xpenny

Let me be the first one to admit that, part of the strong urge to put on those deep profile aero wheels, carbon crank, light-weight anodized brakeset comes from pure aesthetics. I may or may not feel the difference in performance. Even if I feel it, not sure how much is phsycological. But a sexy looking bike just makes me sleep better at night.

How many of you are as superficial as me?

vermilionx

i am very vain as well.

but i have too many hobbies so i have to still be within budget.

fake it till you make it! lolz

nosaj

Let's not kid ourselves. You are still going to look like a dork regardless of how much you spend.

10 Wheels

I bought these for looks.
Also as an incentive to loose some weight.

xpenny

The sad part is, we still want to spend the money to look like a dork.

xpenny

Nothing wrong with the bikes, but what's up with the pedals?

primov8

No denying that aesthetics is key in my choice of builds. After recovering from ACL reconstruction last spring, I bought an '09 Cervelo S2 since I've always wanted to try a Cervelo. By August, I ended up buying a 2010 S2 because I wanted the white frameset. Then came this Feb. and bought a 2012 S5; in the last two weeks, I bought and finished building up my 2012 Ridley Noah Pro because aesthetically, it just looks so much better than what Cervelo has to offer. Also, since the 2012 Noahs changed to BB30, another key factor in making the Noah my next build.

The '09 & '10 S2s are gone with the S5 up in limbo. I don't race, will never have the time to actually train for it, and am looking forward to avg. 100-150 miles/week and I certainly don't mind having a bike that has the potential to stand out from the rest.

fishymamba

+1

I got my one and only bike because it looked cooler than than the other bikes I could get. I did get new wheels, but I actually needed them because my old wheels wore out. I did pay $20 extra to get them in white!

xpenny

$20 to make your bike more blingy than others, I say, is money well spent

StanSeven

That's like buying a V-12 Ferrari and disconnecting eight spark plug wires and adding mud/snow tires to make it an off road, fuel efficient vehicle

generalkdi

I upgrade to get faster. Geting faster makes me sleep better at night

jsutkeepspining

i tell everyone i know at races this "im not fast, so my bike needs to look fast so people will be intimidated by my fast-looking ness"

IthaDan 

guilty.

roccobike

Me too.

bianchi10

Guilty as well!

jefflichty

guilty here as well

aruban

I try to go a week without buying something for cycling. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't.

Porkponey

Absolutely. It's one of my very favorite things about the sport. They make blingy parts for a reason. When I can afford to, I get the shiny stuff. No shame in my game.

xpenny

My wife is pretty good on checking my spending on bike stuff.

DropDeadFred

I bought mine purely based on looks, it rides like a brick and I hate it but damn it's sexy *sarcasm*

Seriously though...looks matter

Carbon Unit

I don't upgrade for looks, I upgrade for speed. However, if I am upgarding and have a choice between two products, I will spend a little more to get more bling. I am planning to upgrade my groupo. I can get Campy Chorus cheaper than Record but Record has the bling factor. Oher than about a 100 grams, I can not see a big advantage that Record has over Chorus but I still want Record.

WHOOOSSHHH...

alexfboyle

Road cyclists are extremely vain creatures. If you can find one who says (s)he doesn't care about how the bike looks, they're either lying, or wrong.

CuRed

Image is everything.

10 Wheels

Size 14 shoes...