Don't start out by buying a $5000 bike
- Thread starter Bowyer
- Start date
Maybe what the thread starter is saying .... is that
HE DONT LIKE NO POSERS!!!!!!!
I think it is more 'concerning' when someone buys a second hand bike and it doesnt fit them properly. I did this unknowingly thinking I was getting more for my money. I was only hurting myself in the long run. I finally got a custom fitted bike and could NOT believe the difference in handling and performance. It was like nite and day.
No matter what you spend....if you do not have a good bike fit you will not fully realize your potential as a rider. Its sad if you train hard and then you don't have a well fitted bike to maximize your power. It really makes a difference .
It pays to get fitted at a bike shop.
If Mr Magoo wants to spend 5 grand and get all dudded up in gear, heck, go ahead. I dont see why we need to judge someone just because they like to have 'the best' .
Who cares??
Hey..... If you want a good laugh, go to the local triathelon and look at the bikes in the racks. MAN!!!!!!!! some are so fancy I ***** my pants! ((ok I'll keep it clean here))
Then watch them try to figure out how to clip in. some just leave the shoes on forever. I swear ! Its true! There really are a handful of these tri geeks that can't clip in and out so they just never take the shoes off the pedals EVER!
~ its kinda cute.
I still dont care. sides.....They can run faster than me.
LOL
Personally, I just love old roadies. Nothing is more romantic than a seasoned rider on a beloved worn, ancient metal frame decorated with the original campy ~((ouch!!!) sew ups tied under his seat and wool arm warmers made from old socks.
It just reminds me of Italy. <sigh>
You can't put a price on a bike like that and besides..he would never sell it.
Hey JuneBug,
Quote
<Personally, I just love old roadies. Nothing is more romantic than a seasoned rider on a beloved worn, ancient metal frame decorated with the original campy ~((ouch!!!) sew ups tied under his seat and wool arm warmers made from old socks.
It just reminds me of Italy. <sigh>
You can't put a price on a bike like that and besides..he would never sell it.>
End Quote.
Anybody can get *seasoned roadie* look for a couple hunderd bucks. The world is full of old bikes that aren't worth squat. Most of the time, new tires, saddle, stem (for that custom fit) cost more than the old bike. If a person has any old road bike with the right stand over height, it can tuned, fitted and on the road for just a little cash.
And some of the time the time, new road bikes end up getting *re-fitted* with a different stem, saddle, ect... anyhow.
Quote
<Personally, I just love old roadies. Nothing is more romantic than a seasoned rider on a beloved worn, ancient metal frame decorated with the original campy ~((ouch!!!) sew ups tied under his seat and wool arm warmers made from old socks.
It just reminds me of Italy. <sigh>
You can't put a price on a bike like that and besides..he would never sell it.>
End Quote.
Anybody can get *seasoned roadie* look for a couple hunderd bucks. The world is full of old bikes that aren't worth squat. Most of the time, new tires, saddle, stem (for that custom fit) cost more than the old bike. If a person has any old road bike with the right stand over height, it can tuned, fitted and on the road for just a little cash.
And some of the time the time, new road bikes end up getting *re-fitted* with a different stem, saddle, ect... anyhow.
3.5 watts per pound??? Are you insane? I'm guessing only the top 10 climbers in the world have even close to that many watts/lb. The decent cat 1 cyclists are able to get 5.5 watts/kg and translated into pounds, that'd be around 2.5 watts/lb. I'd check your numbers again if you're sure about 3.5 watts/lb. I think a better way to say it would be if you can get 2.4-2.5 watts/lb would be a good time to upgrade to a better bike. However, I would not use such numbers like 2 pounds per inch of height or 2.5 watts/lb but use their placing in categories. The general rule in my mind is that the higher you go in category or level of competition, the more the weight of the bike plays a factor in those competitions. IE, at Cat. 5, it's usually the ones who have the most talent and training that win and by the time a racer hits Cat. 3, the gap between the most talented and least talented takes a huge drop from Cat. 5.
