are the rich guys having more fun?

spr wheelie

hey all.

heres a quick one what sort of differnces can you expect to feel when riding differnt quality bikes.
ive got a cheapo bike and would like to know if more expensive bikes just give better performance or do they feel nicer to ride also.

also what could i expect differnt from a 160 pound bike to a 500 to 600 pound bike.

cheers for reading,
paul

supersonic

Fun is subjective.

But a 5-600 bike will be substantially lighter, have suspension that works properly (ie damping), brakes that stop you, drivetrains with wider range gears, grippier tyres, be more comfortable, axles that don't bend, better sealing on the bearings, alloy components, spokes that don't rust, smoother feel and ride - this may make it more fun.

snowjho

Its also whether the bike is fit for itsintended purpose my halfords apollo was great fun riding to the tennis club with my mates when i was 12 but it would be a death trap riding singletrack at swinley or peaslake.

Long_Time_Lurker

I went from a £450 bike to a £1000 bike and the difference is rediculous. Far lighter - and so more responsive. It actually makes me want to ride the bike. At times it was hard to get enthusiastic to go out on 'the Beast' (as it is now known).
I now realise that the £450 (that I thought was expensive at the time), was wasted money and that i should have saved for the bike I ride now.

But of course, you won't notice the difference if you don't buy a cheap bike first!

cooldad

Rich guys also have more blow and a better class of hookers.

Twelly

cooldad wrote:

Rich guys also have more blow and a better class of hookers.

I disagree. I have had the best blow and top notch hookers and I am a poor guy. Well I am now anyway.

felix.london

craigw99

always thought the cheap hookers worked harder as they needed the money more....

YeehaaMcgee

The guys having the most fun are the ones who just ride, without caring what bikes other people are riding, and without caring what other people think of their bikes.

1mancity2

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

The guys having the most fun are the ones who just ride, without caring what bikes other people are riding, and without caring what other people think of their bikes.

Spot on.

Fingz999

i ride a £700 bike (got it second hand 6months old) and you go to llandegla etc and compared to the rest its a cheap bike they have the 2-3k bikes every bit of branded clothing you can think of, but then on the way down the trails you can always smile more when going past them with all the gear no idea going through your head, just get out and ride enjoy it then save up for a new bike at the same time,

YeehaaMcgee

^^See that guy up there Fingz?
He's a classic case of someone who's too concerned with other people's bikes. Rather than enjoy the ride, he enjoys not being one of "them".
Like reverse snobbery.
What does it matter if others have more disposable cash, and decide to buy more expensive bikes and kit? Nothing.

brindlescoops

Long Time Lurker wrote:

I went from a £450 bike to a £1000 bike and the difference is rediculous. Far lighter - and so more responsive. It actually makes me want to ride the bike. At times it was hard to get enthusiastic to go out on 'the Beast' (as it is now known).
I now realise that the £450 (that I thought was expensive at the time), was wasted money and that i should have saved for the bike I ride now.

But of course, you won't notice the difference if you don't buy a cheap bike first!

This, I went from a £450 bike to a £2.5k bike and nearly tripled my weekly mileage as it was so much more fun and rewarding to ride. Could ride harder for longer and "felt" much safer having responsive suspension and massive stopping power. In essence it went from feeling like slightly dangerous exercise to thrilling fun eveytime I go out.

The only reason I made such a big jump was that I was worried if I went half way, in 12 months I would want to upgrade again, I just decided to buy my ultimate bike that would last years (not including maintnenance of course and crashes) and skip the steps inbetween

supersonic

A 2.5k bike shouldn't hav emuch more stopping power than a £450 bike - a good example of the latter will still have decent stoppers, and damped sus.

Twelly

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

^^See that guy up there Fingz?
He's a classic case of someone who's too concerned with other people's bikes. Rather than enjoy the ride, he enjoys not being one of "them".
Like reverse snobbery.
What does it matter if others have more disposable cash, and decide to buy more expensive bikes and kit? Nothing.

