Money Snobbery

cakewalk

BigG67 wrote:

pjh wrote:

Fair point well made BIGG67

However you missed 'my point' which was 'that I don't look down on anyone" despite the fact I ride quite a nice bike!

What it really seems to boil down to (on lots of similar threads) is that "It's not OK to ride a nice bike if you're a crap cyclist" ... and if you do ride a nice bike without being a top cyclist you're either an "all the gear and no idea type or a cycling snob."

I'm afraid I just don't subscribe to either of these philosophies; I ride a nice bike because I appreciate quality ... that's it! (The fact that I can afford it is helpful).

As for working hard well that is a relative term and I'm certainly not going to bash teachers (I couldn't do their job for any money ... I'd kill the little blighters :twisted: )

I've run two businesses for close on 15 years, and provided employment to hundreds of people in that time. I've known stress from time to time and on occasions I've been very close to going under and losing absolutely everything (in more ways than one!) So that's my definition of hard work ... and I'm certainly not going to take any inverse/reverse snobbery from some halfway decent cyclist who can't afford to ride a bike like mine

Hehe .... bring on the reaction.

Not from me - well not negative anyway, I only picked your comment 'cos it was the most recent.

Looks like you and I got our bikes for the same reason, and why I got a £3000 bike to go with my £3 legs 8)

I like good quality and spend my money on what I appreciate - I'm the kind of guy who will go to Hugo Boss in the sales and spend as much on a suit as I would normally rather than spend less in my normal shops

Bikes are all good in my book and anyone riding deserves a thumbs up.

And finally, good on you for your work (I mean it) hard work is what ever it is and in your case you created wealth as well as a living for your family. Top work fella!

OK. I know I have a bike that is 'way too good' for me. Occasionally I'm mildly embarrassed about it. But not anymore. Let people ride what they can afford - and what they want to - and don't take the piss.

biondino

On my brand new Focus yesterday I could have sworn I was overtaken by two dudes on old steel-framed bikes who wanted to make a point. One of them succeeded in making it, slightly to my embarrassment! But I was "riding it in", naturally, so wasn't anywhere near top speed, ahem

bishbish

i would rather walk than ride a bike that cost less than a £1000 yorkshire= a third world county if they spent less on flat hats and pigions they might get a better bike

never ask a man if he is from yorkshire , if he is he will already have told you
"e`yup i`m frum yorkshire me" :evil:

pjm-84

Bet you wouldn't!

passout

Sorry mate but £300 bikes are crap and perhaps you are the sort of person who would feel better if you did have a nice bike! You are certainly sore about something, anyway I'm impressed than you managed to blame Thatcher, Blair, Brown and the Media for your woes! Perhaps if you worked harder you'd be rich and happy? Either that or perhaps you need to some lovin' (that's not an offer). Either way 'get on your bike' as Norman Tebbit said and good luck.

tuggo2

What we really need is an expose on how much these bikes cost to manufacture ie how much the Chinese or Taiwanese is being paid to produce the Specialized or whatever frame that sell for a fortune.

Anonymous

tuggo2 wrote:

What we really need is an expose on how much these bikes cost to manufacture ie how much the Chinese or Taiwanese is being paid to produce the Specialized or whatever frame that sell for a fortune.

nah, I don't think so, it would just make us cry!

anyway, the R&D costs are the bulk of costs these days, and those can't as readily be accounted for.

passout

tuggo2 wrote:

What we really need is an expose on how much these bikes cost to manufacture ie how much the Chinese or Taiwanese is being paid to produce the Specialized or whatever frame that sell for a fortune.

Have you been to Tawain? I spend a little time in Tapei and travelled around the island - which is beautiful. It's a wealthy place with a good standard of living - quite different from the poorer parts of mainland China. The TIG welders in Tapei are NOT charity cases!

tuggo2

I would just like to know what the markup is on frames made in Taiwan or China ie what Evans or Halfords or whoever pay for them and how much difference there is actually between the top of the range frame and the bottom.

Eat My Dust

tuggo2 wrote:

I would just like to know what the markup is on frames made in Taiwan or China ie what Evans or Halfords or whoever pay for them and how much difference there is actually between the top of the range frame and the bottom.

I know a couple of people that import goods from Taiwan and China and the markup is in the 100s of %.

passout

Why are you concerned? What's the mark Up for Cove or Orange? As long as nobody is ruthlessly exploited then surely relative value is the main thing.

dennisn

tuggo2 wrote:

What we really need is an expose on how much these bikes cost to manufacture ie how much the Chinese or Taiwanese is being paid to produce the Specialized or whatever frame that sell for a fortune.

I don't see anyone twisting your arm to make you buy one. If I owned a frame making
company I think I would sell frames for whatever people would pay for them, whether
they were worth the money or not. And I think most people, yourself included, would
do the same. I guess I don't see what your complaint is. If a company can sell frames
for tons of money what do you care??? You don't have to buy them. Or do you??

