prj71

Oh hell...There are people people here (myself included) that have ONE WHEEL that costs more than $300!!!

Kedosto

Don’t know. Don’t care. It’s my hobby and considering what I’ve dropped on motorcycles, cars, boats, and RV’s (not to mention my wife and her horses), my bicycles are the least expensive hobby I have.

Someone around here has a sig line something to the effect “what do you think this is, a practice life?” And that’s exactly why I’m not waiting for tomorrow. If I can’t make room in my life for fun, what’s the point?

himespau 

When I got hit, the insurance company made me an offer for what they thought my bike was worth. I responded that I'd spent at least twice that on building it up from the bare frame with parts specific to what I'd wanted and, due to pandemic pricing, it would be even more than that now. They stuck with, "well this is what it's worth regardless of what it cost the first time or what it would cost to replace." Then they got crappy about covering my injuries, lawyers got involved, and, 9 months later, I still haven't seen a dime. The replacement bike I built cost way more than I expected (and more than they offered if you count the value of the spare parts I had in my bin for one that's not quite as good of a fit for what I wanted as the previous one. The problem with vintage is there often isn't an exact replacement anywhere.

genejockey 

Yep. I bought a bike for $150. It was mostly complete. But it needed a front wheel. Then i discovered it needed a new bar. Then, new brake levers, to be really authentic. A new RD, for the same reason. Then the NDS crank stripped out its threads when I tried to pull it, and I damaged it taking it off, so a new crankset. Then a new seatpost, since the old one was too short. Then I found a tubular wheelset for $50, so a new pair of tubulars. Then a new saddle after one of the solid aluminum rails on the Concor Superleggera broke. And that's not counting new cables, new brake pads, new bar tape, new tires and a new cassette for the first wheelset. New freewheel for the tubular wheelset. Then new pedals after I decided that DynaDrive with clips and straps wasn't for me.

I have not totaled it all up. I did buy as cheap as I could find without compromising too much, but still.

Koyote

Even before I scrolled down to see the photo, I knew it would be a Klamper.

If you're going to spend that much money on a brake caliper, that's the one you want.

Jax Rhapsody

I do stuff on the cheap, get what's good enough out of what I attain. I don't have a spare $300 to spend on parts, or an entire bike. I make magick, though.

L134 

Sounds like All State?

himespau 

USAA, but, from what I've heard, they're almost all pretty similar when you're not their customer but state law means your insurance doesn't cover it and you have to go through the insurer of the person who hit you (instead of getting reimbursed by your insurer and having them sue the other insurance to get reimbursed).

cyccommute 

My auto and home owner’s insurance is with USAA. I’ve had no problems with them as a customer making a claim. I haven’t had to deal with them (or anyone) making a claim against someone else’s insurance.

It’s still a good idea to keep a list of what your bikes have and to take pictures.

himespau 

When their adjusters first started playing games with me (lowball bike valuation, siccing a vehicle collections agency on me to pick up my "motorcycle" when I had not received any money from them or signed any rights over to them or even made any agreements of any sort with them, avoiding my phone calls in response to the previous, making deliberately inaccurate statements about their legal responsibilities regarding health care reimbursement in order to get me to quickly sign paperwork saying they were done, etc.), I took it quite personally. I've since come to see that all insurance adjusters, if you are not a customer of their company, are only out to save their company as much money as possible (it's how they get rewarded) and any complaints to their supervisors about their clearly unethical practices would only get them rewarded as they were annoying me into weakening my resolve. Seems to be common with any company, not just them.

I had pictures, before and after all over the bike. I took the bike to two different shops and paid (out of my pocket, never reimbursed) to get repair/replacement estimates. Both places said the bike was totaled, but, since it was a vintage lugged steel bike in an odd size built up with modern parts, there was no way to get the same thing again, nor was there a modern equivalent, and to get a comparable bike one would have to order a custom frame and modern parts to hang on it (ignoring that at the time there were no such parts available for order due to pandemic-related supply chain stuff). I sent the pictures and the statements from both bike shops to the adjuster, and he ignored the bit about it being totaled, claimed those were repair estimates which he wouldn't pay because the bike was totaled and sent back his own estimate of what they would pay, which was significantly less than half the lower of the 2 bike shop's estimates.

Also told me that I would have to pay out of pocket for all of my medical expenses (and couldn't use my health insurance until the whole thing was over as if I claimed any of it with my health insurance that was their responsibility it would be fraud), then, after my treatment was done, I would have to submit the bills to them, they would have their accounting department look them over, decide which were their responsibility, and reimburse me for the part of those that they felt responsible for (in an collision where both the driver and the responding police officer agreed the driver was 100% at fault - we were both stopped at a stoplight and she accelerated into me while the light was still red). He said that nothing could start until I signed the paperwork saying I'd absolved them of further responsibility and then it could take months or years (I was looking at thousands of dollars in x-ray, MRI, doctors, specialist, and PT rehab bills).

