expensive bikes though!)

Lets play numberwang!

1 bike per year at 1.5k
Resale value of £700
net loss over five years = 4k

1 expensive bike every 2.5 years at 5k
Resale value of 2.5k *
Net loss over 5 years = 5k

So, not much in it financially over a 5 year period.

*May not be an accurate figure, but you get the idea

the way I look at it, I like mountain biking i.e. the activity. The bike is the tool that allows me to do that. I like a nice bit of kit as much as the next guy, but for me owning a dream bike (Yeti 5.5C for me) would hamper my mountain biking as I’d be too worried damaging the bike. I’d much rather have a cheaper bike that I’m not going to cry over every time I pick up a new scratch, paint chip or worry about if I do drop the bike. I’ve upgraded componentry but basically my philosophy is don’t ride anything you can’t afford to break and replace.

So, not much in it financially over a 5 year period.

Except i’ve only sold 2 bikes (i think) in the last 15 years……..

yak & mcnulty kind of +1. cheaper bikes, sold not very often

I was riding a Deore equipped Ariel for a few years. Deore is so good now that I really didn’t feel it was much of a compromise; the main difference was the weight in that timeframe. I should add that I have had a few XT and XTR equipped bikes too.

That said, I would spend cash on good wheels, assuming you can move them onto new frames.

Hate changing bikes, like to find a bike that ticks all my boxes and stick with it for as long as the standards allow. I spent £1950 on an aluminium Turner frame back in 2000 and only retired it in 2015 so I think I got my monies worth.
Currently got two perfect 26″ bikes and enough decent tyres and rims to see me through the next 5 years hopefully.
I know what I like riding, and what bikes suit me. Don’t like the current trend for longer (slacker and lower I’ve got covered already), nor for bigger wheels – it doesn’t suit where or how I ride so no urge to change.
I also don’t really like the disposable approach to buying stuff but these days I’m pragmatic enough to realise that it’s a drop in the ocean really.

I know what I like riding, and what bikes suit me. Don’t like the current trend for longer (slacker and lower I’ve got covered already), nor for bigger wheels – it doesn’t suit where or how I ride so no urge to change.

So where’s that exactly? sounds like a bmx track to me 😉

I know what I like riding, and what bikes suit me.

It takes a long time to get used to a new bike and get the best out of it. So whilst you might be happy with your current bikes, this is great – I doubt that you would be unhappy with a more modern one if you had to ride one.

I like holding onto my kit – And so when I purchase a dream frameset – which I hope will be a rigid custom steel – I’ll be more than happy to hold onto it forever – keeping up with the latest standards in axles and diameters etc doesn’t interest me in the slightest . But if i knew i was someone who always craved a change in kit I wouldn’t bother building a dream bike ..

My current bike (bizango) will be my dream bike by the time i’ve finished upgrading every single piece of it, just the frame (stanton sherpa probably), fork (still deciding) and drivetrain to go. oh and brakes.

In the meantime i’ll keep riding it as it is – perfectly fine for everything I do, but I have a “posh” steel frame itch, and it just seems wrong to build something like that up with entry-level suntour kit.

But then the plan is to keep that bike forever, and spend my cash on riding it in amazing places.

I had a dream bike but it became obsolete after about 5 years – well not obsolete but changing standards etc. I was saving for a Solaris 29er but by the time I’d got to 2.5k I just couldn’t pull the trigger as I knew I’d want something else in a year or so. Ended up with an older model Bianchi 27.5, carbon frame, XT etc for £1200 Stuck on some old XTR brakes and upgraded the wheels to Hope. Enjoying it immensely along with the Nintendo and new lawn mower I bought at the same time with the money I saved.

Cheaper bikes, not that often – I don’t really believe the hype around a lot of wonderbikes (it kind of applies to expensive niche HT’s too).

Also I don’t want to be too worried about binning it. And things change – look at the 26er wonderbikes from 5 or so years ago.

So something I can chuck at rocks with gay abandon and not cry too much at – until I’m flush enough that a wonderbike doesn’t require saving up I’ll steer clear.

Number Wang doesn’t work if you batter it off a rock (of which there are many on MTB trail) and stick a ding in it …… Now it’s only worth 75pence

1 bike per year at 1.5k
Resale value of £700
net loss over five years = 4k

1 expensive bike every 2.5 years at 5k
Resale value of 2.5k *
Net loss over 5 years = 5k

So, not much in it financially over a 5 year period.

I’d argue this doesn’t take into account consumables and servicing.

The 1 year old bike likely will have the same drivetrain and not have needed a suspension service. However the same could’nt be said for the 2.5 year old bike.

And it’s more like buy at £1.5k, sell at £1k IME

And it’s more like buy at £1.5k, sell at £1k IME

This. I’m not seeing many 1-year old £1.5k full-suss bikes for sale for £700, unfortunately!

same predicament, although i’ve just bought my dream bike frame, got 25% off for last years colour, got all the bits and I just have the wheels to buy, do i go SC Reserve carbon £££s, 6th_element ££s or some bog standard Hope pro4 £s.

carbon are lifetime guarantee, but is my skill upto such wheels, will i be judged on my wheel choice, ‘that blokes got more money than sense (and skill)’,
cant decide what to do, i could buy another bike with the change.

Do you really dream about a bike, or are you really dreaming about the cycling you will do?
Something better will be available as soon as you buy a “dream” bike, so I’d say spend your money on whatever gives you the best cycling value.

do i go SC Reserve carbon £££s, 6th_element ££s or some bog standard Hope pro4 £s.

carbon are lifetime guarantee, but is my skill upto such wheels, will i be judged on my wheel choice, ‘that blokes got more money than sense (and skill)’,
cant decide what to do, i could buy another bike with the change.

Handbuilt DT Swiss alu rims on your hubs of choice, XM481 or EX471 on Hope Pro 4s can be had under £500.

thanks @chakaping i’ll check them out.

This. I’m not seeing many 1-year old £1.5k full-suss bikes for sale for £700, unfortunately!

Well than the same could be said for the expensive bike then. They were only rough geustimate figures but I think expensive bikes hold their value better than cheap ones.

Not necessarily always the case – some ‘new’ versions have lower spec equipment, in order to keep within a certain price band (in the face of inflation)

But my ‘dream bike’ wouldn’t have any compromises as its a ‘cost no barrier’ option

The issue I see is that if I bought a 6 k bike with aim of having it for say six years, instead of 3 new bikes every 2 years costing 2 k each, by the time the 6th year came round I’d be riding a really outdated bike that would probably be worse than the newer 2 k bike I could have been riding

ie A 2011 top of the range Carbon Spesh Enduro (my dream bike at the time) would probably be not as good as the 2k trance I’m currently riding that I bought last year.

They were only rough geustimate figures but I think expensive bikes hold their value better than cheap ones.

Some do (orange and santa cruz spring to mind), others not so much (carbon bikes from Spesh, Trek & Giant).

Dream bike:

too much number crunching and the “dream” is over.

But my ‘dream bike’ wouldn’t have any compromises as its a ‘cost no barrier’ option

Even a 6K bike is subject to inflation

But my ‘dream bike’ wouldn’t have any compromises as its a ‘cost no barrier’ option

Even a 6K bike is subject to inflation

I’m more mid range and change every couple of years. I’ve no desire for a single dream bike.