Insanely expensive bikes

[cougie uk]

The probability of the Cervelo frame or forks failing is much higher which could lead to injury or death.

Oh yes. You see this through the pro teams. Barely one cervelo rider makes it through the season alive...

 

[cougie uk]

I don’t disagree but it’s up to them (as long as they’re not riding in front of me covering me in crap too )

I don't think anyone is trying to make it illegal to ride a superbike in the winter. Clubs usually relegate non mudguard riders to the back of the run though.

 

[vickster]

I don't think anyone is trying to make it illegal to ride a superbike in the winter. Clubs usually relegate non mudguard riders to the back of the run though.

I don‘t ride with a club, never have, never will. However, I have been showered with crap by passing riders

 

[bonzobanana]

I'm already feeling very hurt!!

My Cervelo is simply a beautiful machine which helps me get more out of cycling. Pleasure, pure unadulterated pleasure........plus I never ride to Tesco.

I struggle to see it as a beautiful machine I must admit. It's a poorly made example of a CF bike going by the engineer's analysis of its construction and like all CF bikes its non recyclable. It's basically a bike made from mainly plastic resin that is not durable. I think of the classic steel bikes as beautiful machines but I must admit CF bikes don't really work for me in that way. I see them as purely a performance orientated road bike with a huge amount of compromises. Definitely the right choice if you want a competitively fast bicycle for sure though. I suppose my ultimate bike would be titanium or maybe stainless steel.

 

[cyberknight]

There's nothing nicer than being able to splurge on something later in life if you have struggled for money earlier. I've bought a few reasonably expensive things the last couple of years with my inheritance from my dad. Sadly, he never seemed to like spending money and could have made his life much more comfortable and treated himself if he wanted, but it wasn't in his nature. Damned sure I'm not going to the grave with it lying in my bank account!

i will let you know when i can afford to splurge

 

[fossyant]

At least I know both my road bikes weren't built by some poorly paid worker in a big factory. Both were built by craftsmen. Been pretty good value TBH as had both frames about 30 years.

My most recent purchase was a mountain bike - full suspension. Picked it up in a sale with £600 off RRP. Only spent a grand. That has been outstanding value - it's more capable than me. The world of MTB's is even more expensive than road bikes, when you chuck in suspension. A half decent fork will set you back £500, a rear shock £250 - that's before you stick stuff on it.

£3,500 for a carbon frame you smash rocks against it...yikes.

 

[bonzobanana]

Oh yes. You see this through the pro teams. Barely one cervelo rider makes it through the season alive...

Well surely there are three factors at play here. One is the professional bikes are not the same as retail bikes and then they are frequently changed. Any CF bike being professionally raced would be scanned for manufacturing faults etc. A normal rider is unlikely to have a car following him with a change of bike ready for him. A normal rider is unlikely to have his bike scanned after a minor accident and the bike they are riding will be general factory production even if the same moulds are used its unlikely to have the same level of attention to detail during manufacture. I honestly can't see Cervelo pro bikes having the terrible voids, wrinkles and poor tolerances as discovered by Hambini and Luescher Technik on retail bikes.

It's all about probabilities anyway there are probably a lot more failed CF frames by Giant than Cervelo anyway as Giant sell a huge amount of CF bikes. If 3% of Cervelo frames and forks fail compared to only 0.1% of Giant frames and forks that is still going to be mean a lot more Giant failures.

 

[Alex321]

I can't deny that you find Cervelo the best bike to ride perhaps with the best geometry my point is the actual quality of that frame is very poor typically and inferior to much cheaper brands like Giant and Merida. The probability of the Cervelo frame or forks failing is much higher which could lead to injury or death.

I think you re significantly overstating the case here. The quality of the frame may be poorer than some such as Giant, but it is still good enough for normal use.

They still meet relevant standards, and we aren't hearing horror stories of these bikes breaking in normal use.

And your later post is saying "if 3% of Cervelo frames and forks fail compared to only 0.1% of Giant frames and forks" when those figures are probably both an order of magnitude above what actually happens.

If 3%, or even 0.3% of Cervelo frames failed, we would certainly hear about it, and they would very quickly be out of business.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Cervelo riding - like base jumping and cave diving really.

