Money Snobbery

redddraggon

It's not about how much you pay for a bike, as long as it's not a Trek.

Denny69

Eat My Dust wrote:

Denny69 wrote:

Just as a last word...I left a lad on a carbon bike in my wake on the way up a local steep climb (I'm not the fittest and I weigh 20+stone) add to that the weight of my Alu bike and I was pulling a bit of weight.....It doesn't matter how much you spend it's all about getting out there....riding and enjoying it!!!!!!

Does this bit of your post make you a fitness snob? Sounds like it to me.

You taking the P***? If you've met me you'll know for sure that a fitness snob I ain't as my fitness levels are equal to a three toed sloth!!!! You couldn't bend copper wire my shape!!!! The point I'm making is this guy had a £1500+ bike I've got a £350 Giant and I was still quicker uphill so it does it really matter how much you spend? Nah....I don't think it does!

Monty Dog

I don't care how much the bike cost, the two things I care about is how well it's been maintained and the abilities of the guy sitting on it not to be a hazard to myself and other road users. I've seen expensive, brand new bikes badly set-up and ridden which makes me want to steer clear. Sadly, with the amount of disposable income from some these days, their perception that £££ = credibility, much in the same way that people are judged by the cars they drive, the jobs they do and the clothes they wear - I'm afraid it's just a reflection of society and nothing to do with cycling in particular. That said, cycling is a great-leveller as it gives you the opportunity to meet a great variety of people and enjoy a great range of experience often without the shallow trappings of the real world.

Denny69

Hear Hear Monty Dog...at the time £350 was all I was wanting to spend as I'm not into the whole carbon this carbon that, the next bike up from mine had a carbon fork and it was well within my reach being an extra £80 but I decided against it and to be quite honest I know I made the right decision.

Fair enough I'll probably spend a bit upgrading parts but I ain't bothered I've got a bike I enjoy riding and surely that's what it's all about.

Eat My Dust

I was in a bike shop in the city where there were two guys in suits buying bikes.

Shop Ass "what kind of bike are you looking for?"

Suit "what the lightest?"

Shop Ass shows him a full carbon road bike which was priced at nearly £5,000 (this was a few years ago)

Suit "I'll take it"

I was gobsmacked and pissed off (green eyed monster) but felt smug in the fact that he would probably go out on it once, sh_t himself, and then probably never use it again.

I do get a bit narky when I see someone on a bike worth thousands who probably bought it on a whim along with all the Assos etc gear. A bit like old codgers who buy sports cars and never drive them.

If that makes me a cycling snob, so be it.

redddraggon

Eat My Dust wrote:

I do get a bit narky when I see someone on a bike worth thousands who probably bought it on a whim along with all the Assos etc gear. A bit like old codgers who buy sports cars and never drive them.

Ahh it can't be all bad, people buy expensive bikes and keeps the development of cycle products going.

And then there's also the advantage of cheap hardly used superbikes on the market for us less well off types

flattythehurdler

I couldn't care less what is being cycled by whom in what state of maintanence (either bike or cyclist). It's just great to be out.

Anonymous

NorwegianBlue wrote:

original post is too long to quote

hear hear. I've noticed it myself, but it hadn't really hit home till I read your post.

It's worth noting though, that there are people on this very forum, who are almost the antithesis of what you mention. Supersonic and Nicklouse spring to mind as people who never knock someone for having a lower end bike. I'm not overly familiar with guys in the road section so I can't comment on what it's like over here.

Eat My Dust

I wouldn't knock someone for having lower end bike. We all have to start somewhere. I'm more likely to knock someone on a top end bike TBH.

APIII

Eat My Dust wrote:

I wouldn't knock someone for having lower end bike. We all have to start somewhere. I'm more likely to knock someone on a top end bike TBH.

That kind of inverse snobbery seems to be fairly common. In my opinion, good cyclists don't knock anyone for the bike they ride, whatever it is. In fact, good cyclists don't give a monkeys what other people ride. It's all about the personal riding experience, right?

Eat My Dust

APIII wrote:

Eat My Dust wrote:

I wouldn't knock someone for having lower end bike. We all have to start somewhere. I'm more likely to knock someone on a top end bike TBH.

That kind of inverse snobbery seems to be fairly common. In my opinion, good cyclists don't knock anyone for the bike they ride, whatever it is. In fact, good cyclists don't give a monkeys what other people ride. It's all about the personal riding experience, right?

It depends. If you have some fat tw_t riding around on £4000 worth of bike with the full Assos gear on thinking he's all that, then I'll knock him.

pjh

Eat My Dust wrote:

It depends. If you have some fat tw_t riding around on £4000 worth of bike with the full Assos gear on thinking he's all that, then I'll knock him.

