Du you get the most out of your bike?

[Deleted member 1258]

Surly the question should be does your expensive bike enable you to make the most of your abilities? In my case its yes for both bikes. My commuter is a fixed wheel pearson that cost about £600, its coming up to 5 years old, has done somewhere around 12-15000 miles and has been used for commuting, winter Club rides, leisure rides and Forum rides, yes I've made the most of it. My best bike is 20 speed Verenti that cost £900, its coming up for two years old and has done about 3-4000 miles, it gets used for summer Club rides, leisure rides and I've done a charity ride on it, I probably haven't made the most of it, but it enables me to make the most of the distance rides I do, I go further, easier and in more comfort than I would on a cheap bike.

 

[HLaB]

IMO I've definitely got my moneys worth out of my Kinesis Racelight GF (and long may it continue) in the three year I've had it (come the end of July); its done 15,688 miles (about 0.1p per mile). I'm less sure about the Bianchi 928 (5316mile in 5 years, 0.3p per mile) but I wouldn't be without it. My other bikes have been well below the OP level but I reckon I've got my money worth out of them; circa 10,000 road miles out of the sirrus (0.05p per mile)(its now on the turbo), the Ridgeback Velocity has seen 8,777 miles (0.03p per mile). My latest purchase has only seen 371 miles (its just under a month old), from a quick calculation at 0.5p per mile its looking good VfM so far but I do wonder how much it (a 13kg SS) is going to be used up north (all but 8 miles of the 371 have been done down south).

 

[Accy cyclist]

I don't actually own a bike that expensive, but there are multiple ways to think about this.

Many people who don't cycle, or are not avid cyclists/commuters will give you a "HOW MUCH?!" expression if you use the words "£1000" and "bike" in the same sentence - But compare this to other hobbies. A £1000 bike could easily last 10 years if you buy wisely, so £100 a year.

Now imagine how much a football fan who regularly frequents matches pays in ticket fees - Far over £100 a year!

I agree, and i have a football season ticket. Also how much do "sports fans" spend on massive tellys while they slumber for hours? Some are over a thousand pounds yet they wouldn't "how much"?! at that.
What about when you tell them that you've seen a bike on a website that costs 5 grand, they think that you're making it up.

 

[GetAGrip]

I don't actually own a bike that expensive, but there are multiple ways to think about this.

Many people who don't cycle, or are not avid cyclists/commuters will give you a "HOW MUCH?!" expression if you use the words "£1000" and "bike" in the same sentence - But compare this to other hobbies. A £1000 bike could easily last 10 years if you buy wisely, so £100 a year.

Now imagine how much a football fan who regularly frequents matches pays in ticket fees - Far over £100 a year!

With you on that trail of thinking! I don't ride anything as expensive, but I would love to be able to, oh yes!
I think if you added up the cost of most 'hobbies', the cost would seem ridiculous to those not sharing the same interest. Even belonging to a pubs darts team for five years is going to cost you dearly (well, to me anyway).

Basically, unless you're mega well off, you can't have it all. You pays your money and makes your choice and good luck to you!!

 

[rebelpeter]

Well I am not into the modern bikes I have a modern Trek but I use a Raleigh Rapide old racer in excellent condition, I prefer the shifters on the down tube old fashion I guess, but then at 75 I am old fashion do not ride as often as I would like but then that is the weather problem we are having this "alleged" summer, I have a couple of other older racers Raleighs and an old Dawes not to mention the Tour Of Britain BSA I have now got . . ..

 

[sidevalve]

£1000 is a lot of cash and way beyond my level but I say this, it's your money, if you want the best and you can afford it, buy it. If you use it everyday fine, if you only use it once a month on [fine ?] days that's OK too. After all there is a lot of pleasure in quality machinery. To me the shame would to buy it and neither use it or take care of it, leaving it in a shed to rust after the first few months.

 

[martint235]

My commuting bike is worth around £1000 and I'd say I've got my money's worth. My annual season ticket to work would be £1100 and I've had this current commuter for about 3 years. Until January it also did all my social rides and so clocked up around 7,500 miles last year.

Lelly cost £2000 and was bought, as the name alludes to, specifically for the LEL in 2013. It is also used for social rides, FNRttCs and distance work (recent 226 miles in day ride for example). I've clocked up over 1,800 miles on Lelly so far this year. I did expect that to be higher but injury forced me out of riding to York/Hull and back. I also can't make the ride out to Cardiff for the FNRttC due to work but it's still clocking up the miles.

 

[palinurus]

In terms of transport cost savings I could justify buying a new £1000 bike every year.

That assumes that I'd chuck the old one in a skip, I'd sell it of course.

 

[Nebulous]

It's a slightly odd way of looking at a bike - as to whether you get your money's worth.People rarely ask whether you get your moneys worth from a house, or a car, or a holiday, or a SLR camera.