 

[cougie uk]

Well surely there are three factors at play here. One is the professional bikes are not the same as retail bikes and then they are frequently changed. Any CF bike being professionally raced would be scanned for manufacturing faults etc. A normal rider is unlikely to have a car following him with a change of bike ready for him. A normal rider is unlikely to have his bike scanned after a minor accident and the bike they are riding will be general factory production even if the same moulds are used its unlikely to have the same level of attention to detail during manufacture. I honestly can't see Cervelo pro bikes having the terrible voids, wrinkles and poor tolerances as discovered by Hambini and Luescher Technik on retail bikes.

It's all about probabilities anyway there are probably a lot more failed CF frames by Giant than Cervelo anyway as Giant sell a huge amount of CF bikes. If 3% of Cervelo frames and forks fail compared to only 0.1% of Giant frames and forks that is still going to be mean a lot more Giant failures.

Hang on. So who makes the cervelo pro team frames then ? We know setting up the moulds is one of the large expenses in production of frames. Not really credible that they'd make a mould to make a dozen frames or so ?

I'd pay no heed to Hambini or whatever his name is. It's in his interest to make outrageous claims.

FWIW cervelo are very popular in ironman circles - so no scanning of bikes as it's solo athletes usually. Traveling round the world.
Nobody's scared of using them.

 

[Drago]

Maybe. Or maybe they have spent so much that they can only afford the one bike. Like I was when I was a kid.

Now I'm wiser. It's so much nicer with full mudguards in the rain. And a lot less kit to be washed.

Or maybe, like me, they ride all their bikes all year round and simply clean and maintain them properly and suffer zero accelerated degradation as a result?

In our climate there is nothing as useles as an outdoor item that cannot/will not be used in bad westher.

 

[jowwy]

i have had many cheap and expensive bikes over the years.....used in all weathers and non have suffered from degradation due to the conditions they have been ridden in. they have also never suffered major frame failure either, even with a big chap on board, same as wheels.....

you pays your money, you takes your chance....same as everything in life

 

[Nebulous]

i have had many cheap and expensive bikes over the years.....used in all weathers and non have suffered from degradation due to the conditions they have been ridden in. they have also never suffered major frame failure either, even with a big chap on board, same as wheels.....

you pays your money, you takes your chance....same as everything in life

Keeping them in the house helps - but its certainly possible to destroy bikes in the weather. I did just that to the allez elite I referred to earlier. The fork was a steel / carbon composite, rather than full carbon and there was significant cracking around the join at the legs of the forks. One of the ends of the brake cable welded itself to the cable guide and I snapped the guide off when trying to remove it, and finally the aluminium rims on the wheels had significant corrosion - which I didn't think was possible, probably due to salt on the road.

Now I'm sure I could have looked after it better, it did over 12,000 miles, being kept in a damp shed, and being out about 3 times a week year round for 4-5 years. I regarded it as a tool to use, and certainly did that, with no regrets.

The North-East of Scotland can be quite inhospitable, but the conditions certainly contributed considerably to its deterioration.

 

[jowwy]

Keeping them in the house helps - but its certainly possible to destroy bikes in the weather. I did just that to the allez elite I referred to earlier. The fork was a steel / carbon composite, rather than full carbon and there was significant cracking around the join at the legs of the forks. One of the ends of the brake cable welded itself to the cable guide and I snapped the guide off when trying to remove it, and finally the aluminium rims on the wheels had significant corrosion - which I didn't think was possible, probably due to salt on the road.

Now I'm sure I could have looked after it better, it did over 12,000 miles, being kept in a damp shed, and being out about 3 times a week year round for 4-5 years. I regarded it as a tool to use, and certainly did that, with no regrets.

The North-East of Scotland can be quite inhospitable, but the conditions certainly contributed considerably to its deterioration.

That cant have helped......

 

[Falsesummat]

In 1999 I spent£2000 on a Dura Ace equipped Bianch xl ev2. And it was in a sale too.
One of my close relatives scoffed at the amount of money I'd spent and tried to make out that I was wealthy enough to splash that kind of money on a push bike. He was smoking 40 fags a day which annually was about £2000. When I pointed this out his response was that I was lucky enough to just have a spare £2000. Didn't quite get the saving up bit.
In the late 90s a decent winter/ audax bike was around £800. Today a Tiagra equipped Tifosi can still be bought from a uk shop for £800.
For your average weekend warrior anything more than Shimano 105 7000 series is superfluous in performance terms.
IMO, should someone wish to spend £10000 on a bike that's fine and it's their business. However, in terms of cycling performance, anything more than £3000 is not likely to be of a real benefit.