So sorry Tom ... I meant kg NOT lb. (and even then my math was off). I realized the mistake after I posted, but I decided to leave it at the risk of turning this thread into a discussion of weight instead of bikes. And I agree that those are only discussion points, not hard and fast rules. My point is that it is generally more about the engine -- the rider -- than it is about the bike. IF you want, and can afford, a $5k bike then get one. Just don't expect to hang with the fast group just because you have a nice bike.
FWIW, the tri geeks that leave their shoes clipped in do it to transition faster (they can run barefoot in/out of the transition area instead of hobbling around in their bike shoes and cleats).
FWIW, the tri geeks that leave their shoes clipped in do it to transition faster (they can run barefoot in/out of the transition area instead of hobbling around in their bike shoes and cleats).
Personal Experience for reference on this topic:
I was re-introduced to mtn. biking in 1994. The situation at the time was incredible - 1) living in Sedona where there are incedible trails out my door and everywhere - in it's "golden age" none-the-less, before the explosion and all the land control issues, and
2) having some of the most amazing, well known bikers of the era as friendly, encouraging neighbors.
But despite this incedible "advantage", I dropped biking completely after one HARD summer of riding (and returned to the climbing scene) BECAUSE I HAD A CHEAP BIKE!
Eight years later a decent C'dale fell in my lap... since then biking has become the passion that keeps me alive and brings me the greatest joy on a daily basis... I wonder... if I'd only had a decent bike back in '94...???
I was re-introduced to mtn. biking in 1994. The situation at the time was incredible - 1) living in Sedona where there are incedible trails out my door and everywhere - in it's "golden age" none-the-less, before the explosion and all the land control issues, and
2) having some of the most amazing, well known bikers of the era as friendly, encouraging neighbors.
But despite this incedible "advantage", I dropped biking completely after one HARD summer of riding (and returned to the climbing scene) BECAUSE I HAD A CHEAP BIKE!
Eight years later a decent C'dale fell in my lap... since then biking has become the passion that keeps me alive and brings me the greatest joy on a daily basis... I wonder... if I'd only had a decent bike back in '94...???
yeahyeahyeah so they say. hmmmfh!
OK.....okokok I do know of ONE story where this ONE guy NEVER took them off his pedals even when in training because he had such difficulty getting in and out.
I was generalizing.
a little.
ack!
LOL
sides I am kinda a tri geek from time to time. I shouldnt make fun.
sorry tri geeks
and you can still run faster than me.
yeah we do when we have to chuck it up on our shoulders and there is mud in the gears. haha!
at the gym I once told a trainer that I ONLY have to curl what my bike weighs. I forgot to factor in mud.
as for a higher frame (ooooh bike shopping!!)
THe hubby say ''ride harder and get a sponsor''.
FOOEY.
Originally posted by JuneBug
yeah we do when we have to chuck it up on our shoulders and there is mud in the gears. haha!
at the gym I once told a trainer that I ONLY have to curl what my bike weighs. I forgot to factor in mud.
as for a higher frame (ooooh bike shopping!!)
THe hubby say ''ride harder and get a sponsor''.
FOOEY.
hahahahhahahaha.. bike shopping!
I am doing that now, shopping for a high end bike. The wife and I are in agreement; I hit the 2000 mile mark on my present bike and do some other stuff and I can get a custom bike with custom paint and lettering that will be MINE.
An expensive bike doesn't always translate into the most cocmfortable, especially for the novice. An inexpensive new cro-mo built by, say, Fuji or Raleigh, will ride better than 90% of the alum bikes on the showroom floor. The super-stiff aum crit type bike should never be sold to a beginning bike rider...this turns people off cycling right fron the get-go.
I'd agree gaffick-- most riders don't need a $5,000 bike....ever. It's possible to find a super nice bike for under a grand, and if you're not winning races, I'm unsure of why a person would spend big bucks on a bike.
Save your cash and tour France or Ireland instead...
Save your cash and tour France or Ireland instead...
First bike in my second childhood was a $5 purchased from the police department auction.