Agree with this but also think that sometimes you do have to spend more to have more fun. As BrindleScoops says, he bought a much more expensive bike and found the better feel and handling enables you to ride harder and faster, therefore having more fun.

I personally think my newest, most expensive bike is the most fun to ride for the same reasons - the suspension is better, it shifts better, it's lighter, it's more controlled.

Part of the fun for me is buying new bits and fitting them and changing things so, as shallow as it sounds, money does play a part.

brindlescoops

supersonic wrote:

A 2.5k bike shouldn't hav emuch more stopping power than a £450 bike - a good example of the latter will still have decent stoppers, and damped sus.

It may be just me, Im a big lump, the Tekros on my £450 bike were not even close to the SLX brakes on my current bike, I tried other bikes of my mates too and nothing has yet come close to the power and feel of the SLX (granted I havent tried and XT or Formula 1s etc but how many £450 bikes do they come on?) it may even be a placebo effect for other aspects of the bike, but Even if it is, it works. Some of the runs we do we time for fun to see who is the fastest and trying to get better. First time out on my favourite run with the new bike I took 8 seconds off my previous best of 1 minute 3 seconds and thats before I got used to the bike and set it up exactly how I wanted it. The suspension fills me with confidence, it doesnt dive and i can set the preload to properly cope with my weight. I know its a bit ireelevant as i'm not racing but it proves I can ride quicker and harder and give some of my better mates a run for their money when previously they were trouncing me. This makes it more fun, for me anyway!

dhobiwallah

Fingz999 wrote:

i ride a £700 bike (got it second hand 6months old) and you go to llandegla etc and compared to the rest its a cheap bike they have the 2-3k bikes every bit of branded clothing you can think of, but then on the way down the trails you can always smile more when going past them with all the gear no idea going through your head, just get out and ride enjoy it then save up for a new bike at the same time,

Was £700 the new price and you paid less or did you pay £700 for a £1k+ bike?

If the latter I would suggest that it might not fall into some definitions of a 'cheap bike'

Its the law of diminishing returns - can you have fun on a £150 bike. Yes you can, but doing the same thing on a £700 will probably be more fun! I would suggest the difference between £1k and £2.5k is still there but far smaller....

The Rookie

I would suggest that for decent single track you need to spend about £350 (new) to have proper fun unless you are a commited masochist, that should give you a bike with OK forks and hydro brakes....after that you only really save weight, at about 1/2Kg every £200!

rebel_brown

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

The guys having the most fun are the ones who just ride, without caring what bikes other people are riding, and without caring what other people think of their bikes.

Bingo.

dhobiwallah

Agreed, but not what the OP was asking.

Without caring what others are riding and without worrying what others think of your rig the question was basically 'can you have more fun on a more expensive rig'.

I reckon the answer is yes, but the further up the payscale you go the less difference it makes to your personal enjoyment till you get to a limit where you have spent so much on the bike you don't enjoy it for fear of damaging it!

What those price bands are will vary depending on your riding ability and your income

dhobiwallah

Although having said that I have had a bit of a chance to test that empirically recently.

At home I have a half-decent full suss (RRP £1800 in 2007) and a £300 frankenbike hardtail I've assembled via eBay and CRC. At home I tend to ride the hardtail as I am a more regular rider than my mates (who all ride 'cheaper' hardtails) so it is more fun for me riding with them on my cheaper bike than blatting through everything on my full bouncer and waiting even longer at the bottom! 8)

I have recently had the chance to visit Marin County, CA recently and get out on a rental bike a couple of times. On the first occasion I snagged myself a $2500 Santa Cruz tallboy - 29"er. On the second occasion I ended up with a $350 Giant something-or-other. I had a lot of fun on both. Not being used to a 29"er I found I was having problems lifting the front wheel when I wanted to (but the larger rims saved by rolling on through). On the 26er (with pogo fork) I could put the bike where I wanted it, but it was much harder work (esp on the uphills).

