How broke can I get? - Page 2

Oh that's a good question. With my first child 6 weeks away, the answer is probably, "when do we finish paying for college?" That would make me 56 years old. I like your thinking, I'll see how persuasive it is with mommy.

Oh BTW, a friend is offering me a set of 2000 Mavic Cosmos rims with about 1800 miles on them. I was going to use Cosmos anyway...should I take him up on his offer? They're free.

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"You drink wine that you may be intoxicated; and I drink that it may sober me from that other wine." -Kahlil Gibran

With a wicked frame like that, i would get the best i could, within my budget. It'll be better for you, in the long run, from what i understand; & you won't always be wondering what it would have been like !!!

Well, I AM 56 years old, and the kids are out of college. This would explain different perspectives on getting what we want and dealing with mommy.

I'd take the free wheels; I think Cosmos are durable wheels, and perfect for club rides and training. Besides, you can explain to your wife how this savings more than offsets the additional cost of the gruppo you really want.

perfect! the voice of experience from our theoretical future!! I figure this is the bike (and gruppo) I'll be riding for at least a decade before anything major gets upgraded. I'm currently in negotiations to go Centaur or maybe even *gasp* Chorus!


Record is overkill for me, I think. I don't see myself racing.

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"You drink wine that you may be intoxicated; and I drink that it may sober me from that other wine." -Kahlil Gibran

[QUOTE=lucien2] perfect! the voice of experience from our theoretical future!! I figure this is the bike (and gruppo) I'll be riding for at least a decade before anything major gets upgraded. I'm currently in negotiations to go Centaur or maybe even *gasp* Chorus!

I'll turn 56 the 19th of next month, my son is out of college, married and probably will make me a grand-dad in a couple of years. I just bought a Pegoretti Palosanto and built it up with Chorus using the build kit at GVH Bikes (with some upgrades here and there).

Gary is very good about working with you to get what you want, so you might talk to him about the build kit minus the wheels. Price for the complete kit for 2004 Centaur is $1150 (double or triple) and for Chorus it's $1550. The rims included are Mavic Open Pros, hubs and the Campy groupset, spokes are Wheelsmith, to give you some idea for cost comps.

I'd say go with the DA-10. I got my first DA-10 and not riding ultregra gives me the hebbie jeebies. the 1 piece bottom bracket crank is a great great geat thing! It feels unbelievably stiff!

If you want a dream bike, don't skimp on the group. Your ultegra will find its way on ebay, probably after Ultegra-10 has come out depreciating the resale value even further.

Just my 2 cents on what usually happens to me when i skimp.

My vote is for Ultegra, for practicality's sake; that's a statement built upon massive hypocrisy, though, seeing as the last time I got my hands on a frame that I thought was special, I pimped it up well beyond my needs, budget, and riding clout.

Never quite recovered from the financial hit, but boy, do I love that pimped up ride...

If you aim lower, every aspect of your life -- your mortgage, your diet, your family, your long-term sanity -- will thank you for it, with one exception. You'll probably never be able to explain to that lucious, top-shelf frame why you outiftted it in denim and not cashmere.

Durring those quiet, intimate, whispered conversations we share with our bikes... you'll have trouble looking the Axion in the eye -- err, head tube badge.

I am going back and forth here. I voted for Ultegra, but now I am thinking that the Chorus might be a better match to the frame, aesthetically speaking. (I am assuming that you aren't going to need to take out a second mortgage or anything drastic - right?)

Go with Centaur, or even the Century Grey Centaur. It's a much better value, and is functionally the same as Chorus except for a few more grams of weight (carbon bits) that you'll never notice, and the bearings in the levers instead of Centaur's bushings. Once you have a few hundred miles on the Cent levers, I doubt you'll notice the difference there either. Centaur looks good too, especially the Grey if it matches your frame, and BTW - the Centaur and Chorus Al cranksets are the same weight.

However, try to get the new '05 version of the Centaur BB, it has been improved over the AC-H version.

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