About to spend about R70K, advice please!!!

[TheLegend]

A friend told me today that he's about to spend 40 grand on a bike. he'll sell his old one so it might come to 25 grand which he has to fork out. I told him not to be a complete ejit and save the money since he has a perfectly fine bike. Of all things he wants to get a carbonfibre road bike. He rides strong and kicks most hubbers butt, however, it's not the bike that makes you go fast.

riding an expensive bike is a) stupid, b) nonsense and c) useless. you know what happens when you have something this expensive. you are reluctant to ride it if it might rain, you don't want it outside of the car for transports and you get an heart attack if it falls over. you can get a PERFECTLY fine bike for way less than 20 grand. perfectly fine stands as in suitable for all races.

get an aluminium bike! they are also very light by now and not comparable prone to total damages as carbonfibres. and if you have style you get a custom amde steel bike. it'll last forever and will not be much heavier than the standard road bike. and it's worth every cent.

 

a 70 grand bike? you are either single or you wife should kick your ass!

[slowtwitch]

So Becks, here we are...9 pages later a we have narrowed it down to...well at least a bike with 2 wheels, o and looking at your Vote list....mmm...you need to buy "OTHER"

 

But what did you expect from cyclist with their own preferences and ideas around biking????????

 

IT"S YOUR BIKE AND YOUR MONEY SO MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND WHAT YOU WANT

[AndreZA]

you can get a PERFECTLY fine bike for way less than 20 grand. get an aluminium bike! and if you have style you get a custom made steel bike. it'll last forever and will not be much heavier than the standard road bike. and it's worth every cent.

 

 

 

this is a very wise man.

 

 

 

I thought about these kind of question and there is just one answer, afshowgeid. Either they just want to brag about the money they have or they need to hide the money from the tax man.

 

 

 

.

[GoLefty!!]

what I will do next time I buy a bike, is NOT spend more than R30k.

 

Bikes in this price range are;

 

light enough &

stiff enough

 

The only differentiator is geometry. I would get the bike with top tube length required and with a long enough head tube to accommodate a higher handle bar height.

 

 

 

This is not a lecture on your finances

 

[Guttersnipe]

 

Nearly ten pages in now and we still aren't helping this guy. I re-read my own post with that same feeling of sudden shame that I get when I realise I've left the house wearing that sleevless jersey I bought from the bargain bin, and will have to head all the way back over chappies, suikerbossie and kloofnek before I can once again cover up my private self.

We are all going about this the wrong way.

There are the plain awful suggestions - the guy (it must be a guy) who either can't spell Merckx, or is making a very obscure joke, and recommends a 50k Schwinn, or the other guy (it also must be a guy) whose imagination soars to the dizzy heights of a Merde Scultura.

Then there are the financial advisors - poor people, or worse, miserly people, whose cheapskate "common sense" is just as much an affectation as the insistence that the elves in Alpine foothills who put "made in Italy" stickers on seat tubes impart some breath of nobility into crabon that highly skilled taiwanese frame builders can't.

GoLefty is the most conflicted of this crowd - his hub identity is based on a specific part made by a specific manufacturer, but he reckons at around R30k the only differentiator is geometry. You are  a Cannondale nut - a miserable place to be, I agree - or you aren't, either way, you can't be trusted.

And finally, there are sad bastards like me who reel off a list of their own conflicted fantasies: Pegoretti, Parlee, Pinarello, piss off.

Let's look at the OPs poll. He wants to know if he should get a Trek, a Giant, a Specialized, a Cervelo, Other.

This suggests two things. He has not ranged far beyond his local cyclelab, and he is interested in brands - pretty boring ones at that - not specific models. That means his purchase more about projecting an identity than it is about how fast he is going to go on a particular bike. The more cash you have, the more latitude you have to design that projection, but we all do it.

So what we need to do is ask him some really important questions:

Lagavulin, Johnny Walker Black, Wild Turkey or J&B?

Porsche GT2, Audi Q7, Golf GTI, Hyundai something or other?

