I’d love a really fancy bike, but I just can’t justify the price

This.   I was a very long way through the process of a new Road bike on the basis of “what I wanted” and it was that / the specification that defined the price.

Only the price became too big, and I realised that beyond the first few rides which would be polished with “new bike syndrome” I’m getting 95% of what I already have for 5000 times the cost.

I bought a new chain and cassette for my current machine instead this weekend, and will ride that until the carbon rims wear out.

For me it’s more about what I can justify than can afford.
I love my frame and would much rather buy nice bits to put on it than change to the new latest complete bike.
I also buy bits to make keeping riding easier/less stressful.
Probably (definitely) an inefficient way to get a good spec but feels less painful to spread it out. My “bike cost” spreadsheet is kinda scary and I wouldn’t have splashed all that in one go!

My attitude to money and spending have changed massively in the last 10-15 years.

It wasn’t so long ago I hated using cards, I used cash for everything and by cards I mean Debit Cards.

This evolved into using cards for everything, I’ve never got cash on me, about once a month I have to remember to take some cash out so I’ve got change for parking, but since a lot more of the places I need to park have contactless or apps, I don’t even do that so much now.

In the last 2-3 years, the link between money in the bank and spending power has been completely blurred. In IT (which I believe 90% of STWers work in) we have SaaS – software as a service which means instead of buying a computer, a server, a copy of Office or Adobe etc, most of our clients pay a monthly fee for most of it, even the desktop PCs are becoming more of a ‘service’ either because so much more processing is done remotely they don’t need anything other than the most basic ones, or they’re leasing them anyway.

My personal life has gone that way – I used to buy Cars with cash, but now it’s PCP and more of the things I used to buy, I now subscribe for.

I know a lot of people hate the idea of debt/tick/leasing or whatever, I was one of those people, but I’ve realised as I’ve reached my 40s, there’s little point swimming against the tide, you’ll just be left behind.

Anyway, bikes. What defines my new budget? What it’s going to cost me over 4 years via our company R2W scheme.

My current bike cost £3600 for a nice spec Bird, but I actually paid £50-£60 a month for it on our r2w scheme. All-told it’ll cost me about £2500 from memory, based on what people are asking for them s/h at the moment, it’ll be worth about £1500 next year when it’s done. It’s a lot of money, or not a lot of money really.

I suspect, in the years ahead, we’ll be buying a lot more stuff ‘as a service’ at the moment I think there’s a little bit too much liability on the sellers to offer it on products that aren’t things like cars, but that could change. My bike for example, if the R2W people were able to take a £1500 liability on it, then they could drive the cost down to about £25 a month. The first manufacturer who can do that, won’t be able to make them quick enough.

Assuming I can afford it then my next question is what value and enjoyment and is it worth that for me vs spending the money on weekends away etc..

This is especially true for me on N+1 (as is storage space;) )

In general I seem to find that “new” isn’t worth it for me. 2 weeks or 2 months later its not “new”. That said I bought 2 “new other” frames lately. (£285/£100)

What I can say is I already had £285 worth of fun and enjoyment on the new hardcore HT but thast said 2 of my last 2 used FS frames cost less and the most expensive £350.

I really wanted a 29er but value wise this lets me use and swap existing wheels… and I decided the “value” wasn’t there for me.

I don’t look at complete bikes much now, over the years I have refined my choice of frames and parts, it’s now come to the point where I know what fits and works for me.

I do really like looking at new shiny stuff though. 🙂

I generally work on what I can justify in my own mind, and there is always the concern of obsolescence with so many new standards coming through (though this seems to have slowed slightly recently as Boost is still the go to axle standard).

I’m impressed that most of the replies fly in the face of what the STW demographic is? So maybe the mag is purely aspirational 😬 Back to subject matter, I find I prevaricate about the smallest of purchases, I spent a rainy morning last week trying to find the best value brake pads! 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
I follow in my dad’s footsteps which is no bad thing I guess, though I’m not quite as bad. I remember being frustrated with him not spending money on himself when he was my age (64) said to him one day ” If you don’t spend it I will on things you won’t approve of!”
As it happens one thing I did spend it on he definitely would have approve of was riding in Monument Valley, he was a massive John Ford fan.
As for bikes the last one I bought was an Onza Jackpot for £700 complete brand new and I love it! I did sell my gravel bike before I bought it though. Most expensive has been my E Bike but with a trade in and some careful negotiations 🙄 that came in under £3K.