It depends on lots of other things, particularly how much money people have. Cycling draws a broad range of people, with all sorts of incomes and motivations. There will be people on here who cannot afford a car and for whom £1000 seems well out of reach. There will be other people with £50,000 (+) cars who would pay £1000 for a bike for their children.

I earn reasonably well, but have responsibilities and outgoings also known as a family. I bought a £900 bike, apparently unused, for £543 on Ebay. I reckon I've had my moneys worth. I don't use it to commute. I had an old MTB for that, but I retired it and now use an old steel bike. I've had my bike almost 2 years and have upgraded a few bits. I'd like a better/ new bike, but the problem is a £1000 bike isn't really going to be an upgrade. Because of cycle to work there seems to be a lot of bunching at the £1k point and I'm not convinced that I would really notice a difference until close to £2000. That seems like an awful lot of money to me, and would be something I would find hard to justify to myself, nevermind my family. However if I did buy one, it fitted and helped me achieve my cycling goals I would consider every single penny well spent.

I've posted on here before that despite riding a £500 bike the Etape Caledonia last year probably cost me £350-400. People find that quite astonishing, but neither me nor my family batted an eyelid at the cost, possibly because they were all involved and got a weekend away from it!

 

[Andrew_P]

Bought my Specialized Roubaix in November 2010 for £1500 I have done 7000+ miles on it mostly commuting. The bike is paid for IMO both in terms of weight loss, fitness improvement and Diesel savings. But I have got someway to go to pay off all the other stuff including upgrades and replacement parts! I bought a Boardman CX for winter use but it only got to 1200 miles, I discovered a set of decent quick fit quick release mudguards for the Roubaix, as I prefer riding the Roubaix I rode it through the back half of the Winter. I will be selling the CX if my Daughter doesn't keep up her interest.

That would be my only caveat I would make sure if it is for all uses that you are able to get some mudguards, they look crap but in the middle of winter cold AND soaking wet is a bad combo.

Summer I am happy to ride without guards and get soaked but very quickly last year I found out how crap icey cold and being soaked was

Hate to say it but N+1 didn't work for me I just prefer riding my best bike. My next upgrade will be while off but it will be another best bike and will sell the Roubaix.

BTW I too thought 1-1.5k was an insane amount to spend!!! :-)

 

[youngoldbloke]

This question is geared to people who have a bike around the 900-1000+ pound mark.

Do you get the most out of it in terms of usage. (ie) do you use it for commuting and club rides or sporting events etc.

The reason I ask is I feel 1000 pounds is a hell of a lot of money and if I was to spend that amount it would have to be used for more than just going to work, unless I lived miles away

How much is a pint of beer? A meal out? A packet of cigarettes? A pair of Levis? £1000 isn't 'a hell of a lot of money'. I know a fellow who is absolutely amazed that anyone would consider spending even £150 on a bike - yet he is happy to down 4 or 5 pints, 3 or 4 nights nights a week, 'down the pub' - lets say £2.50 x 5, x 3 = £37.50 week x 52 = £1950. And that is a very conservative estimate of his annual consumption. Including home consumption I suspect the reality is more like £2500 - £3000 a year.
Isn't spending £1000 on a bike a much better use your cash?

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

The amount of riding I do these days does not justify a £1k bike. But for 10 years, until I had to stop, my £350 bike did the job of something way more expensive

I think that says what I think... or maybe not...

 

[rebelpeter]

Well I am a older bike rider (me and the bike) but is these bikes over 1,000
really worth that much ok I have a Trek racer cost about 500 I never paid
that though, and I just cannot see how a bike can be 1000s of pounds more
than what this is after all it has gears wheels etc surely a bike for say £1000 - 2000
can not have that much more than this 500 one, unless it is gold plated, now I am sure I am
wrong so feel free to shoot me down, but it is hard for me to think a bike can be
1000s more than the Trek I have after all there is not that much in any bike, I mean unlike a car.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I will wait for the response so " fire away" . . . Reb . . .

 

[martint235]

Well Lelly is titanium so is probably lighter and stronger than your Trek. Also I'm guessing the Trek is aluminium so the titanium frame will also be more comfortable particularly over longer distances (100+ miles). The groupset is SRAM Red which is the expensive part of the bike (even compared to the frame) and is engineered to perform to a higher level than the kit I imagine is on the Trek. And yes getting to a higher top speed (weight of bike, shifting performance etc) and more importantly slowing down from that top speed (better brakes) are important considerations to me.

All that said if you're happy with your Trek stick with it.

 

[Nebulous]

What do you mean unlike a car? I don't see it as any different from a car. A car has 4 wheels and an engine and all the rest is just padding, like the better gearset / wheels for a bike.

My company car went away about 2 years ago and I needed to provide a car for travel to work and some limited work use. I bought a car for £425 and it did the job. I then bought my bike and I was in the position of having a bike which was more expensive than my car. After about 6 months of cycling I made the leap to commuting as well and sold the car for £650.

Most of what we buy is quite simply about lifestyle choices. People buy things because they can, although given the mess of debt the country is sinking under maybe many of them shouldn't.