VALUE FOR MONEY

[lukesdad]

Ive been interested reading some of the recent posts about problems with todays bikes and comoponents and thought id share this. Back in 93 I decided to purchase a mountainbke (had roadbikes uptill then) and plumped for a cannondale m 2000.£899 from Evans in Woking,lot of dosh back then. Baring in mind this was in the days before v-brakes and any suspension it was state of the art.
I am still riding it today just done 40 miles on the road around the pressilli hills. Ive done everything on it half a SAMS season on it ,marathons,100 k mtb etc. even time trials with clip on aerobars and road tyres. I do about 5000 miles a year on it now mainly as a winter training Bike but alot more on it before other exotica came along,so its probably done in excess of a 100,000 miles.
Here,s the point it is on its original bottom bracket and hubs 2nd cassette rear mech and chainwheels , other than that the only other major thing was a new set of wheel rims everything else other than blocks chains and cables is original spec mainly xt and ritchie logic.
We are growing old together and if all the bikes had to go save one.......well need I say more!
Not all advances are progress and certainly not value for money !

 

[beanzontoast]

+1. You'd have to ask how many of the bikes being sold today will still be rideable in 20-40 years time (my Galaxy's 32 this year). And I wonder too about the recent price hikes in the cost of new bikes - does it really reflect advances in componentry that will pay the buyer back in durability and longevity or are people paying for fashion?

 

[Bigtwin]

- does it really reflect advances in componentry that will pay the buyer back in durability and longevity or are people paying for fashion?

It certainly does not reflect increases in quality at all. It's fashion, pure and simply - yearly cosmetic tweaks and colour changes to keep the wallets opening 19/12.

Why? Simply because proper quality stuff lasts. I, as with lots of people over a certain age, have loads of old Stronglight, Sachs, Huret, Campag, etc stuff that's been going great guns for years and years without problems and still has ages of life left in it.

The durability of some, if not most, modern sky-high priced componentry is a complete joke.

There's a guy in my club who owns and LBS. He hates it, coz he knows he's selling stuff that won't last anything like as well as it should for the money, and consequently, he gets hacked-off punters to deal with. Currenlty however, he's got no option but to fit it and charge accordingly.

 

[wafflycat]

It does show, however, that if you cough up the readies for a decent bike, you are going to get something that is capable of lasting a lifetime - quite literally - as long as you're doing regular basic maintenance. Unlike buying a BSO for £69.99 where it is built to fall apart in a short space of time.

My Bianchi steel tourer - I got it secondhand, it's my 'everyday' bike in that I pootle to the shops on it, cycle the lanes on it, have toured with it, ridden it on road and off-road.. When the paintwork got a tad too shabby from all the use of the bike, rather than get a new bike, I had the frame & forks refurbished with a nice new paint jobbie, then MrWC, my personal bike mechanic put the bike back together for me.

My Bianchi road bike (Alu) will likely last a lifetime new, and that was bought new a couple of years ago.

My ICE T recumbent trike, again, bought new a few years ago, is likely to last a lifetime.

I still have my Raleigh hybrid, bought 20 years ago when WCMnr was a baby - and paid what was a relatively high price for it, as is was the top end model in the range, and it is still as good as the day it was bought, due to regular basic maintenance.

 

[bernieUK]

I bought a Bob Jackson single speed, new from my local bike shop a year ago, that I use mainly to commute to work. I do know that the frame itself is good but the components that came with it were reasonable quality only. It would have been way over my means to have everything I really wanted on it.

Over the last year I have kept an eye out for any bargains - usually on Ebay. I have added a seatpost, handlebars, stem - all Ritchey WCS - and a pair of DMR V12 pedals. All were either used or way below the retail price. Yesterday I had a Truvativ Omnium Track / Single Speed Chainset put on and a better quality chain and bottom bracket.

I have certainly noticed the difference using better quality components. All that is needed now is a good set of wheels. I have my eye on a pair of Mavic Eclipse but at £300.00 retail I can forget that for the time being. Hopefully I can pick up them ridiculously cheaply somewhere but I am not holding out too much hope

 

[CopperBrompton]

A large part of my reasoning when I bought the TRICE Q (spending about three times as much as I'd planned to) was that I intend and expect to keep it for life.

 

[BalkanExpress]

I too have an old Cannondale, 1994 vintage M800 and i love my bike (in a good way of course). It has not seen as much use as Lukesdad´s M2000 but has been abused off road over the years and has recently doubled up as a tourer. Back in 94 my brother paid 800 for it. I then took it of his hands for half that.

There´s no doubting that it is a great bike and has years more service to come However, lets be honest here, we certainly paid for it: 800 quid in 94 was a heck of a lot of money. I´m too lazy to work out what the equivalent sum today would be (inflatiion adjusted etc) but 800 today would see you in cannondale F4 country, disc brakes 80mm of travel etc for not much if any more weight (I notice Cannondale do n´t put weights up any more my M800 is approy 11.5kg).

So yes, quality old kit is still quality, but let´s wait a few years to see how pound for pound the modern stuff compares.

 

[stewie griffin]

Just about everything that you can buy now, not just bicycles, seems to outperform its older equivalent, is usually cheaper, but has a much shorter lifespan.


Then you have to buy it again

Don't complain, be a good consumer how else do you expect your shares to go up?

 

[dav1d]

I'm going to buy a road bike. would I be better secondhand than new in terms of quality?

 

[andrew-the-tortoise]

Everything is build with planned obsolescence nowadays........