Originally Posted by badsac
Buy twice what you can afford. Then you've got to ride the thing or you'll never be able to live with yourself. That's what I did. Now out of me and two mates who bought bikes at the same time (but they only bought what they could afford) I'm the only one riding. And since the bike is so nice, I want to ride more and have fallen in love with the sport. Correspondingly, I'm not so slow anymore, so you could almost say the bike isn't better than me anymore.
I think that's terrible advice. Buy what you can afford. Where you can make the argument that some people only stick with it to justify their bike, there are far more people who are just starting out and somehow feel that they NEED DA and CF, then three months later their $3000 bike is sitting in the garage or on ebay.
If you're just starting out and want the best, and can afford it, then go for it.
If you're on a budget, buy something within your budget and then upgrade later if you find you love the sport.