S
Simon Brooke
Guest
[Yes, I've already responded to this once. So sue me.]
in message <[email protected]>, Paul D
('[email protected]') wrote:
> Firstly, I find that even spending £350 will only get a "budget"
> bike, an attitude I quite frankly find absurd and pretentious -
> especially considering how many years of pleasure I had from my £109
> BIKE bike. Any amount is a budget, and I think, quite honestly, I'll
> stick with rest of the population and consider anything over £250 an
> 'expensive' bike, and anything over £500 as 'specialised' (or
> "nut-job" as someone I mentioned the existence of £1000+ bike to,
> refered to them).
My first bike cost ten shillings in a junk shop (1968). My second cost
about thirty pounds, I think, new from Halfords (1972). My third (1974)
cost quite a bit more, and was my first really nice bike, but after it
got stolen I bought another Halfords own brand, again not for terribly
much (can't remember how much) (1982). Four years later I spent about
£600 building myself a very nice road bike, which I really enjoyed for
three years until it in turn got stolen. I also got myself a £250 rigid
mountain bike, and after it got stolen spent £350 on another (1989).
I've still got that one, but I've lent it to a friend. In 1994 I bought
a new road bike - a not a very good one - for about £260, I think.
The year before last I spent £1,700 on a new mountain bike, which is
definitely my favourite bike and on which I've spent about another £500
in upgrades. Last year I spend about £1200 building myself a new road
bike, and I've spent about another £300 upgrading it since.
I think that's money very well spent. I can afford it, and I get a huge
amount of pleasure out of my bikes. It's certainly true that there is a
law of diminishing returns when spending money on bikes - a £500 bike
isn't twice as good as a £250 bike, and a £1,000 bike isn't twice as
good as a £500 one.
But look at it another way. I'll never be able to afford a Ferrari, or a
Porsche. But my bikes are sporting technology of very high quality -
people win serious professional races on bikes very like mine - and
they are a total joy to use. My mountain bike, in particular, allows me
to ride places which on a lesser bike I would not have the skill to
ride at all, and allows me to ride a lot faster over difficult ground
than I otherwise could. To drive a car as good as either of my two
favourite bikes you would have to spend six figures.
Looked at that way, they're cheap.
--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Wannabe a Web designer?
<URL:http://userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/97dec/19971206.html>
in message <[email protected]>, Paul D
('[email protected]') wrote:
> Firstly, I find that even spending £350 will only get a "budget"
> bike, an attitude I quite frankly find absurd and pretentious -
> especially considering how many years of pleasure I had from my £109
> BIKE bike. Any amount is a budget, and I think, quite honestly, I'll
> stick with rest of the population and consider anything over £250 an
> 'expensive' bike, and anything over £500 as 'specialised' (or
> "nut-job" as someone I mentioned the existence of £1000+ bike to,
> refered to them).
My first bike cost ten shillings in a junk shop (1968). My second cost
about thirty pounds, I think, new from Halfords (1972). My third (1974)
cost quite a bit more, and was my first really nice bike, but after it
got stolen I bought another Halfords own brand, again not for terribly
much (can't remember how much) (1982). Four years later I spent about
£600 building myself a very nice road bike, which I really enjoyed for
three years until it in turn got stolen. I also got myself a £250 rigid
mountain bike, and after it got stolen spent £350 on another (1989).
I've still got that one, but I've lent it to a friend. In 1994 I bought
a new road bike - a not a very good one - for about £260, I think.
The year before last I spent £1,700 on a new mountain bike, which is
definitely my favourite bike and on which I've spent about another £500
in upgrades. Last year I spend about £1200 building myself a new road
bike, and I've spent about another £300 upgrading it since.
I think that's money very well spent. I can afford it, and I get a huge
amount of pleasure out of my bikes. It's certainly true that there is a
law of diminishing returns when spending money on bikes - a £500 bike
isn't twice as good as a £250 bike, and a £1,000 bike isn't twice as
good as a £500 one.
But look at it another way. I'll never be able to afford a Ferrari, or a
Porsche. But my bikes are sporting technology of very high quality -
people win serious professional races on bikes very like mine - and
they are a total joy to use. My mountain bike, in particular, allows me
to ride places which on a lesser bike I would not have the skill to
ride at all, and allows me to ride a lot faster over difficult ground
than I otherwise could. To drive a car as good as either of my two
favourite bikes you would have to spend six figures.
Looked at that way, they're cheap.
--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Wannabe a Web designer?
<URL:http://userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/97dec/19971206.html>