This bike costs £8599.99. Is it worth it?

[lejogger]

To quote a friend of mine - "When I turn up on a forty five hundred pound bike & get dropped like a stone there's no place to hide. There is only one thing that is the problem, that is me."

It's a total false economy to assume that buying new, expensive gear will improve your performance in any respect. I'm able to play single figure handicap golf with ping irons that I bought in 1997. Would buying the latest set for £1k make me a scratch golfer? No. Will buying a £6k bike knock 5-10% off my time trial performance or make me win the club hill climb? No.

If I could afford to though, would I spend £7k on new irons and a new bike? Probably, yes! By our nature most of us enjoy having nice things and if your disposable income is at a level that allows this then go bloody nuts!

Of course if you don't have the gear you've always got an excuse. I've uttered them myself.
"my wheels don't have blades spokes" "I'm under geared"
"the technology is over two decades old"

Essentially though the difference between my carbon Boardman and that the bike in the OP is marginal. It's a lot better of course but it's me that powers it and it's me that swings the golf clubs.
People who spend silly money buying expensive bikes to improve their performance are kidding themselves but to buy them because they like them and can afford them it's no issue at all.

 

[lejogger]

Elaborating on that, as an honest person, what better reason is there for buying the best if not than to be able to say that you came second because the guy in first was better than you were. It leaves no doubt that you couldn't have done anything more on that day to win and it gives you the motivation to improve your own performance rather than blame your equipment.

 

[Robeh]

very nice loving the kit on it
if you can afford it then fair play to you.........................

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

okay, I'll retract my earlier statement - the point I was making really referred to those guys who turn up to a club training ride on very expensive bikes only to get dropped 20 miles in. What's the point of having a very expensive bike if you are an average (or below average) rider - you get no advantage from riding it. It's a case of all the gear but no idea! £2k bikes suit most club riders IMO.

Yay I think that's me your on about my Venge Di2 for example retails for £8500 and has had substantial upgrades done to it with high quality brands. Being brutally honest my upgrades alone exceed what many people pay for a bike.
Now the real question which needs to be addressed is do I have the ability to do the bike justice. No I most certainly do not.. I have just recently started CAT4 racing and can't say I'm particularly great at it.... I equally have a nice selection of Zipp wheels 303's , 404's , 808's at my disposal and ride in Castelli san remo speed suits.... I think I am pretty much the definition of the person you describe.
The thing is I have a really great time on my bikes, I have smiles all the way and really enjoy cycling along with the exceptional people I encounter on all kinds of bikes. I dare say I would be hard pushed to do a £1000 bike justice however after working exceptionally hard to better myself should I not be able to reap the rewards of doing such and enjoy great bikes?. Should I also not own a sports car because I am unable to do it justice on the busy city streets?

Now we have started a conversation about doing bikes justice could you please inform me of events you have won, as imho if your not winning cycling events your just an average enthusiast

 

[jayonabike]

I bought a Cervelo, didn't get much change from £7000. OK I could of bought 3 bikes at just over £2000, 6 bikes at just over £1000 12 bikes at £500 etc, but I didn't I bought 1 at almost £7000. The reason being I had the chance to spend that much on one bike, a once in a lifetime chance in fact (an inheritance from Mum & Dad) I know that at my level of cycling I'm no athlete but so what? It has the best of the best components, the frame is one of the lightest there is. I bought it because I could. I know I will have the chance to spend a 2 or 3 grand on a bike in the future and probably will (fancy a titanium bike one day) but I won't have the chance to spend what I did again. I haven't waved my cock at anyone, I didn't buy it for that. I wanted a super special bike and thats what I've got.

 

[Zakalwe]

Not everyone driving a Ferrari is Fernando Alonso, but so what, should the pleasure of doing so be reserved to him alone by some sort of divine right? So what if you get dropped 20 minutes into a club run by people on Carreras. as long as you enjoy riding what you ride, chapeau to one and all. As long as you look good doing it. And utterly effortless. Talking of simpler times with you brothers in arms. Aahhh to be young again ...

