Smaug1

This is intended to be just a fun (for some of us) exercise. Don't take it too seriously. If the thought of just 4 bikes causes indignant feelings of entitlement, anger, refusal or hair-pulling or anxiety, just move along; no need to crap in this thread. (mods, feel free to enforce!)

We do understand that if the same question is asked next month, the answer might be different. It's just for now. (that should alleviate some hair-pulling)

To answer some questions on the "rules":

• Yes, you can spend the entire amount on one bike, if desired. (or two or three bikes)
• Yes, you can split it up however you want
• If you're buying used, use a typical used price, in today's money, for such a bike, not: "I found the frame, so that was free, and I had all these parts in my garage, so they were free..."-type scenarios. It should be something we could reasonably go and buy on ebay.
• Bonus internet points for photos or links to help illustrate
• Yes, if you come in under budget, you can pocket the money, but NOT for another bike! You are stuck with these bikes for life!
• No, you cannot buy more bikes "for the wife" or "for the kids" that you will happen to use. They will each get to pick one bike for themselves, outside the scope of this thought exercise.
• No, reasonable accessories are not included in the price limit; you can add them later, but they should not approach the cost of the bike.(ex. racks, fenders, lights, air horns)
• Price limit doesn't include tax, shipping or maintenance

My four:

1. Priority Current. Commuter eBike with belt drive and CVT. This will be my commuter and grocery-getter. $3300
   
2. Trek Domane AL4 Gen 4, This will be my road bike, and maybe light gravel at times. $1700. (that brings us to $5k)
   
3. Surly Midnight Special - Steel gravel/all-around bike. $2200. (that brings us to $7200)
   
4. Priority Folder - Folding bike to easily take along on road trips, buses, trains. - $800
   
   

shelbyfv

Wileyrat

The only bike I’m willing to buy now that I’d be stuck for life with is a Campy equipped vintage Italian steel framed bike. Something with Colnago, Pinarello, or De Rosa on the down tube.

indyfabz

I’m out and about on one of my three functional bikes. Bought a rabbit to grill for dinner. I need to head home soon and start marinating it.

smd4

I'll play.

Only the best of the best for me:

Cinelli Supercorsa frame. I like the Laser Blue, but Titanium Grey works too. $3,200:


Matched with the Dura Ace 25th Anniversary parts. $3,700:



Minus a few: I will sell the seat post, integrated shifters, pedals and watch and trade them out for the following:

Down-tube shifters:


7400 DA stem:



7400 seatpost:


and pedals:

Whatever money remains I will get the saddle and cabling.

Jughed

one and done

$8K

ADH DISC - SHIMANO ULTEGRA | Dyneema | The Ultimate Road Bike – TIME - SHOP (timebicycles.com)

veganbikes

I mean 8k won't get me my Supercharger2 Rohloff I might have to go single battery and CX motor, no thanks. If I had 8k it would probably go towards a single dream bike and it may not cover that. But essentially a fixed gear road bike with a more upright geometry in titanium with Bastion Track Cranks (or Super Sugino 75 DD cranks), Kogel ceramic BB, Izumi Super Toughness Kai Chain and EAI Gold Medal Cog on custom Mack Hubs w/ Kogel ceramic bearings laced to Polished Velocity rims, Polished eeBrakes titanium stem and seatpost, Profile TT base bars in 44cm with the TRP carbon levers. Basically the most ridiculous fixed gear bike out there. Something to show off but also just be buttery smooth all over and just look super sexy but I think total I would be pretty close to 8K probably at least 6k and that is a lot for one gear.

base2 

That would get me ½ of a Vial Evo Disc.

How does one get 4 "decent" bikes with such a small amount of money?

One Wheel

I've been pondering a variant of this question lately: unlimited bikes with a combined budget limit, or a single bike with an unlimited budget?

I'm strongly inclined toward the latter, and have a partial parts list. I'm well aware that not all of these parts exist or play nice with each other, but it's all imaginary anyway at this point:

- Blue Steel Bikes titanium gravel frame, ideally with 10mm flip chips set so it can run a shorter wheelbase and 140mm rotors or long wheelbase and 160mm rotors without adjusting calipers. High gloss black powder coat base color, flat red on dropouts and BB shell fading about 4" into the adjoining tubes.
- Sram mechanical shifting, hydraulic brakes, with 10-36 12sp cassette and 50-34 chainrings
- Speeco ABB handlebar
- 2 wheelsets:
- 650b, aluminum, 160mm rotors, ~2" wide tires.
- 700c, 140mm rotors, 40-50mm deep carbon rims, (maybe Leeze?), with red Onyx hubs and black or red Berd Spokes, probably 32mm tires, spoke nipples alternate black-red-black-gold.

