RANT

[harry dunn]

Am I loosing my grip on reality or what?
Just got this weeks CYCLING WEEKLY and they've built a winter bike for just under £1500.Sorry but these guys must have too much expendible money .
Thier winter bike has a an ultegra groupset , carbon forks & sealed bottom brkt.
I remember when My winter stead came from the local tip ( An old dawes frame with a cottered bottom bracket) the wheels were miss matched 27" 5spd. not super light SHIMANO 10 spd sti.
But it still got me out and back on the 100 mile sunday winter club run.
Road from SOUTH SHIELDS to NOTTINGHAM on it with a spare rear wheel on a sprint carrier tied to to it.
Is cycling becoming a yuppie snobbish eleitist pastime , sincerly hope not !
Lets see them build the best they can with a limited budget, bid for bits on EBAY not pulling deals from bike suppliers.
Then well see if they can get thier heads out of thier arse.

 

[Panter]

Does sound a bit much...

I'm hoping to get a shiney new, slightly sportier steed for the Summer as a very bestest bike.
I won't be spending that much on it though

 

[harry dunn]

Hi PANTER , always nice too get a new m/c but I just cant get my head around the image these guys are trying to put out.How much do you pay for your race bike for godsake .
We'are only enthusiasts and not semi pro riders.
Used to love this mag as a spotty youth but now it seems to be for some elite riders with a unending bank account. Any body else feel the same or am I wrong???

 

[ttcycle]

Wow - that sounds ridiculously ott for a winter trainer bike...mejia types with all their PR deals! disgusting...

 

[lazyfatgit]

Eh..

cycling always seems to have had some elitist cliques. I'm afraid ive never joined a road club because my first experiences made me feel it WAS about the bike.

 

[Noodley]

I was reading an article in the Sunday Times last weekend about the fabulously wealthy bright young things who have left our shores for a life of greed in Geneva.

The journalist used the fact that one of them had a bike which cost 1000 quid as an example of just how wealthy he was - imagine being so rich as to spend a grand on a bike!

CW's target market is now predominately sportive riders probably coming into cycling in their 30s, 40s or older with large disposable incomes and larger midlife crises.

 

[ttcycle]

Eh..

cycling always seems to have had some elitist cliques. I'm afraid ive never joined a road club because my first experiences made me feel it WAS about the bike.

don't let it put you off- some clubs aren't all populated by complete tosspots

 

[harry dunn]

Been in a few local ROAD CLUBS most of them are just made up of guys who like to ride bikes , some do ride some expensive bikes and some do take thier selves far too serious.
We cant all be winners with out the majority of us you wouldnt have a race.

 

[harry dunn]

OOPS well past the MIDLIFE bit , now just in crisis.

 

[ttcycle]

Sounds like those who have the high end bikes and see that as the be all and end all, with a snooty attitude have just got a personality deficit if they feel the need to stick their noses up at others. Sad in my books...just get on with the cycling!

 

[youngoldbloke]

I was reading an article in the Sunday Times last weekend about the fabulously wealthy bright young things who have left our shores for a life of greed in Geneva.

The journalist used the fact that one of them had a bike which cost 1000 quid as an example of just how wealthy he was - imagine being so rich as to spend a grand on a bike!

CW's target market is now predominately sportive riders probably coming into cycling in their 30s, 40s or older with large disposable incomes and larger midlife crises.

- I noticed that too. Thought it was an interesting reflection of the non cyclist's perception of what a bike should cost - also reinforced by the proliferation of sub £100 BSOs. There has also been a cynical increase in prices over the last couple of years - that £1500 bike would have cost maybe only 2/3 a year or so ago - and, no, I do not buy the weak pound argument. CW is also in business to please the hands that feed it - the dealers who advertise on their pages.

 

[nmcgann]

Eh..

cycling always seems to have had some elitist cliques. I'm afraid ive never joined a road club because my first experiences made me feel it WAS about the bike.

Funnily enough, it's quite the opposite of bling bikes in my club (Cambridge). The really hard-man road racers seem to compete to have the most battered clapped-out old bikes on the sunday run.

 

[cyberknight]

- I noticed that too. Thought it was an interesting reflection of the non cyclist's perception of what a bike should cost - also reinforced by the proliferation of sub £100 BSOs. There has also been a cynical increase in prices over the last couple of years - that £1500 bike would have cost maybe only 2/3 a year or so ago - and, no, I do not buy the weak pound argument. CW is also in business to please the hands that feed it - the dealers who advertise on their pages.

I am in the 40s midlife crisis and i have a wife , kid and a mortgage, my bike was £80 odd quid off ebay .They need to get in contact with the real world, same goes for cycling plus

 

[thomas]

Eh..

cycling always seems to have had some elitist cliques. I'm afraid ive never joined a road club because my first experiences made me feel it WAS about the bike.

Should check out the CTC rides....my local one at least is really friendly and people are on all sorts of bikes.


As for £1500 for a winter bike...that's more than my normal bike and mtb together (spesh allez & hardrock) ...which do me quite well in all 4 seasons.

 

[gavintc]

Why do some cyclists have such an issue with how much a bike costs. We would not look down our nose at a man who had a new VW Passat rather than an old Volvo estate. So why the problem - is it envy? The CW piece did describe an expensive option - it is a magazine. Pick up autocar or any of those mags and you will find similar comparators. Their are people who can and do spend this amount, it does not make them any better or worse cyclists. You do not need to live in sackcloths to have an enjoyable life. Get over yourself.