I need your help tonight on a bike purchase decision please!

daniel_b

Hello all,

so last wekend I had a test ride on a 58cm Langster, they had one in my LBS, and I was intrigued bey them, as well as being somewhat enchanted by this Monaco edition


So it was just an idle chat, and the owner rang me tonight, and said he can lay his hands on a 56, which should be the right size for me - the 58 being a tad too big.

I do want it, but i'm struggling to find a use for it, so I am in a bit of dilemma, and I said I would let him know by tomorrow morning.

Thing is, I have bikes to do the following things:
1 Road bike (no guards, lives inside)
2 Commuter flat bar hybrid (Full guards and a rack, lives in the garage, doesn't matter if it gets knocked/scratched.)
3 Winter bike/Tourer (Full guards, rack - currently living inside)
4 Mountain Bike (Lives in the garage, cracking condition, shiny new forks)

Had a look at the Langster at the weekend, plain green one, and very nice it was too, picked up nicely, and went very well.

Had a chat with the LBS, and asked if it would be up a to a commute involving a bit of fairly rough towpath, general concensus was no, as they only seem to take 23c tyres, and have naff all clearance, and no fitments for mudguards on the rear.

Then I'm thinking would I really want to take something that looked that nice into work, and decorate it with guards....??

People at work are not careful with their bikes, and as a result I quite often have to wrestle mine from the clutches of some unloved hack, and I imagine the Langster in mostly white would soon be showing the scars.

So the conversation in the LBS turned to a SS Tricross, and looking up these online, they would seem to fit the bill, ie plenty of clearance, wider tyres, guard mounts.

Trouble is, and I know this is shallow, the paint job is totally, in my opinion, uninspiring :oops:


So with my head I am thinking the Tricross would be the much more sensible choice, as I could easily fit guards and a rack, and it's more rugged, and if I stick skinnies on it, it could easily be a decent SS/Fixie for a bit of training - or I assume so anyway.

Trouble is, it doesn't make me want it, and I generally have to want something before I can buy it.

My gf doesn't want me to buy it (The Langster), as she says I have enough bikes already, and she may possibly have a point, but I know if I decide I need it then it won't be an issue
Trouble is to need it, I have to convince, even myself, that I have a use for it!

So anyway, what I'm trying to get some help with is whether it would be a useful addition to the household?

As it stands I wouldn't use it for commuting, but if I changed jobs, I could potentially kit it out for a daily commute, and maybe use the current one for winter or something....help me out here.

Would it make a viable bike to try fixed/SS out on, and would it really help me with strength and a cardio workout?

I do want to enter some proper organised events next year, ie Audaxes/Sportives, and if I can get properly fit, some TT's - would this be a decent useage?

It's running a 42/16 stock, is that a small/big gear in the world of SS?

Replies greatly appreciated, I have to decide tonight really - why are bikes so difficult sometimes :roll:

Cheers

Dan

symo

Simple equation mentioned on here before reads

Required Number of Bikes = Number of bikes owned currently + 2

There you go.

greg66_tri_v2.0

You're a confused man

Daniel B wrote:

I do want it,

This is the important bit, and tells you all you need to know.

Daniel B wrote:

but i'm struggling to find a use for it

This is irrelevant. I can't understand the point here anyway.

Daniel B wrote:

It's running a 42/16 stock, is that a small/big gear in the world of SS?

Middling (I think).

Skip the idea of putting racks on it. Buy a large courier bag and jam all your stuff in that. Bin your current no 2 and no 3 bikes. The courier bag is a much better way to carry stuff.

itboffin

Buy buy it now and don't tell the GF or tell her you need it to make you whole.

NGale

Question is you may want it, but do you NEED it. At the moment with the present credit issues is it really worth shelling out at the moment. Leave it a couple months and then see if you still want it, at least then you have a cooling off period between now and then.

itboffin

:shock:

Jen J

itboffin wrote:

:shock:

I know!

daniel_b

NGale wrote:

Question is you may want it, but do you NEED it. At the moment with the present credit issues is it really worth shelling out at the moment. Leave it a couple months and then see if you still want it, at least then you have a cooling off period between now and then.

Hi NGale, that's a very adult and sensible post, and I see we have 2 votes for and 2 against at the moment, so it's nip and tuck.

Alas this is a limited edition of around 200 bikes, and I imagine maybe 40 or 50 of which are a 56, and once they are gone, they won't be making anymore.

Otherwise, yes I would have agreed about the whole waiting bit, but in this case, I need to buy it now or not at all - at least in Monaco guise.

Part of me wishes I had never notice it!

Someone give me some valid training/fitness arguments please!

Dan

itboffin

I speak as someone who has one on order 56cm who also has 7 bikes already as well as being recently laid off eg. unemployed, if one comes up buy it, if you don't like it you will be able to resell NP.

There's no way you wont like it, just ask the massive Bowery members club on this very forum.

biondino

Pigeon42 always struck me as someone with opinions worth listening to, maybe she'll have a view?

linsen

Ask yourself the following questions:

Do I have the money?

Will I use it?

Do I have somewhere to put it?