Oh and the collections agency calling at least 3 times a week for 3+ weeks trying to schedule the pick up of my "motorcycle" that "my insurance company now owned" even when I explained to every caller that I did not have a motorcycle and no one had any right to any of my personal property and, if they stepped foot on my property, I would have them prosecuted for trespassing.

None of that stopped until I got lawyers involved.

If you are not their customer, USAA will lie and cheat and **** you over any way that they can. I've heard from several of my classmates that are their now former customers (apparently there was an ownership/management change a couple years back) that they don't treat their customers much better after losses these days.

I don't know if other companies are much better, but everyone I've talked to says that, if you're not their customer, the experience might be a little different in degree of assholishness and deceit, but not in the fact that they're trying every way that they can to trick you into accepting as little payment as they can get away with.

Germany_chris

While I don't love USAA for a person like me that works overseas no matter where I go everything insurance is just a phone call away so USAA will always insure my house and it's crap and my car.

bruce19

If this had been my addiction instead of cars and motorcycles I'd have a few million in the bank.

Ryan_M

Well said!! I did that route on my first (recent) bike and I definitely lost money on it. By the end the legit only original part left was the frame. My last two bikes I got exactly the parts I wanted right out of the gate and built them from scratch. I saved a bundle! My latest bike that is nearly done cost me ~$4500CDN to build which is (IMO) a bit better than a nearly identical prebuilt bike that would cost me ~$6500CDN. I'll take it!

veganbikes

Filthy Peasants...such a cheap caliper using inferior ancient cables. This is the brake you really want (and one I really really do want)
https://enduro-mtb.com/en/trickstuff-maxima-review/ (their website is down at the moment so enjoy the review)

cyccommute 

You haven’t been trying hard enough!

By the time this (1998)

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

had become this (because of a broken frame, 2003)

93590004 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

The only original part was the front hub. By the time the above had become this (around 2014)



even the wheel from the original Stumpjumper was gone, as were most of the parts that had been replaced on the second Stumpjumper.

Then the Rockhopper became this (2017)




And even that didn’t stay that way for long.



Even now, the Dean is changed somewhat from the above picture.

Darth Lefty 

It does help if you think of your bike as a constellation of your favorite parts in formation and you will be replacing them as needed... not The Bike that is made of a thousand or more in parts.

We ran into a pinch with medical and daycare and I don't think I've made a bike purchase more than a tire in about a year. Just keeping it running. But there was a trip to Tahoe...

Noonievut

Good thread!

The thought of walking into a bike store, say after selling a bike and knowing this will be “the” bike, having it spec’d out with all the nice parts, and no feasible option for future upgrades...kind of boring. Sure it’s the economical way to go, but I need my time occupied obsessing over small upgrades, in particular in the cold winter months.

big chainring 

My riding buddy and I joke about the money we spend on our bikes. He on his modern bike spends a little bit more than I on my vintage bike. The $60 I spent on tires last year is more than I spent on the rest of the bike. Mercier is a fine bike.

BikingViking793 

can’t put a price on all the joy it brings.

Bug Shield

Unless you are strictly a collector, this is only one side of the balance sheet!

A ridden bike provides value to you in the form of exercise and health. To the extent that you ride rather than drive, it also provides savings in the form of reduced auto expenses.

I joke that I pay myself $0.50/mile to ride my bike and while I don't actually move funds, it is part of my thought process regarding expense/value.

burnthesheep

Wheels worth $300 versus the bike................pshhhh..........I'll raise you bike helmets worth more.

I got two of these used for stellar deals (worn once triathlete bucket list Ironman kind of deals), but new.......all of these helmets are over $300.

Koyote

Back to the issue at hand: it's certainly worth keeping close track of each bike's cost, and keeping the records to document that cost -- all of my receipts are in a file. If a bike disappears, your insurer will want documentation.

pdlamb

Re: insurance, if you've got replacement value, why do you need receipts? A few good pictures, print out web pages showing current cost, and that should be more relevant that what you paid for a dyno hub, Brooks saddle, or fancy brake 5-10 years ago.

wolfchild

People who have cheaper bikes are riding and using them hard...meanwhile people with $ 10 0000 bikes are boasting and having a pissing contest on internet forums about who blows more money on their bikes and parts.

cyccommute 

‘Cause people aren’t always honest. Receipts (and pictures) just make the process go faster.