Dennis Noward

bagpusscp

Hands up by those of you who own a car , that it is British built .I say built because we no longer have any GB owned volume made cars.
What made you buy that car,ie built quality ,or tv hype?If its made aboard why did you not by British?

bishbish

can we not ban smelly work shy poor people from this forum
i suggest any one with less than 5k worth of bikes should not be allowed to post as they should be out looking for better jobs

groupsets under ultegra chorus and xt will give you ricketts

redddraggon

bishbish wrote:

groupsets under ultegra chorus and xt will give you ricketts

Shimano will give you ricketts, but if you must ride Shimano, nothing less than Dura Ace is acceptable - Ultegra is lower than most of the Campag groupsets.

bishbish

if you a a welshist you must have 6k!!

Beeblebrox

redddraggon wrote:

pjm-84 wrote:

Don't get me on students......

We're not all bad, we don't all get funded by mummy and daddy. I worked while I was at school, worked while at uni during my first two years and have just spent the last year working full time as part of my degree. I don't spend stupid amounts of money on stuff like alcohol and have spent my money on things that are still around a few years later.

It's all about making the right decisions, some people choose to waste their time in school or take on too many financial responsibilities that are unnecessary. Why should the people who have made the right decisions be penalised by having to subsidise those who have made the wrong decisions. Some of the local schools are full of wasters, but there's still some who make it to university to do even proper degrees like medicine - it's the UK and the opportunities are there but a lot won't make use of them.

Communism doesn't work. Why should the successful ones subsidise the wasters? We all know the wasters will remain wasters if they carry on getting subsidised.

Indeed, I worked plenty before starting my degree and to save some money on my summer job I will be buying a bike. The worst-case estimate I can make is saving £300 on petrol over summer, so my budget for a road bike is £300 with some leeway. I do like to cycle so in the fullness of time and post graduation that'll be my winter or training bike.

Not too sure how I stand on the 'stupid amounts of money' on alcohol, though ...

bishbish

if i had all the money i have spent on drink







i would spend it on drink

ollie 1

NorwegianBlue wrote:

The sort of snobbery that I've encountered over the last couple of years is this: Ask for recommendations for a bike at a particular budget price point and you'll get any number of pricks suggesting that you won't get a decen bike at that price and you should save up more. Take the proper budget end of the road bike market, sub £300. You can get a lot more bike for that money now than you could a few years ago. Indeed a £300 bike today is probably better than a £500 bike five years ago. However ask for advice on a £300 bike and you'll be told you have to pay at least £500 to get a reasonable entry level bike. Don't bother with a £300 bike, you'll be told, they're all junk. Some of these pricks may well be riding £500 bikes that they've had for 5 years in which case it could just be sour grapes that £300 bikes are as good as they are today, but I doubt it. No it's the nastiest form of snobbery. Without even asking your circumstances these dickheads are deriding someone for having less disposable income than them. It could have taken the hopeful and age to save up even the meagre sum they have and yet often these pillocks will dash their hopes with news that they need to save up the same amount again before they can get a bike worth having.

The funny thing about these inadequates is that they will often then make a rather curious claim. Which is that whatever their own bike cost is the pinnacle (no not the brand) of bicycle value and that there is no point paying more. The way I read this is that they anybody paying less than they did for a bike is a pauper, anybody paying more is a capitalist, running dog, lackey (ahem!) or a sucker. In other words they are going on the defensive about their own financial status before anybody has a go at them.

It's not just the bottom end of the price range that's of concern here. I recently heard someone who, when asked what full suss XC bike they should get for about £1200, replied that there were no full sussers for less than two grand worth having and at £1200 you could just about get a reasonabe hardtail.

Your post completely sums up what I have to put up with. I have a £350 road bike and a £1150 full suss XC bike. I do a lot of cycling and haven't encountered any mechanical problems with the cheap road bike, just problems with those who have more expensive bikes and for some reason are amazed that I can cycle alongside them.. I was chatting to a few "snobs" with their full carbon bikes and they asked me how I manage with my bike. It really irritated me but I didn't bother saying anything about the fact that they're all talk, so I decided to let my cycling do the talking instead. Scrawny little 16 year olds can be deceptively quick as I showed them up Box Hill in Surrey

As for my XC bike, the git in the shop had the cheek to say "you get what you pay for" in his sales pitch.

bagpusscp

For £70 I ride this;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74418119@N ... 675787816/

all week and many a week end. It does what it says on the tube.Busted the rear mech last week.Replacement cost .FOC from a mates bit box.It is far more comfortable than my Cannondale :oops:

pjm-84

So what?

I can overtake people going up hill on my cross bike with 35c knobblies on. Has nothing to do with the bike I'm afraid.

bagpusscp

APIII wrote:

bagpusscp wrote:

Its is no good having a £1000 bike if you have only got a £100 pair of legs.On the other hand if you have a £1000 pair of legs you could always be a model :shock:

ooh, careful. We're edging towards the 'justify your bike purchase based on your ability' argument. As has been pointed out many times before, if we all rode bikes based on our ability, Halfords would sell a hell of a lot of bikes.

Well at least some else agrees now

pjm-84

I'm actually quite fancy your Raleigh!

Whats the top tube length?

borisvanhalen

i happen to have a small disposable income (after paying for divorce and child maintenance and petrol to then visit kids)

i just decided to spend more on a bike (Bianchi frame that i have since spent 2 years building up 1 part a month to make a pro level bike) than on a car

does that make me a snob