Surely the rest is academic....

AndyManc

Do you want it Sir ....... hmmmm......... do you Sir

Does Sir yearn for something new and hard against his bottom ....

You do Sir................. don't you Sir ..............


Actually I might treat me self ... but I'm going to get rid of one of my other bikes first.

pigeon42

Full of opinions me (that fall on deaf ears in Daniel B's case :roll: )

I'm thinking of starting a counter-thread to build ammunition against the purchase of the Langster, but am thinking that possibly another forum (like "bikesarepoo.com" or "Ilovecrochet.co.uk" or similar is probably a better suited place)

Difficulty is that he knows damn well my main problem with him buying it is that I'll be dead jealous - a compromise of me having the langster has been mooted (if he's riding he can't admire how pretty it is...!), or a "sharing" bike (conjured up images of that car ad where the couple fight over who's driving it!)

daniel_b

biondino wrote:

Pigeon42 always struck me as someone with opinions worth listening to, maybe she'll have a view?

You have very good perceptive powers Biondino, one would almost think conspiracy was afoot
I'm still undecided, maybe I'll flip a coin in the morning.

ITB, good call about being able to sell it if need be - you say you have one on order, a Monaco or another type of bike?

Dan

The Chingford Skinhead

Daniel B wrote:

biondino wrote:

Pigeon42 always struck me as someone with opinions worth listening to, maybe she'll have a view?

You have very good perceptive powers Biondino, one would almost think conspiracy was afoot
I'm still undecided, maybe I'll flip a coin in the morning.

ITB, good call about being able to sell it if need be - you say you have one on order, a Monaco or another type of bike?

Dan

Flipping the coin is the answer. One flip. None of that best of three rubbish. Choose what is buy and what is goodbye and flip. If it lands on heads and you wish it was tales then you know that tails is the anser. If it lands on heads and you're not that bothered then heads is the answer. There you go, problem solved.

edhornby

why not turn bike no 3 into a ss ???? that way you aren'n increasin the total number of bikes, get some bits and keep the old drivetrain/back wheel in case you can't get on with it...

and then you can 'happen on' a track frame and kind of end up with a proper SS by stealth !!!

daniel_b

Blimey, that was a sleepless night!

Thankyou for all your replies, and useful input, all helped me make the decision.

And what a very very hard decision it was, I think the key point for me is that if it isn't for me, or I don't use it, or I don't like it, it should be a cinch to sell on, and probably lose very little.

So with that in mind, I rang up 15min ago, and gave the go ahead, so they are getting it in for tomorrow, and It'll be ready for Saturday.

As long as it fits me ok, I'll be riding it home.

How very traumatic!

P.S Slightly random question, but I'm aware there's a Velodrome in Southampton, and they have their own bikes, does anyone know if you can take your own bike along there?

Dan

itboffin

Daniel B wrote:

biondino wrote:

Pigeon42 always struck me as someone with opinions worth listening to, maybe she'll have a view?

You have very good perceptive powers Biondino, one would almost think conspiracy was afoot
I'm still undecided, maybe I'll flip a coin in the morning.

ITB, good call about being able to sell it if need be - you say you have one on order, a Monaco or another type of bike?

Dan

Good call

Hopefully I should be getting one at the end of the month, whilst talking to the owner of my LBS about the Bowery he mentioned the new models so out came the catalogue and it was love at first sight (might change the saddle though) there's a space for it already in my garage.

Be sure to post a ride review.

daniel_b

Spooky so we will both be Monaco 56cm owners!

Or have I read that wrong and your getting a Bowery?

I will defo post up my thoughts, and maybe even some pics on arrival.

What are your plans for your own steed?

Dan

itboffin

Ah the Monaco so sleek and cool, I think I will ride it only when the weather is fine (so not very often) whilst wearing rolled up jeans and a messenger bag, sporting a goatee beard - hold on WTF I shall do nothing of the kind, it will be my new commuting bike and bleeding well like it.

daniel_b

itboffin wrote:

it will be my new commuting bike and bleeding well like it.

Are you racking and guarding it up ITB, or going au naturel?

Dan

dal105

Daniel B wrote:

P.S Slightly random question, but I'm aware there's a Velodrome in Southampton, and they have their own bikes, does anyone know if you can take your own bike along there?

I think you CAN take your own "track" bike (or just your own pedals/shoes and fit them to one of their's).
But your Langster isn't a track bike......so you'd have to remove the brakes at the very least.
The gearing is probably a bit of a compromise for a track too, judging by the hills I can get up on mine without too many problems - I think you'd spin out way too quickly on a low resistance flat surface.
Oh, and the tyres won't be ideal for the track either.

itboffin

Good god man you could be shot for that kind of talk, now we'll have no more talk of silly attachments of the comfort kind, next thing you know GT will be in here shouting about how massive his RING is/was.

:roll:

daniel_b

Apologies I shall wash my mouth out with soap whence I get home :oops:

Thanks for the reply dal105 - but apart from the fact it isn't a track bike, has brakes, the wrong tyres and incorrect gearing , you can't see any reason why it wouldn't be perfectly at home on the track then?