Originally Posted by
2muchroad
I'm just wondering, you self-admittedly ride bikes to push the limit of what your body is capable of, but do you believe that a bike in your budget range, let's say $5,000, would help you achieve quantifiably better fitness results than a $2,000 bike could?
Did I say that?
For me it's not about enjoyment, but profitability and value.
I am talking about used bikes, but $2000 is a threshold where I believe that the performance levels of certain bike parts and their cost/benefit ratio starts to reach a point of diminishing returns.
Of course you can spend $10,000 on a road bike, but the question for me personally would be whether there is an actual, justifiable performance advantage compared to a more cost effective solution. And the answer is no, in my opinion.
Pre-pandemic, 2000 was probably not a bad spot to claim a decent performance bike after which returns would drop off faster than it might be worth. Currently I think its about 4k but you probably have to shop around to get the best deals. For 4k I got a trek cross frameset, 12sp force wireless, and king wheelset custom built with lightbicycle rims along with the rest of the parts needed to make a functioning bike.
Originally Posted by
Smaug1
Depends on the car. My Miata is 24 years old and it's extremely low maintenance. Watch it blow a gasket, now that I said that.
It also depends on one's standards. For example:
- the power windows are pretty draggy and slow on my Miata, but they keep working, so I left it alone.
- I think the shift boot is shot, as I can feel some heat getting through
- It weeps a bit from the front main seal; maybe a cup every 10,000 miles
- The oil temp gauge is frozen in one place.
If I started fixing things like these, I guess it could get expensive.
I guess you mean 'vintage [something besides Japanese] cars'.
Don't forget old volvos. Windows eventually go all the way down, locks work most of the time, but it starts, runs, stops and shuts off at 25 years and 300k miles.
Originally Posted by
base2
I love the assumption that I paid for my road bike as if it were a bought commodity item. A better question would be how much I spent on my road bike. I have only ever purchased 2 bikes at a store. One was a last season hold over bought at a 50% discount totaling $600 after tax with helmet & pedals. The other cost $6000 dollars. I still own both & neither remained in store bought configuration for long.
The $600 one is hanging in my garage rafters with a crack at the chain stay bridge. I've probably cycled $10,000 dollars of income (hyperbole?) through that frame set in one form or another over the years. The $6000 one lives on the Zwift trainer with an untold amount of ridiculous weight weenie upgrades. It weighs in the 13 pound range.
Blowing $50,000 in a decade on bikes is still cheaper than financing one moderately priced car. TBH, I'd rather have a bike instead of some equivalent cost "Sat/Nav entertainment package" option any day.
My moderately priced car is now 10 years old, has 178k miles, was new off the floor and only 28k with interest by the end of the loan period. Only wish I'd paid that little for bikes over the same time period. If it was for just me I'd have been able to keep it under that but with bikes for the whole family I've blown past my car "investment" but the car is still going so there is that.