In article <
[email protected]>,
rdclark <
[email protected]> writes:
> On Sep 17, 8:31 pm, [email protected] (Tom Keats) wrote:
>
>> I figure the real benefits of expensive bikes
>> are ... they're pretty. And that's okay. It
>> can be nice to possess something of quality and
>> aesthetic beauty. If it inspires a rider to ride,
>> that's fine 'n dandy, just like sugar candy.
>
> What's "expensive"?
More than you could ever dream of affording.
[snip]
> Is $2000 expensive?
That's a good question. A lot of good bike can be
had for that price.
>I thought it was at the time. I believed I was
> indulging myself because I could afford to.
>
> I don't think so now. There may be a point where more money doesn't
> buy you anything of measurable worth, but $2000 isn't that point. I
> believe that every dollar I spent on this bike is part of the palpable
> experience of riding it every day.
I'm very fond of those rough-'n-ready, bulletproof, cheap-o
Sugino cranksets. And minimal Victor (VP) cage pedals.
And I've developed an appreciation for steel cranks, provided
they look sharp, and are not too beat-up.
The cheap-o frame I'm currently riding survived a head-on
collision. The orig fork didn't survive so well[*]; I
just swapped-in another one (+ the front wheel) from a
similar bike.
Given a budget, I could gleefully pimp-up a two-wheeled
whip like nobody's business. But I have no such budget.
Oh, well. I have what I have, and I'm happy & satisfied
with it. I hope other folx are satisfied with whatever
they've got.
To get to the point: "Expensive" is buying a bike for
an unused wall-hanger.
My new 1996 Trek 930SHX cost about $1500 Cdn IIRC.
It was a nice bike, and the most expensive one
I'd ever owned. I even put it to some extensive XC
MTB use. Then the world blew up in my face, and
I had to divest myself of many material posessions.
Then I ended up living in a rooming house.
I chummed-up with a fellow in the next-door rooming house;
he asked if there's anything he could help me out with.
I jokingly asked: "Do you have a spare bike?" And to my
amazement, he said: "Yes" and handed me the Sekine mixte
of which I am so maternal about, over the fence.
Man, it felt /so/ good to be on a bike again!
Getting to the point of acquiring that bike both cost
me dearly, and educated me greatly (that was back when
astrologically, Pluto was dragging Sagittarians down to
Hell.) I guess it's like an apprenticeship. My
nextdoorikah, Ewald's birthday is one day away from mine.
Heh.
That ol' Sekine is just cheap junk to most of the world,
despite it's lovely, raven-black paint and sculpted lugs.
cheers,
Tom
[*] I still have it. It looks like a giant extracted wisdom
tooth with long, twisted roots.
--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca