Oh for f**** sake.

[Arch]

It is to me...and it would be an a PG research student setting, where 30K gets you 2 years of a PhD studentship - fees and living expenses. It's all relative. Which is why i'm not interested in walking around Hampstead, being as it is full of posh tw*ts. (I also don't know where it is? Somewhere in London/Surrey?)

London, Kirstie. I believe they have some sort of park/heath thing there, and some posh houses.... I went to a couple of open air concerts there...

£30K would keep me (rent, food, the lot) for 3 years, if I was careful.

I was only thinking about something similar yesterday actually. Went out with a couple of friends for a ride, and tried out a brand new bike one of them was on. Compared to my winter hack, it flew along (but then it had no rack, no mudguards, was brand new, tyres pumped up nice and hard) and for a few minutes I was thinking, "Cor, it would be nice to just be able to walk into a bike shop and buy a brand new bike, off the peg" and not ride something that's made up out of odds and ends, and to scrimp for anything that needs replacing. And then I remembered that the reason I love my bikes is that they ARE made up out of odds and ends, and were done so for ME and ME alone, by someone who took account of what I needed, on a budget of a few pounds here and there. Which matters more to me than a flash budget...

 

[Arch]

The most expensive car we've ever bought cost under £10 000, and our current one was nowhere near that. It's comfortable, reliable, still under warranty and takes 5 people with loads of luggage. I don't need (or want) anything more than that.

You said you'd never get a baby elephant in it!

 

[Crackle]

.....The most expensive car we've ever bought cost under £10 000, and our current one was nowhere near that. It's comfortable, reliable, still under warranty and takes 5 people with loads of luggage. I don't need (or want) anything more than that....

Sorry Doc, I'm not picking on you, just using your words to make a point

So what's the difference to spending £500 on a bike or £2000. It's the same thing just lower down the scale isn't it. Desire, better quality, nicer to ride, looks good, always wanted one, etc... No different surely to choosing a Merc over a Daihatsu?

 

[NickM]

...what's the difference to spending £500 on a bike or £2000. It's the same thing just lower down the scale isn't it. Desire...

And there you have it in a single word. But tell me, is it genuinely your desire, or just one you've been told repeatedly since childhood that you ought to have?

 

[Arch]

Sorry Doc, I'm not picking on you, just using your words to make a point

So what's the difference to spending £500 on a bike or £2000. It's the same thing just lower down the scale isn't it. Desire, better quality, nicer to ride, looks good, always wanted one, etc... No different surely to choosing a Merc over a Daihatsu?

Partly, it depends why the one bike is £2000. In some cases, it's better components (although I'd say that the premiums put on some things are just seeing what they can get away with, myself), in some cases it's the level of work involved (a hand brazed frame made to measure, vs a mass produced one) and in some cases, I suspect, just a premium charged for a name. In any market - bike, cars, clothes, whatever, you just have to know your priorities. Personally, if I had the money, I'd pay for craftsmanship, and to SOME extent components, but rarely for a name alone - although I know a lot of people would care more about the name...

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

And there you have it in a single word. But tell me, is it genuinely your desire, or just one you've been told repeatedly since childhood that you ought to have?

Or, a desire that you've had since your friend got one?

 

[Maz]

Sorry, dom, I'm with Kirstie on this one. I'd have found it annoying too.
The most expensive car we've ever bought cost under £10 000, and our current one was nowhere near that. It's comfortable, reliable, still under warranty and takes 5 people with loads of luggage. I don't need (or want) anything more than that.
I do take the point about Hampstead though. I'd hate to live there. Doubt I'd be allowed in!

You can afford to blow 10 grand on a car! Most I could afford is 2K max!
You see? Everyone's different and it's all relative. Slicker machine, faster etc, applies equally to cars as to bikes.

 

[JamesAC]

It's only a car - you can say it whatever way you like.

I annoy people (deliberately) by saying Mon-dee-oh.

I once hired a car .. it was a pewjot, I think.

 

[TheDoctor]

Sorry Doc, I'm not picking on you, just using your words to make a point

So what's the difference to spending £500 on a bike or £2000. It's the same thing just lower down the scale isn't it. Desire, better quality, nicer to ride, looks good, always wanted one, etc... No different surely to choosing a Merc over a Daihatsu?

No idea mate. If I'm ever in a position to spend £2000 on my bike I'll let you know. My current road bike has a ribble winter frame and forks - you know, the ones they're selling for about £120 at the moment. I got a carbon frame for Christmas (about £350) so I'll swap everything onto it. Every bike I own has been built by me, from parts I get as and when I see them.
I just can't justify spending the money on a Merc, Audi or any other of these 'aspirational' brands. I don't desire it, I don't really give a stuff what it looks like, and the Hyundai we have rides nicely enough, performs adequately etc. I dare say there's better - in fact the C-Max we had as a courtesy car was better - but we didn't think it was better enough to warrant spending the extra money.
I appreciate you're making a point and not launching an attack, and that's why I tried to answer it fully and honestly.
All the best.