...

What were we taking about?

 

[dellzeqq]

It's a total false economy to assume that buying new, expensive gear will improve your performance in any respect. I'm able to play single figure handicap golf with ping irons that I bought in 1997. Would buying the latest set for £1k make me a scratch golfer? No. Will buying a £6k bike knock 5-10% off my time trial performance or make me win the club hill climb? No.

If I could afford to though, would I spend £7k on new irons and a new bike? Probably, yes! By our nature most of us enjoy having nice things and if your disposable income is at a level that allows this then go bloody nuts!

Of course if you don't have the gear you've always got an excuse. I've uttered them myself.
"my wheels don't have blades spokes" "I'm under geared"
"the technology is over two decades old"

Essentially though the difference between my carbon Boardman and that the bike in the OP is marginal. It's a lot better of course but it's me that powers it and it's me that swings the golf clubs.
People who spend silly money buying expensive bikes to improve their performance are kidding themselves but to buy them because they like them and can afford them it's no issue at all.

I don't believe that. While I accept that middle aged men buying a bike set up for Bradley Wiggins might not be sensible, I do think that if you spend £6k on a bike that is suited to you it will be substantially better for you than a Boardman.

 

[GrasB]

lejogger, First off you completely missed the point! The point is you mentally remove that little get-out. You have basically the best bike you can buy so you can't use that as an excuse. Any lack of performance is purely down to the rider not the equipment.

It's a total false economy to assume that buying new, expensive gear will improve your performance in any respect. I'm able to play single figure handicap golf with ping irons that I bought in 1997. Would buying the latest set for £1k make me a scratch golfer? No. Will buying a £6k bike knock 5-10% off my time trial performance or make me win the club hill climb? No.

You had to go & say that didn't you...

This is extrapolated data from the 3 TT bikes I've owned. I've based this on a rider pushing out half my typical wattage with my weight on these bikes:
6.03 mile hill climb @ 200w
Round tube steel - 73m 21s (4.93mph)
Aero aluminium - 69m 47s (5.18mph) 4.9% time reduction
Aero carbon - 67m 03s (5.4mph) 8.6% time reduction 69m 41s (5.19mph) 5.0% time reduction
(used the wrong mass of the bike on initial calculation )

9.4mile rolling TT @ 240w
Round tube steel - 23m 54s (23.6mph)
Aero aluminium - 22m 33s (25.0mph) 5.6% time reduction
Aero carbon - 21m 49s (25.9mph) 8.7% time reduction

The Steel bike is an old school narrow diamater round-tube steel TT bike. The aluminium was a basic Ribble alloy TT bike coming in at £2300 build cost (assuming in-groupset cranks rather than my SRM cranks) & the carbon is a high end TT/Tri frame with the bike build at £4900 (again assuming in-groupset cranks)

 

[lejogger]

I don't believe that. While I accept that middle aged men buying a bike set up for Bradley Wiggins might not be sensible, I do think that if you spend £6k on a bike that is suited to you it will be substantially better for you than a Boardman.

You had to go & say that didn't you...

This is extrapolated data from the 3 TT bikes I've owned. I've based this on a rider pushing out half my typical wattage with my weight on these bikes:
6.03 mile hill climb @ 200w
Round tube steel - 73m 21s (4.93mph)
Aero aluminium - 69m 47s (5.18mph) 4.9% time reduction
Aero carbon - 67m 03s (5.4mph) 8.6% time reduction

9.4mile rolling TT @ 240w
Round tube steel - 23m 54s (23.6mph)
Aero aluminium - 22m 33s (25.0mph) 5.6% time reduction
Aero carbon - 21m 49s (25.9mph) 8.7% time reduction

The Steel bike is an old school narrow diamater round-tube steel TT bike. The aluminium was a basic Ribble alloy TT bike coming in at £2300 build cost (assuming in-groupset cranks rather than my SRM cranks) & the carbon is a high end TT/Tri frame with the bike build at £4900 (again assuming in-groupset cranks)

I used my Boardman in a club time trial a couple of weeks ago. I won averaging 25mph. I raced against experienced guys on Felt and Ribble TT bikes with teardrop aero helmets and skin suits. It was only 5 miles, and this was my first ever go at a TT, but I beat some of them by at least 20-30 seconds, some of them by a minute. I could probably safely say that my bike was the cheapest there by a margin.