The Decemberists, AC/DC, ColdPlay, Bellini?

Paul Smith, Armani or Woolworths W?

Nike, Puma, North Face or Lowe.

Now, as much as I want to insist that there are correct answers to these questions, that is not the point. We are trying to help make the guy happy, not to make him cool. So, we need to construct a matrix of his answers.

Porsche GT2 - Storck Fascenario

Audi Q7 - S-works Roubaix

The Decemberists - Indy Fab

Cold Play - Raleigh

It gets more complicated when we start combining answers. For example, Lagavulin suggest Moots, while Hyundai says Merde - if he chooses both, we are probably in Planet X territory for the frame, and maybe looking at Reynolds wheels and DuraAce.

The point is to make the bike the most perfect possible expression of our OPs aspirations. That way, the buyer's remorse that we all know so well will have an exquisitely fine-tuned quality of self-loathing about it.

I'm guessing he's a Woolworths/BMW/Coldplay kinda guy, and a Cervelo S3 would probably be perfect, but we really need more data to make the call.

I am not telling you what I hate about my bikes - it is way too personal for the hub.

 

 

pistadex2009-03-20 01:14:44

[Old school]

PM me for thishttp://www.feltracing.com/09/images/catalog/large/8882.png

[Becks06]

Thanks all for your input' date=' I have learned more about brands and types in the last 2 days than in the last 5 years of cycling. Also learned valuable lessons about cyclists in general, ha ha ha.

 

As far as the snotty types about my ability on a bike!!!??? I would love to have a couple of lessons. Lets go ride together, best way for me to learn. Anybody keen?

 

Cheers.

[/quote']

Anyone in the Cape area keen?

[TheLegend]

Thanks all for your input' date=' I have learned more about brands and types in the last 2 days than in the last 5 years of cycling. Also learned valuable lessons about cyclists in general, ha ha ha.

 

As far as the snotty types about my ability on a bike!!!??? I would love to have a couple of lessons. Lets go ride together, best way for me to learn. Anybody keen?

 

Cheers.

[/quote']

 

The question might sound odd, but do you have a solar water heater or solar cells on your rooftop?

[Overlord]

''About to spend 70K, advice please!!!''

I just went and had a look at all the posts that was made under this topic and everyone of you got it wrong.

He wants to spend 70K on a bike and needs a bit of advice.

My take on this is as follow

1) Find complete bikes in the 70K range. Not higher.

2)List these bikes each with the pro's and cons of each and every bike in that range.

3) Once the prospective buyer decides on one or two of these bikes and asks for anymore info on said bikes point him/her to that specific bikes website with maybe links to reviews.

4) If you ride any of these bikes that he/she is interested in tell him how the bike feels,rides and respond. Not how you feel riding the bike.

[Azonic]

A 70k bike will make you no faster than a 20k bike, unless you have TdF capabilities. I'm pretty strong myself and my 16k bike is all I will ever need. I will never justify anything better. Take whatever cash you have and put it on your house bond or car loan, whatever.

[Yang]

pistadex- respect- what a great post- that was quality wordsmithing.  

Finriss, its nice to find another CKT fan. I took mine out for its first race at the Argus, and in respective terms I got what I believe was my best time for the Argus, 79th in my group. And my previous Argus' bike was a Giant TCR alu.

 

So I back up your recommendation for the CKT. It's aggro lines make you want to walk the talk. Its as if it makes you want to perform. Who cares about the name- at least guys like us aren't hung up about brand names, like the kids who refuse to go to the mall unless they're wearing Nike shoes, Lizzard shirts and Diesel pants. 

 

Becks06, you're spending your money because you can, although it looks like most haven't picked up on the fact that you'll be outlaying R20,000 after selling your other 2. You may not consider the CKT but the moral of the story is to buy what looks good to you, what excites you when you see it, and damn the rest. Then buy it because you BW can.

 

 

 

[davidwater]

Word

Nothing worse than the missus (who doenst have a bike)pulling a face when you rant and rave about the spec you got for 70K