Originally Posted by
D-Fuzz
To qualify, I'm not a total noob to cycling. I rode mountain bikes for years and a couple years ago I bought I gravel bike which I use to commute with and do gravel rides as I live on the edge of the city, so lots of rural roads to explore. Up until recently, I would categorize my rides leisurely as I only pushed myself as hard as a felt I wanted.
I've since joined a cycling club, mainly to improve my fitness level and improve my riding. I feel both are being accomplished. I bought the Defy because it was a decent bike and I figured for the price, if riding in a group wasn't my thing, I wouldn't take a bath if I decided to just go back to riding my gravel bike full time.
I think I've past that line in the sand, so now I just want to make sure I'm not bringing a knife to a gun fight, so-to-speak. I'm not really prepared at present to $4-5k on a carbon bike, but I don't mind spending some extra to either upgrade my Defy or maybe move to the next tier.
From reading your comment above & making some assumptions, I'd keep what you have for a while w/o upgrading and see if you really are hooked on cycling. If so, get the $4-5k bike - if not, you didn't lose anything. I'm afraid you may be the type (like me) that just keeps upgrading until you get the best/really good quality. Those middle steps can get expensive.