If I had to label it I enjoyed the route slightly more on the tallboy - but nowhere near $2000+ worth of difference. And I would probably have enjoyed it even more on my own hardtail with an old but reasonable fork, hyd discs and -more importantly - a familiarity of the bike.

YeehaaMcgee

dhobiwallah wrote:

Agreed, but not what the OP was asking.

Without caring what others are riding and without worrying what others think of your rig the question was basically 'can you have more fun on a more expensive rig'.

And my opinion is that you'll have more fun by just enjoying the ride, rather than thinking about bike prices. Doesn't matter if you're on a £50 quid catalogue bike, or a £4K beast, if you're having fun, you're having fun.
The bike is a thing to have fun with, not the fun thing in and of itself.

cooldad

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

dhobiwallah wrote:

Agreed, but not what the OP was asking.

Without caring what others are riding and without worrying what others think of your rig the question was basically 'can you have more fun on a more expensive rig'.

And my opinion is that you'll have more fun by just enjoying the ride, rather than thinking about bike prices. Doesn't matter if you're on a £50 quid catalogue bike, or a £4K beast, if you're having fun, you're having fun.
The bike is a thing to have fun with, not the fun thing in and of itself.

This guy disagrees with you

brindlescoops

cooldad wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

dhobiwallah wrote:

Agreed, but not what the OP was asking.

Without caring what others are riding and without worrying what others think of your rig the question was basically 'can you have more fun on a more expensive rig'.

And my opinion is that you'll have more fun by just enjoying the ride, rather than thinking about bike prices. Doesn't matter if you're on a £50 quid catalogue bike, or a £4K beast, if you're having fun, you're having fun.
The bike is a thing to have fun with, not the fun thing in and of itself.

This guy disagrees with you

Well I suppose it gives a whole new and perhaps more appropriate reason for using "muc off" when he had finished riding it! :shock:

diamondbacker

Haha! Very weird. Mind you I think it's a bit harsh being taken to court. He was in a locked room doing what he was doing, so what's the problem? He's not harming anyone, even though it is very bizarre!

diamondbacker

Oh, and going back to the original title - no, they aren't having more fun but might be finding it easier while having it. Currently I ride a Rockrider 5.2. It's fun.

King_Pin_Rich

Fun can be had on any bike regardles of price.
But c'mon, is nobody on here willing to admit the odd bit of bike envy?

brindlescoops

King_Pin_Rich wrote:

Fun can be had on any bike regardles of price.
But c'mon, is nobody on here willing to admit the odd bit of bike envy?

Definitely, I couldnt believe I spent what I did on my last bike and never ever believed I could want for anything more. That was until My mate gets his new Carbon Santa Cruz Blur dripping with upgraded bling. i really could never justify that kind of expenditure, but I really would like it in my Garage. It really would be a bike I would be terrified of crashing though. :shock:

YeehaaMcgee

King_Pin_Rich wrote:

But c'mon, is nobody on here willing to admit the odd bit of bike envy?

Rarely. but I do occasionally see a bike that I'd love to own. Usually those carbon Whyte full suss bikes. Or an Ibis mojo.

Thewaylander

Teh more i've spent the more i've enjoyed this is true. Not to say i didn't enjoy before but as my riding progressed and as i rode steeper and steeper terrain, a more expensive longer travel slacker bike has allowed me to ride faster and harder.

This has increased my fun factor. but i did enjoy it when i rode cheaper bike's too, exept the Orange Crush i had which was a damn awful peice of crap bike wasn't cheap and wasn't fun....

louthepoo

i enjoy riding my £2.5k carbon bike more than i di on my £1k old bike, its lighter, more nimble and stops better. I enjoyed riding my other bike too but being able to go faster and throw it around more makes it more fun to me.