How much cash can I spare without altering life too much. This varies but peddling keeps me sane, takes me on adventures, fun days out and a good laugh with the people I do it with all priceless in my opinion. If I had £10000 spare I’d happily spend it on a bike.

Generally it’s no more than 1k for me on a hardtail. Even at that price I find I’m the limiting factor. Would feel stupid spending 4k on a gnarpoon bike and being a mincer 🤣

I’ve found it harder and harder over the years to justify expensive bike purchases.

When I was a student and then working in a shop and then in an ‘entry level’ graduate job I spend a significantly greater proportion of my income on cycling and new bikes in particular.

Now with 2 kids, mortgage, family holidays etc. to pay for I it’s way harder.

It’s lucky a spent a bit of £ on bikes previously as I’ve got something to build on an upgrade.

The last thing that caught my eye was a 2.5k Canyon Aeroad but my reasoning ended up being: even if I sell a bike or 2 for a very optimistic 1k I’m still over a grand short which is a nice holiday/family things/car bill/pension contribution/savings. A real terms minor upgrade is simply not worth it. I have the cash, I just don’t feel the trade off worth it given I will be no happier over the long run.

No I feel pretty good if I manage to get through a month without spending loads on bike consumables!

I rarely buy new; in the last 10 years, I’ve bought a Boardman Team HT new (about £850), an On One 45650b (£1150), On One Pickenflick (£1299 – and that was a special, 50th present to myself, and part-funded by the sale of another bike).

All my other bikes have been second hand, or put together using a mix of used frames and new/used gear. The cheapest such bike was put together for about £180; the most expensive probably £1200 (including a fork service & shaft upgrade).

My ‘limit’ in terms of what I feel is an acceptable/reasonable amount to spend has crept up over the years, from eg £450 for a new Carrera Kraken (my first ‘proper’ MTB 15 years ago) to around £1200-1500 now.

I’ve never had the means to even consider spending multi £000’s on a bike, so it’s never been an option.

Would love something like a Transition Spur, but it would have to be a proper windfall that would allow me to spend that much on a bike.

Depends on how much I can get saved up, last mountain bike (2019) was £2,400. It replaced trigger’s broom, it started as a £1,000 hardtail in 2002 and went through 4 different frames and 3 different forks. I’m gambling on standards not changing too much and Trigger II will see least see a decade. Once I’ve covered my living costs everything else is fun funds. That said I’ve also had times over the years where I’ve not ridden the mountain bike as I couldn’t afford to repair or replace parts.

My full suss is 6.5 years old. Bought new. Changed forks and gone 12 speed. As a family we agree it has to last ten years before I can spend megabucks again but all in its cost £3500 not including tyres/pads etc.

On the other hand I’ve saved hard for a Merida big trail 600, just sold my voodoo bizango which had a £1k spent on it all in to get it to a better spec (including bike).

Waiting for my new hard tail which arrives mid Dec.

Kidding myself and wife when claiming I’m not spending on bikes by not buying a new full suss for a few more years….

i read a few posts, they are all good advice. personally, i’m still into replacing parts then when i begin to find fault with me frame i change that. i usually have the bike i want to ride and get to spread the cost of buying a new one over 4 years, or so.

to answer your question in another way, but an aluminum giant. good price and well made.

if you want that plasticky occam there is now a waiting list till april 2021, i ordered mine in August got it a few weeks ago, fantastic bike, the fox36 upgrade at £160 was a no brainer,

first ride meh, second ride fit like a glove,

in terms of price, i priced up my old bike for an insurance claim it came in £3k over the occam price, as did the same spec tallboy, hence the occam was easy to justify.

no kids, reasonable mortgage, no finance on car, hence live once may as well enjoy it.

liamhutch89
Free Member

A top shelf bike will bring no more joy than one that just gets the job done adequately – as long as you stop comparing to others and stop reading about bike reviews.

Some people just like nice things. I’m not that fussed, but I can understand why it gives people pleasure to have a really top end bike.