Are we seriously saying that I'm x seconds better than them PLUS another 8% or so allowing for equipment? So spending an extra £1k for a Ribble TT bike or equivalent will save me 35 seconds per 5 miles??? Are we sure?

What times do you expect me to get on a bike costing 6 times the Boardman?! It's a light carbon aero frame. With clip on steel aero bars I can get a decent position. I don't agree that I'll be making those sort of time savings... I might if I trained harder, not if I spent more.

 

[GrasB]

I don't believe that. While I accept that middle aged men buying a bike set up for Bradley Wiggins might not be sensible, I do think that if you spend £6k on a bike that is suited to you it will be substantially better for you than a Boardman.

Depends on which boardman you bought I supposed... I mean SLR/9.8 AiR/9.8 & AiR/TT 9.8 aren't going to be out-done by many £6k bikes

 

[GrasB]

I used my Boardman in a club time trial a couple of weeks ago. I won averaging 25mph. I raced against experienced guys on Felt and Ribble TT bikes with teardrop aero helmets and skin suits. It was only 5 miles, and this was my first ever go at a TT, but I beat some of them by at least 20-30 seconds, some of them by a minute. I could probably safely say that my bike was the cheapest there by a margin.

Are we seriously saying that I'm x seconds better than them PLUS another 8% or so allowing for equipment? So spending an extra £1k for a Ribble TT bike or equivalent will save me 35 seconds per 5 miles??? Are we sure?

What times do you expect me to get on a bike costing 6 times the Boardman?! It's a light carbon aero frame. With clip on steel aero bars I can get a decent position. I don't agree that I'll be making those sort of time savings... I might if I trained harder, not if I spent more.

Your bike isn't an old school narrow tubed TT bike which is substantially less aerodynamic than a modern aero road bike. If you have something similar to the boardman AiR road line with clip-on bars then you'll have something which is rivalling a TT/Tri bike which hasn't had a huge amount of attention paid to keeping the cable routing nice n' clean. It should actually be cleaner than my old alloy TT frame with externally routed cables, round bars etc.

 

[lejogger]

Your bike isn't an old school narrow tubed TT bike which is substantially less aerodynamic than a modern aero road bike. If you have something similar to the boardman AiR road line with clip-on bars then you'll have something which is rivalling a TT/Tri bike which hasn't had a huge amount of attention paid to keeping the cable routing nice n' clean. It should actually be cleaner than my old alloy TT frame with externally routed cables, round bars etc.

It's a 2011 Team Carbon... this was my whole point. It was £1k and in performance terms, especially the frame, it won't be that much worse than the £6k frame.

 

[Zakalwe]

The only way that little field study would have any meaning is if it were you riding the various frames, outputting the same power on the same course with adequate rest between rides and similar weather conditions.

 

[Lee_M]

Well lejogger, i would say that you are just an arrogant sofab, never mind how good you may be


This thread is very disappointing to a relative newcomer to the forum, I didn't realise it was full of so many people with their heads up their arses and with massive chips on their shoulders

So someone can afford to buy a nice new bike, but they're overweight or (in my case) coming back from a major back op, so they have to buy a cheap bike because the inverted snobs out there think they should only get a nice bike when they can justify it by their performance?

So news for you all out there, you aren't good enough for th bikes you have either unless you can go up a 10% climb at 27kmh like contador did today

 

[Lee_M]

Oh and one other thing, lejogger, why do you have ping golf clubs, why not buy cheap ones from Argos until you're a scratch golfer?