$200 later it was mostly ridable but the chainrings still are bent and I still ride it when the salt isn't off the streets of Illinois in the spring.
$350 for a bike swap trek 1400. 7 speeds. Another $200 for components to build good wheels and the fun of doing it. Bike had dura-race hubs and a set of 105's in similar well abused wheels were had for $30 at the bike swap.
I'm stickly commuter I think. 42 years old and 200 lb without tens of hours a week to train.
We'll see what transpires.
I started off using a cheap bike i had from my child hood (it still fits). This was a basic bike but i was happy with it and it did me fine.
I had no plans on getting a new bike until my friend bought a new one and i had a go. The difference was amazing (remember my bike was about 7-8 years old and just a basic MTB)
It then just so happened that a guy at my work had a bike for sale. He had paid £1000 for it 2 years ago and had never really got round to using it. So i bought it of him for £300 and i love my bike.
My new bike made riding so much better and i could go places i could with my old bike. It has totally revived my love for cycling and i have been getting into it in a big way. Granted im still a novice but i love getting out on my bike. It is also helping me get fit and into shape (I put on a lot of weight when i was laid up with a broken leg / ankle)
So ironically i bought a good second hand bike because someone went out and bought an expensive new bike straight away.
I had no plans on getting a new bike until my friend bought a new one and i had a go. The difference was amazing (remember my bike was about 7-8 years old and just a basic MTB)
It then just so happened that a guy at my work had a bike for sale. He had paid £1000 for it 2 years ago and had never really got round to using it. So i bought it of him for £300 and i love my bike.
My new bike made riding so much better and i could go places i could with my old bike. It has totally revived my love for cycling and i have been getting into it in a big way. Granted im still a novice but i love getting out on my bike. It is also helping me get fit and into shape (I put on a lot of weight when i was laid up with a broken leg / ankle)
So ironically i bought a good second hand bike because someone went out and bought an expensive new bike straight away.
It's all relative in the end.
There's probably wisdom to suggesting that you not go absoutely all out on your first bike -- a big investment is a big investment, and if you're unsure of your long term plans, you should start slow -- but who's to say what "all out" means for any given person?
For a guy riding a $10,000 Merlin Cyrene around, a proportionally modest first bike might very well have been a Giant TCR Composite, or a Trek 5200, or some other solid bike in the $2000-ish range. Maybe it's all about income. It's definitely a sliding scale.
There's probably wisdom to suggesting that you not go absoutely all out on your first bike -- a big investment is a big investment, and if you're unsure of your long term plans, you should start slow -- but who's to say what "all out" means for any given person?
For a guy riding a $10,000 Merlin Cyrene around, a proportionally modest first bike might very well have been a Giant TCR Composite, or a Trek 5200, or some other solid bike in the $2000-ish range. Maybe it's all about income. It's definitely a sliding scale.
If my name is Bill Gates, what's $10,000 ?
Live life and enjoy it. if you can spring it and think that it might make a difference, JUST DO IT. You can't take it with you.
But to purchase an expensive bike without test riding it or any kind of pre-purchase research may be a bit stretching.
My experience in purchasing bikes is that, good decent bikes start can be had at around $1500, not that you can't get a decent one for $1000. But bikes at this level do not discourage you from pursuing cycling like those of the typical $400 Huffy.
Live life and enjoy it. if you can spring it and think that it might make a difference, JUST DO IT. You can't take it with you.
But to purchase an expensive bike without test riding it or any kind of pre-purchase research may be a bit stretching.
My experience in purchasing bikes is that, good decent bikes start can be had at around $1500, not that you can't get a decent one for $1000. But bikes at this level do not discourage you from pursuing cycling like those of the typical $400 Huffy.
Frankly you could've purchased the TCR Composite 2 at around $2000 and still be able to grow into it.
They both are fine quality bike and I wished my first bike was a TCR Composite 1.
No, you didn't spend too much, although I think you could've spent less. But the TCR bikes are great values and you just happened to get one with more bells and whistles. Enjoy!! it's a very nice bike indeed. Congrats!!!
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