(I take a fair amount of pleasure from riding my bike from an outdoor supermarket… But then, I never admit that I spent as much on the wheels and tyres as I did on the whole bike. I just like that feeling of getting all the same value from a smaller spend. But, that’s only a fairly small step away from getting that orange Foes I wanted and taking pleasure from that)

fox36 upgrade at £160 was a no brainer,

Tell me more. That’s one of the things I’m flummoxed on. Keep wanting to buy the 36s, but then wonder why given that I’m into long rides rather than winch & plummet

If you dont spend money on anything else, I dont see the problem in getting whatever you want if you can afford it.

I’m not sure what else i’d do with my money if I didnt buy shiny bike crap.

Im using a redistribution of assets to pay for my next bike.

Spend years buying bits and pieces, which for me was more an emotional crutch rather than stuff actually needed.
So I’ve looked about the house and everything spare is on ebay. In all I’ve made about 2.5K thus far, mostly from my Hope collection.
The more I can glean from the spares the less comes out my savings.

Insurance payout.

I’ll happily spend what it takes to have a bike in 100% happy with. As in there is nothing on it which makes me think id be going faster or having more fun if I had something different. Way i see it, If I’m going to spend a fair chunk of my time doing something, I may as well be doing it on kit without any compromises.

That doesn’t mean it’s the best of everything however, as when you get to the higher end kit I don’t really see any compromise between say ultegra and duraace. I certainly wouldnt notice the difference between the 2, same goes for the 1k carbon wheelset I have vs a pair of 3 grand enve.

If I rode a bit of kit that made me think ‘wow, this is appreciably better than what I had’ it probably buy it, regardless of the cost.

All that said, it also depends on the purpose of the bike. My gravel bike is used for pooling around country lanes. It cost less than a grand and has tiagra. It’s perfect for what I use it for, and having better gears, being lighter etc would make no difference to my enjoyment of it..

I couldn’t say the same about a 1k road bike.

Yep, this is pretty much exactly my philosophy with bikes. Start with what I fancy doing aka what sort of bike I want next, then keep an eye open for a suitably equipped bike at a good price – helps of course that I generally don’t need the next bike.

That said I do aim to ensure that each ‘best’ bike costs more than my last car (current base £2400), usually keeping them for a few years and souping them up a bit too. Case in point being I decided that it really was about time to give full XTR a go – XCMTB being the peak of cycling for me – so my 4 year old Highball has been treated this year. (Still picked up a barely used cassette on ebay for £80 of course – you seen the price of them new!?).

Start off with a bike I like within a budget of say, £1k

See another, better bike for £100 more

See another, better bike for £100 more

See another, better bike for £100 more

See another, better bike for £100 more

Try to buy a bike before I get to £2k

I think @liamhutch89 has hit the nail on the head – you’re using retail therapy to make up for a dissatisfying job. However you don’t feel you deserve a new bike/stuff; I’ve been here and know how much it sucks.

What you need to consider is the value of the bike, not the price – the price is irrelevant if it brings you comfort and acts as therapy to stop you falling towards depression.

Sorry if this got a bit dark!
My approach is to see what bikes I like & are suitable, then which of those are available as frames before discounting anything that I don’t perceive as good VfM. The reason I look at frames is that I’m happy with 1×10, want the shiny suspension of the top end stuff and don’t always like how full builds are spec’d.

My current bike (Chromag Rootdown) was about £2300 when I bought it in 2015…but it was the insurance company’s money not mine and it was 2 stolen bikes being replaced by 1.

Not sure I could justify more than £3500 on a full suspension bike.

My level is pretty much “Deore/SLX with quite good suspension on an aluminium frame”.

I paid £750 for my gravel bike but I think the RRP on last year’s model was $1300 in the US. Not sure i could justify more than £1000 on a Gravel bike.

I could definitely afford more but I just can’t justify it to myself.

The last 3 potential purchases have gone as follows.
Spec what the perfect (within reason) build looks like and price it.
Decide if I can really justify that amount of money.
If yes, proceed to next step, if no change spec and work out if it’s a compromise I’m prepared to take.
Faff around with specs for a while.
Decide if I can really afford it.
If no, back we go, if yes proceed to next step.
Look at numbers on a spreadsheet and decide I can buy arguably the fastest running shoes in the world for under 1/10 of the price and buy them instead.

