Do people enjoy their expensive bikes more than their cheap ones?
- Thread starter User46386
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mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Well something must be powering the Reality Distortion Field that keeps people not needing the marginal aerodynamic gains dressing up like shrink-wrapped oven-ready chickens, mustn't it?
derrick
The Glue that binds us together.
- Location
- On the edge of London
I will be riding my R5 to Paris and back over the next three days. I will be wearing a grin from ear to ear.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
It is now 15 months later and I have ridden nearly 1,600 miles on that singlespeed bike, including several metric and imperial centuries plus one double metric century! I never thought that I would get such a good return on that small investment.
I use the bike a lot for nipping down to my local shops. I don't have any concern at all about leaving it outside supermarkets while I spend 15 minutes inside. I use a very heavy duty u-lock which would probably take at least a minute to cut off even with the right tools. I think that a thief professional enough to carry such tools would know that such a cheap bike was not worth the risk of spending 60+ seconds attacking the lock in a very public place. I would be annoyed if the bike DID get stolen, but it has already paid for itself many times over. So ... for this application I enjoy the bike MORE than my more expensive bikes. I rode my best bike to the shops one night when I only noticed that the singlespeed had a flat tyre just before setting off. I felt nervous the whole time I was in the shop.
Oh, and the other thing I prefer the cheap bike for is short rides up and down the flattish valley A-roads. I only do those when I am in a hurry so want to just get a quick ride in, or when poor weather 'on the tops' keeps me in the valleys. The rides are a bit boring on my best bike. At least on the singlespeed bike I have to make a bit more effort.
If something happens to that bike, I will build another one like it.
Milzy
Guru
LOL
I have an entry level specialized dolce with a mostly claris groupset, and is kitted out with panniers and mudguards, and I have a mid-range semi-custom carbon with full 105 groupset (Sublime Zoku). Hands down, the Sublime is way more fun to ride. It's more responsive, faster, and is just more fun. That's not to say the dolce isn't a nice ride, just a bit more... dull.
Crankarm
Guru
- Location
- Nr Cambridge
Some are only concerned with the price of everything and fail to see the value. Possessions become status symbols.
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Reynard
Guru
- Location
- Cambridgeshire, UK
When you're my height, there's a lot less choice. 
It's all about actually finding a bike that fits and that isn't a BSO with components made of cheese...
Having said that, I love my Wiggins Rouen - currently my only bike.
It's all about actually finding a bike that fits and that isn't a BSO with components made of cheese...Having said that, I love my Wiggins Rouen - currently my only bike.
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
Status symbols are for people who seek peer approval/admiration in their purchase choices. Groups of weekend warriors all riding very similar and very costly bikes in obligatory near-identical MAMIL outfits seem badly afflicted by this phenomena. The machines and outfits both combine to send out the "I'm a proper serious cyclist, not one of you peasants who rides old steel wearing jeans" message.
Value has got bugger all to do with the financial worth of an object on the market, but everything to do with how useful it is and how well it performs whatever task it was acquired for. The price is only relevant in relation to how much bang for your buck you get, not in absolute numbers.
- Location
- London
I do hope you don't spend much time in Italy skipdiver - the home of such stuff. A do wear lycra myself but it's clear to me that a lot of those Italian blokes would consider it a shame to turn out of a weekend in plain black lycra bottoms - shorts or longs - they just have to have a brand across their rear.
Is that the message they send out or is that the message you perceive?
Tenacious Sloth
Guru
- Location
- Huntingdon, UK
I see these kind of comments on the Forum regularly, but don’t think I’ve ever experienced such behaviour.
Graham.
- Location
- London
A mixture I guess Tim. It is undoubtedly true that a fair few folk are somewhat "brand conscious". Fifty plus years of expertise have been devoted to it.
- Location
- London
People might not verbalise it. For that would blow their cool.