I've spent way too much time daydreaming about this bike.

icemilkcoffee 

I like the Dura Ace stem as much as the next guy, but on a Cinelli bike I would have to vote for a Cinelli stem and Cinelli handlebars. Cinelli made a huge variety of stems from mild to wild so one of them has to strike your fancy.

veganbikes

Yeah as much as I love the DA 25th I would have gone 50th Campagnolo or if a more modern feel I was looking for 80th anniversary Campagnolo with a nice sexy 1A stem (one of the modern ones if I couldn't get NOS) Though the Alter Stem could be pretty cool with 80th anniversary.

smd4

Nope. Like I said, the best of the best for me. The Dura Ace stem is widely considered the best quill stem ever made. I do agree about the handlebars.

smd4

Pretty ugly groups. I won't even dignify the Alter stem with a comment. Even the 1A stem, with its hideous exposed bolt is so 1960s. A 1R would be better, but still not there. The Dura Ace stem is arguably the nicest quill stem ever produced.

Nothing Campy except the C-Record cranks appeal to me. And their looks don’t depend on their function. But since they’re square taper…sorry.

Except for the looks of the cranks, there is nothing appealing about Campy components from the era I’m interested in.

This is my opinion: to satisfy people like Kontact who don’t know the difference.

Aubergine 

Impossible. There are just too many interesting and different bikes out there to choose four. In my stable I have several French bikes that I could not dispose of. I have a Gitane Fédéral, a Follis 172, à Peugeot Santé, and a hugely modified Peugeot AO-8, all of which are great fun to ride yet are very distinct in their characteristics. And then there are my American customs (Stevenson and Rodriguez) and my English bikes in full 531, which again offer something different, each of them. Can we expand the number to, say, 20?

urbanknight

Unless I read this incorrectly, you got rid of the integrated levers but only replaced it with shifters and no brake levers. I also don't see a handlebar or wheelset mentioned. Otherwise it's a beautiful choice (even if you didn't put Campy on it).

smd4

Why on earth would I put Campy on it? I said I wanted the best.

It was too much of a PITA to find and post pictures of everything. Yes. 7402 brake levers and Cinelli Giro d’Italia bars. Wolber Aero rims. Also Minoura bottle cages, ceramic hub bearings, Alligator cables, Bianchi Dino toe straps, Regal Evo saddle, Veloflex tires, TPU tubes….

PeteHski

1. $4k road bike
2. $4k mountain bike

I’m pretty close to that with my Canyon Endurace and Canyon Neuron. They add up to $9k, but I could easily live with a build tier lower on both.

RB1-luvr

Trek 920 $2100
Specialized Crux Expert $6200

I've never been good at staying within a budget.

schnee

Clever advertisement for Priority bikes!
making it 4 lets you 'bookend' with the two bikes you're promoting, and since it's 50% other brands it's not so obvious.

I need three bikes.

1) Brother Mehteh, gravel bike that can run 700c/45c or 650c/2.1" tires. Two wheelsets, 700c with slicks and 650c with knobby gravel tires, and it's really versatile.


2) Banshee Prime, raw - with 2.5" chunky trail tires, to handle anything else.

3) Genesis Broadway - cheap bike to get around town, without stressing about theft. I'll put fenders on eventually.

tomato coupe

When do we get to the part where someone insists it's foolish to spend $8k on one bike, when you could have four bikes for the same amount of money?

urbanknight

Does not compute
It's ironic me saying that as someone who has only ever owned one Campy equipped bike in his life.

Fredo76

By defining decency downward, until it bumps into Earth.

I could do a lot worse than four I have now.

OTOH, in the spirit of the thread, I might try to future-proof with a recumbent trike, maybe even one with assist as an option.

downtube42

An endurance bike for randonneuring. Comfortable, fenders, 32mm tires. Mech shift hydro disc. Trek SL5 Gen 4 at $3500 would get it done. Or something not a Trek. Add dyno lighting and fenders so around $4k

Fixed/SS for commuting and utility. Custom steel would be awesome but the $ might not be there. If not then a Surly Steamroller build. Aluminum rims, carbon fork, hydro front disc, dyno lighting. With the right geometry and 32mm tires, I'd do some brevets on this bike.

It would be great to have $100 left for a beater bar bike. Anything that fits.

CrimsonEclipse

Spend 2-3k on a good bike
Spend the rest on hookers and blow

base2 

Mostly I was just funnin'
I know there is no shortage of amazing bikes within the confines set by the OP.
Part of the challenge for me is so many bikes are so good now, narrowing it down to only 4 is a problem.