Bike Bling; own up

MartinM said:

Just returned from a great MTB weekend in Wales (Afan Forest). One of
the club members had to have a souvenir, a 17.99 Hope seat post clamp
of no use to him other than the name on the side, certainly no better
than the one he had. What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

Mine is a pair of £15 Vitus pedals (because they were yellow)

Two new yellow tyres (can't remember cost, but they are Michelin Pro Race)
to match the frame. The existing black tyres were in perfect nick.

--
Brian Wakem
Email: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/b.wakem/myemail.png

Brian Wakem said:

What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

according to wifey, a non-fixed singlespeed (Pompino) when I have a
racer I could leave in the middle gear. 🙂

my mate bought Hope disks for his MTB that only ever commutes & might
see the occasional fire break in Thetford Forest.

in message <[email hidden]>,

MartinM (') said:

Just returned from a great MTB weekend in Wales (Afan Forest). One of
the club members had to have a souvenir, a 17.99 Hope seat post clamp
of no use to him other than the name on the side, certainly no better
than the one he had. What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

Mine is a pair of £15 Vitus pedals (because they were yellow)

Oh God, where to start? New pair of Look Keo pedals - OK, they are
carbon, OK, they are 150 grammes lighter than the old Look Deltas they
replace, but the real reason for buying them is because they're black.
And cool. And did I mention they're black? Oh, and my new Deda carbon
tri bars. Yup, OK, they are by 50 grammes the lightest tri-bars I could
find, but basically I bought them because they're black. And cool. And
did I mention I still can't break thirty minutes on a club ten?

But with these...

We'll see tomorrow.

I mean, dammit, my whole road bike is just an embarrassing confection of
bike bling. I had a perfectly good steel bike before I started to put
the new one together - indeed, I've still got it, and it's still
perfectly good. I don't /need/ a carbon monocoque bike. I don't need all
it's ultra-pretty, ultra-light, ultra-expensive bits and pieces. It is
pure toy. Pure bling. And, as Mr Armstrong says, it's not about the
bike. No matter how much money I spend, I'm still not very fit, and not
very strong, and until I do something about that I won't go very fast...

.... but I do like toys.

Oh, and the Cannondale? Well....

Look, just leave me alone!

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
"This young man has not the faintest idea how socialists think and does
not begin to understand the mentality of the party he has been elected
to lead. He is quite simply a liberal"
-- Ken Coates MEP (Lab) of Tony Blair

MartinM said:

What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

Well it was a gift but it has to be the cheap and nasty bottle dynamo
with a cumbersome lump of plastic to attach to the handlebars that was
intended to hold my mobile phone and recharge it while I cycled. Since
my phone lasts for days as it is, it never saw any of my bikes.

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

MartinM said:

Just returned from a great MTB weekend in Wales (Afan Forest). One of
the club members had to have a souvenir, a 17.99 Hope seat post clamp
of no use to him other than the name on the side, certainly no better
than the one he had. What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

Mine is a pair of £15 Vitus pedals (because they were yellow)

Airzounds.
But I haven't bought it yet.
I just know I will.
--

Martin Bulmer

MartinM said:

Just returned from a great MTB weekend in Wales (Afan Forest). One of
the club members had to have a souvenir, a 17.99 Hope seat post clamp
of no use to him other than the name on the side, certainly no better
than the one he had. What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

Mine is a pair of £15 Vitus pedals (because they were yellow)

I think I can honestly say I've never bought a bike item /purely/ for its
looks, but good looking combined with a tiny weight saving is another
matter :-) Most expensive must be Record triple chainset (although that
was second- hand), only difference between it and Chorus being the alloy
chainring bolts.

SRP alloy crank bolts with matching anodised lazer-etched dustcaps are
also pretty silly.

~PB

Martin Bulmer said:

Airzounds.
But I haven't bought it yet.
I just know I will.

Doesn't qualify - the OP specified "useless".

Hmm. I've got skull & crossbone valve caps on a couple of my unicycles,
but they don't qualify because the OP specified expensive. I can't
think of anything I've bought that was both useless *and* expensive.
The 152mm cranks I'm currently trying out might qualify, I haven't
decided yet.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Just returned from a great MTB weekend in Wales (Afan Forest). One of
the club members had to have a souvenir, a 17.99 Hope seat post clamp
of no use to him other than the name on the side, certainly no better
than the one he had. What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

Mine is a pair of £15 Vitus pedals (because they were yellow)

A bell,complete with built in compass that, unfortunatly, has the same sense
of direction that I do.

Admittedly it is one of the few instruments that can "prove" that the sun
ries in the north and sets in the south!!

Danny Colyer wrote:

I can't

Quoted message said:

think of anything I've bought that was both useless *and* expensive.

by useless I mean no better or lighter than what was already on the
bike; purchased solely for pose value. Colour is a bit of a grey area,
I had to replace new bar tape/ saddle when I bought a new frame just
out of vanity as the old ones looked awful (but did manage to sell the
saddle later)

"Brian Wakem" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

MartinM said:

What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

Quoted message said:

Two new yellow tyres (can't remember cost, but they are Michelin Pro Race)
to match the frame. The existing black tyres were in perfect nick.

