mid vs Highend Mid vs High end vs Ultra High end

[DieselnDust]

But occasionally you make the wrong life choices or get a tough break and all of a sudden you go from middle middle class to lower struggling middle class and take what ever job you can find.

Thats life, you do what you can to keep going and keep giving the kids the best you can, even if that means sacrificing your own "wants".

 

Bingo, spot on, wheres the love button, post of the day

sometimes you make great choices but there are decisions elsewhere that are out of our control

Edited September 3, 2020 by DieselnDust

[The Ouzo]

Bingo, spot on, wheres the love button, post of the day

sometimes you make great choices but there are decisions elsewhere that are out of our control

Its taken me 10 hard years to get to a position where I could buy some wants for my cycling rather than needs.

Going from a position where you can easily afford to buy something on a whim to a position where you prioritize which bills you will be paying that month and which you wont is heart braking.

[Jewbacca]

The expenses don't stop there...

University fees..., Lekker R20k bill due end of September and ten next year will cost me a New carbon MTB while I probably have to get a third car

Don't have kids.

So now I keep my bikes going, buy new parts and when something breaks lean on SANTAM. I pay them enough money to cover everything and they do.

Don't have kids.

I hear you.. I more meant one can't really weigh in on 'the cost' of kids when yours is still a freshie and not yet at school, eating everything and playing sports.

 

Grease's spawn is even younger than mine.

 

I'm grateful that the wife and I put away money for him and continue to do so every month. He has more money in his trust fund than I have in the money market these days after paying a large chunk of the bond up front to take our monthly expenses down. The Bond is now less per  month that medical aid, which has really helped during the last few months. We own both our cars which is also huge.

 

So yes, being smart and having opportunity to use said smarts is a huge advantage and something we shouldn't take for granted.

 

I still don't have massive amounts of income to flush into an expensive bike when my ageing but very capable bikes still work better than my skill set.

[DieselnDust]

Cannondales aluminium offerings are so much value for money and they’re really light as well.

 

If I recall correctly the difference in weight with the CAAD13 vs Lstest Supersix is around 150g or so. So much value there.

 

 

I think its even less than 150gr, around 80-100gr. The difference between the Hi-mod frame and CAAD12 was 250gr.

All you gain from Hi-Mod over CAAD is downtube and BB Stiffness. The CAAD 12 and 13 are brillinat framesets and they don't suffer BB mislalignment like the carbon frames. They're proper BB30

[GuyKilfoil]

 

Very much not high end, very much happy.

 

Just need to find a bearing cover so can complete the slam, just can’t find one.

Me too @Pure Savage!!

 

This is what I was talking about in my post earlier.

 

My old superbike and new supersteed attached:

[Popit]

Me too @Pure Savage!!

 

This is what I was talking about in my post earlier.

 

My old superbike and new supersteed attached:

 

Nice Bikes ....

In all fairness to your earlier post , you MUST BE 35-40% stronger now . 

Strava doesn't lie ......

[The Ouzo]

Me too @Pure Savage!!

 

This is what I was talking about in my post earlier.

 

My old superbike and new supersteed attached:

did you enjoy watching the Lamas from that view in your second pic?

[GuyKilfoil]

Nice Bikes ....

In all fairness to your earlier post , you MUST BE 35-40% stronger now .

Strava doesn't lie ......

[GuyKilfoil]

Nice Bikes ....

In all fairness to your earlier post , you MUST BE 35-40% stronger now . 

Strava doesn't lie ......

No, it definitely doesn't lie. And I'm definitely much stronger right now for sure but I've done only one coffee ride and one Northcliff climb on my roadbike since recovering from COVID in June. So almost all of mileage on the roadie was done inside the below red block (I only got the bike in February). Everything before this block was on the Tarmac, so it's a close to apples with apples bike comparison (there's only a 12W FTP difference, nullified by the extra weight on the bike, because I weigh the same):

[GuyKilfoil]

did you enjoy watching the Lamas from that view in your second pic?

 

Haven't seen the llama's in a while. We went up there two Sundays ago and they were MiA.

[Grease_Monkey]

My spawn is just over a year old.

 

With Corona, I no longer drive my Land Rover, so all the money I spent on oil, diesel and repairs has now become free money.....

 

But no, Grease, we aren't paying school fees, feeding a teenager or doing any of the hard feeding yet. Don't be too quick to hand out advice until your kid is at least 14.

 

I'm well aware that the expenses pile up faster than oil stains in my driveway

Haha I am well aware

 

I am not talking about myself here... I am in no position to buy superbikes!

 

But I do know of many people with 3, even 4 kids (granted older than me), that have all the nice toys/cars/houses/holidays. I am very open about the fact I am one of the lucky kids whose parents were in that position.

 

The common thread is hard work, a little bit of being in the right place at the right time, and even more of making the most of it when you are in the right place at the right time. Not advice per sé, just my observations.

Edited September 3, 2020 by Grease_Monkey

[DR ◣◢]

The common thread is hard work, a little bit of being in the right place at the right time, and even more of making the most of it when you are in the right place at the right time. Not advice per sé, just my observations.

Exactly that. Hard work and calculated risks.

 

Definitely not entitlement and luck. The writing across my knuckles reads “SELF MADE” for a damn good reason.

Edited September 3, 2020 by Mr Dampf

[TyronLab]

I honestly give props to guys that consciously made the decision not to have kids, regardless of reason, as I think there are way too many people that have kids for the wrong reasons. Filling a void, keeping your marriage going (personal favourite), keeping up with the Jones' or just doing it because, y'know, that's just what you do... none of these are reasons to have a kid.

 

My wife and I chose to have kids (two so far, 4y and 5m pigeon pair) knowing full well what it entailed. Well, at least we thought we did, but we also knew there were many unknown unknowns and that that was OK.

 

I would choose just waking up next to that chubby little smiling face once over a million über bikes in a heartbeat.

 

I feel sorry for your kids if you're pissing and moaning that giving them an education and keeping them healthy means you can't have a carbon ******* bicycle.

[Wayne pudding Mol]

But occasionally you make the wrong life choices or get a tough break and all of a sudden you go from middle middle class to lower struggling middle class and take what ever job you can find.

Thats life, you do what you can to keep going and keep giving the kids the best you can, even if that means sacrificing your own "wants".

This is the harsh reality far more common these days than having spare cash for fancy mamil builds - you think you’ve got it all sussed out and then Corona hits or you lose a loved one or the government decides to punish you for building a business and providing jobs for 20 years.

It’s good to remember that this transition from doing ok to battling can happen so fast

 

You wouldn’t think it from my bikes but it’s busy happening to me. Some ok planning and some luck will make my landing softer but life will be different

 

My advice for life is avoid credit wherever possible and when you do need it be in an equitable position - in other words whatever you’ve financed should be worth more than what you owe

Edited September 4, 2020 by Waynemol

[Wayne pudding Mol]

Exactly that. Hard work and calculated risks.

 

Definitely not entitlement and luck. The writing across my knuckles reads “SELF MADE” for a damn good reason.

 

50 cent is a hubber - and my wife says cyclists aren’t cool

[Me rida my bicycle]

My spawn is just over a year old.

 

With Corona, I no longer drive my Land Rover, so all the money I spent on oil, diesel and repairs has now become free money..... 

 

But no, Grease, we aren't paying school fees, feeding a teenager or doing any of the hard feeding yet. Don't be too quick to hand out advice until your kid is at least 14.

 

I'm well aware that the expenses pile up faster than oil stains in my driveway

come on be honest we are all friends here who don't judge you can tell us the truth.

Your not driving the Landy because it's broken? ????