When to spend and when not to

[Kevoffthetee]

After quite a long time looking at bikes and fettling with Le Pug, I am in a position to purchase my new steed. Only problem is I can't bring myself to do it.

I've tried several bikes which look nice and ride fine but are they £800-£1000 better than the Peugeot. The answer for many is yes and once I've got one Im sure I'll love it but I'll probably be using the MTB and the Peugeot in the winter anyway and only use the new steed as a fair weather bike.

Coupled with only being able to get out on a Saturday morning due to family commitments, I just don't know what to do.

What have any of you guys/gals with limited bike time done about new bikes?

 

[slowmotion]

I think that I can safely say that " I wish I hadn't bought that bike....." will not be my dying words.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

If you really feel it isn't justified - don't spend the dosh. If you want one and will ride it and can afford it - go for it. Simples

 

[jayonabike]

Buy it, ride it when you can, enjoy.

 

[PeteXXX]

Having the dosh to spend but not the time to spend it is surely better than t'other way round!!

 

[Fab Foodie]

I have limited bike time and what I want is to spend my time riding something nice that fits my needs.

For the last 8 years I've been riding a very nice Alu/Carbon Giant TCR1 with Ultegra/Dura Ace. A very fine steed indeed, but recently I bought a 1982 Holdsworth Elan on a whim from Biggs682 and fell in love. It's nothing special really, but I like to ride it, it's interesting, people ask about it, it's fast enough and comfortable. It's the bike i choose to ride now and the Giant is being stripped for my other project ....

For a long time I was thinking about a new bike, lighter, faster, fabber in every way, a summer best-bike - just like everybody else was buying, and you know what? I couldn't find anything that floated my boat. Then I thought about all the downsides of the bikes that I had and when I used the bikes and when they were compromised and worked from there. What didn't my current bikes do well that I needed them too?
So I found that I was riding further not faster. I found that a large percentage of my riding was done in the dark. 50% of my cycling was in winter. Carrying kit was a compromise. Lack of mudguards, lack of large winter tyres above 25C. Wanted something comfortable and something different. So I've gone for a custom steel fast Audax bike from Rourke, which will take up to 28c tyres with guards, a dynohub for the darkness faff, and a stable carrier system for saddle-bags of different sizes for longer day(s) in the saddle.
The Holdsworth will remain my summer fun bike.
The Rourke my winter/long distance, night-time bike. It will be simple, DT shifters, simple cable runs, 8/9/10 speed and both Shimano and Campag compatible.
The Giant will be cannibalised for the Rourke.

Will I miss the whizzy Giant? I don't know. Will I hanker after some Carbon exotica? Maybe, (I rode a carbon Pinarello in Italy last week and it was terrifyingly competent).
What I will have though is a bike that I hope is fun to ride, does something the others don't and will be a bit special and different from the crowd. Will it be 'better' than the Holdsworth? In many ways yes, but it's not replacing, it's complimenting ....
Don't try and better Le Pug, buy something to compliment it!

 

[Cycleops]

I know what you mean, all of my bikes here are at least thirty years old. I have considered buying buying a modern one but what will it give me above what I have now? The answer of course is very little, but we are all consumers and we enjoy the thrill of a new purchase. Seeing how much better, comfortable, faster and smoother it will be than your existing bikes, even if the difference will be marginal. I am going to keep my decision to buy a new bike on the back burner for now but I expect I will circum eventually!

 

[Kevoffthetee]

Thanks FF

I think I'll be trawling existing forum posts to cover the points you brought up regarding tyres and winter "compatibility" rather than just looking at them as a road bike.

I've also got to think whether buying a bike with the higher end of equipment is worth it over the low end, eg spending £500-600 on sora or £800+ on 105

 

[RussellZero]

I felt a little less guilty about spending money by selling my previous bike - I got a good price for it too, so all helps

 

[byegad]

Having the dosh to spend but not the time to spend it is surely better than t'other way round!!

Having been there regarding having the cash, but not the time, I disagree.

After mental health problems I took a big hit by going back to work in a far less stressful job which paid 50% of what I had been earning, but gave me more time to myself. 10 years later I took early retirement, again reducing my income by 50%. I've been happier since then, some 8 years ago, than I've ever been and still seem to have money to spend. I don't change my car every couple of years, I don't do foreign holidays every year, but we were in France for a fortnight last year!

Sometimes climbing the slippery pole is a self perpetuating nightmare and you could be 'better off' downsizing your monetary expectations and working to live rather than living to work.

 

[Peteaud]

My fair weather bike does not do many miles, but every time i ride it i know why i bought it, if that makes sense.

If you have a test ride on a bike and it put a big silly grin on ya face, you know you should own it.

 

[vernon]

Thanks FF

I think I'll be trawling existing forum posts to cover the points you brought up regarding tyres and winter "compatibility" rather than just looking at them as a road bike.

I've also got to think whether buying a bike with the higher end of equipment is worth it over the low end, eg spending £500-600 on sora or £800+ on 105

I have a bike with a Sora group group set and one with a 105 group set. There's not that much difference between them performance wise but a large difference in cost.

My Rohloff hub gear belt drive set up on a bike is superior to both - two oil changes in the past two years taking a total of ten minutes. One adjustment of belt tension. No indexing adjustment or other maintenance needed.

My bikes don't occupy a hierarchy but are used for specific types of ride. The degree of use for each one is determined by the terrain/purpose of the ride.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Thanks FF

I think I'll be trawling existing forum posts to cover the points you brought up regarding tyres and winter "compatibility" rather than just looking at them as a road bike.

I've also got to think whether buying a bike with the higher end of equipment is worth it over the low end, eg spending £500-600 on sora or £800+ on 105

You're welcome ...
You don't need to by a whole groupset either, or go with 'standard' gearing, or standard anything. It doesn't all have to be new either. I was pretty inspired by the wide range of different bikes at the Bespoke bike show, it's a great place for inspiration.
Things I liked were wide range 1x10 gear systems (do you really need 20 or 30 gears?)
You can have it MTB hub based
I like DT shifters, they're cheap and simple and light compared to STI's
I wanted braze-ons for lighting cables, speedo cables.
I wanted 3 bottle cages (one will be for a hip flask!)
I nearly went disc at the front and std brakes at the back ... who needs a rear disc on a road bike? (I can do this in the future as the fork can be modified for discs)
Then wheels you have a multitude of choices to have what you want
You can have old-style drop-outs to convert to fixed
I have a rear-hub that comes apart by hand ... no tools required if you break a drive-side spoke.

It doesn't have to be a new frame either, a good steel frame can be readily modified and resprayed.

You don't have to build it all at once .....

 

[Cuchilo]

Pugs are nice bikes . I had a mint one for a while and it was a lovely ride . Nicer than my carbon and alu giants but it didn't fit my needs .
I have my winter bike with panniers / mudgaurds at the ready and my best bike is looking pretty hanging on the wall for when I want to use it .
I have thought about using the best bike as a run a bout on dry days but I like it as a treat for when I have the time to go for a proper ride .
Go on , treat yourself You can spend silly money on upgrades for it as well

 

[numbnuts]

I'm in the same boat, at the start of the year I saw something to do with cycling (it's cycling Jim, but not as we know it) so I started to save, I have all the money now, but I can't bring myself to spend all that money on myself I feel guilty now if I do it.