Ermm ... Why? What has it got to do with you? Are you the cycling police or something :roll: ?

Eat My Dust

pjh wrote:

Eat My Dust wrote:

It depends. If you have some fat tw_t riding around on £4000 worth of bike with the full Assos gear on thinking he's all that, then I'll knock him.

Ermm ... Why? What has it got to do with you? Are you the cycling police or something :roll: ?

No I'm a cycling snob (of sorts). Why? are you a fat twat on a £4000 bike with full Assos gear thinking you're all that?

Eat My Dust

BTW I meant tw_t. They changed it to fool!!

Lysander

How someone chooses to spend their own money is surely nobody elses business. I have a De Rosa King and a Ciocc Challenger with matching assos clobber. I sometimes get a few smirks off other roadies but I just don't care. Being on a nice bike and getting all the gear just makes me happy and surely thats the whole point.

Slow Downcp

[quote="Eat My Dust
It depends. If you have some fat tw_t riding around on £4000 worth of bike with the full Assos gear on thinking he's all that, then I'll knock him.[/quote]

Why? :?

pjm-84

How someone chooses to spend their own money is surely nobody elses business. I have a De Rosa King and a Ciocc Challenger with matching assos clobber. I sometimes get a few smirks off other roadies but I just don't care. Being on a nice bike and getting all the gear just makes me happy and surely thats the whole point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envy

Envy may be defined as an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another’s superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it

Jez mon

How does Eat My Dust decide who deserves all the kit and who doesn't. Does he follow everyone making notes of whether they've been training or lazing...

Denny69

APIII wrote:

Eat My Dust wrote:

I wouldn't knock someone for having lower end bike. We all have to start somewhere. I'm more likely to knock someone on a top end bike TBH.

That kind of inverse snobbery seems to be fairly common. In my opinion, good cyclists don't knock anyone for the bike they ride, whatever it is. In fact, good cyclists don't give a monkeys what other people ride. It's all about the personal riding experience, right?

Yup totally agree!!

NorwegianBlue

There's an old saying in surfing, it has many variations but this sums it up:

"The best surfer out there is the one having the most fun."

The same applies to any hobby really. Surely the whole point of any hobby is to have fun. I'd be interested to see any definition of the word "fun" that icludes any mention of fiscal value, physical fitness or ability.

After a recent ride I noticed that some riders were talking about how much fun they'd had, some riders were talking about their bikes. Those that were talking about their bikes were either talking about what upgrades they were planning, what bike they were going to buy next or what aspect of their bikes was holding them up - "Those forks were pumping down on the brakes into turns, I need a new fork". The group talking about how much they enjoyed the ride had bikes ranging from the budget end to the top end of the market. The group talking about their bikes were all riding expensive bikes.

Those who were obsessing about their bikes were too interested in their equipment to even notice if they were having fun, but seemed to think that they could have fun if only they were to spend more money. However they seemed to be living proof that all money will ever buy them is more worries. However there were also riders out there having fun on top end bikes.

IOW I'm willing to bet that the spending obsessives will never have fun however much money they spend. It's just the way their minds work and nothing at all to do with money itself.

I just wish they wouldn't try to impose their curious mental processes on everybody else.


PS I told the guy with the forks that he probably had too little compression damping and too much rebound and that he could solve his problems with a couple of adjustments. I could tell, however, that he wasn't really listening. I think he was already planning what he could buy to replace his £600 fork.

pjh

Eat My Dust wrote:

No I'm a cycling snob (of sorts). Why? are you a fat fool on a £4000 bike with full Assos gear thinking you're all that?

I'm 13 stone and I ride a £2000 bike ... that OK with you ... you plank?

Where do you get off telling someone else what they can and can't spend their money on. At least you admit to being snob ... doesn't make it OK though.

formerlyknownasbonj

I understand to some extent what the OP is saying, and elitism and looking down one's nose at someone else's bike does piss me off slightly, especially if they're happy with it - but what pisses me off as much if not mroe is people who are willing to spend hundreds on games consoles for their kids, THOUSANDS on a car, but when it comes to a bike - they somehow feel it shouldn't cost more than £300.

Jez mon

Not sure, when you consider most consider bikes as a toy, anything more than 300 pounds seems abit steep, especially as most don't ride their bikes that much.

Also all the people I know with expensive bikes enjoy their cycling as much as anyone, even if they occasionally talk about getting other stuff.

zaynan

£300 bikes don't fall apart unless you ride through sand dunes, the sea or 3 feet of mud to work every day of the year. If maintained regularly, cleaned, lubricated etc they should last. I've had £99 bikes which I rode day in day out and and maintained properly. I'd still have them now if they hadn't succumbed to theives.