Hence I know own 2 pair of super fast Nike’s and no new bikes.

Just built up a bike for £700 (based on a used £200 frame). Rigid single speed but I still bought lower end components, built up wheels myself etc,. to keep cost low.
Don’t know why as I could easily afford to spend more but have a block on spending any more for some reason. Funny thing is I will replace the lower end stuff with higher end stuff over the next year and end up with a bike that has cost more but I won’t notice it as much! All issues in my head…

I dont have kids, I dont drink alcohol or smoke but cycling is my true passion and therefore there’s no real price tag on it. I generally pay using either a 0% credit card or 0% finance so it’s what I can afford to come out of my wages each month. I dont relate it to things like ‘you could have bought a car for that’ because driving a car isn’t my passion. The last full suspension I kept for 6 years before replacing a year ago and if you costed up all the parts it was probably around £7k. Always buy frame only as I like to spec them up myself. Take my bike all over the UK and trying to do one bike holiday a year so my gear has to be up to the challenge and I like pesky things like lifetime warranty on bearings and customer service and warranty that will still be there 4 years later. Similarly there’s people out there who couldn’t fathom spending £800 on a mobile phone or £500 on the latest playstation, we each have what drives us and for me it comes on two wheels and there’s no price tag on what makes me happy IMO.

My current bike might be described as “premium budget” Bird, Mattoc, Deore. My previous bike was high end, XTR, BOS, Crossmax. I actually prefer having the cheaper bike as it works as well but costs half as much to keep running.

I could currently afford a more expensive bike (as in I have the cash) but I struggle to justify it as I still have a mortgage and would like to retire before 67(still a long way off). The only thing that really made me buy the bird was my previous bike was outdated geometry and a got a bit of a bargain.

I’d really struggle to spend “a lot” on a new bike, simply because there are so many other things I could/should be spending the money on right now.

Hence all my bikes (I have three) are second-hand frankenbikes. I think the most significant new part I have is my hardtail’s frame which was around 200 quid in the sale from CRC. The entire bike built up for about 700-800 over time, and that’s my most expensive bike.

But really, I’m not sure it’d make much odds if I spent a lot more. I currently ride the hardtail all the time, and it has a Yari, a 150mm dropper, SLX brakes, and a mixture of Deore/SLX/XT drivetrain. It’s absolutely worth it’s weight in gold, especially at the moment, in terms of mental and physical health benefits; but were it twice as well-specced I don’t think it’d be commensurately better. I’d still ride the same stuff and have the same amount of fun.

I’ve just spent (well November) the most I’ve ever spent on a bike – a YT Izzo at £3600, in anybody’s language it’s a chunk of change.

It’s not arrived yet (thanks Brexit) but it will easily last 3-4 years based on my last FS, which amortises to under £100/month. Worth it to me.

Pretty much a case of: Do I like it? Can I afford it? I’m fortunate enough financially (or I’ve worked hard to get a job that pays well) so I can do the above.

I also lucky that I ride for a shop that sells a lot of brands, so I tend to buy what I want & usually bump it around 12/18 months & get into something else similar for little or no outlay.

It may mildly backfire at the moment with a total lack of availability though. I’ve just ordered my replacement eeb so I don’t get caught out – not due until December!

Always old bikes. Newest bike I’ve bought in 21 years has been a shop demo.

Nowadays, blag, beg, sell spares box items to buy bits to keep what I need offroadworthy

Me, and how much I can justify spending. Always with an eye to getting the best deal possible.

My Jeffsy (CF Pro race) was bought in a £1000 off sale and with a 10% off voucher, so rather than £4800 it was £3420.

I’m single, make decent money, don’t drink or smoke, so have a decent chunk of money left over each month – MTB is my only real hobby expense after gadget (PS5, nice headphones that last 5-7 years etc), and I don’t do normal holidays, all mine over the last 10 years have been ‘activity’ holidays – ie windsurfing to egypt, motorbike touring in Germany and the alps, or recently MTB holidays. It’s also keeping me fit and active as I approach 40, and gets me seeing parts of the UK that I’d never go to otherwise. So IMO the justification is completely worth it. They’re more than just ‘bikes’.

My next bike will be around £4100 after selling my gravel bike, so I’ll have about £7500 worth in 2 bikes soon.