Ha! I'm not alone.
I was passing the LBS and after being drawn inward by its mass found myself
escaping with the aid of a pair of blue tyres to match my bikes frame.
In fairness the existing tyres are getting worn although that was only an
excuse to get the blue ones <1> (when I got home the old ones didn't appear
as worn in reality as they did in my minds eye when in the shop).
<1>Along with the fact I can't escape the shop without a purchase even if
only a pack of patches.

--
Pete
http:[email hidden]/P

"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Danny Colyer wrote:

I can't

Quoted message said:

think of anything I've bought that was both useless *and* expensive.

by useless I mean no better or lighter than what was already on the
bike; purchased solely for pose value. Colour is a bit of a grey area,
I had to replace new bar tape/ saddle when I bought a new frame just
out of vanity as the old ones looked awful (but did manage to sell the
saddle later)

I bought a pair of new bottles to match the frame because I couldn't stand
the sight of the old mis-matched ones. I'm generally a scruffy bugger so
that kind of thing surprises even me.
--
Pete
http:[email hidden]/P

Martin Bulmer said:

Airzounds.
But I haven't bought it yet.
I just know I will.

<Zounds anonymous> I bought one because I knew it was inevitable. Its
fun though, not really bling, & will be quite useful when I need to
shift a truck if Im riding the correct bike that day.

On Mon, 8 Aug 2005 06:33:17 +0000 (UTC), "Peter B" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"Brian Wakem" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

MartinM said:

What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

Quoted message said:

Two new yellow tyres (can't remember cost, but they are Michelin Pro Race)
to match the frame. The existing black tyres were in perfect nick.

Ha! I'm not alone.
I was passing the LBS and after being drawn inward by its mass found myself
escaping with the aid of a pair of blue tyres to match my bikes frame.
In fairness the existing tyres are getting worn although that was only an
excuse to get the blue ones <1> (when I got home the old ones didn't appear
as worn in reality as they did in my minds eye when in the shop).
<1>Along with the fact I can't escape the shop without a purchase even if
only a pack of patches.

Glad I've got a black bike. No temptation there.

On Mon, 08 Aug 2005 07:26:01 GMT, [email hidden] (Steven)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Ha! I'm not alone.
I was passing the LBS and after being drawn inward by its mass found myself
escaping with the aid of a pair of blue tyres to match my bikes frame.
In fairness the existing tyres are getting worn although that was only an
excuse to get the blue ones <1> (when I got home the old ones didn't appear
as worn in reality as they did in my minds eye when in the shop).
<1>Along with the fact I can't escape the shop without a purchase even if
only a pack of patches.

Glad I've got a black bike. No temptation there.

Oh, I'm not sure about that. Think contrast... think pink saddle... 🙂

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

Brian Wakem said:

MartinM said:

Just returned from a great MTB weekend in Wales (Afan Forest). One of
the club members had to have a souvenir, a 17.99 Hope seat post clamp
of no use to him other than the name on the side, certainly no better
than the one he had. What is the most expensive useless component /
accessory anyone has ever bought?

Mine is a pair of £15 Vitus pedals (because they were yellow)

Two new yellow tyres (can't remember cost, but they are Michelin Pro Race)
to match the frame. The existing black tyres were in perfect nick.

Almost likewise. I bought a pair of Nokian AWS to replace teh City Jets
on my commuting bike. I even had to get teh LBS to special order them.
The city jets are still in perfect nick and doing sterling work onteh
tandem.

...d

OK. I confess.

Just last week I ordered a selle San Marco Regal Titanium-railed saddle. Not
because of the titanium rails I might add, but because I liked the leather
cover more than the standard (textured) one. Never mind that it was about
1/3 more expensive; I also had to order it from the USA!

Simonb said:

OK. I confess.

Just last week I ordered a selle San Marco Regal Titanium-railed saddle. Not
because of the titanium rails I might add, but because I liked the leather
cover more than the standard (textured) one. Never mind that it was about
1/3 more expensive; I also had to order it from the USA!

and did you follow bike bling convention (the opposite to bling
jewellery of course where a price tag still attached adds to the
effect) of buying something that looked vaguely similar to the old one
to perpetuate the myth that SWMBO wouldn't notice? ;-)

MartinM said:

Simonb said:

OK. I confess.

Just last week I ordered a selle San Marco Regal Titanium-railed saddle. Not
because of the titanium rails I might add, but because I liked the leather
cover more than the standard (textured) one. Never mind that it was about
1/3 more expensive; I also had to order it from the USA!

and did you follow bike bling convention (the opposite to bling
jewellery of course where a price tag still attached adds to the
effect) of buying something that looked vaguely similar to the old one
to perpetuate the myth that SWMBO wouldn't notice? ;-)

My bike bling goes straight into the parts box where is sits for six
month to a year. Then one of two things happen. Either I've forgotten
about it completely or I fit it to the bike and in answer to SWMBO's
eagle eyes I can honestly say that I've had it for ages and came across
it the other day in the parts box ;-)

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

"Peewiglet" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Oh, I'm not sure about that. Think contrast... think pink saddle... 🙂

..jpg required... I have a yearning for a pink saddle...

Cheers, helen s