There's a term isn't there - " a law of diminshing returns" ie for evey pound over a certain amount you spend there is less return in performance/longevity etc....

If you can afford to spend lots of money on bikes then fine - do it if you must, but I agree with NorweigianBlue that putting down a bike (or it's rider for that mater) because of it's low monetary value is just crap! I went on an epic mountain bike ride yesterday with a friend who rode a mountain bike that cost no more than £200 and has taken him to work and back each day and done the Coast to Coast ride (and it will do the Lon Las Cymru this summer too). His bike performed effortlessly - it probably weights twice the amount of my, admittedly more expensive, hardtail but did nothing to ruin his experience over the 30 miles of hilly and VERY wet terrain.

I say spend what you like on your bike - little or lots - the main thing is get out there and enjoy it - if you think it's fragile - look after it well!

NorwegianBlue

A few weeks ago I was in a shop when a bloke came in asking for a road bike. He had a peice of paper with his required spec, it went something like "STIs, twenty gears and carbon forks". I'm guessing he had written down what he'd been told or got the relevant bits from a magazine. The salesman (sorry the sales spotty youth) presented him with the cheapest bike they had in stock that met his requirements. The bloke then came out with the classic line "you could get a decent car for that."

The kid just said "suit yourself" which is to his credit, I would have said something like "no you couldn't, you could get a twelve year old rust bucket with three months tax and a dodgy MOT. It's only a few hundred quid, how much did your TV cost?" Which is probably why I don't work in sales anymore.

There are those out there who will spend a fortune on electronics or over £100 for a pair of trainers, but begrudge paying £500 for a bike.

There are, however, those who have little disposable income who are well aware they are not going to get a top spec bike for their money, but having worked and saved hard they want to get the best they can for what little money they have.

OTOH I always get bored listening to people who splash money around tell me how hard they have worked for their cash. The simple reason is that everybody I have ever worked with who really is a slogger, has never, ever bragged about it.

bigjim

There is such nonsense talked on here. :roll: It's amusing but the trouble is it can quite easily put a newbie off taking up the sport/hobby if they are on a budget. I keep an 80s Raleigh racing bike parked up in Mallorca. I paid £40 for it from an LBS 4 years ago and used it extensively in the UK. I changed the rear cassette and bought new tyres. I tour Mallorca on it and have never had any problems with the bike. It is well made, comfortable, light and fast and I manage to stay with a lot of the amateur club [usually german] teams out there with their fancy new bikes and kit. I find they respect you and all look at the bike and have positive comments about it.It's also bloody good fun and a quality long lasting machine. So as some guy once said "It's not about the bike". You can buy a fine s/hand bike for a lot less than £300. Enjoy!

Jim

Tootler

I would have said something like "no you couldn't, you could get a twelve year old rust bucket with three months tax and a dodgy MOT.

Now then NB.............Isn't that exactly the kind of comment that enraged you enough to kick this whole thread off with in the first place?

NorwegianBlue

Not at all. It was clear that the guy didn't believe you could get a decent car for the money. He was trying to bully the young sales kid. I think the kid did very well just saying "suit yourself" and standing looking at the guy with an open expression. I, on the other hand, have never been able to deal with antagonistic bullies like that and tend to snap back in their own style.

I suppose you had to be there, but it was pretty clear before he even opened his mouth that the customer had plenty of money. I'd guaratee that there was a pretty new, flash car outside. That he had a 42" TV and that his kids had every console going. Of course you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but there's something about the industrial West Riding of Yorkshire that there is a certain type of tw*t who stands out even when you can't see the 325i and the shiny suit.

Rich_T

Are there really so many insecure people out there, that worry about what other people think and do, to justify a 6 page thread like this.
Personally I dont care what folks think about me, I certainly dont live my life trying to keep up with everyone else. I ride a 20 yr old 501 framed bike and love it, yes I can afford a better one but why bother when what I have works perfectly.

I'm new to the forum admittedly and to be honest probably won't stich around as there seem to be to many threads of this type on here. In all honesty I thought I'd left this kind of childish attitude behind 20yrs ago when I left school!!

Eat My Dust

pjh wrote:

Eat My Dust wrote:

No I'm a cycling snob (of sorts). Why? are you a fat fool on a £4000 bike with full Assos gear thinking you're all that?

I'm 13 stone and I ride a £2000 bike ... that OK with you ... you plank?

Where do you get off telling someone else what they can and can't spend their money on. At least you admit to being snob ... doesn't make it OK though.

I think some people need to take a chill pill. I think maybe I've touched a raw nerve with some (a lot) of you. Calm down everybody.