 

[Crackle]

Partly, it depends why the one bike is £2000. In some cases, it's better components (although I'd say that the premiums put on some things are just seeing what they can get away with, myself), in some cases it's the level of work involved (a hand brazed frame made to measure, vs a mass produced one) and in some cases, I suspect, just a premium charged for a name. In any market - bike, cars, clothes, whatever, you just have to know your priorities. Personally, if I had the money, I'd pay for craftsmanship, and to SOME extent components, but rarely for a name alone - although I know a lot of people would care more about the name...

That's the objectionable part isn't it: It's not the wanting it's the reason for the wanting. Which statement makes yor blood boil more...

Actually I like Mercs, they're extremely well built, have a big service interval, low emissions, good ride comfort and their overall ownership cost is lower because they have good resale values. Expensive I know but we can afford it just now.

or

I really want the Merc SLK201, I just love the shape and the new ones got the new body styling I've just got to have that it'll really piss my neighbour off. 0-60 in just 5 secs, see off all those oiks in their Micras. Can't decide on brown leather or black. Do you know it's got dual climate control. Merc owners know a little bit more about cars you know.

Now I'd spend 25-30K on a car. Difference is I'd buy it 2nd hand at 5-8 years old and pay 30/40% of it's original cost at most.

 

[NickM]

When tempted to buy a shiny thing, it helps to calculate the number of hours which must be spent imprisoned at work to pay for it.

 

[TheDoctor]

You can afford to blow 10 grand on a car! Most I could afford is 2K max!
You see? Everyone's different and it's all relative. Slicker machine, faster etc, applies equally to cars as to bikes.

Should have known someone would pick up on that! It was about £8500 IIRC, and we kept it for 6 years, and got £3500 for it as a trade in. Needed a bigger car then, as we had 2 dogs. Only got one now. See, we downsized on dogs! Current one (car, not dog) cost £4000, and £1600 of that was from the last one that someone kindly wrote off for me.

But (and here's the point) I don't shout loudly about spending £30 000 on anything, or even think about dumping someone if their possessions, values or standards don't match with mine. Spending money is one thing. Bragging about it is quite another. Wanting to dump your partner because they've not got a trendy car...well, he'd be better off without her IMHO.

And Arch, I think I maybe could have got a baby elephant in. I don't think it would have withstood an assault from a cross mummy elephant though.

 

[Crackle]

No idea mate. If I'm ever in a position to spend £2000 on my bike I'll let you know. My current road bike has a ribble winter frame and forks - you know, the ones they're selling for about £120 at the moment. I got a carbon frame for Christmas (about £350) so I'll swap everything onto it. Every bike I own has been built by me, from parts I get as and when I see them.
I just can't justify spending the money on a Merc, Audi or any other of these 'aspirational' brands. I don't desire it, I don't really give a stuff what it looks like, and the Hyundai we have rides nicely enough, performs adequately etc. I dare say there's better - in fact the C-Max we had as a courtesy car was better - but we didn't think it was better enough to warrant spending the extra money.
I appreciate you're making a point and not launching an attack, and that's why I tried to answer it fully and honestly.
All the best.

Fair answer and I'm more with your logic than Arch's colleagues but I also know people who like their cars and if they want to spend their money on them for their own reasons, that's up to them. They just know that I'm not going to take them seriously and will do some occasional merciless ribbing.

 

[Arch]

I really want the Merc SLK201, I just love the shape and the new ones got the new body styling I've just got to have that it'll really piss my neighbour off. 0-60 in just 5 secs, see off all those oiks in their Micras. Can't decide on brown leather or black. Do you know it's got dual climate control. Merc owners know a little bit more about cars you know.

Now I'd spend 25-30K on a car. Difference is I'd buy it 2nd hand at 5-8 years old and pay 30/40% of it's original cost at most.

I'd almost understand the bit I've bolded - after all, personal taste and appearance are nice to be able to choose - although I don't think I'd choose them over functionality, rather, alongside - if it's a choice between a) a chair thats comfortable, but drab, a chair that's a nice colour but uncomfortable, or c) a chair that's nice AND comfortable, I'd have c , then a and I wouldn't bother with b. What I really dislike is when people allow their taste to be dictated by other people's taste - the keeping up with (or outdoing) the Joneses...

 

[Arch]

And Arch, I think I maybe could have got a baby elephant in. I don't think it would have withstood an assault from a cross mummy elephant though.

Fair point. Not all that many cars can. Even the landrovers painted to look like zebras you see at safari parks might take a bit of a battering.

If you filled the boot up with buns, and left it open, the mummy might just follow you out, and the baby would follow her.... Now, THAT would make for an interesting traffic report...